Is the security system of Windows 11 and ntoskrnl functioning normally in Task Manager?
There is a Secure System process in Task Manager. When I click on it, it shows ntoskrnl, and it is classified as WINDOWS in all capital letters (others are usually in lowercase). Is this normal? I don't know if I'm overthinking it.
Windows 11 secondhand laptop displays unfamiliar account name
Hello everyone, I purchased a used laptop and when attempting to change the login method from password to PIN, the system displayed an unfamiliar account name: DESKTOP-JUBIASH. Even after performing a factory reset, this name persists. Does this mean someone else could still access the device? How can I completely remove any potential permissions?
How can I upgrade or install Windows 11 26H1 on unsupported computer?
My daily working machine is an older but still capable machine (i7-7700K, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSS, no TPM 2.0) that Microsoft has officially left behind. I'm aware of the compatibility warnings, but I need to test some software that requires the newer 26H1 build specifically. The official installer won't even let me install Windows 11 26H1 on unsupported hardware. I have seen old guides for bypassing TPM and Secure Boot checks on earlier builds, but not sure if those methods still work for the latest insider/dev channel releases. Has anyone successfully dirty-installed a recent build like 26H1 on unsupported hardware lately?
Windows 11 23H2 → 25H2 in-place upgrade fails in SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA
I'm trying to in-place upgrade a Windows 11 23H2 system to 25H2 and consistently get a rollback in the SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA phase with 0x8007042B – 0x2000D. After a lot of analysis (Panther logs, SetupDiag, DISM, etc.), the failure always points to migration problems around Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI (CCSIAgent) and, secondarily, Microsoft-Windows-DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client (adammigrate.dll). I'd like to confirm whether this is a known 25H2 migration issue (especially on Education) and if there is any supported workaround short of a clean install. --- ENVIRONMENT - OS: Windows 11 Education 23H2, Build 22631.6276 - Edition: Education (confirmed via winver and Settings → System → About) - Target: Windows 11 25H2 (26200.6584, "2025 Update") - Upgrade method tried: - Windows Update feature enablement - Windows 11 Installation Assistant - Official 25H2 ISO (26200.6584.250915-1905.25h2_ge_release_svc_refresh_CLIENT_CONSUMER_x64FRE_en-us.iso) mounted locally → setup.exe - Hardware: - Motherboard: Gigabyte Z690 AORUS PRO (BIOS F31) - SSD: WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe (firmware 731130WD, WD Dashboard reports "Healthy", no errors) - TPM 2.0: Intel PTT (firmware TPM) enabled - Secure Boot: Enabled - BitLocker on C: OFF (fully decrypted) --- SYMPTOM Every full in-place upgrade attempt (23H2 → 25H2) behaves as follows: 1. Setup runs, copies files, reboots to SAFE_OS phase. 2. During MIGRATE_DATA, setup fails and rolls back to 23H2. 3. Message on screen: "0x8007042B – 0x2000D The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during MIGRATE_DATA operation" In C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setuperr.log / setupact.log, the failure is always in SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA and includes: V2VArbitrate: Source migration unit <System>\Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI (CCSIAgent) is not supported on the destination machine and it will not be restored V2VArbitrate: Source migration unit is critical, arbitration will fail V2V Arbitration failed. Last error: 0x00000032 pSPExecuteApply: Apply operation failed. Error: 0x0000002C Apply (machine-independent apply, offline phase): Migration phase failed. Result: 44 ExecuteOperations: Failed execution phase Safe OS. Error: 0x8007042B On some runs, just before the TPM arbitration failure, there are also errors related to DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client: Failure while calling IPostApply->ApplySuccess for Plugin="Microsoft-Windows-DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client\adammigrate.dll"… Error: 0x80070002 Error READ, 0x00000002 while gathering/applying object: apply-success, Action,CMXEXmlPlugin, C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\ReplacementManifests, Microsoft-Windows-DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client\adammigrate.dll… However, the ADAM plugin errors are logged as "ignore" in some traces, while the actual rollback is always tied to the critical TPM-Driver-WMI migration unit. --- WHAT I HAVE ALREADY TRIED I've tried to rule out all the usual suspects and a bit more: 1. Health checks & storage - sfc /scannow → no integrity violations - DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth / CheckHealth / RestoreHealth → clean - chkdsk C: /scan → no file system / bad sector issues - WD Dashboard extended test → drive healthy, no SMART warnings 2. Drivers, TPM, AV, services - TPM: - Device: "Trusted Platform Module 2.0" (ACPI\MSFT0101\1) - Driver provider: Microsoft (inbox TPM driver), no OEM TPM drivers - pnputil /enum-drivers | findstr /i tpm shows only Microsoft TPM entries; any OEM/TMP-related oem*.inf were removed. - Legacy / problematic drivers: - Removed old Intel CougarPoint USB driver (oem25.inf) via pnputil /delete-driver oem25.inf /uninstall /force. - Antivirus / security: - McAfee WebAdvisor fully uninstalled. - Kaspersky products uninstalled via standard uninstallers and then cleaned with Kaspersky's kavremover in Safe Mode. - No Kaspersky services, drivers, files, or uninstall entries remain. - Currently only Microsoft Defender is active. - Telemetry: - Connected User Experiences and Telemetry (DiagTrack) service set to Manual and Running to avoid telemetry-related cancellation (0x800704C7). 