Forum Discussion
ReFS volume inaccessible after update from Windows 10 22H2 to Windows 11 23H2
Since opening this thread in December, I'd like to share two "solutions" (workarounds):
1) As mentioned before, I attached the ReFS 3.4 volume which wouldn't read on Windows 11, to a Windows Server 2022 system, which auto-updated it to ReFS 3.7. Moving the disks back to the Windows 11 system, I can confirm that they now work fine. Storage Spaces on Windows 11 prompted to upgrade the pool, but the data was readable both before and after this upgrade. The ReFS version remained unchanged at 3.7. This solution does not require purchasing new disks, but it does require access to a Windows Server 2022 system.
2) The other method is to get new disks and copy the data, using an OS version like Windows 10, which can read the ReFS 3.4 volume which became unreadable after the upgrade to Windows 11.
I made the mistake of upgrading the *storage pool* in Windows 11, BEFORE connecting the drives to Windows Server 2022 to try to upgrade ReFS 3.4. Now Windows Server 2022 (nor does Windows 10) doesn't recognize the disks as belonging to any storage pool, Windows 11 recognizes the storage pool but can't deal with ReFS 3.4! I'm stuck...
kirbyzhang MikeLabatt I am quite confused by the last bit.
Windows 10 22H2 already had the support for ReFS 3.4, infact since release 1803.
Are you sure you meant ReFS 3.4 here and not a later version? In place upgrades, including Storage Spaces shall upgrade the ReFS volumes from current version to the latest ReFS version automatically.
While optionally / and recommended Storage Spaces version requires a manual update.
ReFS volumes will be upgraded (no easy OS rollback possible, and do not expect ReFS would downgrade, too) when they are mounted and have read / write permissions (read only flag may not be set via diskpart).
ReFS 3.9 should be the version that comes with W10 22H2 or Windows 11 22H2
ReFS 3.7 for Windows Server 2022 since it is matches with W10 21H2.
Thank you for further information, while I appreciate the "best answer" I am confused about the unexpected complexity you are facing here. Trying to help to find out on the why + if this is a bug trying to repro his.
Kindly asking for repro steps.