I just discovered a problem with windows 7 + vmware15 + windows 11.

Windows 7 home runs on laptop build in harddisk C:
VMWare15 Workstation/Player runs on Windows 7.
Windows 11 leaked version runs on VMWare15 (can be mapped to Z: when offline)
USB Portable Harddisk connected to laptop: E:
Virtual Music Disk is on USB Portable Harddisk: F:

Windows 11's virtual disk image was mapped Z: so it becomes accessible to Windows 7 via VMWare15's mapping feature.

The goal was to copy a "demo" from F: to Z:
(The reason was to run the demo in windows 11 because the demo would not run in windows 7 because python version 3.9 does not run on windows 7.)

I did so by first creating Z:\Test
Then I copied & paste "demo" folder to Z:\Test

I already had a bad feeling about this because of two reasons:
VMWare15 does not know about Windows 11 so how can it know about any possibly new NTFS data structures on disk ?
Windows 7 might be using an older version of NTFS ?!?

Anyway I continued to "trust" Microsoft W7, VMware15 and Microsoft W11 that they somehow found a way to "backwards compatible" copy files from Windows 7 to Windows 11 via VMWare mapping feature.

BUT NOPE. MY HUNCH WAS RIGHT AND MY TRUST BETRAYED.

Something during the copieing process from W7 to W11 went wrong.
When W11 booted in VMWare the copied files were not there.
W11 wanted to repair the W11 disk.
After repairing the W11 disk the files still not there.

THUS THIS IS A SPECTACULAR FAILURE OF WINDOWS AND VMWARE SOFTWARE TO COPY FILES ! (AND WASTE USER TIME WITH DISK REPAIRS fortunately for me just 20 GB W11 disk)

FURTHER MORE THE W11 TOOL PROBABLY DELETED ANY COPIED FILES.

IF USER BELIEVED FILES WERE SAFELY COPIED AND ORIGINALS WERE DELETED BY USER THEN REAL DATA LOSS COULD OCCUR !

Anyway this was just a simply test case for me to see what would happen.
I decided to copy this demo software from W7 to W11 because python 3.9 does not run on W7 that's how I found out of this copieing problem.

Now there are some un-answered questions and this is where you can help out to shine some serious light on this very serious situation:

1. First question on my mind is:

Is this problem/failure repeateably on the "official windows 11 release" which just happened a few days ago ?!?!? Can you repeat the problem ?

2. Second question on my mind is:

Does this problem/failure only occur through virtual machines ? For example W11 running in virtual machine ? Is it maybe a VMWare issue ?

3. Is the failure caused by VMWare15 and if so are higher versions working correctly ?

4. What if a real windows 11 NTFS harddisk is hooked up to an older Windows 7 operating system and the older Windows 7 operating system starts creating and copieing files to W11 NTFS will this cause the same problems ?

5. Could it be USB Portable driver related ?

6. Could it be virtual harddisk VHD related ? (Never had a problem before)
(vmware uses a different file format *.vmsomething)

The windows 11 virtual disk is also on the E: drive/usb portable, this should not matter ?!?!

This is a very suspicious and very alarming situation !

One question which would blow my mind:

7. What happens if it's VICE VERSA ?!?!?

What if real windows 11 os/machine is hooked up to a windows 7 harddisk and files/folders are copied from windows 11 to windows 7, could this NUKE the windows 7 NTFS file system ?!?!?!?

^^^ Now I am starting to worry because this should have been tested ^^^

What is even more alarming is that many companies use VMWare to run virtualized work places and many companies may still be in this situation where Windows 7 still runs on some machines and companies might looking to transition to Windows 11 and thus copieing Windows 7 files to a virtualized windows 11 harddisk is a very real scenerio. Perhaps not via VMWare on W7 so if it is a VMWare issue they would be off the hook, but are there are compatibility problems between these OS-es ?!?!? This has thrown a big cast of a doubt and a big shadow over it ?!?!?

Big question is: Let's suppose it's VMware to blame... Why would VMWare corrupt Windows 11 NTFS file system ?!?!? Doesn't make much sense...
Should it not represent the drive as some harddisk interface ? Thus Microsoft Windows software is fully incharge of the NTFS data structures ?!?!?

I am not sure which software is responsible for this failure. I could be both.

But if it's Microsoft then oh boy ?! holy shit ?! But if it's VMWare then companies also somewhat in danger !

I hopy you all see the seriousness of this.

However experience/history with Windows has learned that when longhorn came out (Windows 7) it also had some massive file system fuck ups and would loose files. Lately reports of Windows 11 losing files were also mentioned on the internet.

So Windows beta/new software has a habit of fucking up file systems and losing files and having copieing problems !

Well I just discovered this one !

I want to get to the bottom of this. I am a big fan of virtual harddisks and I want to know exactly why this problem occured. First time I have seen a copy fail like this.

I only tried it once, but I am confident it was the software that fucked up and it needs to be investigated. I cannot do it alone right now because I dont have newer VMWare versions and I dont have the latest windows 11 version and I dont have the space for it, or maybe on my E: drive there might be some space to try the latest windows 11 release.

But if you already have it you can beat me to the punch and report on your findings.

