Start10 and Start11 are preventing me from updating Win 11 to 24H2

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. I believe you're having the same issue as this poster: https://forums.stardock.com/530476/get;3956283 (reply#136). Please read through his post and the responds from the community and the Dev himself on his and probably your issue too.

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Hi, thanks, I read through that thread and tried deleting the folders mentioned. It didn't work for me. I'm not sure who the Dev himself is in that thread, but if he is the person saying that the poster should contact Microsoft because Start11 is compatible with Win11, then that does not apply to my issue, because Start10 is not compatible with Win11, and it is the responsibility of the Start10 dev to provide a way to uninstall the software. I cannot believe that Purge_ALL.bat run in normal mode, as admin, and in safe mode as admin does not actually sufficiently uninstall the software for Windows to recognize it as uninstalled.

Perhaps someone else, even the dev himself, can offer advice? The Windows message says to update to 24H2 I need "the latest version of this app", and I paid for Start11 just so I could update from Start10 and continue to update my Windows machine. I was thinking that paying $15-20 was worth saving myself another 10 hours of wasted time trying to get the software to properly uninstall, so it's really frustrating it did not work.

Have you tried running sfc /scannow from an elevated command prompt?

Sometimes, missing/damaged system files cause problems updating to 24H2. That's what happened to me, and sfc /scannow fixed the problem.

Quoting CapnNemo100, reply 2

Hi, thanks, I read through that thread and tried deleting the folders mentioned. It didn't work for me. I'm not sure who the Dev himself is in that thread, but if he is the person saying that the poster should contact Microsoft because Start11 is compatible with Win11, then that does not apply to my issue, because Start10 is not compatible with Win11, and it is the responsibility of the Start10 dev to provide a way to uninstall the software. I cannot believe that Purge_ALL.bat run in normal mode, as admin, and in safe mode as admin does not actually sufficiently uninstall the software for Windows to recognize it as uninstalled.

Perhaps someone else, even the dev himself, can offer advice? The Windows message says to update to 24H2 I need "the latest version of this app", and I paid for Start11 just so I could update from Start10 and continue to update my Windows machine. I was thinking that paying $15-20 was worth saving myself another 10 hours of wasted time trying to get the software to properly uninstall, so it's really frustrating it did not work.

The problem here is we have absolutely no information on what on earth Microsoft are looking for to 'detect' the installation of Start10.

The only people who know are Microsoft.  If you have uninstalled the software then it is not installed so it is up to them to make their software work correctly.  It is true that Start10 itself is not compatible with Windows 11 (being designed for Windows 10), but that should not stop you upgrading from 23h2 to 24h2 as if it were to cause a problem it would have been doing so in 23H2 too!  It being installed will not cause crashes in the OS, it will just not work as designed.

As a note on how terrible their system is, in the past they have detected a folder named Start11 (and perhaps Start10) anywhere on your system, copies of files from other OSes in dual boot setups, files in backups etc.  Why exactly they don't simply look in installed apps, or program files for the exes I have no idea.  Contacting the developers would also make some sense you would think...

We will be contacting them about their awful detection systems though as this is an appalling mess they have made of it all.

What I would do is check you do not have any files or folders named Start10 anywhere on your system.

I, too, cannot update Windows 11 because of a previous, uninstalled version of Start10.

I am a paid subscriber. I have already uninstalled Start10. I installed Start11, and then upgraded to Start11 v2.

Due to this problem preventing upgrading Windows itself, I have now uninstalled every Stardock app in the hope of getting Windows 11 to update. Unfortunately, it is now impossible to update Windows 11.

I will be forced to perform a full reset of the system just because I had Start10 installed at some point in the past.

It is unfortunate that Stardock is unwilling to assist in resolving the problem. Clearly, something must be done to assist users who have had Start10 installed on a Windows 11 system to allow them to upgrade Windows 11.

Too bad.

Have you tried the purge part of "purge and reinstall" steps as mention here : [Link]. Make sure to reboot after the purge. Retest and report back here.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Unfortunately as mentioned before, this isn't our bug.

Microsoft have some horrible logic for detecting if an app is 'installed' and it is broken.  We don't even have info on what they are detecting as they never contacted us about this, but I know from past experience they sometimes detect old installs in old copies of Windows on other drives.

If you have uninstalled Start10 and there is no c:\program files(x86)\Stardock\Start10 folder and there is no Start10 folder in your documents directory then I recommend contacting Microsoft for technical assistance with their product as it is clearly broken.  You would think they would know where it is looking or a bypass option.

My guess is the Start10 has an entry in the Registry that needs removed.

You could run regedit and search for all Start10 as "key" and delete it then try again.