Saturday, January 22, 2022

In-place upgrade from Win10 to Win11

I guess it’s good timing that I’m trying to get the blog up and running again. The recently released Windows 11 upgrade from Microsoft is a good place to get back into things.

Since I work mainly with virtual machines (VMs) on my laptop, I posted an article last week about installing and working with Hyper-V. The computer I’m using this week is one of my Hyper-V VMs and was purpose-built running Win10 Pro (x64) with this in-place upgrade in mind.

One of the first things you want to do before you start any in-place OS upgrade is to make sure the computer is fully patched. If you don’t normally run updates manually, you can access the interface by clicking on the Windows Start Button in the lower left of your screen. Then click on “Update & Security”. That will bring you to the Windows Update page. Win10 is fairly autonomous at installing patches and updates, so you might not have anything pending.

Next, you may want to run Disk Cleanup, as addressed in a previous post, to get rid of any digital garbage on your drive. See the link below for more information.

Once updates and cleanup are done, it’s recommended that you reboot the computer before moving on. Rebooting will usually resolve any minor issues related to the disk cleanup and clear the RAM.

Microsoft changed their hardware game with Win11. Win11 is not compatible with older hardware that boots from a BIOS (Basic Input Output System). The BIOS is the minimal basic configuration that your PC needs to be able to find and access the bootable drive, such as your primary hard drive, and boot the operating system. Win11 requires Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) with secure boot and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) technology (see the links below for more information).

The easiest way to see if your hardware is up to MS’s standards is to install and run the PC Health Check app. Type “PC Health” into the search box on your Win10 PC to see if it’s already installed. If not, you can find it here along with information about what it is and what it does: How to get Windows 11.

If you need to download it, click on the “CHECK FOR COMPATABILITY”. You should land towards the bottom of the page with a hyperlink titled “DOWNLOAD PC HEALTH CHECK APP”. Click on that link and the app installer will download to your default location.

My Win10 VM, “FREYR”, initially failed the system check for compatibility for upgrading to Win11. My Gen 1 Hyper-V VM did not have UEFI Secure Boot or TPM. Interestingly, when writing the post about Hyper-V, I specifically said that I was building the VM as a Gen 2 with this upgrade in mind. Over the course of writing the two articles and spinning up the new VM, I inadvertently re-created it as a Gen 1 VM, which obviously was not going to work. I had to nuke the VM and start from scratch.


I rebuilt the VM as Gen 2 so that it had UEFI secure boot and TPM support enabled, patched it, etc. I installed and ran “PC Health Check” and passed the compatibility test.



If your PC passes the tests, you can click the “Device Specification” button to launch your web browser to the Introducing Windows 11 upgrade page. You should see a “CHECK NOW FOR FREE UPGRADE” hyperlink. Click on the link. You may be prompted to allow Microsoft.com to open your computer’s Settings page.


If the update is available for your PC, you'll see “Feature update to Windows 11”. Click “Download and install”.

If the upgrade isn't available to you yet, but you still want to upgrade now, you can download the Windows 11 Installation Assistant. Click the “DOWNLOAD NOW” button and then click “Run” or “Open File” after the download completes.


Click “Yes” is UAC prompts you for permission for the file to run.

Click “Accept and install” for the EULA to proceed.


The interface will change several times while the software is downloaded and installed. There are three steps and the process will proceed automatically from one to the next.

  • Step 1 of 3: Downloading
  • Step 2 of 3: Verifying download
  • Step 3 of 3: Installing

You can continue working on your PC during this time, but it’s prudent to save your work often. Just in case. There’s no interaction required until the installation completes and the PC is ready to be rebooted. During the installation process, you’re informed that the computer will be rebooted 30 minutes after the installation completes. You can restart it manually if you prefer, by clicking “Restart now”.


After about 30 minutes and at least one reboot, the job is done. You can see an immediate difference when you log in, specifically that that Taskbar icons are centered instead of left-aligned on the Taskbar. You can right click on the Taskbar, click on “Taskbar settings”, and then expand “Taskbar behaviors” to change it to left-aligned. I don’t see an option any longer to use small icons in the Taskbar.



The Start menu looks a lot different. The apps that are presented appear to be some of the more commonly used apps.


