Couldn’t install Windows 11 24H2 because of your wallpaper? Microsoft has finally lifted blocks on upgrades due to customization apps – with some catches

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Couldn’t install Windows 11 24H2 because of your wallpaper? Microsoft has finally lifted blocks on upgrades due to customization apps – with some catches

Windows 11 24H2 couldn’t be installed by the users of some wallpaper customization apps
This was because of compatibility issues with said apps and 24H2
Microsoft has now resolved those problems, for the most part anyway

Microsoft has finally lifted a compatibility block preventing some Windows 11 users from upgrading to the latest version of the OS because they had certain third-party wallpaper apps installed.

These are apps that let you install custom wallpaper on your Windows 11 machine, and the applications in question didn’t play nice with Windows 11 24H2, misfiring in various ways. That included causing errors, glitches with the wallpapers themselves, vanishing desktop icons, or even issues with virtual desktops.

Windows Central noticed that Microsoft has now marked these problems as fixed in a Windows 11 release health status update. So, those with said wallpaper apps are okay to go ahead and install the 24H2 update.

Well, in theory anyway, although there are some caveats here, which I’ll come onto next.

You may recall that this compatibility block was put in place right when 24H2 first came out, at the end of September last year, so it has taken quite some time to smooth over these issues – and there’s a reason for that, too.

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

Analysis: Slight complications

As noted, there are some catches here, as Microsoft tells us in its release health dashboard update.

For starters, the compatibility block is only being gradually removed, so you may be waiting a bit longer yet, depending on your PC configuration and the exact app you have installed.

Microsoft explains: “Note that several wallpaper applications are currently included in this compatibility hold. For this reason, the specific timing of the resolution of this issue on a given device may depend on the application being used and the timing of that application’s update. As new versions and updates are released for these applications by their respective developers, it’s expected that these issues will be resolved.”

Hence the lengthy wait for the resolution of this affair, as it seems that Microsoft wasn’t tinkering with Windows 11 24H2 itself to make these apps work, or at least not doing much in the way of that. Rather, it was apparently waiting on the individual app developers to make their software good with 24H2 themselves.

Microsoft further notes that when you fire up the Windows 11 24H2 installation process, you might see a message telling you to uninstall a wallpaper app. You’re advised to either do this – and just dump the wallpaper app for now – or try updating the app, as said prompt might have appeared because you’re running an older version of the program.

In other words, updating the wallpaper app and trying to install Windows 11 24H2 again may work – but if not, you’ll likely have to remove the application.

Windows 11 24H2 has a history of issues with third-party customization software going back well before release, deep in its testing phase when some popular utilities were banned (to the chagrin of some Windows Insiders). Because 24H2 is built on an entirely new underlying platform, Germanium, this has caused a whole lot more problems than any other update for Windows 11 thus far.

And while such a big shift could be expected to be a headache, and trigger more bugs than normal, the amount we’ve witnessed has essentially been a minor avalanche, and a distinctly unpleasant experience for some Windows 11 users.

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Couldn’t install Windows 11 24H2 because of your wallpaper? Microsoft has finally lifted blocks on upgrades due to customization apps – with some catches

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