Microsoft Removes Windows 11 Update Block for VirtualBox Users

Microsoft has removed the last Windows 11 safeguard hold after Oracle addressed a known VirtualBox issue causing errors and virtual machine start failures when Hyper-V or the Windows Hypervisor were installed.

Safeguard holds prevent users from upgrading to Windows 11 to protect their systems against potential upgrade issues, in this case, software instability caused by compatibility issues between Windows and VirtualBox.

“Oracle has resolved this issue in VirtualBox 6.1.28 and later. To remove the safeguard hold on your device, you will need to update to VirtualBox 6.1.28 or later,” Microsoft explained in a note added to the Windows health dashboard over the weekend.

Also Read: 4 Major Guidelines of Data Protection Employee Rights

“Please note, if there are no other safeguards that affect your device, it can take up to 48 hours before the update to Windows 11, version 21H2 is offered.”

Redmond applied the update block to all devices running Virtualbox since the day Windows 11 was released following user reports of compatibility issues with Oracle’s virtualization software.

Customers who try to update affected systems would receive a “VirtualBox. Your PC requires the latest version of this app. Click Learn More for more information on how to update this app.” message even when running the latest release.

Since then, those running VirtualBox on their computers haven’t been able to upgrade to the latest Windows version even if they had compatible hardware and software.

Some users might still be affected

“If you do not have VirtualBox installed but are receiving this safeguard hold, you might have an application that is based on VirtualBox or which has bundled VirtualBox within their installation,” Microsoft added.

“If you have any applications that use or create VMs or system images, you might need to update or uninstall them to remove this safeguard hold.”

Also Read: 12 Damaging Consequences of Data Breach

While Oracle worked on addressing this issue, Redmond also provided a workaround to enable impacted customers to mitigate the safeguard hold, requiring them to uninstall Hyper-V, Windows Hypervisor, or VirtualBox to receive the Windows 11 upgrade.

The compatibility issues between Oracle VirtualBox and Windows 11 were behind the last safeguard to be removed for Windows 11, version 21H2 after Microsoft addressed other issues with:

• Intel Smart Sound Technology drivers
• Apps using some non-ASCII characters in their registry keys
• Serbian (Latin) language pack might be unexpectedly removed