Microsoft fixes IE11 known issue blocking Windows 11 upgrades

Microsoft has removed a compatibility hold blocking Windows 11 upgrades for Windows 10 customers after fixing a known issue leading to problems importing Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) data into Microsoft Edge.

The safeguard hold was applied for Windows 10 systems where IE11 was the main or the default browser.

The only customers impacted by the now-fixed known issue were those who didn’t import their IE11 information into Microsoft Edge before starting the Windows 11 upgrade process.

“This issue was resolved in Microsoft Edge 99.0 for devices upgrading to Windows 11 and devices that have already upgraded to Windows 11,” Microsoft explained on the Windows Health dashboard.

“The safeguard hold has been removed as of March 31, 2022 for devices which have updated to Microsoft Edge 99.0 and later.”

According to Microsoft, it can take up to 48 hours before the Windows 11, version 21H2 update is offered on systems where the upgrade block was applied.

Before applying this compatibility hold, Microsoft removed four other blocks caused by known issues with:

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

Internet Explorer will be retired in June

In related news, Microsoft has reminded Windows customers in March that Internet Explorer 11 will be retired from some Windows 10 versions in June and replaced with the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge.

After Internet Explorer’s retirement, Microsoft will continue supporting legacy Internet Explorer-based websites and apps within Microsoft Edge through the built-in Internet Explorer mode (IE mode) feature.

Once retired on June 15, 2022, the Internet Explorer desktop app will be disabled and automatically redirect to the Microsoft Edge web browser.

You can learn more about how to transition to Microsoft Edge and its IE mode from this Getting Started guide.