Windows 11 Activation Question

S

SWANDY

Pro
I have a Windows 10 ARM VM on a backup disk. I have running on my iMac a Windows 11 ARM - which was updated previously through the Insider program to build 22000.194. Once it was updated to 22000.194, I turned off the updates and signed out of the Insider Program. Since then I have gotten the security definitions as updates like everyone else. But the only key I have is for Windows 10 HOME edition. I have no issues paying MS their $200 fee for a Windows PRO edition (though for my personal use I prefer and only need the HOME edition) but obviously through the Inside Program there was no choice of starting with the HOME versions that I saw.
And from what I remember reading is if you were running an activated copy of Windows 10 it would be a free upgrade to Windows 11. Is that also true if running the ARM version on a Mac through Parallels?
Any ideas/suggestions on how I should proceed? Just Wait and see what MS does? Purchase a license key for Windows 11 PRO? Reinstall my Windows 10 ARM and if that will upgrade to Windows 11 ARM (but again, I don't have a PRO license, so not sure if that will even make a difference or leave me where I am now).
Any advice/suggestions greatly appreciated
 
@SWANDY

I found uupdump to have a 194 ARM you can build an ISO from. I made one at work the other day, but have not burned to try and install. By the setup for download, you can specify Home and Pro versions in the wrap up. https://uupdump.net/selectlang.php?id=e306ecc9-681d-4f0c-a7cc-eb33d89fb79f However, it sounds like you want to upgrade from a Home version to a Pro license one? I think you could install the release and then use the microsoft store to upgrade the home license to a pro one instead of paying $200 outright. You used to be able to do that with Windows 10, so I wouldn't be surprised if you could do that on 11 as well. Just a though.
 
BradB7 said:
@SWANDY

I found uupdump to have a 194 ARM you can build an ISO from. I made one at work the other day, but have not burned to try and install. By the setup for download, you can specify Home and Pro versions in the wrap up. https://uupdump.net/selectlang.php?id=e306ecc9-681d-4f0c-a7cc-eb33d89fb79f However, it sounds like you want to upgrade from a Home version to a Pro license one? I think you could install the release and then use the microsoft store to upgrade the home license to a pro one instead of paying $200 outright. You used to be able to do that with Windows 10, so I wouldn't be surprised if you could do that on 11 as well. Just a though.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information. No I would prefer to stick with the home version and license as I have no real need for the Pro version. I have a Home license but it won't work on the version I got from the Insider program which is the PRO version.
If I do try the Uupdump method, how do I go about building the ISO from what I download as I have never done it before and the only version of Windows I have is the ARM version that I got via the Insider Program. (And the computer I have from work and the ones at work have restrictions on what they can be used for and what can be installed on them.) Thanks
 
Thanks for the information. But I assume that the ISO version that you end up with is not the ARM version - that is needed to run on an M1 Mac through Parallels. I assume these are the INTEL versions of Windows 11.
 
@SWANDY No. This will build you an ARM ISO. I used that the other day and it worked fine. I will say that do it in your windows shell. Don't try the Mac side building unless you are familiar with having to download files from github, etc and installing other dependent libraries. It took about an hour on my work computer to use that method that @MichaelH63 put and I've shared on another thread. Burning the ISO to a bootable flash drive is probably the toughest part, but that guide will walk you through it all step-by-step with the FAT32/NTFS formatting issue to make it bootable.
 
Thanks for attempting to explain all this to a novice at building ISO files and whatever is necessary to get this to work. Probably showing my lack of knowledge (or perhaps my age) but really don't have a clear idea of what I would have to do - aside from not knowing if the only pure Windows machine I have from work will even allow me to do this type of stuff on it. (I know I had to speak to our tech support just to get Epson drivers installed!)
Guess I will probably just deal with the Windows 11 ARM that I got from the Insider Program (it is up to build 22000.194) and hope MS will work with the Parallels/Mac users or make an easy way for us to get a "legal" release version. Thanks again.
 
