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.
MicrosoftUse of ReFS on Windows11/client is, or was, non-typical.
But there is now a new 'Dev Drive' feature that uses ReFS
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dev-drive/
- There is a terse "ReFS 3.10 is no longer compatible with ReFS 3.4." comment at https://gist.github.com/0xbadfca11/da0598e47dd643d933dc
Could this be our scenario (if it means that 3.4 has been dumped from the latest Windows 11/Server 2022), and if so why is it not documented anywhere?
Per the original post, I am unable to mount a 3.4 volume (which mounts fine on Windows 10) after an upgrade to Windows 11, and it seems like this is not an isolated case.
Because I saw it mentioned in the linked GitHub post, I'd like to add that the affected system does not have RefsDisableVolumeUpgrade set. The volume also is not read-only.
Thanks stephc_msft RajDas_FSUpdate... Out of curiosity, I attached the same ReFS 3.4 (mirrored storage space) volume which won't mount on Windows 11 (but works fine on Windows 10), to a Windows Server 2022 system. Not only it mounts fine, but it auto-updated to ReFS 3.7 (per fsutil fsinfo refsinfo x:)
Right now I can't power off the Windows 11 box to see if the disks mount fine there as well after the update to 3.7, but I will post an update. There is some hope that the updated volume can now be seen by Windows 11 without requiring the lengthy copy process. Still a waste of money and time on new disks and troubleshooting before Christmas, while there has been no official answer here in more than two weeks...
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.
- hi there it might be related had the same when upgrading from one version of Windows Server v.Next to a newer one, documented it in Windows Server Insider back then.
- Hello Karl-WE, are we talking about this thread:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-server-for-it-pro/refs-volume-appears-raw-version-doesn-t-match-expected-value/m-p/3058652
In that case, ReFS 1.x was silently deprecated by a Windows Update, and the error type was immediately helpful about the version issue ("Version 1.2 doesn't match expected value 3.4"). Here however we are dealing with ReFS 3.4 or higher, and the error is "The file system encountered a metadata file with inconsistent data". Sure, it's again an issue that came up with a Windows update/upgrade, which shouldn't have happened in the first place. I do see a pattern, and while we can accept things being deprecated for the sake of progress, the lack of warnings before this happens and then waiting a week or more for an answer are not good.
Can somebody Deleted perhaps escalate this?No this is an entirely different thing and more like by design. The one I talk about does affect Windows Server vNext and ReFS 3.10
