Rubin Shrestha
Rubin Shrestha
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Getting Windows Update to… update

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Disclaimer: I’ve done my research and used AI, but I’m at an impasse.

I have a PC I am trying to bring as far forward as I can on Windows 11 Pro. The short version of my goal is to take a PC with the following specs to the point where I can actually update Windows 11 Pro from 22H2 (end-of-life) to anything beyond that.

I’m not looking for “buy another computer” answers, though I will accept upgrading a component such as the mobo. A “you just can’t do this” answer is OK too, but with proof/reasoning.

Scenario

My PC’s configuration is not on Microsoft’s list of supported configurations for Windows 11 Pro but “it works just fine”. Research indicates the configuration is just one of many that simply haven’t made Microsoft’s compatibility list, but it might be a bit more than that. 22H2 circa 2026 is obviously out of date, but, again, “works just fine”. I want to get newer features of the newer releases of Pro.

A few years ago, I bought some variation of an SSD with Windows 11 preloaded for a family member’s gaming rig (I updated to Pro at one point or did I use what was installed — don’t remember) to short-circuit dealing with a failing drive, and it was running fine and continued to do so even through the requisite Activation Notice to purchase Windows 11 Pro only recently popped up. I cleared this by purchasing a legitimate Pro, machine-locked key.

Specs

  • Some screenshots here for completeness. Maybe there’s a detail I missed. Main note: AMD Ryzen 5 2400G CPU on ASRock A32M-HDV R3.0 mobo.

  • Windows 11 Pro 22H2. Installed to replace OEM Windows 11 Home

  • That SSD mentioned above.

What I’ve done so far

  • Bought legit Windows 11 Pro license, machine-specific (non-transferrable)

  • Tried Windows Update Troubleshooter

  • Ensured Windows 11 Pro 22H2 fully up to date including all relevant optional components, going as far as I can in this end-of-life version

  • In the BIOS, TPM 2.0 is turned on. This was a real blocker.

  • Flipped legacy CSM (compatibility mode) to UEFI. This was a real blocker.

  • Changed boot order in BIOS a few times. Removed seemingly redundant entries of the SDD from the list. Did some of these show up because of ISOs I downloaded and mounted? Not sure.

  • Ran c:Windowssystem32mbr2gpt.exe /validate and mbr2gpt /convert in admin mode. Seemed to work OK. System went semi-bricked, but I recovered from that (see What I have not done).

  • Tried Windows Update multiple times including trying to update using 22H2 (repair version). See Update loop. Repair version was useless, which was strange considering I am running that exact version.

What I have not done

  • Update the firmware (BIOS).

    • I have some fear of bricking the machine. I got there by accident and, Windows claimed I needed repair media, but after some fumbling around in BIOS, I cleared that hurdle (confession: I wasn’t systematically documenting this faux paus). I think I reset BIOS a few times.

    • I tried updating BIOS via Wi-Fi but could never convince the network to be available over normal means and PPPoE. I didn’t try the USB route.

  • Repartitioned disks.

    • Finding logfiles, setupact.log and setuperr.log, in C:$WINDOWS.~BTSourcesPanther led me to a possible need to repartition my disk. According to AI (I’d credit the humans who got us here if I could).

      Diagnosis from your logs and diskpart output

      • What’s happening: your internal disk shows partitions whose volume labels are WINTOUSB / WinToUSB and a small FAT32 EFI partition — the installer is detecting a Windows‑to‑USB style layout and treating the environment as removable/WinToUSB, so Setup refuses with the “You can’t install Windows on a USB flash drive using Setup” message.

        Why that matters: Setup blocks installs when it thinks the source or target is a removable/Windows‑to‑USB device. The DiskInfo you pasted is the clearest evidence; there’s no obvious CPU/TPM rejection in the lines you shared.

        Disk 0 is the internal drive (465 GB) and it contains those WinToUSB‑style partitions — that’s why the installer won’t proceed even when you boot from an ISO.

    • Here’s my output from diskpart version 10.0.22621.1.

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          465 GB  3072 KB        *

And here’s some more AI suggested stuffs:

PS C:UsersREDACTED> Get-Volume | Format-Table DriveLetter, FileSystemLabel, FileSystem, SizeRemaining, Path

DriveLetter FileSystemLabel FileSystem SizeRemaining Path
----------- --------------- ---------- ------------- ----
          D WINTOUSB        FAT32           70853632 \?Volume{4be55ee7-a6ff-11f1-81f0-0cef156280f6}
          C WinToUSB        NTFS         13687083008 \?Volume{4be55ee8-a6ff-11f1-81f0-0cef156280f6}
                            FAT32           71310336 \?Volume{4be55ee9-a6ff-11f1-81f0-0cef156280f6}


PS C:UsersREDACTED> Get-Partition | Format-Table DiskNumber, PartitionNumber, Type, Size, GptType

DiskNumber PartitionNumber Type           Size GptType
---------- --------------- ----           ---- -------
         0               1 Basic     104857600 {ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7}
         0               2 Basic  499893927936 {ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7}
         0               3 System    104857600 {c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b}


PS C:UsersREDACTED> Get-Disk | Format-Table Number, FriendlyName, Size, PartitionStyle, IsBoot, IsSystem

Number FriendlyName                    Size PartitionStyle IsBoot IsSystem
------ ------------                    ---- -------------- ------ --------
     0 WD Blue SA510 2.5 500GB 500107862016 GPT              True     True

With these I’m hesitant to go further with either option but will consider it.

Update loop

Some of the above was done during the update loop (trying to get 22H2 to any later version) but summarizing here.

  • Downloaded ISOs, mounted them, and ran the setup.exe inside each one.

  • Tried creating media via Media Creation Tool (twice). Same issues.

  • Flipped various switches documented above. One such switch was Secure Boot. That was turned off. I flipped it on, and that cleared another hurdle.

  • Set registry entry, ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMSetupMoSetupAllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU, to 1. This cleared the “not supported configuration” message by bypassing that check. This appears to have been a real blocker.

  • Downloaded ISO for 25H2, 23H2 versions of Windows Pro from the official website.

    • This is where AI goes nuts and insists I keep downloading the “patch” version and not the full installer that should get me past the registry entry issue. I even checked checksums and looked on 3rd party sites that may have cached a valid but not downloadable-from-MS ISO.

Where I am at

My last hurdle is the setup.exe dialog with the single, stupid, generic error message.

How can I get past this, restore Windows Update, and move on?

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