pentiumspeed wrote on 2023-09-14, 18:59:

Don't leave details out, please. What is your system configuration? Ram, processor and video card, motherboard please.

Was that directed to me? HP EliteBook 840 G5 (with i5-8250U or something). Like I said; could not feature-update to 21H2, but instead I could clean-install 22H2 just fine from USB install media.

pentiumspeed wrote on 2023-09-14, 19:01:

Good on you! That still proves my point.

Cheers,

Yup, it does. I have one of those pesky e-Books from Hyundai that only had 32GB of solid-state drive and ran into a problem where it no longer had enough disk space to update Win 10.

Luckily it had a small hatch on the bottom where I could slap in a 128GB NVMe. Clonezilla seemed to be the only thing that would get that da*n computer to see that NVMe as C: and boot from it instead of the 32GB that was built-in.

gerwin wrote on 2023-09-14, 19:07:

pentiumspeed wrote on 2023-09-14, 18:59:

Don't leave details out, please. What is your system configuration? Ram, processor and video card, motherboard please.

Was that directed to me? HP EliteBook 840 G5 (with i5-8250U or something). Like I said; could not feature-update to 21H2, but instead I could clean-install 22H2 just fine from USB install media.

Don't bother to hack or modify the windows behavior or modify or remove partitions. Let this be, this might be what you had problem with due to hacks you did to the image. Don't question the intention of the original partitions, this was created correctly during windows installation originally, don't alter it after. This was the reason of your issues.

Second, I use clone with automatic resize to automatically adjust the clone to new size capacity larger or smaller than the original source. For this, I like aomei backupper free. To get around the freeware limitation that does not allow conversion of MBR to GPT or vice versa. I prepare the destination storage as MBR if the source is MBR or convert the source to GPT on live windows storage and clone the source to destination also prepared as GPT storage.
Your notebook supports GPT storage and is also a requirement for UEFI to function. Also your 840 G5 supports windows 11 as well.

Install 22H2 with plenty of storage capacity and let itself update. Even you install the 21H2 then perform update, will eventually update to 22H2 anyway.

What's the storage size you have on this notebook?

PS: I have a installation stick of windows 10 that is about 5 years old, still will update fine and I do not do anything to it. Let it be as intended.

Cheers,

pentiumspeed wrote on 2023-09-14, 20:34:

Don't bother to hack or modify the windows behavior or modify or remove partitions.

Thanks. but anyways it is not my topic, so I shouldn't hijack it.
(I couldn't leave it be, because you know, I had to prepare 5 of these Elitebooks, then a dozen desktops, and I don't like mysterious partitions, and I do like syspreps)