Symptom: stuck at 10% when installing Windows 11 Guest on Windows 11 Host in VirtualBox.
Solution: lots of small things, but mostly Memory Core Integration... I still have some testing to do, but this looks promising!
Background
I'm trying to re-use my valid Windows 10 license by upgrading the VM to a Windows 11 License... That action is a bit of a grey one, as the free update period is already gone. But the whole Windows 10 / Windows 11 thing is so messy that I don't feel very guilty about that detail...
Steps
My step by step procedure on 23.02.2026. Note that M$ / Windows keeps changing things, so your experience might be slightly different.
Hardware
1. Running on a Ryzen 7 5700X / AM4 / 64 GB RAM
Lots of memory, with the VM installed on the NVME C:\ drive
Windows
2. Disable Hyper-V in Windows 11 Host OS
3. Disable Memory Core Integration (was messing with virtualization) in Windows 11 Host OS - this also sped up my VM considerably
This is decreasing your safety a bit, but the Windows 11 Host kept messing with my virtualization, so I had little choice
VirtualBox
4. The original machine already had 4 cores, 8 GB allocated, but NO UEFI nor Secure Boot!
I might try - once succesfull - to change those options in VirtualBox and reboot, just for fun and giggles...
5. Increasing the disk image .VDI max size to 120+ GB
That was tricky by itself - check this
6. Enable 3D Acceleration in VirtualBox
7. You *may* have to disable USB
8. During the initial phase I disable network connectivity inside VirtualBox
Clear VirtualBox / Machine / Settings / Network / Virtual Cable Connected
Install Windows 11
9. I already had an installed and licensed Windows 10 VM, that I cloned and then tried to upgrade to Windows 11
10. Mount Windows 11 ISO image in the VM
I used a Windows 11 25h2 US English Iso - if you upgrade make sure you use the right one!
11. Run as admin on the virtual CD ROM: i:\setup /product server
12. In this case I tried a 'Fresh Install' but to be fair, un update should work as well
13. Install runs past 100%, then loops at 'Just a moment...' for a few minutes
Goodie! That covers the basics! I still have to figure out the license troubles, but it's a step in the right direction.
14. Re-connecting at 'Let's connect you to a network'...
Tick VirtualBox / Machine / Settings / Network / Virtual Cable Connected
15. Choose country
16. Windows does updates
Downloads and installs took up to an hour on my 100 Mbit cable Internet (Ziggo)
17. Then it's the usual clickerdyclick, use a Microsoft account, and refuse anything Microsoft offers...
18. And yes! It's activated...
Windows is recognizing the activation of my old Windows 10 VM, and tells me this copy of Windows 11 is activated with a digital license.
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