MichaelH63 said:
To clarify: The guide I posted (no idea why the forum put it in front of the quote) is written for Windows users. You will need to choose the arm64 option on uupdump to get an ARM iso. Otherwise you can just follow the guide step by step. I never used uupdump before and the guide made it easy.
If you already have a Windows VM, you can use that to build the iso and copy the file back to your Mac. I don't think you will need to burn it on a disc or use a bootable flash drive. Parallels should be able to use the iso file you create for a new VM (I haven't tried that, though).
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clarification. It sounded like - at least from the little bit of the article I read - which had the link to the Microsoft ISO files - that I would only be able to build an INTEL iso. Perhaps I will try this. Thanks again
 
MichaelH63 said:
To clarify: The guide I posted (no idea why the forum put it in front of the quote) is written for Windows users. You will need to choose the arm64 option on uupdump to get an ARM iso. Otherwise you can just follow the guide step by step. I never used uupdump before and the guide made it easy.
If you already have a Windows VM, you can use that to build the iso and copy the file back to your Mac. I don't think you will need to burn it on a disc or use a bootable flash drive. Parallels should be able to use the iso file you create for a new VM (I haven't tried that, though).
Click to expand...
Tried the link in the earlier forum post and it said the "web server was down". When I tried going directly to UUPDUMP and then selecting the files from the list, the same "server down" came up. Probably try again later.
 
MichaelH63 said:
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/clean-install-windows-11
This article contains a good guide. The process takes some time and it will occasionally look like nothing is progressing. Just be patient until you see the prompt to press 0 to exit.
Click to expand...
I have also never used the UUPDump process until yesterday. I had a few false starts and restarts bust got there in the end.
Other tips:
After all the long main processes have all finished you are left with an ISOFOLDER. This has to be converted to an actual ISO with the convert tool as a separate operation. The convert tool is in the folder you 'extract all' into at the start.
The ISOFOLDER contains a setup app which you can use to install directly on the machine you are using if you want, but when I did that the installation wanted a Product Key before it would install. No chance to activate later with an MS account.
If you use the setup, as I had done, you can't then use the convert tool to produce an ISO. If you want an ISO you have to do it before the setup, so I had to start all over again. My second and third attempts gave me a lot of access denied messages and I ended up telling back the whole VM to start completely all over.
After doing this I got the ISOFOLDER complete ready to convert to an ISO. The convert tool also gave me some access denied messages but it ended up saying successfully completed and I was able to use it to create a new VM in Parallels.
When I created a fresh VM using the ISO the install allowed me to complete the installation without activation (no Product Key requirement at the start) and I activated with my MS account afterwards.
I am sure UUUdump is easy when you are used to it but the whole experience was a bit fraught first time.
 
@Mike Boreham I'm sorry you had so many troubles. I downloaded and built the ARM ISO on my Intel Work Mac computer in a VMWare shell running windows 10 enterprise. In my case, I selected the ARM ISO and downloaded the setup and ran the script right on my desktop (renaming the folder with the files to Win11armiso once I downloaded and extracted the Zipped tool. To run the script I only had to right click and install, which automated the whole process all the way to making the actual ISO file. I didn't get any errors that way at all. It was just very slow as including the 'updates' from UUPDUMP had to roll them into the ISO which became quite large. I was a novice with UUPDump as well, Mike, so sorry you struggled with errors.
 
MichaelH63 said:
How did you create the iso folder? On macOS or Windows? On Windows it produced an iso file for me, though I haven't tried installing it as I only wanted to try out how uupdump works.
Click to expand...
I did it all inside a Windows 10 Parallels VM. The UUUP processes finished ("press 0 to exit") with an ISOFOLDER inside the folder I had created for "extract all" at the start. I then used the convert tool in the "extract all" folder to make an ISO from the ISO folder. The ISO appeared in the "extract all" folder and I dragged into Mac and used it in Parallels for the new VM.
 