You can click on “All Apps” to see a list more like Win10 had. Clicking “Back” will take you back to the previous grid-layout menu.


Clicking Start > Settings will take you to the new style interface for configuring your system.


File Explorer also has a slightly different look, but functionality remains the same.

Search still functions the same. Even though Control Panel isn’t readily visible, you can search for it and launch it for certain admin and maintenance functions. It looks almost identical to Win10. You can still use it to get to the “Network and Sharing Center”, “Programs and Features”, and apps like that.

I uninstalled some bloatware like the app to download and install Office 365 and the TikTok app. I also ran Disk Cleanup and got rid of 20 GB of data left over from the OS upgrade since I don’t intend to roll this VM back to Win10.


Most of what I’ve read about the Win11 “upgrade” leads me to believe that it was just a cosmetic upgrade, possibly to make Windows look more like MacOS. I’m not sure why MS would want to do that. There seem to be three main groups concerning PC OS’es: Windows, Linux, and Apple (Mac). Trying to make Windows look like MacOS is not going to draw anyone from Apple computers.

As always, I'm open to questions and constructive comments. Your feedback is welcome.

Sources:


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Saturday, January 15, 2022

Working With Hyper-V

Between the blog and studying for MS certification exams a few years back, I had 6 virtual machines (VMs) running on my laptop, all running in Oracle VM VirtualBox. I wrote an article titled “Working with Virtual Machines” (17 Jun 18) that focused on using Oracle VM VirtualBox as the hypervisor, the software that allows you to run virtual machines on your computer. Oracle VM VirtualBox is a type 2 hypervisor, meaning that it’s an application that runs within your OS to host your VMs.

Hyper-V was originally released with Server 2008 and is available up through Server 2019. The nice thing about Hyper-V is that it’s not limited to running in the Server OS. You can install the feature and run it in Windows 8 Pro, Windows 10 Pro, and Windows 11 Pro. Depending on your level of geek-ness, you can install Hyper-V and run your own VMs on your own computer.

I used Oracle VM VirtualBox for several years and really liked it. Current MS certification exams, however, focus on Hyper-V virtualization, so it became obvious that I had to change hypervisors for hands-on experience.  With that in mind, I decided to migrate my Oracle VM VirtualBox VMs to Hyper-V. It was a spectacular failure. Of my 6 VMs, the only one that I was able to migrate was THOR, my Win7 Pro SP1 (x64) VM. The import failures were caused by the differences in how Oracle VM VirtualBox and Hyper-V handle virtual hardware, mainly hard drive controllers. In the end, I was only able to import my Win7 Pro VM and had to build the others from scratch (again). But, that’s not the point of this article.

Assuming that you plan to use Hyper-V for a home training lab, the first thing to consider is to make sure you’re running a 64-bit (x64) version of Win8, Win10, or Win11. Right click on the Start button, and then click on “System”.
  • In the “Device Specifications” section you’ll find the “System type”, which will say if you’re running a 64-bit operating system.
  • The “Windows Specification” section will tell you which OS and version you’re running.
Once you confirm your OS, there are only a few simple steps to installing the feature. 
  • Launch your Control Panel and then click on “Programs and Features”.
  • Click on “Turn Windows features on or off”.
  • Click on the box next to “Hyper-V” to check the box and install all the components.
  • Click “OK”.
It’ll take a couple of minutes to install and you’ll probably have to reboot.

After rebooting and logging in to your PC, the first thing you may want to consider doing is creating a NAT’ed network for your VM lab. That is, unless you want them to run off the same network as all your other devices. And, there’s nothing wrong with that. But, since my lab will contain two Domain Controllers with DHCP, I opted to create a NAT’ed network. Hyper-V () doesn’t allow you to create NAT’ed networks within the console, so you have to launch PowerShell and run the following commands, inserting a name for the network where I have “name”:

New-VMSwitch -SwitchName “name” -SwitchType Internal
Get-NetAdapter
New-NetIPAddress -IPAddress 192.168.1.1 -PrefixLength 24 -InterfaceAlias "vEthernet (name)"
New-NetNAT -Name "vNAT" -InternalIPInterfaceAddressPrefix 192.168.1.0/24

The easiest way to find and launch Hyper-V Manager is to click on the Search box and type “Hyper”.

