Context: https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/88518/ Any trials to force an in-place upgrade from Windows 10 x86 to Windows 11 x64 ?
Good luck with that (already got a headache when the video started) and it is not related to the subject of this project nor on my todo list. ps, i would not go to the shown webpage either.
Such unreliable, inconsistent voodoo magic rituals... and for what? Perform a clean install, have some peace of mind.
I agree that this would required some investigation to understand why this trick is working, but there is no voodoo magic here, all the upgrade logic has been already implemented by Microsoft. As with UpgradeMatrix.xml it is just a way to enable these upgrade paths. For Windows XP/Windows Server 2003 x86 to x64 in-place upgrade, it is not the same story, but a PoC is in progress.
There's a lot of Microsoft implementations, behind the scenes or not. The whole point of the enthusiast community is to weed out the dodgy ones.
The technology in question would be called CIRCA or something like that for “Customer In-place Refresh and Clean Automation” and would have been introduced during the LH/Vista development cycle of the new setup. It’s another hidden gem that would be worth to be documented.
CIRCA is obviously not limited to x86 <> x64 and I can share that x86 to x64 upgrade path is eventually more popular that what you are expecting. I agree with you and about x64 to x86.