Hi again. I tried following the instructions here and in the Tom's Hardware article. I think I followed the instructions correctly. But when I clicked on the indicated file from the folder that was downloaded from UUUPDUMP, I received the following error message " CMD DOES NOT SUPPORT UNC PATHS AS CURRENT DIRECTORIES" and that it could not find the ARIA2 file. So I copied all the downloaded files into a single folder named it like they did in the Tom's illustration and got the same error. Is it possibly because I am attempting to do this in a Parallels Windows 11 ARM VM instead of in a VM for Windows 11 (Intel) or the fact I am doing it in a Windows 11 ARM VM instead of in a Windows 10 ARM VM?
Also, my current VM is Windows 11 ARM PRO in OS BUILD 22000.194. Should I just wait and see what MS will do? Should I try purchasing a Windows 11 PRO key and use it to activate my current VM? (The only key I have is for Windows 10 HOME, so that won't even activate my earlier VM that was Windows 10 but the PRO edition from the Insider Program.) Would hate to throw out $200 to Microsoft if that won't work in the long run - $100 for the Home edition is only half as painful.
Thanks for any instructions or advice.
 
SWANDY said:
Hi again. I tried following the instructions here and in the Tom's Hardware article. I think I followed the instructions correctly. But when I clicked on the indicated file from the folder that was downloaded from UUUPDUMP, I received the following error message " CMD DOES NOT SUPPORT UNC PATHS AS CURRENT DIRECTORIES" and that it could not find the ARIA2 file. So I copied all the downloaded files into a single folder named it like they did in the Tom's illustration and got the same error. Is it possibly because I am attempting to do this in a Parallels Windows 11 ARM VM instead of in a VM for Windows 11 (Intel) or the fact I am doing it in a Windows 11 ARM VM instead of in a Windows 10 ARM VM?
Also, my current VM is Windows 11 ARM PRO in OS BUILD 22000.194. Should I just wait and see what MS will do? Should I try purchasing a Windows 11 PRO key and use it to activate my current VM? (The only key I have is for Windows 10 HOME, so that won't even activate my earlier VM that was Windows 10 but the PRO edition from the Insider Program.) Would hate to throw out $200 to Microsoft if that won't work in the long run - $100 for the Home edition is only half as painful.
Thanks for any instructions or advice.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I simply right-clicked and ran the Windows SH script file, got no pop-up telling me it needed permission and then let it do its thing all the way to creation of the ISO. I didn't have to install the ARIA2. However, I downloaded and compiled the ISO on my 64-bit Windows 10 VM in Fusion on my Work MBP. It's an Intel machine, so it is a 64-bit release of Windows 10. I'm wondering if your issue might have been due to compiling it within the ARM version?

Do you have access to the registration settings (and have a version that was released/unsubscribed from the insider preview program?). In Windows 10 there is an option to "change product key" in the Settings Menu under "About" and I would think you could try entering your Windows 10 Home product key there. It's worth a try anyway. Otherwise, just keep what you are doing now. you ARE activated, right? If you have an 11 PRO system running, that means you entered a Pro license when you began the VM install/upgrade from the 10 ARM. At least you USED to need a Windows 10 pro license for activating the insider preview version and that's how I did it. I purchased a Windows 10 pro license back in May and used it to join the Insider Preview Program and activate the 10 Pro ARM version and that was simply auto upgraded to 11 (now showing 11 pro) in my 'About" info of the 22000.194 ARM version.
 
BradB7 said:
Interesting. I simply right-clicked and ran the Windows SH script file, got no pop-up telling me it needed permission and then let it do its thing all the way to creation of the ISO. I didn't have to install the ARIA2. However, I downloaded and compiled the ISO on my 64-bit Windows 10 VM in Fusion on my Work MBP. It's an Intel machine, so it is a 64-bit release of Windows 10. I'm wondering if your issue might have been due to compiling it within the ARM version?

