Setup a Steady State in Windows 11

Question

Hello,

I'm looking for some help with a process that worked in Windows 7/8/10, but doesn't seem to work in Windows 11 Pro...

We used to be able to boot our machines to a child VHD, and when the computer restarted the changes that a user made were discarded, and the original image was maintained. If we needed to implement a change, or apply updates a 'commit' batch was ran and the changes were merged from the child VHD to the parent.

The original process we followed to create this setup is here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/panosm/implementing-a-windows-7-steadystate-by-utilizing-differencing-vhds-files-and-the-boot-from-vhd-feature

We've made some modifications to the above process to get Windows 11 to install to the VHD, and boot natively - which works! However, the process of booting into the PE to discard changes doesn't seem to function the way it used to. Can anyone help with what I'm missing, or what could be done.

I know there are Group Policy items that can be enabled to force changes to be discarded, but these machines get used in a number of different ways, so I need a way to ensure that ALL changes users make are discarded; this parent/child VHD method was/is perfect for this.

Thanks in advance! :)

Answer 1

Like you see if the website, this feature already deprecated and even if it works in Windows 8 and Windows 10, it was unsupported state.
You may look for alternative solutions or methods.
However, you may share your concern using the Feedback Hub app and open start and search for feedback and open the Feedback Hub app and report this issue.