I built a new PC with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory, and an RTX 5070 Ti. I reused an SSD and HDD from my previous computer, added a new SSD, and moved my Windows installation onto the new drive. The old system was still running Windows 10 because I had avoided upgrading when the original boot drive was nearly full.
Now I have tried using the Windows 11 Installation Assistant three times. Each attempt reaches 100%, restarts the computer, and gets about halfway through the update before reporting that it failed and displaying a message about undoing the changes. I have already updated the motherboard BIOS, disabled EXPO, and installed current drivers. What is the best way to get Windows 11 working on this new build?
2 Answers
Since the Windows installation was moved from a completely different computer, a clean Windows 11 installation is usually the better solution. Reusing an existing installation across a major hardware change can leave behind incompatible drivers, boot configuration problems, or other system issues that make an in-place upgrade fail.
Back up anything important first, then disconnect the old SSD and HDD and leave only the new SSD connected. Erase or format that drive and install Windows 11 directly from a USB installer instead of upgrading the old installation. Disconnecting the other drives is recommended so the installer cannot place boot files on the wrong disk or accidentally modify the data drives. After Windows is running, reconnect the other drives and check that your files are intact.
Do I really need to disconnect the other drives, or is that mainly to prevent selecting or formatting the wrong disk during setup?
What should I do at this point if I want to avoid repeating the failed upgrade process?