Windows activation in place upgrade

[Olliedawg]

In place upgrade from 10 Edu > 11 Edu

 

I've done this on a few machines now that I have begun the migration from 10>11, I have noticed that sometimes the device loses its activation status.

 

I have a slmgr script which I run to solve this, however I'm wondering if this is normal behaviour, as the win10/11 keys are the same?

[jthompson]

Are you using AD-based activation? If so, you may need to check whether you have a suitable KMS key in AD that will activate Windows 11. A server 2022 KMS key ought to do it, IIRC, since a server 2019 KMS key will activate Win10 clients but not Win11.

[Olliedawg]

Are you using AD-based activation? If so, you may need to check whether you have a suitable KMS key in AD that will activate Windows 11. A server 2022 KMS key ought to do it, IIRC, since a server 2019 KMS key will activate Win10 clients but not Win11.

Sorry should have specified - just using MAK key which is entered during deployment (MDT)

[Olliedawg]

I don't think I specified the MAK key in the TS OS upgrade.. that's possibly why!

 

However i'd of thought that it would have remained activated after the upgrade even without specifiying the key again? I'll have to try this tomorrow with the key specified in the TS

[ITGuyNW]

Does 10>11 work fine for you as an in place upgrade? I was just going for a proper reimage as I assumed there would be issues.

[Olliedawg]

Does 10>11 work fine for you as an in place upgrade? I was just going for a proper reimage as I assumed there would be issues.

 

No issues to report so far, started last week. I've only done select staff members so far as guinea pigs.

 

I've done a few reg tweaks such as

 

- classic right click (win10 style)

- force dark taskbar

- force compact view in file explorer (win10 style)

 

Also had to look at the start layout GPO, as this no longer works for Windows 11 (It does work for taskbar pins, but not altering the start menu.)

 

I think in place upgrades are a lot better than they used to be..

 

I've also solved the activation issue by inputting the MAK key into the MDT upgrade TS

Edited May 22, 2024 by Olliedawg