Do you have access to the registration settings (and have a version that was released/unsubscribed from the insider preview program?). In Windows 10 there is an option to "change product key" in the Settings Menu under "About" and I would think you could try entering your Windows 10 Home product key there. It's worth a try anyway. Otherwise, just keep what you are doing now. you ARE activated, right? If you have an 11 PRO system running, that means you entered a Pro license when you began the VM install/upgrade from the 10 ARM. At least you USED to need a Windows 10 pro license for activating the insider preview version and that's how I did it. I purchased a Windows 10 pro license back in May and used it to join the Insider Preview Program and activate the 10 Pro ARM version and that was simply auto upgraded to 11 (now showing 11 pro) in my 'About" info of the 22000.194 ARM version.
Click to expand...
No my installation of Windows 11 PRO for ARM is not activated - I started with the Insider Program when it was releasing Windows 10 ARM, but since it was the PRO version my HOME key would not work. So even though the Insider version was upgraded to Windows 11 for ARM it is still the PRO edition and still not activated. And yes, I still have the VM for the Window 10 ARM installation, but again it is still the Pro version so I assume it still will not let me activate using my HOME key.
 
MichaelH63 said:
I did the same on my Win 11 VM on an M1 Mac. Compiling within the ARM version is not the problem.
It sounds like UNC paths are the problem. Maybe copying the uupdump download to a local directory in the Windows VM (like the downloads folder) will help?
Click to expand...
I downloaded the files on my iMac and then moved everything to the Download folder in the Windows VM. Perhaps I will try again but this time do the initial download from UUPDUMP from the Windows VM machine initially. Maybe that will work.
 
Ok Figured out the issue and it has to do with the way Parallels handles the "download" folder on both the Mac and Windows side. Ended up finding the actual Windows folder location on my iMac, placed the downloaded files there and got the program to start. Ended up with a folder that has the ISO image file, two sub-folders (BIN, FILES and UUPs). I copied the ISO file to a flash drive but even though Parallels saw the file and started the install, got an error message that there was no operating system present. I assume this is just because I just used the COPY command on the ISO image file. Are there other files I need to copy to the flash drive or am I just doing it wrong and it has to be "burned" to the flash drive? I did some searches, but each one one refers to "Windows ToGo", which apparently is not part of the Windows 11 ARM installation. So how to I proceed from this point?
Sorry if I should know this stuff, but never had to make an Installation disk or Flash Drive before. Thanks again!!!
 
SWANDY said:
Hi again. I tried following the instructions here and in the Tom's Hardware article. I think I followed the instructions correctly. But when I clicked on the indicated file from the folder that was downloaded from UUUPDUMP, I received the following error message " CMD DOES NOT SUPPORT UNC PATHS AS CURRENT DIRECTORIES" and that it could not find the ARIA2 file. So I copied all the downloaded files into a single folder named it like they did in the Tom's illustration and got the same error. Is it possibly because I am attempting to do this in a Parallels Windows 11 ARM VM instead of in a VM for Windows 11 (Intel) or the fact I am doing it in a Windows 11 ARM VM instead of in a Windows 10 ARM VM?
Also, my current VM is Windows 11 ARM PRO in OS BUILD 22000.194. Should I just wait and see what MS will do? Should I try purchasing a Windows 11 PRO key and use it to activate my current VM? (The only key I have is for Windows 10 HOME, so that won't even activate my earlier VM that was Windows 10 but the PRO edition from the Insider Program.) Would hate to throw out $200 to Microsoft if that won't work in the long run - $100 for the Home edition is only half as painful.
Thanks for any instructions or advice.
Click to expand...
I was one of those people thinking that my ARM Windows 11 and a Microsoft key would work, but no. I went to Microsoft purchased a win 10 key (11 is not available) and when I entered the key it didn't take it. Problem is Microsoft pulled Windows 10 and only left Win 11 ARM.
 
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