ANYWAY DO NOT TRY THIS ON REAL WORLD SYSTEMS BECAUSE YOU MAY LOOSE FILES OR DAMAGE YOUR WINDOWS 11 NTFS.

ONLY PERFORM THESE W7 to W11 and W11 to W7 and W7 through VMWare to W11 and vica versa through TEST SYSTEMS !

Report any findings below and you welcome to make some nice youtube videos about it ! If you do then I do ask some credit from you, mention me in your youtube video as the discoverer of this problem and that you read it on usenet/newsgroups/google groups ! So people learn of this news source as well ! ;)

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

On 10/24/2021 2:43 PM, skybuck2000 wrote:
> I just discovered a problem with windows 7 + vmware15 + windows 11.
>
> Windows 7 home runs on laptop build in harddisk C:
> VMWare15 Workstation/Player runs on Windows 7.
> Windows 11 leaked version runs on VMWare15 (can be mapped to Z: when offline)
> USB Portable Harddisk connected to laptop: E:
> Virtual Music Disk is on USB Portable Harddisk: F:
>
> Windows 11's virtual disk image was mapped Z: so it becomes accessible to Windows 7 via VMWare15's mapping feature.
>
> The goal was to copy a "demo" from F: to Z:
> (The reason was to run the demo in windows 11 because the demo would not run in windows 7 because python version 3.9 does not run on windows 7.)
>
> I did so by first creating Z:\Test
> Then I copied & paste "demo" folder to Z:\Test
>
> I already had a bad feeling about this because of two reasons:
> VMWare15 does not know about Windows 11 so how can it know about any possibly new NTFS data structures on disk ?
> Windows 7 might be using an older version of NTFS ?!?
>
> Anyway I continued to "trust" Microsoft W7, VMware15 and Microsoft W11 that they somehow found a way to "backwards compatible" copy files from Windows 7 to Windows 11 via VMWare mapping feature.
>
> BUT NOPE. MY HUNCH WAS RIGHT AND MY TRUST BETRAYED.
>
> Something during the copieing process from W7 to W11 went wrong.
> When W11 booted in VMWare the copied files were not there.
> W11 wanted to repair the W11 disk.
> After repairing the W11 disk the files still not there.
>
> THUS THIS IS A SPECTACULAR FAILURE OF WINDOWS AND VMWARE SOFTWARE TO COPY FILES ! (AND WASTE USER TIME WITH DISK REPAIRS fortunately for me just 20 GB W11 disk)
>
> FURTHER MORE THE W11 TOOL PROBABLY DELETED ANY COPIED FILES.
>
> IF USER BELIEVED FILES WERE SAFELY COPIED AND ORIGINALS WERE DELETED BY USER THEN REAL DATA LOSS COULD OCCUR !
>
> Anyway this was just a simply test case for me to see what would happen.
> I decided to copy this demo software from W7 to W11 because python 3.9 does not run on W7 that's how I found out of this copieing problem.
>
> Now there are some un-answered questions and this is where you can help out to shine some serious light on this very serious situation:
>
> 1. First question on my mind is:
>
> Is this problem/failure repeateably on the "official windows 11 release" which just happened a few days ago ?!?!? Can you repeat the problem ?
>
> 2. Second question on my mind is:
>
> Does this problem/failure only occur through virtual machines ? For example W11 running in virtual machine ? Is it maybe a VMWare issue ?
>
> 3. Is the failure caused by VMWare15 and if so are higher versions working correctly ?
>
> 4. What if a real windows 11 NTFS harddisk is hooked up to an older Windows 7 operating system and the older Windows 7 operating system starts creating and copieing files to W11 NTFS will this cause the same problems ?
>
> 5. Could it be USB Portable driver related ?
>
> 6. Could it be virtual harddisk VHD related ? (Never had a problem before)
> (vmware uses a different file format *.vmsomething)
>
> The windows 11 virtual disk is also on the E: drive/usb portable, this should not matter ?!?!
>
> This is a very suspicious and very alarming situation !
>
> One question which would blow my mind:
>
> 7. What happens if it's VICE VERSA ?!?!?
>
> What if real windows 11 os/machine is hooked up to a windows 7 harddisk and files/folders are copied from windows 11 to windows 7, could this NUKE the windows 7 NTFS file system ?!?!?!?
>
> ^^^ Now I am starting to worry because this should have been tested ^^^
>
> What is even more alarming is that many companies use VMWare to run virtualized work places and many companies may still be in this situation where Windows 7 still runs on some machines and companies might looking to transition to Windows 11 and thus copieing Windows 7 files to a virtualized windows 11 harddisk is a very real scenerio. Perhaps not via VMWare on W7 so if it is a VMWare issue they would be off the hook, but are there are compatibility problems between these OS-es ?!?!? This has thrown a big cast of a doubt and a big shadow over it ?!?!?
>
> Big question is: Let's suppose it's VMware to blame... Why would VMWare corrupt Windows 11 NTFS file system ?!?!? Doesn't make much sense...
> Should it not represent the drive as some harddisk interface ? Thus Microsoft Windows software is fully incharge of the NTFS data structures ?!?!?
>
> I am not sure which software is responsible for this failure. I could be both.
>
> But if it's Microsoft then oh boy ?! holy shit ?! But if it's VMWare then companies also somewhat in danger !
>
> I hopy you all see the seriousness of this.
>
> However experience/history with Windows has learned that when longhorn came out (Windows 7) it also had some massive file system fuck ups and would loose files. Lately reports of Windows 11 losing files were also mentioned on the internet.
>
> So Windows beta/new software has a habit of fucking up file systems and losing files and having copieing problems !
>
> Well I just discovered this one !
>
> I want to get to the bottom of this. I am a big fan of virtual harddisks and I want to know exactly why this problem occured. First time I have seen a copy fail like this.
>
> I only tried it once, but I am confident it was the software that fucked up and it needs to be investigated. I cannot do it alone right now because I dont have newer VMWare versions and I dont have the latest windows 11 version and I dont have the space for it, or maybe on my E: drive there might be some space to try the latest windows 11 release.
>
> But if you already have it you can beat me to the punch and report on your findings.
>
> ANYWAY DO NOT TRY THIS ON REAL WORLD SYSTEMS BECAUSE YOU MAY LOOSE FILES OR DAMAGE YOUR WINDOWS 11 NTFS.
>
> ONLY PERFORM THESE W7 to W11 and W11 to W7 and W7 through VMWare to W11 and vica versa through TEST SYSTEMS !
>
> Report any findings below and you welcome to make some nice youtube videos about it ! If you do then I do ask some credit from you, mention me in your youtube video as the discoverer of this problem and that you read it on usenet/newsgroups/google groups ! So people learn of this news source as well ! ;)
>
> Bye for now,
> Skybuck.

