Dual booting Windows 11 upgrade with Windows 10

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Can Windows 11 be cloned from Windows 10 and upgraded while preserving the original 10 installation to avoid reinstalling apps?

Are there any complications to consider?

Cheers.

Darrell Gorter 2,041 Reputation points

2024-08-22T14:16:08.7733333+00:00
Hello,

There exists software that would help you clone Windows to another volume.

Caveats include but not limited to:

Since you have two instances of Windows you would need a second product key.

Since Windows is on a new volume you would have to edit the registry of the new copy to change the Drive letter of that volume to be C Drive for that instance of Windows. Drive letters are identified inside Windows and can vary between different instances of Windows. Since Windows is installed to C Drive there are numerous pointers to C drive contained on the Registry and elsewhere, so the volume would have to be C Drive to work properly.

BCDEdit would have to be run to configure the BCD file to be able to voot into the second instance of Windows.

Since you now also have a second instance of your apps you more than likely would need new licenses for some of them. Some may allow multiple instances, some may not.

Darrell

Accepted answer

Jing Zhou 7,105 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-08-23T07:17:46.59+00:00

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

There are two ways to achive the purpose:

1.The most common dual-system installation method is to make it through different partitions. You can use the disk management tool to divide a new hard disk space on the existing Windows operating system, and then install another Windows 11 inside.

2.Windows To Go is another Microsoft solution provided by Microsoft to install the Windows system to a USB drive. In this way, you can carry the system with you and start it on a supported computer.

REF: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-10/deployment/windows-to-go/windows-to-go-overview

I hope the information above is helpful.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

Best regards，

Jill Zhou

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