3. Upgrade artefacts / component cleanup - Deleted: - C:\$WINDOWS.~BT - C:\$GetCurrent - C:\$WINDOWS.~WS - C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download - Ran: - DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase - Then again DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and sfc /scannow 4. ISO & media verification - 23H2 ISO: Win11_23H2_English_x64.iso (official multi-edition ISO, SHA-256 verified). - 25H2 ISO: 26200.6584.250915-1905.25h2_ge_release_svc_refresh_CLIENT_CONSUMER_x64FRE_en-us.iso (official 25H2 ISO, SHA-256 verified). - Both mounted locally; upgrade run via setup.exe from the ISO (no third-party media tools). - Tried with Dynamic Update enabled and disabled (/DynamicUpdate Disable). 5. Compatibility scan vs full upgrade behavior - Running from 25H2 ISO: setup.exe /Compat ScanOnly /DynamicUpdate Disable → completes WITHOUT logging the earlier TPM-Driver-WMI / MIGRATE_DATA critical failures. - However, when running a FULL in-place upgrade (same ISO, same environment, DynamicUpdate disabled, "Keep personal files and apps"), the upgrade still fails in SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA with the same TPM-Driver-WMI critical arbitration error and rollback. So, compatibility scan looks clean, but the real SAFE_OS/MIGRATE_DATA phase still hits the TPM-Driver-WMI migration problem. 6. ADAM / DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client state - DISM shows DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client feature as Disabled. - The ADAM migration plugin (adammigrate.dll) logs 0x80070002 during IPostApply->ApplySuccess on some runs. - As suggested in other cases, I have tried: - dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client /norestart → reboot - dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:DirectoryServices-ADAM-Client /norestart → reboot - The ADAM error sometimes disappears or is logged as "ignored", but the TPM-Driver-WMI critical arbitration error persists and still causes rollback. 7. Attempt to repair TPM-Driver-WMI as a package (failed) Following the idea that TPM-Driver-WMI might be a partially removed servicing package, I: - Ran: DISM /Online /Get-Packages | findstr /i "TPM-Driver-WMI" → NO ENTRIES. There is no Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI-Package~… installed as a standalone package. - Mounted Win11_23H2_English_x64.iso as G: and searched for *TPM-Driver-WMI*.cab: → No such cab found anywhere in the ISO. - Mounted install.wim (index 4, Education) read-only and inspected Windows\servicing\Packages, and ran offline DISM /Image:... /Get-Packages | findstr TPM: → No Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI package or mum/cab. Only the component payload exists in WinSxS (amd64_microsoft-windows-tpm-driver-wmi_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.22621.1...), but there is no installable package to feed into DISM /Add-Package. So there is NO STANDALONE TPM-Driver-WMI package that I can re-add or repair via DISM; it appears baked into the base image. --- CURRENT SITUATION - TPM driver: Microsoft inbox, no OEM TPM drivers. - AV: only Defender. - Component store: DISM /RestoreHealth and sfc /scannow are clean. - Storage: healthy. - Telemetry service: running. - ADAM client: "enable → disable" cycle tried. - 25H2 compatibility scan: now passes without TPM migration errors. - Full upgrade: still fails in SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA with: - Source migration unit <System>\Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI (CCSIAgent) is not supported on the destination machine and it will not be restored - Source migration unit is critical, arbitration will fail - V2V Arbitration failed. Last error: 0x00000032 - pSPExecuteApply: Apply operation failed. Error: 0x0000002C - ExecuteOperations: Failed execution phase Safe OS. Error: 0x8007042B At this point, the only remaining options I can see are: - In-place repair install of 23H2 using the 23H2 ISO (setup.exe → keep apps & data), to rebuild the whole servicing/migration stack, and then retry 25H2; - Or clean install 25H2 from scratch. Before I go down that path, I'd like to know: --- QUESTIONS 1. Is this a known migration issue in Windows 11 25H2 (especially for Education) involving Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI (CCSIAgent)? In other words, is the "not supported on the destination machine" for this migration unit an expected symptom of a current 25H2 bug or a misconfiguration on my side? 2. Is there any supported way to reset/repair/ignore the TPM-Driver-WMI migration unit on the source side, given that: - there is no standalone Microsoft-Windows-TPM-Driver-WMI-Package~*.cab in the 23H2 ISO, and - DISM /Get-Packages does not list such a package? 3. Is an in-place repair install of 23H2 the recommended next step in this scenario, or is the official guidance to perform a clean install of 25H2 when SAFE_OS / MIGRATE_DATA fails on a critical migration unit like this? 4. Is there any known difference between consumer vs Education/volume 25H2 media that could affect whether the TPM-Driver-WMI migration manifest is present on the target image? Any official guidance or confirmation (e.g., "this is a known issue; wait for an updated 25H2 image or cumulative update" vs "your 23H2 install is irreparably corrupted, clean install recommended") would be very helpful before I commit to a wipe-and-reinstall. Thank you in advance.
