Hello,

If you go to Settings > Windows Update, do you see an update that says something like "Windows 11, 23H2/24H2 is available"? If so, download and install 23H2 or 24H2.

The other method is to use one of the three tools Microsoft provides to you to upgrade your PC.

You can use the Windows 11 Installation Assistant, the Windows 11 ISO, or the Media Creation Tool. All three of these options will get you to Windows 11, version 24H2.

To use the Windows 11 Installation Assistant, download theWindows 11 Installation Assistant and then run it. You should see some prompts telling you about Windows 11 and what it'll install. Let it download and install 24H2.

To use the Windows 11 Media Creation Tool, download the Windows 11 Media Creation Tool, and run the MCT. Once it finishes loading, push "Upgrade this PC Now". Let the MCT install the Windows 11 installation files, and then let it check for updates, and then let it install Windows 11.

To use the Windows 11 ISO, download the Windows 11 ISO, (you can find it here, scroll down to where you see ISO for Windows 11 x64 devices), mount it, and then run setup.exe (if you see a UAC prompt, push yes). Follow the prompts on-screen and then let setup.exe update and install Windows 11, 24H2.

All of these steps will eventually get you to 24H2 and will take a while to download and install. It's best to do this at night when you're not doing anything important. Just make sure to save your files before you start.

Hope this helps, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know!

At best, this will overwrite my current settings instead of merely upgrading my existing Windows Pro 22H2 installation, which is undesirable.

The real issue is that the 23H2 enablement package is not being installed after the hold was removed on 7 Feb 2024. The Support notice says machines will get the update in 48 hours, and it has been over ten weeks.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/resolved-issues-windows-11-23H2#3217msgdesc

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/resolved-issues-windows-11-23H2

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/windows-11-version-23h2-update-history-59875222-b990-4bd9-932f-91a5954de434

When you boot from the Windows 11 installation media, the install.wim in the sources folder is loaded into memory to create drive X:. The setup.exe file on this drive X: is executed when the UI is used to install Windows. This setup.exe reads the registry hacks you made to enable you to do a clean install of Windows 11. You are now trying to upgrade to Windows 11 25H2 without losing your data. In such cases, you do not boot from the installation media. The normal procedure would be to run the setup.exe file in the root directory of the installation media while booted to your existing Windows 11. This setup.exe is not the same as the one stored in install.wim and will ignore such registry hacks.

I have yet to test the procedure given below on my 2018 Mac mini. However, the procedure should be the same as on other Windows machines. The procedure upgrades Windows 11 to 25H2 instead of doing a clean install.

Use Rufus to create the installer from the Windows 11 25H2 ISO. (I use the portable type.) Rufus replaces the setup.exe that comes on the ISO with its own version. From Windows 11, run setup.exe on the drive created by Rufus to upgrade to Windows 11 25H2.

In the past, instead of using a USB flash drive, I used a mounted VHD file that was created using the Windows Disk Management application. However, if internal drive space is limited, then try using a flash drive. (My Mac mini only has a 250 GB internal drive that is shared with macOS.)

Note this answer is similar to one of my previous answers. The major difference is that your Mac UEFI boots Windows.

Update

I decided to test both Rufus and FlyOOBE (formally FlyBy11) for upgrading Windows 11 22H2 to Windows 11 25H2. I did this by first creating a Windows 11 Pro 22H2 (with all available updates installed) VMware Fusion Player (version 12.1.2) virtual machine. Windows was installed to UEFI boot without secure boot or a TPM. The host is a 2013 iMac (iMac14,3) with macOS Catalina (version 10.16.7) installed. The processor is an Intel i5-4570S.

Using Rufus

The steps are given below.

1. Download Win11_25H2_English_x64.iso from this Microsoft website.
2. Download rufus-4.11p.exe from the Rufus website.
3. Use the Windows Disk Management application to create a mounted 8 GB VHD file.
4. Use Rufus (after it updates itself) to select the ISO file, then write to the mounted VHD file. The default Rufus settings were used.
5. Run setup.exe in the root folder on the mounted VHD file and upgrade to Windows 25H2.

Using FlyOOBE

The steps are given below.

1. Download Win11_25H2_English_x64.iso from this Microsoft website.

2. Download FlyOOBE 2.1 (FlyoobeApp.zip) from this GitHub website.

3. Use the Windows File Explorer to "Extract All..." from the FlyoobeApp.zip file.

4. Open the FlyOOBE application. If you get the following pop-up, select "More info"

   

   The pop-up will now appear as shown below. Select "Run anyway".

   

5. When the window shown below appears, select "Details" under "Upgrade to Windows 11".

   

   When the window shown below appears, select "Run".

   

   If the following pop-up appears, select "Run".

   

   When the window shown below appears, drag and drop the ISO file into the box labeled "Drag & drop ISO here or click to import from local file".

   

   If the following pop-up appears, select "Yes".

   

   You can ignore the following pop-up.

   

6. Upgrade to Windows 25H2. When the following window appears, select "Next", then proceed with the upgrade. Note: In my case, I am upgrading Windows 11 Pro even though the window below states "Install Windows Server".