Can autounattend.xml be used to upgrade? (not a clean installation)

[peracchi]

Could I use the autounattend.xml file and a Windows 11 ISO to update a computer with Windows 10 without Internet access?

I really want to upgrade and not do a clean Windows 11 installation.

[cschneegans]

I have no experience with this scenario. However, this is how I would proceed:

1. Download a minimal autounattend.xml file that has only the Allow Windows 11 to be installed without internet connection setting enabled.
2. Refer to Ways to install Windows 11 and look for the Run the installation media in the current version of Windows section.
3. Don't double-click setup.exe, but open cmd.exe with elevated permissions and type D:\setup.exe /unattend:"…\autounattend.xml" – you might need to adjust the drive letter D:\ and provide the fully qualified path to the autounattend.xml file you downloaded earlier.

Note that I did not test any of this.

[peracchi]

Thanks for your suggestion, I will try.

But I was reading that setup.exe parameter /unattend does not work with parameter /auto upgrade that I was supposed to use.

I got to update the Windows 10 computer to Windows 11 without network connectivity. But Windows 11 came with all that stuff that I do not want and autounattend.xml can prevent installation when used in a clean installation.

My hope was to use autounattend.xml with setup.exe from ISO file to upgrade but without install several additional programs and options.

[cschneegans]

But I was reading that setup.exe parameter /unattend does not work with parameter /auto upgrade that I was supposed to use.

Shoot, you are correct: Microsoft's Windows Setup Command-Line Options states that “when /Unattend is used, /Auto cannot be used”. Furthermore, that page says that the /Unattend parameter is applicable only when “Setup.exe (is) started from WinPE”, in which case Windows Setup would perform a perform clean (rather than an upgrade) installation.

Sorry, I am at a loss here.

[peracchi]

No problem, I really appreciate your time and your wonderful tool for generating the XML file for clean Windows installations.