What I notice, is VMWare wants to encrypt the virtual drive, if a TPM
is present. In VMWare Workstation 16, the option for Access.Control is
removed or seems to be. Earlier versions seem to have a TPM present
as well as an Access.Control to use with it.

The Windows 11 Guest you're running, probably cannot update, because
it'll sooner or later discover the TPM is missing. There is a vTPM
available in VMWare for that. It depends on which VMWare Workstation
you run, as to what controls are present. You can hand edit the .vmx
file, but that is hardly satisfactory.

I installed a "real" copy of Windows 11. This is Win11 on Win11.
The Host Win11 uses a real TPM. The Guest Win11 uses a software TPM
inside the VMWare Workstation -- it does not rely on passthru or
anything. Which is good. It means Win11-on-your-Win7 should work.

https://i.postimg.cc/cL1fgwzC/VMWare-W11-via-Template.gif

This tar file, contains a pre-encrypted virtual drive. The .vmx file
includes the encryption key. With sufficient crypto knowledge, the
virtual drive can be unencrypted, or at least I could find a
comment to that effect. In VMWareWorkstation, you could easily
unencrypt it, because the Access.Control is present.

I could find a note that said "encrypted drives cannot be shared".
That means, even a licensed copy of Workstation cannot use the offline
mapping/mounting function.

(Click the download button. Opens in 7ZIP or some crusty tar utility.)

https://github.com/RMITBLOG/Win11Compat/blob/main/Windows%2011%20Template.tar

The Github link came from this blog article.

https://ryanmangansitblog.com/2021/07/15/configure-vmware-workstation-16-for-windows-11/

After Windows 11 is installed, the multitude of vmdk chunks start to
fill up. The inventor of this tar file, did it this way, because it's
a clever way to save space

Windows 11 Template-s001.vmdk 4,121,886,720 bytes
Windows 11 Template-s002.vmdk 4,254,859,264 bytes
Windows 11 Template-s003.vmdk 2,766,733,312 bytes
Windows 11 Template-s004.vmdk 122,159,104 bytes
Windows 11 Template-s005.vmdk 524,288 bytes <=== orig empty size of a chunk
...
Windows 11 Template-s017.vmdk 523,173,888 bytes

even though Properties of C: show 19,898,798,080 bytes.

In any case, the basic issue is this:

[Picture]

https://i.postimg.cc/C1BbyMjS/Mapped-drive-not-ever.gif

The free version of Workstation, does not support mapping of
offline volumes.

The licensed version of Workstation, supports the mapping
of unencrypted offline volumes, but not encrypted offline volumes.
This makes it *useless* for a properly installed from legit
media copy of Windows 11 (using the tarfile with the pre-encrypted
file system for Windows 11 installation).

