How to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 in all existing Azure Virtual Machine

Question

We need to upgrade all existing Azure Virtual Machines from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Therefore, we want to know the best way to upgrade Azure virtual machines from Windows 10 to Windows 11 without affecting user data. Please provide guidance for this >

Answer 1

Follow https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/virtual-machines/windows/in-place-system-upgrade

This includes step-by-step instructions

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If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

Answer 2

Hello, @Arunkumar Selvaraj !

How do I update existing VMs from Windows 10 to Windows 11?

As @Marcin Policht has pointed out, there is documentation for in-place upgrades however this guidance is being phased out due to an increase in reported issues related to this scenario. While you may be able to complete the upgrade, in-place upgrades are no longer recommended as they may not be compatible with newer Azure features. The current plan is to update the documentation to reflect this new guidance.

If you would like to upgrade from one OS version to another, the current recommendation is to create a new VM with the OS/image that you would like (Windows 11 in this case) and migrate your existing data to the new VM.

A recommended best practice is to keep data on a separate disk (and not the OS). If you are currently doing that it will make migration much easier and if not, this may be a good opportunity to establish this best practice as it provides a variety of benefits (including backup optimization).

Additional Reading:

• In-place upgrade for VMs running Windows Server in Azure
• Attach a managed data disk to a Windows VM by using the Azure portal

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Answer 3

As stated in the article referenced in my response:

"Following the process in this article will cause a disconnection between the data plane and the control plane of the virtual machine (VM). Azure capabilities such as Auto guest patching, Auto OS image upgrades, Hotpatching, and Azure Update Manager won't be available. To utilize these features, it's recommended to create a new VM using your preferred operating system instead of performing an in-place upgrade."

If provisioning a new VM is not a viable option, you have the option of downloading the image from Azure, creating a Hyper-V VM using it, upgrading it in place, uploading the resulting image to Azure, and creating a new Azure VM using the uploaded image.

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If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin