Here’s something quite interesting. Yesterday, MS published a Windows IT Pro blog post entitled Windows 11, 24H2 improved update fundamentals. It’s worth reading, and makes claims for faster installs and restarts, lower CPU consumption, and smaller update packages in the latest OS version. Today, WindowsLatest  offered some data to back that up, showing that indeed 24H2 gets WU boost going forward. Its findings are interesting, too.

What 24H2 Gets WU Boost Apparently Means

As you can see in the lead-in graphic, WindowsLatest compared results for 2 PCs: one running Windows 23H2 was updated to 24H2 using the March update (it appears as “Well-maintained device”); the other was running 22H2 and had the same 24H2 update applied (it appears as “Outdated Device (18 months)”). In both cases, the numbers are noteworthy, and accord with my own recent experience in installing or updating Windows 23H2 PCs to 24H2 as well.

CPU utilization goes down by around 15% for newer Windows images, and by up to 25% when transitioning from 22H2 to 24H2. Restart times speed up by one-third or more, and installation by 40% or more. Download size also drops by 200 MB, thanks mostly to omitting MS Store app updates from that download package.

The Need for Speed…

This is good news in general for all Windows 11 users. But it’s especially good news for IT pros who typically handle fleet upgrades in time-constrained update windows. Often these fall on holiday weekends to make sure there’s enough time to get through the cycle (and fix any gotchas that pop up along the way, as they sometimes do). Anything MS can do to speed the time it takes to physically process updates also helps shorten the time window necessary to do them at scale. Thus, it’s a nice case of good news all the way around.

OK, then: I read this morning that MS dropped the “official” 24H2 release yesterday. “This time,” I thought to myself, “I’m taking a different approach.” From the Download Windows 11 page, I grabbed the Installation Assistant. Prosaically enough, it’s named Windows11InstallationAssistant.exe. File properties show today’s date for creation and modification, so I’m hopeful it will get me to 24H2. But I’m still wondering if the assistant handles 24H2 upgrade as expected, or not. Right now it’s going into its initial restart.

Deciding if Assistant Handles 24H2 Upgrade

If you look at the lead-in graphic it shows the Assistant in phase 3 of the upgrade process — namely 75% through installing the new stuff. After this got to 100%, I rebooted that PC (Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 Mobile workstation). It’s now 30% through the post-reboot install process (white  text, spinning arrow, black background).

…Aaaaaand then, it stayed at 30% long enough for me to finish a round of Backgammon waiting for it to complete. But complete it did, only to drop into the OOBE portion of the install next. A couple of minutes later, I had a Windows 11 desktop. But which version is it? Here’s what winver says:

Looks like the Installation Assistant is a workable way to get to 24H2 from 23H2, if you’re of a mind to do that. And it also looks like indeed the upgrade is officially out. I’ll go some exploring and report my findings in tomorrow’s blog post. In the meantime you could try it yourself to see what happens… Cheers!

On June 4, MS announced it was (re)opening the Beta Channel for Windows Insiders on Windows 10. So I stood up a Windows 10 VM on my trusty Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen1 Mobile Workstation to try this out. Bizarrely, after joining the Beta Channel the next update informed me it was loading a Windows 11 Beta version. Indeed, either I couldn’t figure out how to get the actual Windows 10 Beta to download and install, or that version was mislabeled. That’s why I aver that Windows 10 Beta access proves elusive.

If Windows 10 Beta Access Proves Elusive, Then What?

As you can see in the lead-in graphic, after I “got away” from an apparent Windows 11 beta install, I did manage to get into the Windows 10 Insider Preview Channel. Right now, it has the same release as does the Beta Channel anyway (see Aug 22 blog post).

From that vantage point, and that build number (19045.4942) I was then able to “upgrade” myself to the Beta Channel. This is apparently a case where if a single-step approach doesn’t work, a more tentative two-step (Insider Preview first, then Beta) channel changing strategy does. Go figure!

Little by Little, Step by Step

If you can’t get where you need to go in Windows in one fell swoop, incremental progress will have to do. As you can see in the closing screencap, the test VM is now in the Beta Channel and running the associated most current Windows 10 release (likewise 19045.4942, which is how I could make the switch both quickly and easily).

Enrolling in Insider Preview, then switching to Beta works like a charm.

Here in Windows-World, even if the obvious method doesn’t seem to work, a less direct approach can still get you where you want or need to go. I’d call this another case in point.