Get ready for Windows 11, version 26H2

26h1 is an ARM64 branch. this upgrade will most likely not target you

Windows 11, version 26H1 will not be able to update to version 26H2. Instead, they’ll have a path to update to a future Windows release. https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2026/06/19/announcing-new-builds-for-19-june-2026-26h2-for-experimental/

Stay on it, 26h2 is built on the backported bugridden mess of build 26100

What personal life?

Same, I only have an instance of Tiny10 just for some audits in vmware.

While I think it’s fantastic to see a kid learning about his computer and using resources on the Internet to figure out what he needs to know, I do hope your parents have you behind a solid firewall and DNS service and know every time you’re communicating with people on the Internet! 

To answer your question, I can’t quite tell from your message and image what the issue is, but it sounds a lot like your machine can no longer boot Windows 11, either because the hard drive it’s installed on has failed in some way (which is likely the case if it was working just fine and suddenly stopped), or if you made any system changes, like trying to reinstall Windows and it failed somewhere along the way, booting to other tools or operating systems (like Linux) and did something to mess with the partition structure Windows was installed to, or if you went into the system firmware/UEFI (formerly called BIOS) and made any changes to the boot order or other related settings (this would be that menu that you have to get into when you first turn on the computer and press a key like F2/F10/Del before it tries to boot up).

Assuming you didn’t make any changes to cause this (and assuming you don’t have any files or information saved on the PC you can’t live without), this will walk you through getting Windows downloaded/reinstalled on that device:

1. On a working PC (obviously), go to: 

   https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11 then under the “Create Windows 11 Installation Media” section, click Download.

2. You’ll need a USB drive you can completely erase that is at least 8GB or larger, so make sure you have this available first. Once you do, plug it in, then launch the “MediaCreationTool.exe” program that you downloaded above.
3. Walk through the tool (it’s very simple and tells you exactly what to do) to download Windows 11 and use your USB drive you plugged in (that you don’t mind being erased) to create a Windows 11 setup drive. When it’s completely finished, safely eject the drive and unplug it from the PC you set it up on.
4. On the PC you’re having this issue on - with the PC powered off first - connect the USB drive you setup for installing Windows 11, and be prepared to press the appropriate startup key for your PC manufacturer to open the “Startup/Boot Device Menu”. Whatever the key is, you will want to power the PC on and immediately start pressing the startup device key once every second while the PC powers on until it finally shows you the boot device menu. Here’s a few brands for reference on what key you might need to press:
   • For HP computers, pressing F9 repeatedly after powering the machine on
   • For Dell or Lenovo computers, press F12 repeatedly after powering on
   • You can look up your brand’s device boot menu key if you need to
5. Once you’re in the device boot menu, you should be able to select the USB device that you setup earlier and when you highlight it and hit Enter, it should begin booting what looks like Windows at first, then you should get to a welcome/startup screen where you can proceed to install Windows, and eventually, you’ll be asked to select which disk to install/partition for Windows. NOTE: Performing the next step will ERASE YOUR ENTIRE DISK so no data you have saved to it from before when it was working will be accessible. If you have important files you need to try and recover, then there are other measures you need to take to try and recover your drive’s contents before proceeding.
6. If you don’t mind erasing/starting over from scratch, then continue by selecting each of the partitions on “Disk 0” (which should be the hard disk detected inside of your machine, assuming you only have one, plus the USB drive of course, which you do NOT want to install to obviously) and click “Delete this partition” at the bottom until they’re all deleted and Disk 0 shows only one line, as “Disk 0 Unallocated”, meaning it has no partitions left on it. This will ensure a clean installation that doesn’t potentially leave behind any unnecessary extra partitions. Once your hard disk is fully clear of partitions, make sure it is selected as your destination to install Windows to, and click next through the process, and it should begin doing it’s own thing - Copying files, installing files, and you’ll then see several reboots as it boots into the newly installed Windows for the first time, sets up devices, then reboots again and finishes setting up Windows.

Assuming everything worked as expected, you should end up on a fresh login/setup screen like you normally see on a brand new computer, where you enter in the computer name you want to assign, optionally sign-inn with your Microsoft account, etc., and then eventually you’ll be logged back into a usable Windows computer, with nothing but the default apps present.

You can then reinstall everything you need, and hopefully that will take care of everything. I’m hoping you were logged in before with a Microsoft account so your activation/license for Windows will be backed up on your account and it will reactivate on its own, otherwise you might need to contact Microsoft about your license restoration. 

If the process seems to randomly fail/freeze/reboot or not continue after rebooting as expected, even after retrying this process multiple times, then your disk drive may in fact be failing and this is what caused the boot failure to begin with. If so, you’ll need to purchase a new hard disk (well, ideally solid state disk/drive) and replace the one inside with the new one, then reinstall Windows again using the process above to the new disk.

Hi rxc6422​ , the following information should help you with managing your Windows 11 computers.

How to determine when it was installed and the version
1. Click on the Windows logo > search for Settings.
2. In Settings, on the left-hand side, there is the System link.
3. In the main section, scroll down to the Windows info section.
4. This is where you can find the Edition and Version of Windows 11 along with the date it was Installed on.

Upgrades
There are several resources to reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/windows11-release-information#windows-11-release-history - This will list the latest build numbers for the version of Windows 11, for example, Version 25H2.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-11-home-and-pro - This will show when support ends for different Windows 11 versions.

If your computers were purchased from manufacturers such as Lenovo, HP, Dell, etc, they might also have dedicated websites about Windows 11 support for their devices. For example, here is the one for Lenovo - https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht512575.

Hopefully the above information provides you with the details you are looking for.

I fail to understand your dilemma as far as managing your three computers you have at home... Why wouldn't you just allow them all to update to the latest available mainstream build release (or stay behind by one release if you prefer to avoid the newest changes and features for stability)? You'll still be covered with cumulative security updates for a year while you're holding back on a previous build.

What relevance does the "flavor" you installed of Windows matter here also? Unless it's an  Enterprise SKU (which at home I assume it isn't), you have 24 months of support/updates on each build from the time it releases. If you're waiting a year behind, then that means you still have another year of support/updates for the build you're on before you need to upgrade to the next one (which will by then be 1 year old, if that's the cycle you're sticking to, and thus have another remaining year of patches before you need to update to the next build to stay in scope).

While I don't disagree with the notion of Microsoft (and every other party) wanting to convince us all that "we will.own nothing, and we will be happy" with respect to maintaining all of our infrastructure in their own cloud if they can, I'm not sure what about this article makes your head hurt. If you're an end-user or managing three home PC's for your family, I'm not sure why you would find the information in this article very relevant or important anyways. Just install recent updates on your home PC's so you know that they're remaining within the support lifecycle. No need for reading technet articles witj lifecycle charts like this one.

As for worrying about updates bricking PC's that aren't backed up, well, it sounds like you've identified one thing you probably could be working on - implementing a straightforward backup mechanism for your home PC's, as there are far more than failed Microsoft updates that can leave you without a functioning machine or access to its data. It's not an excuse for Microsoft when they cause problems like this, but it doesn't change the fact that it's something you should be addressing on your own IT department or scope of management for a number of other reasons already, which would put you at ease when it comes to installing the latest updates if you're really worried about it