Windows Insider – Fix ‘This Build Will Expire Soon’ Error

windows 10windows-insider

I get this warning each time I login to Windows 10:

This build of Windows will expire soon

Your build of Windows will expire on 31/07/2020. You should move to a new build as soon as possible. Go online for more information.

With a 'More info' and 'Close' button. The 'More Info' button goes to a website that does not exist:

We're sorry, we can't find that page.
The page you're looking for may no longer be available. Please make sure your URL is correct and try again.

With nothing in the Wayback machine either.

I'm in the Windows Insider Program (to use WSL 2), and have recently switched from the Dev channel to the Beta channel, because the Dev channel is not needed anymore for WSL 2 support. It is my guess that switching WIP channels lead to this 'Windows will expire soon' warning.

According to the lower right corner of my desktop, I'm on

Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview
Evaluation copy. Build 20152.rs_prerelease.200617-1502

I guess it says this is an "Evaluation Copy" because it is an WIP build. The current WIP build numbers are

  • Dev: 20175
  • Beta: 19042.421
  • RC: 19041.388

So maybe Windows refuses to update to the Beta channel, because that has an older version than I'm already on. I was expecting that I would move over to the Beta channel before the Dev channel would expire. (My reason for not staying on Dev is that Dev requires to many reboots.)

My priorities are a) have a working operating system on July 31th, and b) move from the WIP Dev channel to the Beta channel (or maybe RC or turn of WIP entirely, depending on WSL 2 support). What are my options?

  • Wait till July 1st and see what will happen (maybe Windows will switch to the Beta channel last minute?).
  • Go back to the WIP Dev channel. (And very carefully time going to the Beta channel some how?)
  • 'Refresh' / reinstall Windows somehow and get to the WIP Beta channel.

None of these are very attractive, anyone know something smarter? What will happen if I do nothing, can I still use the machine after July 31th?

Related questions seem to indicate that I can just wait it out, but those are all for specific builds, so I'm not sure.

This build of Windows will expire soon

Best Answer

I get this warning each time I login to Windows 10:

This build of Windows will expire soon Your build of Windows will expire on 31/07/2020. You should move to a new build as soon as possible. Go online for more information.

Build 20152 was released on June 24th 2020 the current build for the Dev channel was released on July 22nd 2020. There were 2 additional builds released between June 22nd 2020 and July 22nd 2020.

Based on my research it does not appear that the Beta channel has received what potentially will become the 21H1 release at this time. Build 20152 at this time is one of those builds. This means that until 20H2 is release the Beta channel WILL NOT have any builds that will potentially become 21H1 at this time.

I'm in the Windows Insider Program (to use WSL 2), and have recently switched from the Dev channel to the Beta channel, because the Dev channel is not needed anymore for WSL 2 support. It is my guess that switching WIP channels lead to this 'Windows will expire soon' warning.

At this time you will have to switch back to the Dev channel in order to receive new builds of Windows 10. You will have to stay on this channel until after 20H2 is released. You must make the switch from the Dev channel to the Beta channel before development of 22H1 is started.

My priorities are a) have a working operating system on July 31th, and b) move from the WIP Dev channel to the Beta channel (or maybe RC or turn of WIP entirely, depending on WSL 2 support). What are my options?

Once a build expires you will be unable to boot into Windows. This means you must install the current Dev channel build before July 31st 2020. In order to receive that build you must do the following actions as an Administrator.

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. In the search box, type CMD.exe.
3. On the right menu under Command Prompt, select Run as administrator. 
4. If prompted by UAC, choose Yes.
5. From the elevated prompt, enter this command, then hit enter: `net stop wuauserv`
6. Enter this command, then hit enter: `rmdir /s /q C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\SLS`
7. Finally, enter this command, then hit enter: `net start wuauserv`
8. Close the Command Prompt window.
9. Open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and check for updates.

Once you have completed all the actions required to solve this problem you should be offered the current Dev channel build. Windows 10 does not allow you to go backwards to a past build. This means it's not possible, at this current time, to install a Beta channel build.

I'll repeat this procedure each time I'm close to the expiration date. Hopefully this will get me to a Beta build at some point. But I'm a bit afraid that Dev will have moved some versions by the time an earlier build has been deemed stable enough for Beta. Then I might never get out of Dev... E.g. Beta 19042.421 was released 2 days after Dev 20175. So seems I'm stuck.

You encountered an issue that impacted Intel and AMD machines on earlier builds. Due to the changes to the Insider Preview channels, until there is an overlap between the Dev channel and Beta channel you won't be able to switch channels, the earliest this would happen is after 20H2 is released. You will have to postpone updates before the Dev channel build is higher than the expected build for 21H1.

I use this website to determine what release a build belongs to exactly.

switching from Dev to Beta is exactly what got me into this situation.

It was actually an issue, that was fixed back on July 22nd 2020, but prevented your machine from being offered a more recent build. Switching the Insider Preview channels didn't have anything to do with your problem.

Maybe this is one of the few times that 'typically' does not apply, and for some reason they expired Dev releases before there is a suitable Beta release to upgrade to.

The Beta channel is actually targeting the next feature update 20H2. The build you had installed was a preview build for 21H1.

Source:

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