In the right panel menu, click on “New” and then “Virtual Machine….”.

Read the “Before You Begin” page. Click “Next”.


Name your new VM and select a storage location for it, if your location is other than the default. Click “Next”.


Choose the generation that you want your VM to be. Usually Generation 1 is okay, unless you need to support UEFI secure boot. I’m building this VM as a Win10 Pro (x64) VM specifically with the intent of upgrading it to Win11, so it has to be Gen 2 with secure boot. I’ll link to an article at the bottom of the page that explains Gen 1 vs. Gen 2 more thoroughly.


Enter how much RAM you want / need. I’m going with 4 GB because anything less for a Win10 VM is pretty much useless.


Select your network connection from the dropdown menu. I’m using the NAT’ed network I created a few months ago that I use for a private subnet for my VMs.


Configure your virtual hard drive (VHDX). I left the default name and location based on the information I provided earlier for the name and location of the VM. The only thing I changed was to downsize the VHDX from the default 127 GB to 100 GB.


Select your installation options. I browsed to the storage location and selected the Win10 Pro (x64) ISO. It’ll be mounted as a virtual optical device and emulate the process of installing the OS from a DVD drive.


Review the summery and click “Finish” to create the VM. There will be some additional changes that need to be made before you boot the VM and install the OS.


With the new VM selected, click on “Settings” in the lower right panel. Click on “Firmware”.


Click on the hard drive and click “Move Up” to place it ahead of the Network Adapter.


Click on Security. Make sure “Enable Secure Boot” is checked, it should be by default. I also checked “Enable Trusted Platform Module” since it’s a requirement for the Win11 upgrade.


Click on memory and confirm the settings. The only change I made was, in Dynamic Memory, I changed the maximum to 4096 to match the amount of assigned to the VM. Dynamic memory allows the VM to only use what it needs without locking in the full amount. That allows the difference to be used by the host or other VMs.


Click on “Processor” and increase it from 1 to 2, or however many your host will allow.


I expanded out the options for the Network Adapter and clicked on Advanced Features. I manually changed the MAC address from Dynamic to a static address. This isn’t necessary, but it’s my preference to keep it in line with my other VMs. Also, this will become necessary later on for working with DHCP reservations.


Next, I clicked on “Checkpoints” and unchecked the box next to “Enable checkpoints”. I don’t want Hyper-V to automatically create checkpoints. If I need one later on, I can enable the option and manually create one.


At this point, make sure you save your changes and exit the settings. The only thing left to do is power on the VM and install the OS.

In Hyper-V Manager, right click on the VM and then click on “Connect…”. That will launch a console window for the VM. Click the “Start” button and, when prompted, press any key to boot from the optical drive and install the OS.


I’m skipping the process of installing the guest OS because I already covered that in several earlier article (listed below). Once I have the OS installed and fully patched, I’ll post an article on doing the in-place upgrade from Win10 to Win11.

Here are a couple of observations on my experience with Hyper-V:
  • Make sure you have enough RAM before you start. You need enough RAM in your host and you need to allocate an adequate amount to your VM(s). You can configure Hyper-V to set minimum and maximum RAM allocations, but you need to make sure from the start that you have enough. It’s not like Oracle VM VirtualBox where you set the memory allocation in the beginning and that’s what it uses. RAM use in Hyper-V can fluctuate based on what you allocate and what processes your VM is running at any given time.
  • Make sure you have plenty of HDD space. I initially tried running my VMs off an external USB HDD like I did with Oracle VM VirtualBox. Hyper-V doesn’t seem to like that and the VMs run very slowly. My current laptop has a secondary internal drive that’s dedicated almost entirely to my VMs, so it’s a lot faster and lest finicky, but there’s still some disk access lag.
As always, I'm open to questions and constructive comments. Your feedback is welcome.

Sources:

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Sunday, June 2, 2019

You Can Still Upgrade to Windows 10 For Free!