On Monday, October 25, 2021 at 11:30:36 PM UTC+2, Paul wrote:
> On 10/24/2021 2:43 PM, skybuck2000 wrote:
> > I just discovered a problem with windows 7 + vmware15 + windows 11.
> >
> > Windows 7 home runs on laptop build in harddisk C:
> > VMWare15 Workstation/Player runs on Windows 7.
> > Windows 11 leaked version runs on VMWare15 (can be mapped to Z: when offline)
> > USB Portable Harddisk connected to laptop: E:
> > Virtual Music Disk is on USB Portable Harddisk: F:
> >
> > Windows 11's virtual disk image was mapped Z: so it becomes accessible to Windows 7 via VMWare15's mapping feature.
> >
> > The goal was to copy a "demo" from F: to Z:
> > (The reason was to run the demo in windows 11 because the demo would not run in windows 7 because python version 3.9 does not run on windows 7.)
> >
> > I did so by first creating Z:\Test
> > Then I copied & paste "demo" folder to Z:\Test
> >
> > I already had a bad feeling about this because of two reasons:
> > VMWare15 does not know about Windows 11 so how can it know about any possibly new NTFS data structures on disk ?
> > Windows 7 might be using an older version of NTFS ?!?
> >
> > Anyway I continued to "trust" Microsoft W7, VMware15 and Microsoft W11 that they somehow found a way to "backwards compatible" copy files from Windows 7 to Windows 11 via VMWare mapping feature.
> >
> > BUT NOPE. MY HUNCH WAS RIGHT AND MY TRUST BETRAYED.
> >
> > Something during the copieing process from W7 to W11 went wrong.
> > When W11 booted in VMWare the copied files were not there.
> > W11 wanted to repair the W11 disk.
> > After repairing the W11 disk the files still not there.
> >
> > THUS THIS IS A SPECTACULAR FAILURE OF WINDOWS AND VMWARE SOFTWARE TO COPY FILES ! (AND WASTE USER TIME WITH DISK REPAIRS fortunately for me just 20 GB W11 disk)
> >
> > FURTHER MORE THE W11 TOOL PROBABLY DELETED ANY COPIED FILES.
> >
> > IF USER BELIEVED FILES WERE SAFELY COPIED AND ORIGINALS WERE DELETED BY USER THEN REAL DATA LOSS COULD OCCUR !
> >
> > Anyway this was just a simply test case for me to see what would happen..
> > I decided to copy this demo software from W7 to W11 because python 3.9 does not run on W7 that's how I found out of this copieing problem.
> >
> > Now there are some un-answered questions and this is where you can help out to shine some serious light on this very serious situation:
> >
> > 1. First question on my mind is:
> >
> > Is this problem/failure repeateably on the "official windows 11 release" which just happened a few days ago ?!?!? Can you repeat the problem ?
> >
> > 2. Second question on my mind is:
> >
> > Does this problem/failure only occur through virtual machines ? For example W11 running in virtual machine ? Is it maybe a VMWare issue ?
> >
> > 3. Is the failure caused by VMWare15 and if so are higher versions working correctly ?
> >
> > 4. What if a real windows 11 NTFS harddisk is hooked up to an older Windows 7 operating system and the older Windows 7 operating system starts creating and copieing files to W11 NTFS will this cause the same problems ?
> >
> > 5. Could it be USB Portable driver related ?
> >
> > 6. Could it be virtual harddisk VHD related ? (Never had a problem before)
> > (vmware uses a different file format *.vmsomething)
> >
> > The windows 11 virtual disk is also on the E: drive/usb portable, this should not matter ?!?!
> >
> > This is a very suspicious and very alarming situation !
> >
> > One question which would blow my mind:
> >
> > 7. What happens if it's VICE VERSA ?!?!?
> >
> > What if real windows 11 os/machine is hooked up to a windows 7 harddisk and files/folders are copied from windows 11 to windows 7, could this NUKE the windows 7 NTFS file system ?!?!?!?
> >
> > ^^^ Now I am starting to worry because this should have been tested ^^^
> >
> > What is even more alarming is that many companies use VMWare to run virtualized work places and many companies may still be in this situation where Windows 7 still runs on some machines and companies might looking to transition to Windows 11 and thus copieing Windows 7 files to a virtualized windows 11 harddisk is a very real scenerio. Perhaps not via VMWare on W7 so if it is a VMWare issue they would be off the hook, but are there are compatibility problems between these OS-es ?!?!? This has thrown a big cast of a doubt and a big shadow over it ?!?!?
> >
> > Big question is: Let's suppose it's VMware to blame... Why would VMWare corrupt Windows 11 NTFS file system ?!?!? Doesn't make much sense...
> > Should it not represent the drive as some harddisk interface ? Thus Microsoft Windows software is fully incharge of the NTFS data structures ?!?!?
> >
> > I am not sure which software is responsible for this failure. I could be both.
> >
> > But if it's Microsoft then oh boy ?! holy shit ?! But if it's VMWare then companies also somewhat in danger !
> >
> > I hopy you all see the seriousness of this.
> >
> > However experience/history with Windows has learned that when longhorn came out (Windows 7) it also had some massive file system fuck ups and would loose files. Lately reports of Windows 11 losing files were also mentioned on the internet.
> >
> > So Windows beta/new software has a habit of fucking up file systems and losing files and having copieing problems !
> >
> > Well I just discovered this one !
> >
> > I want to get to the bottom of this. I am a big fan of virtual harddisks and I want to know exactly why this problem occured. First time I have seen a copy fail like this.
> >
> > I only tried it once, but I am confident it was the software that fucked up and it needs to be investigated. I cannot do it alone right now because I dont have newer VMWare versions and I dont have the latest windows 11 version and I dont have the space for it, or maybe on my E: drive there might be some space to try the latest windows 11 release.
> >
> > But if you already have it you can beat me to the punch and report on your findings.
> >
> > ANYWAY DO NOT TRY THIS ON REAL WORLD SYSTEMS BECAUSE YOU MAY LOOSE FILES OR DAMAGE YOUR WINDOWS 11 NTFS.
> >
> > ONLY PERFORM THESE W7 to W11 and W11 to W7 and W7 through VMWare to W11 and vica versa through TEST SYSTEMS !
> >
> > Report any findings below and you welcome to make some nice youtube videos about it ! If you do then I do ask some credit from you, mention me in your youtube video as the discoverer of this problem and that you read it on usenet/newsgroups/google groups ! So people learn of this news source as well ! ;)
> >
> > Bye for now,
> > Skybuck.
> What I notice, is VMWare wants to encrypt the virtual drive, if a TPM
> is present. In VMWare Workstation 16, the option for Access.Control is
> removed or seems to be. Earlier versions seem to have a TPM present
> as well as an Access.Control to use with it.
>
> The Windows 11 Guest you're running, probably cannot update, because
> it'll sooner or later discover the TPM is missing. There is a vTPM
> available in VMWare for that. It depends on which VMWare Workstation
> you run, as to what controls are present. You can hand edit the .vmx
> file, but that is hardly satisfactory.
>
> I installed a "real" copy of Windows 11. This is Win11 on Win11.
> The Host Win11 uses a real TPM. The Guest Win11 uses a software TPM
> inside the VMWare Workstation -- it does not rely on passthru or
> anything. Which is good. It means Win11-on-your-Win7 should work.
>
> https://i.postimg.cc/cL1fgwzC/VMWare-W11-via-Template.gif
>
> This tar file, contains a pre-encrypted virtual drive. The .vmx file
> includes the encryption key. With sufficient crypto knowledge, the
> virtual drive can be unencrypted, or at least I could find a
> comment to that effect. In VMWareWorkstation, you could easily
> unencrypt it, because the Access.Control is present.
>
> I could find a note that said "encrypted drives cannot be shared".
> That means, even a licensed copy of Workstation cannot use the offline
> mapping/mounting function.
>
> (Click the download button. Opens in 7ZIP or some crusty tar utility.)
>
> https://github.com/RMITBLOG/Win11Compat/blob/main/Windows%2011%20Template..tar
>
> The Github link came from this blog article.
>
> https://ryanmangansitblog.com/2021/07/15/configure-vmware-workstation-16-for-windows-11/
>
> After Windows 11 is installed, the multitude of vmdk chunks start to
> fill up. The inventor of this tar file, did it this way, because it's
> a clever way to save space
>
> Windows 11 Template-s001.vmdk 4,121,886,720 bytes
> Windows 11 Template-s002.vmdk 4,254,859,264 bytes
> Windows 11 Template-s003.vmdk 2,766,733,312 bytes
> Windows 11 Template-s004.vmdk 122,159,104 bytes
> Windows 11 Template-s005.vmdk 524,288 bytes <=== orig empty size of a chunk
> ...
> Windows 11 Template-s017.vmdk 523,173,888 bytes
>
> even though Properties of C: show 19,898,798,080 bytes.
>
> In any case, the basic issue is this:
>
> [Picture]
>
> https://i.postimg.cc/C1BbyMjS/Mapped-drive-not-ever.gif
>
> The free version of Workstation, does not support mapping of
> offline volumes.
>
> The licensed version of Workstation, supports the mapping
> of unencrypted offline volumes, but not encrypted offline volumes.
> This makes it *useless* for a properly installed from legit
> media copy of Windows 11 (using the tarfile with the pre-encrypted
> file system for Windows 11 installation).
>
> Did you actually buy a copy of Workstation and license it ??? O.o

