Upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11
Updated at August 8th, 2025
Things to check before the upgrading:
- Run all missing windows updates prior to the appointment. Running Windows Updates Through Deep Freeze
- Save any unsaved work on the computer.
- If you are using Impero, it needs to be on version 8.6.22 or higher for Windows 11. Lanschool does not need to be updated. Deep Freeze MUST be upgraded to the latest version, reach out to SmartLab support to help with this.
- Download and install Dell Support Assist (https://downloads.dell.com/serviceability/catalog/SupportAssistInstaller.exe) and run it to check for and install any driver updates on all lab computers to be upgraded
- Find any unsigned drivers and remove them
- Try upgrading one computer just to make sure it successfully updates to Windows 11 then do the rest.
- If you get stuck anywhere in this guide, don't proceed if you are unsure, reach out to us, (support@clsonline.com, 1 (800) 458-2887, or on our SmartLab Support Portal) or your IT department and show them this guide, they should be able to help.
The computers need to be thawed in Deep Freeze for this upgrade. Try upgradind one computer first to make sure it upgrades successfully To thaw in Deep Freeze, log onto the CLS server or if it is installed on the teacher computer, open the Deep Freeze console app if it is not already open. Drill down to the “localhost” tree on the left pane and then expand the tree until you get to where the School's domain name is selected. All the lab computers should now show up in the right pane. Select all the ones you want to thaw for the upgrade and right click and click "Reboot Thawed"
- We recommend on each computer to check the Windows 11 compatibility by searching for and opening the PC Health Check app. If you don't have PC Health Check installed, you can install it by going to https://aka.ms/GetPCHealthCheckApp and following the prompts to download and install the app.
- Under the ‘Introducing Windows 11’ section at the top of the screen, select the ‘Check now’ button.
- If the window that pops up says “This PC meets Windows 11 requirements”, proceed to next step below. Otherwise, the computer is too old and cannot upgrade to Windows 11.
- Download any available Windows updates for the computer by using the Deep Freeze console on the server to run Windows Updates on all the computers at once
- Download the Windows 11 .iso file from: Windows 11 Upgrade
- Place the downloaded file on the desktop, then copy it to the transfer drive folder so it can be accessed from all computers. When updating the other computers, you have to copy/paste the file to the desktop and run it from there. It cannot be ran from the transfer drive.
- Double-Click the .iso file, it will open in a new window in File Explorer
- Double-Click the ‘setup.exe’ file at the bottom of this window
- If a window pops up asking ‘Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? Select ‘Yes’
- On the ‘Install Windows 11’ window, select ‘Change how Setup downloads updates’
- Select the option for ‘Download and Install Updates before Upgrading to Windows 11'
- If checked, un-check the box in the lower left saying ‘I want to help make the installation better’
- Select the ‘Next’ button in the lower right corner of the Windows 11 Setup window
- Accept the Windows 11 license terms.
- Wait for the setup to make sure the computer is ready to install Windows 11 and install any necessary updates (this usually takes 5-10 minutes, it will notify you when this step is complete).
- Once complete, the window will say ‘Ready to install’ at the top.
- Verify the screen has a check mark next to ‘Install Windows 11 Pro’ > click "Change what to keep’ and select ‘Keep personal files and apps’.
- Before you click “Install” we need to check the upgrade log files to see if any unsigned drivers, or programs using those drivers will potentially prevent Windows 11 from installing successfully. Check the log files in C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther by following the instructions in this section (click this link to jump there): “Could not upgrade - Returned back to Windows 10”
Otherwise, If all looks good, go ahead and click that “Install” button
- Click the ‘Install’ button in the lower right of the window.
- The screen will turn blue and show the installation progress, this process will take about 30 minutes.
- Once the installation is complete, the computer will restart. You can now sign in to the computer as normal.
- Delete the .iso file from the desktop.
- Search for and install any Windows updates.
- Freeze them again in Deep Freeze now that they are upgraded and updated
- The upgrade process is now complete.
Windows 11 Upgrade Common Issues Could not upgrade - Returned back to Windows 10:
1. Check the log files in C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther (Just copy that link highlighted exactly and paste it in the address bar in File Explorer):
2. Look for a "CompatData_XXXX" named file with the latest date and time (see photo below, in my case they were produced at the day of running the upgrade and the latest time 3:13 PM)
3. If inside the log file you see any drivers in the lower section that say Block Migration=“True” those drivers are most likely preventing Windows from upgrading, they are not signed binaries. Windows 11 security will not let you install Windows 11 with unsigned drivers.
4. Go to "C:\Windows\INF" and look for the oem*.inf file. In my case it is oem113.inf so we are going to look for that file in this folder
5. Open a Administrative Command Prompt by searching “Command Prompt” and when it shows up right click on it and click “Run as Administrator”
6. Use /disable-device before removal if the uninstall fails due to active usage. altogether it will be "pnputil /disable-device oem13.inf". In my case one of the unsigned drivers was oem13.inf, just put in the inf file name you saw earlier is unsigned.
7. If it was successfully disabled, type “pnputil /delete-driver oem13.inf /uninstall /force” without quotes and press enter to run it. In my case one of the unsigned drivers was oem13.inf, just put in the inf file name you see is unsigned. repeat steps 5 and 6 again for any other drivers that are not signed in my case the only other driver was oem114.inf.
8. Restart the computer after uninstalling all unsigned drivers.
9. Log back in and start the Windows 11 Upgrade again
10. Before you click the final "Install" button, we will check the logs again C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther and it should have a newer file with the latest time and date in the title CompatDataxxxx.xml (This example 2025_06_09_15_13_25 and Date Modified section is recent. I started the Windows 11 ISO upgrade process loosely around 3:13 PM)
11. Make sure the Block Migration=”False" for everything in the list now and HasSignedBinaries="True"
12. Finally go back to the Windows upgrader program and click the "Install" button and it should now upgrade and restart into Windows 11 successfully.
If this does not resolve the issue, please contact SmartLab Technical Support at support@clsonline.com