MS Window 7 is being EOL’ed (End of Life) in January 2020, which means no more support and no more updates.
For those of you still on Win7, fear not, you can still do three free upgrade to Win10 as long as you have a licensed copy of Win7 SP1 or Win8.1 on your computer.
Go to “Download Windows 10” and select the “Create Windows 10 installation media”.
Insert a USB thumb drive (minimum 8 GB) in your computer, click on the “Download Tool” button, and follow the directions.
The tool will create an installation copy of the Win10 OS on your thumb drive.
When you’re done, you can launch the installation from the thumb drive and follow the directions.
Check out my earlier blog post “In-place Upgrade from Win7 or Win8/8.1 to Win10” for more information.
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Monday, January 21, 2019

Support for Windows 7 is Ending

Support for Windows 7 and Server 2008 will end on 14 January 2020.

 According to Microsoft, "[a]ll good things must come to an end, even Windows 7. After January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or support for PCs running Windows 7. But you can keep the good times rolling by moving to Windows 10."
What this means is that your operating system could have unresolved security vulnerabilities that will not be addressed after MS ceases to support these OS's. Yes, using a good malware suite (antivirus + firewall) will help, but they work best when the vendor (MS) is able to provide OS-specific security patches.

 Obviously, MS wants you to upgrade to Win10, but that's a decision you have to make. I've been using it at home and work since it was released and I really like it. I still like Win7, but I prefer Win10 ... for the most part. I know people that are so accustomed to Win7 that they really don't want to make the leap. Win10 is enough like Win7 that the move may be fairly easy for more people; but, it's enough like Win8 that it'll have other people wanting to throw their computer out the window.

 If you decide to get Win10, you can purchase and download it here on the "Get Windows 10" site. The free upgrade offer ended 29 July 2016. Win10 Home now costs $139.00, while Win10 Pro costs $199.99. Win10 Home is adequate for the average home / student user. Win10 Pro contains additional tools that are more suited to a corporate IT environment. Click here to Compare Windows 10 editions.

 One caveat is that, if you have a personal computer running Win10 that you take it to work, you may need Win10 Pro to connect to the Wi-Fi network. If your employer uses WPA or WPA2 encryption on their wireless networks, you most likely won't be able to connect with Win10 Home.

 You can find more information here: Upgrade to Windows 10: FAQ.

 As always, I'm open to questions and constructive comments. Your feedback is welcome.

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Sunday, July 29, 2018

Windows User Account Control

Microsoft introduced Windows User Account Control (UAC) with the release of Windows Vista in 2006, and it was one of the features that stuck around after Vista’s demise. UAC is a built in security feature that prevents programs from running without permission. In many cases, malware could be installed on a computer without user intervention. Malware could be installed by opening an infected email, visiting an infected web site, or even sharing infected removable storage media (floppy disks and USB flash devices, for example).

 UAC theoretically provided some protection against malware infections by preventing software from running without administrator permissions. If a program tried to install on a computer, UAC would pause the installation and request administrator approval. In some cases, the administrator username and password may need to be used if a non-administrator user is logged in at the time. UAC serves another purposes of limiting users from installing unauthorized software – some of which could be infected with malware. Admittedly, UAC can be an intrusive pain in the neck, but it does provide some protection and should be left turned on to one degree or another.

The UAC interface can be accessed on the Control Panel as follows:
  • Win7: click Start > Control Panel > User Accounts > Change User Account Control settings.
  • Win8: click Start > down arrow > Control Panel > User Accounts > Change User Account Control settings.
  • Win10: Click the Cortana search box and type “Control Panel”. When Control Panel opens, click User Accounts > Change User Account Control settings.
I’m using my Win7 VM for these screen captures, but the interface and pop-ups are similar in Win7, Win8, and Win10.

 There are four UAC levels, as shown in the following screen captures, shown from strictest to most lenient. The second capture shows the default level. You can change between the levels by moving the vertical slider and then clicking the “OK” button. Changes to the UAC level will likely require a reboot to implement the level of security.


“Always notify me” displays a pop-up warning any time a user tries to make changes to Windows settings (like changing UAC) or install software. The screen will be locked with the security desktop (dimmed screen) until the user acknowledges the pop-up by either allowing or blocking the installation. This is the safest / strictest, but also the most intrusive level


“Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer” is a little less intrusive. It doesn’t display the security pop-up when you try to make changes to Windows settings, but still shows it when software installation is initiated. The screen will be locked with the security desktop (dimmed screen) until the user acknowledges the pop-up. I recommend staying with the default level in most cases.


“Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer (do not dim my desktop)”is similar to the previous level and shows it when software installation is initiated; however, the security desktop (dimmed screen) is not used. I normally use this level because I want the protection of UAC without the intrusiveness of the security screen.


“Never notify me” is the most lenient and most unsafe level to use. It disables UAC and leaves the computer vulnerable. Malware may be able to install itself without any form of user or administrator intervention.

The next few screen captures show the UAC pop-up and security screen at the different levels.

This is a screen capture of the security pop-up with the grayed out / dimmed security desktop:


This is a screen capture of the security pop-up without the grayed out / dimmed security desktop: 


This is a screen capture with UAC turned off. As you can see, there's not alert pop-up; the program installation simply begins.


In all three cases, I was attempting to install an update for CCleaner without specifically using administrator permissions.

The basic security pop-ups are similar in Win7, Win8, and Win10; however, MS added two new pop-ups for Win10. Win10 now has a pop-up advising that UAC blocked an unsafe program. This pop-up does not allow users to approve or disapprove the installation; it just blocks the installation altogether. The second pop-up prompts for confirmation to install a program from an unknown publisher. Legitimate software installations – in most cases – won’t prompt this alert, but it happens from time to time if Windows doesn’t recognize the developer or security signature. This alert will prompt the user whether or not they want to allow the installation to continue. The three levels are shown in the following image (borrowed from Wikipedia). From top to bottom: blocked app, app with unknown publisher, app with a known/trusted publisher:


That’s Windows User Account Control in a nutshell. UAC is intended to provide an additional layer of protection against malware and it does that fairly well. Turning it off isn’t recommended, even though it can sometimes seem overly intrusive. Dealing with UAC, though is MUCH easier than dealing with a malware infection – take it from someone who spent close to a week removing hundreds of malware infections from a single workstation (at work, not my own). You can read more online starting with the sources I listed below.

 As always, I'm open to questions and constructive comments. Your feedback is welcome.

 Sources:

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Sunday, July 22, 2018

In-place Upgrade from Win7 or Win8/8.1 to Win10

In last week’s article, I addressed upgrading from Win7 to Win8/8.1 even though it’s not very likely that people will want to do that at this point. This week’s article covers the more likely upgrade from Win7 or Win8/8.1 to Win10.
 
Microsoft required that users have Win7 SP1 or Win8.1 installed for the free upgrade to Win10. The Service Pack 1 upgrade and the Win8.1 upgrade were both available via Windows Update. The upgrade to Win10 was also delivered via Windows Update over the Internet. The free upgrade offer completely expired the fall of 2017. You can still upgrade directly to Win10 From Win7 and Win8/8.1, but you have to acquire the installation medium and purchase a license. You can purchase Win10 directly from MS online. See these articles from Microsoft for more information:
Upgrading to Win10 is a fairly simple process, but – like all OS upgrades – it’s somewhat time-consuming. Prior to performing an in-place upgrade, I like to make sure that all my personal data is backed up to an external HDD and that all the latest updates are installed on the computer.

I’m installing the upgrade on my Win8.1 VM, but the process is almost identical for Win7. Since I’m working on a VM, I also want to take a snapshot in case the upgrade tanks. Most users won’t have to worry about this since they’ll likely be upgrading a physical computer rather than a VM.
 
Once the backups and updates are complete, it’s time to start the upgrade. Start by inserting the installation media into the USB port or optical drive. You may have to open File Manager / Windows Explorer and double-click on the installation medium to launch the installer.

Is many cases, MS has stopped selling installation DVDs and primarily provides installation packages as Internet downloads. If someone has access to directly download the ISO, they can unpack it and create their own installation medium on a DVD or USB flash drive as I addressed in a previous article (see list below for more details).

Microsoft’s preferred method to upgrade to Win10 is to use their upgrade tool found on this page: Download Windows 10. This is the method I’ll use. It allows you to create an installation medium, or save the installation package as an ISO.
 
Downloading the ISO or creating an installation media is free, but you have to purchase a license. You’ll have about 30 days to run your PC on Win10 before you’re forced to enter a license. In the meantime, you might not be able to install Windows Updates.