> The Github link came from this blog article.
>
> https://ryanmangansitblog.com/2021/07/15/configure-vmware-workstation-16-for-windows-11/

This article may have saved me some time ! So thanks for that !

I created a new virtual machine to attempt to install the official release of windows 11 x64.

I noticed how I could not add a "TPM" module. So then I started checking your posting because it felt like I am missing something and it could bite me in the ass later.

So indeed after encrypting the virtual harddisk it becomes possible to add the TPM module, otherwise the apply/ok button is grayed out.

So this is kinda weird/feels weird that VMWare 15 and Windows 11 is forcing me to encrypt the virtual disk ? What if I don't want to ? Kinda weird. I just gave it a simple password that I should always know ! ;)

One down side to this is if I die nobody can enter that virtual machine, but ok that is why I am slightly against encryption, loss of files.

Also what if any bugs exist in the encryption code ? Hmmm ?

But for now I will give it a try.

I can see how encryption virtual machines and virtual disks can protect IT people and users from POLICE RAIDS on server centers and such ! =D

Anyway the process of installing Windows 11 in VMWare 15 seems to be:

1. Create a virtual machine as normal.
2. One processor with two cores seems to be enough.
3. Windows 11 may require 4 GB of ram, though running with 2 GB after installation might be possible, not sure if installer checks for 4 GB, maybe.
4. Allocate the virtual disk would be my recommendation.
5. After virtual disk is crypted. Encrypt it by selecting the disk and clicking encrypt button, put in password to use.
6. Add TPM module after virtual disk is encrypted.
7. Also enable "secure boot" and "uefi"... I already did that part at step 1.

