Microsoft Confirms Bug Preventing Windows 11 Pro to Enterprise Upgrade

In a recent support document released by Microsoft, a significant issue has emerged affecting businesses attempting to upgrade from Windows 11 Professional to Windows 11 Enterprise edition. Specifically, those attempting the upgrade are met with access denial and the error code 0x80070005.

Under normal circumstances, business IT administrators can facilitate this upgrade seamlessly through the Microsoft 365 admin center once a valid license is assigned. However, due to the current bug, the upgrade process halts with the aforementioned errors.

Microsoft has traced the problem back to the April 2024 routine update, KB5036893, a major feature update for Windows 11 version 23H2. This update, intended to introduce new features and an improved user experience, has unintentionally led to this hiccup.

As of now, this issue hasn't been logged on the Windows 11 health dashboard, but details concerning the error have been added to the known issues section of KB5036893. This makes it somewhat difficult for IT administrators to pinpoint the problem without checking the patch updates from the past few months individually.

The KB5036893 update may also cause systems to experience lag or slowed response times, usually affecting a subset of devices rather than all. Microsoft intends to investigate and address these issues in subsequent updates.

The bug affecting the version upgrade has been identified, and Microsoft plans to roll out a solution in the coming weeks through a new cumulative update. Businesses will then be advised to complete this update before attempting the version upgrade again.