Creating Bootable Media for the Win10 Upgrade

Click on the “Download tool now” button and you should see pop-up asking if you want to run or save the file. I chose “Save”.


After the tool download completes, you’ll be asked if you want to run it. Click “Run”.

You’ll may be presented with a User Account Control (UAC) pop-up asking you to verify that you want to allow the program to run. Click “Yes” and the download process will begin. You should be able to safely close your web browser at this point without it terminating the connection.



The next step is to read and accept the license terms. Click “Accept” to continue the upgrade setup.


After a few minutes, you should see a screen that asks if you wish to upgrade the PC you’re on, or if you want to create an installation media to upgrade another computer. At this point, I’m going to choose the option to create an installation media. I’ll come back to the upgrade process later.

If your other PC meets the same architecture standards as the one you’re on, you can keep the default settings. If you uncheck the box below the menu, you can opt to download the 32-bit version of Win10, the 64-bit version, or both. I’m going to select “Both” and click “Next”.



The next screen asks if you want to save it as an ISO, or create a bootable USB flash drive. If you opt to create an ISO, the tool will download and save a single archive file that contains the entire Win10 installation package (similar to a Zip file). You can follow the steps in my previous article “Create a Bootable Media to Install or Re-Install Your Operating System”, 29 Apr 18 to create a bootable flash drive later. If you opt to create the USB flash drive, this tool will take care of that for you. I’m going to choose the USB flash drive option and click “Next”.

The next screen presents you with a list of attached USB drives that you can use to create your installation media. As you can see, I have a 64GB flash drive attached. I clicked on that and then clicked “Next”. After the download, the tool will verify the integrity of the download, and then will create the installation media. This process will take a while, so now would be a good time to get a cup of coffee and watch an episode (or three) of "Friends" on Netflix. Once the process completes, click the “Finish” button. The tool will cleanup residual temporary files and close.






Using the MS download tool has failed almost every time I’ve tried to create an installation flash drive. It took me several tries to do it today and I ended up creating it directly from my laptop rather than from within the Win8.1 VM. You may want to use the tool to download the ISO and then use my other method (using Rufus) to create the installation media.

Once I was ready to launch the installation setup, I re-mounted the USB device, opened Windows Explorer / File Manager, double-clicked on the E: drive, and then launched setup.exe. I right-clicked on it and selected “Run as administrator”. I confirmed my choice when UAC popped up.



When Setup launches, I leave the default option to download and install the updates during the upgrade. I do not check the box to help make the installation of Windows better. Setup will check for updates, “get a few things ready”, and then you’ll be prompted to accept the License Agreement.




Setup will check for updates again and download those that are applicable.

After a few more checks, Setup will be ready to start the installation process. You may run into some driver compatibility issues. This one is minor, so I accepted it and Setup gave the green light.



Once you click the “Install” button, the upgrade process should be almost identical to the clean install process in article “Installing and Configuring Windows 10”, 20 May 18.

Using the Download Tool to Perform the Upgrade

As I mentioned earlier, the Download Tool offers the options of downloading the installation package to create an installation media, or to directly upgrade the current computer. Once you get to the option to choose to upgrade the current computer or create the installation media, leave the default option checked and click “Next”. Setup will begin downloading the installation package. You may as well watch another episode of “Friends” at this point because the download may take a while.

There are several points during this process where the steps vary from the installation media method, but everything turns out the same in the end.



Setup will verify the integrity of the download and create a local temporary copy of the installation media.




Once the download completes, Setup runs a brief cleanup, and then the installation process begins.



Setup will check for updates and restart.


The next step is to accept the License Agreement.


Setup will check for updates again.


After you click “Install”, Setup should ask you what you want to keep of your current files and settings. Make your selection and click “Next”.


After a few more checks, Setup will be ready to start the installation process. You may run into some driver compatibility issues. This one is minor, so I accepted it and Setup gave the green light.



Once you click the “Install” button, should be almost identical to the clean install process in article “Installing and Configuring Windows 10”, 20 May 18.

Next week's article will probably be fairly short. It'll be covering User Account Control (UAC).

As always, I'm open to questions and constructive comments. Your feedback is welcome.

Sources:
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