So far I used a 20 GB virtual disk like for the LEAK. I am not sure if 20 GB will be enough so far the windows 11 installer didn't complain about it and was happy to install on it.
I fear that maybe 21 GB might be needed.

So far I aborted the installation by suspending the virtual machine. I had to do other things, but in a moment I will try and continue with it. Will be interesting to see if VMWare 15 actually works well for this, I do worry that there might be some suspend bugs or memory corruption issues but in theory this should work if VMWare dumped it's memory correctly. This took a while to suspend, I think VMWare might compress it's virtual memory into a file of 2 GB or so.

There are some leaked keys on the internet, one has to scroll down to find the correct ones.

Apperently the LEAKED version or UNUPDATED versions of windows 11 use different keys. The latest official windows 11 has a slightly different letter in the front of the key for a certain version. For example N instead of M.

So first it looked like a typo.. it might be... but I think keys slightly changed ! HAHA.

I am attempting to install Windows 11 Pro for Workstations. Instead of Windows 11 Pro.

Perhaps this is a bad decision of me because the first version might be bigger and may require more space, but if I ever want to "burn" this virtual disk to a real disk that perhaps I can benefit from the extra features that this version has.

I will keep you posted on how the installation went ! :)

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

On 10/31/2021 2:47 PM, skybuck2000 wrote:
>> The Github link came from this blog article.
>>
>> https://ryanmangansitblog.com/2021/07/15/configure-vmware-workstation-16-for-windows-11/
>
> This article may have saved me some time ! So thanks for that !
>
> I created a new virtual machine to attempt to install the official release of windows 11 x64.
>
> I noticed how I could not add a "TPM" module. So then I started checking your posting because it felt like I am missing something and it could bite me in the ass later.
>
> So indeed after encrypting the virtual harddisk it becomes possible to add the TPM module, otherwise the apply/ok button is grayed out.
>
> So this is kinda weird/feels weird that VMWare 15 and Windows 11 is forcing me to encrypt the virtual disk ? What if I don't want to ? Kinda weird. I just gave it a simple password that I should always know ! ;)
>
> One down side to this is if I die nobody can enter that virtual machine, but ok that is why I am slightly against encryption, loss of files.
>
> Also what if any bugs exist in the encryption code ? Hmmm ?
>
> But for now I will give it a try.
>
> I can see how encryption virtual machines and virtual disks can protect IT people and users from POLICE RAIDS on server centers and such ! =D
>
> Anyway the process of installing Windows 11 in VMWare 15 seems to be:
>
> 1. Create a virtual machine as normal.
> 2. One processor with two cores seems to be enough.
> 3. Windows 11 may require 4 GB of ram, though running with 2 GB after installation might be possible, not sure if installer checks for 4 GB, maybe.
> 4. Allocate the virtual disk would be my recommendation.
> 5. After virtual disk is crypted. Encrypt it by selecting the disk and clicking encrypt button, put in password to use.
> 6. Add TPM module after virtual disk is encrypted.
> 7. Also enable "secure boot" and "uefi"... I already did that part at step 1.
>
> So far I used a 20 GB virtual disk like for the LEAK. I am not sure if 20 GB will be enough so far the windows 11 installer didn't complain about it and was happy to install on it.
> I fear that maybe 21 GB might be needed.
>
> So far I aborted the installation by suspending the virtual machine. I had to do other things, but in a moment I will try and continue with it. Will be interesting to see if VMWare 15 actually works well for this, I do worry that there might be some suspend bugs or memory corruption issues but in theory this should work if VMWare dumped it's memory correctly. This took a while to suspend, I think VMWare might compress it's virtual memory into a file of 2 GB or so.
>
> There are some leaked keys on the internet, one has to scroll down to find the correct ones.
>
> Apperently the LEAKED version or UNUPDATED versions of windows 11 use different keys. The latest official windows 11 has a slightly different letter in the front of the key for a certain version. For example N instead of M.
>
> So first it looked like a typo.. it might be... but I think keys slightly changed ! HAHA.
>
> I am attempting to install Windows 11 Pro for Workstations. Instead of Windows 11 Pro.
>
> Perhaps this is a bad decision of me because the first version might be bigger and may require more space, but if I ever want to "burn" this virtual disk to a real disk that perhaps I can benefit from the extra features that this version has.
>
> I will keep you posted on how the installation went ! :)
>
> Bye for now,
> Skybuck.
>

The Workstation version should have different Scheduler code for threads/processes.
Specifically, for when there are more than 64 cores in a grouping. It might have
support for ReFS file system in the format command (just a guess, not sure). But
the vast majority of the install will be the same, so no larger C: allocation
would be needed than Win11 Pro.

If you don't have 4GB of RAM, that might have some impact on containers or sandbox
stuff. Which no one cares about anyway, when they just want to get something done :-)

The fun continues, until the OS starts enforcing its security design.

Paul

WOW, This was the fastest windows installation I have ever seen. Almost feels like something is wrong with it LOL and this for an encrypted drive on a usb 2.0 port makes it even more amazing.

Granted I did do a little bit of laundry, moving it from washing machine to drying machine and then I prepared myself for some TV, literally 2 minutes watching TV and BAM windows 11 installation done !

Also resuming from suspend was much faster than suspending itself.

Total installation time probably 5 minutes or so. WOW !

Network connection was not available, maybe NAT not working yet, maybe cause I disabled services.

Maybe this has something to do with it ! =D

Maybe downloading and applying updates is slow I dont know.

Or maybe this latest ISO already has all updates build into it's code so no stupid updates after copieing files.

Pretty interesting.

OK BYE FOR NOW.

Next step is to try and bring network online and install latest version of Delphi Community Edition.

Will be interesting to see if VMWare can emulate a graphics card ! ;) :)

Maybe even games will run inside of it ! LOL. Probably not but would be funny with a broken 3D chip in the real laptop ! ;)

Bye,
Skybuck =D

OH I FORGOT TO MENTION SOMETHING IMPORTANT HAHA.

The installation size was below 10 GB, something like 8.9 GB or something. (Restarting it currently to try and bring network online =D)

Yeah ! ;)

Bye,
Skybuck.

I knew it... haha... windows 11 pro for workstations... it was 8.7 GB.... I didn't dare to believe it was actually well below 9 GB ! LOL.

Wow if I remember correctly windows xp was something like 12 or 14 GB ! HMMM..

OH WAIT MY BAD... that is actually the free space lol... 8.7 GB free space...

So that means 11.3 GB for windows 11 that makes more sense to me haha.

19.3 total space - 8.7... it probably has 700 MB for boot drive or something

or 20 GB is 19.3 GB because of 1024 calculations ? Kinda confusing hmm...

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

Free space went down from 8.7 to 8.3 GB and now back up to 8.46 GB not sure what is going on... hmm may have to do something with network or it counting files not sure..

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

The network is working !

I did not install VMWare tools because I want to keep this installation PURE !

I noticed issues if the VM is installed onto a real computer... if VMWARE is installed and I dont want that ;)

I woud love to make a screen of this powershell... I just pinged google from inside a windows 11 vm lol..

I don't know how to do a copy paste from powershell is that functionality even there ?!

See I already miss cmd.exe/dos ! haha !

Foolish microsoft, is this for protection/security reasons lol ?!

OK cmd.exe is possible to execute on the search thing.

Ya know what I am gonna paste it all in edge ! HAHAHAHA... Yeah.

I will do this in a next message so I dont have to re-type this ! HAHA LOL.

Very cool stuff... I am starting to like this !

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

AND HERE I AM TYPING FROM WINDOWS 11 in VMWARE WORKSTATION 15.

TYPING THIS IN EDGE WEB BROWSER/

HERE IS THE OUTPUT FROM CMD.EXE and PINGING GOOGLE.COM:

"
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22000.194]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Skybuck>ping www.google.com

Pinging www.google.com [142.251.36.4] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 142.251.36.4: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=128
Reply from 142.251.36.4: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=128
Reply from 142.251.36.4: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=128
Reply from 142.251.36.4: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 142.251.36.4:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 13ms, Maximum = 14ms, Average = 13ms

C:\Users\Skybuck>
"

BOOM ! =D

I HEREBY LIKE TO CONGRATULATE MICROSOFT ON THEIR WINDOWS 11 OFFICIAL RELEASE AND ALSO VMWARE WITH THEIR WORKSTATION 15 SOFTWARE ! =D

SO FAR EVERYTHING IS WORKING MUCH BETTER THAN EXPECTED.

ALSO THANKS TOSHIBA FOR YOUR LAPTOP. I MUST ADMIT IT'S BETTER THAN SOME RECENT ONES... AT LEAST YOUR ACCUS AND INTERNAL DESIGN IS VERY CLEAN.

=D

So far so good, but I fully expect there to be BUGS ! LOL =D

Bye for now,
Skybuck =D

Alrighty back in windows 7 now.

I had this idea to try and install software into virtual disks, then attach them to folders. This may be easier to move software around.

Ofcourse this leaves the registry issue remaining but ok, keys can be exported etc.

Now Delphi 20.0 was 13.5 GB so estimate delphi 21.0 to be around that size... so here is where virtual disks might suffer a bit, though I could try a dynamic vhd for software installations, not sure if VHD's can be attached to virtual machines... hmmm..

Otherwise VM's own format might do... so I am going to shutdown windows 11 and then try and create a second virtual disk for software installations ! ;)

Fingers crossed ! =D

But first I check something, first I check if .NET framework is already installed cause delphi installer needs it. I know that much.

I don't see .NET framework yet... ouch oh well.. gonna give this a try.

I noticed something, services.msc wouldn't open while clicking on it, so I just typed this in... and hit enter and it worked.

Not sure if I need to activate windows first to be able to use these things... or it's some kind of bug... maybe 3d chip related not sure,.

Bye,
Skybuck =D

Ok that didn't work, just adding a second harddisk, was not recgonized by windows 11 on restart ?!? Hmmm ?!?

Do all harddisk need to be encrypted ?? Hmm... googling it.

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

I think I know what to do after seeing this text:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E0P_KAoDAM

I think I need to go inside the virtual machine and then to computer management and then simply create new simple volume on the disk to initialize it and such and format it yeahahaha..

I was expecting it to show up in windows explorer as an uninitialize or unformatted or unused disk or something but apperently not ! ;)

Ok this time the snap in console and computer management is showing itself.

Maybe windows 11 unpacks itself once the users uses something for the first time ! LOL.

330 MB disappeared...

YUP THERE IS THE SECOND DISK !

Nice everything is sweet, escape from gwen stefani bye bye ! =D

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

More info on space taken by windows 11 on it's installed drive:

100 MB for boot system/partition
19.3 GB for C: partition of which 8.7 GB was free ! ;)
593 MB for recovery system/partition

Bye,
Skybuck.

I downloaded the .NET Framework 4.8 offline installer and then I tried to install it inside windows 11 but after a while it said, .NET Framework 4.8 or higher already installed.

But I did not see any .NET Framework 4.8 optimizer in services... so I assumed there was none... hmmm..

Maybe I should have checked program files or something didn't know how to do that yet, but I will..

Hopefully this installation attempt didn't screw up windows 11 .NET framework whatever is installed ! ;)

It said windows 11 blocked this installation attempt...

I tried searching the apps... 33 there but it was not there..

But it's under apps-> optional features->windows features..

HEHE yeah I guessed so I found it..

OK now I should be able to install Delphi ! See ya later.

Oh btw I mounted the entire drive into C:\Tools\RAD Studio\Delphi Community Edition 10.4

So basically this entire drive is now in there... I hope I can just install delphi to Drive:\ so in root hahaha...

I am not sure if I can mount multiplke drives into the same folder I dont think so... windows wants an empty folder.

So if I want to install other versions they need their own folder...

But I don;t want a double folder like delphi C:\Tools\RAD Studio\Delphi Community Edition 10.4\Delphi Community Edition 10.4

Fingers crossed ! ;)

Bye,
Skybuck.

The installation tool just see that folder so all is fine lol.

Anyway the problem now is Delphi installation failed on windows 7, but it still consumed a license, could not re-use the same license on windows 11, this is kinda annoying.

This company should first check if the product was correctly installed !

Trying to re-new free license otherwise I will have to request one again via other account/

They probably re-send me the same key,... this kinda shit... gonna try a different account.

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

First I tried something else... running LicenseManager.exe from bin folder..... then delete the 10.4.2 license.... then tried to re-register it inside the windows 11 version... NOPE.... not licensed... maybe there server has some lag... gonna try it one more time.

Very disappointing licensing experience so far !... back to plan A, register different account...

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

Code from other account also didn't work.

Maybe serial key is linked to the downloader/installer. I will remove Delphi and then try and re-download and re-install it.

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

Unbelievable retarded, somehow it didn't uninstall completed and the license manager still there... now the installation complains I cannot install two of the same versions ! HAHA GOOD JOB FUCKING RETARDS !

Btye for now,
Skybuck.

I tried manually running license manager now new license is somehow expired too, and this is supposed to be free at least for a year or so...

Whatever I am done with this embacadero licensing bullshit, they have wasted enough of my time !

Maybe I can find a cracked version somewhere ! =D

Bye,
Skybuck.

Most of it is just malware...

Anyway even Delphi 11 has licensing issues, maybe this will help:

https://www.ideasawakened.com/post/quick-fix-for-for-rad-studio-11-license-failure-during-installation

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

Hmm because I had no network running, the date and time of windows 11 might have been wrong.

This may also have something to do with it...

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

On Monday, November 1, 2021 at 1:09:58 PM UTC+1, skybuck2000 wrote:
> Hmm because I had no network running, the date and time of windows 11 might have been wrong.
>
> This may also have something to do with it...
>
> Bye for now,
> Skybuck.

Yes now that the time/date is sync-ed up it seems to be working.

Holyshit was this issue hard to spot ! haha

Bye,
Skybuck.

THANK GOD IT'S WORKING YES... PFFFEEEWWWWW LOL.

Spent like 1 hour trying to get a crack from chinese website but gave up, now I dont need to anymore YEAaAAAAAH ! =D

Preseverence wins ! =D

Oh my god, now I am running into not enough space issue if I want everything installed ! LOL.

This too funny... the installer only sees the space on the C:\ drive and doesn't understand the folder has plenty of space !

Ouch !

Maybe I can change installation to something else I am not sure... what the hell is going on...

Can't see the drive in windows explorer cause it's mounted in a folder and doesn't give much information but I will try....

Shit this is a big oversight of microsoft in many ways and also delphi/embarcadero/installers.

Hmmmm... I may have to re-size the C drive... plus maybe Delphi only install to C I read that somewhere not sure...

Hmmm I could try and assigning that drive a letter....

Maybe delphi will then see it but I doubt it... weird stuff.

The best I can do is just not select one of these at platform selection
windows
apple
ios
android something like that...
Hmmm...

I have windows
my mom has iOS
and I have bluestacks
and I was intending to install MacOS next or something.. damn...

I guess mac OS gets the boot for now ! haha
Bye for now,
skybuck.