Framework Laptop 16 AMD AI 300 Series and Windows 10 Drivers

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1

Is the driver bundle Driver Bundle (v1.02) 2025-12-16 also compatible with Windows 10?

My plan:

  1. Create a backup of my old Windows 10 installation of my old laptop with already downloaded Driver Bundle
  2. Install Windows on the new Framework 16 AI300 using that wim (technique: c't-WIMage | heise online )
  3. Update Windows 10 to Windows 11
  4. Install Linux

To successfully execute step 3 I will need a working network, so I need a working driver for the ethernet expansion card or at least the Wi-Fi module.

I presume that the moved Windows 10 (step 2) will work out-of-the box, but if not, is it safe to execute the .exe of the driver bundle in the old Windows 10?

If it is not safe, which ethernet driver should I download into the old Windows 10 installation to be prepared?

2

All driver compatibility aside, you will be unable to do this because Windows 10 cannot talk to the TPM, and therefore the upgrade installer will refuse to run as it detects that you do not have one. This hardware was never intended to run Windows 10.

Back up your important personal files and install Windows 11 from scratch. You might find yourself a lot happier with a clean machine, too.

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3

Thanks, but there may be a misunderstanding. The M$ Setup would run on the FrameWork Laptop and not on my old one, and I presume that the TPM of the FM should be recognized.

4

The Windows 11 setup program running on the Framework Laptop will not be able to detect the TPM because Windows 10 does not have drivers for the TPM present in the AMD Ryzen CPU.

5

We will see - not sure in which environment the Windows Setup Program will run, …
But does anybody have some hint about the needed Ethernet driver for Framework 16 ?

6

May be I should explain the idea of the c’t script. It uses standard Microsoft tools which are used by big corporations, which create a corporate WMI image which then is rolled out on thousands of clients.
So, the first part creates a WMI image out of my existing Windows10 installation. The second part is to start a MS Setup program, as if I would install Windows11, but giving the setup program the Windows10 image to install.
So, Setup Program and installed image must not be the same version, as the setup program runs in its own environment. Therefore I don’t expect any issue.
But the last step should be to boot the installed Window10 image, and here I will need a working network driver for the next step, the upgrade to Window11.
Btw. I use Windows only for my work as freelance SAP consultant, my home is in Linux.
A fresh install would cost me two days of not payed activity to reinstall all the needed tools and the odd and funny remote access clients, every customer has its own flavor …

7

Unless you wish to experience the failure firsthand, I don’t think you should wait to “see”.
It will fail when you run setup on the downlevel Windows 10 image and attempt to upgrade to the Windows 11 image. There are cases of this documented all over this forum; here are five to look at for additional information.

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8

Thanks.

“Using a windows 11 install media (using the media creation tool) should allow you to do an in-place upgrade on the win 10 install outside of the OS (Skipping the TPM check).” - my hope.

But which Ethernet driver I would need?

9

The expansion card is an RTL8156; you should be able to find Windows 10-compatible drivers on Realtek’s driver page for that chipset. I don’t think it’ll be unsafe to run the driver bundle you downloaded, but I did notice that it ships with the Windows 11-only build of the Realtek driver (at the very least).

10

@DHowett is right on about this being a disaster on the lines of when it will happen not if.

Consider a different approach:

  1. Upgrade the old laptop to Windows 11 before embarking on this crazed method. (Make a full backup before trying this) There are tons of resources on how to install Windows 11 on older machines that do not meet ALL the requirements. Then try using a tool from someone like Macrium to backup the newly upgraded Windows 11 with the odd tools and remote access things that take too long to reinstall on a new installation. Macrium has a utility that enables installing an image on dissimmilar hardware (i.e. the new Framework Laptop 16). There are other software packages that will do this too. Thus salvaging whatever configuration that is too much work to recreate.
  2. Setup the Laptop and literally just remote into the thing from somewhere else, get whatever work needed done and in the mean time setup the new laptop with an OS it is known to be compatible with. (This is the part of being a consultant where time has to be invested in skills and expertise at the consultant’s expense in order to be marketable for business aka revenue)
  3. Just install Linux and turn the golden Windows 10 installation into a virtual machine and run it under Linux or heck install a fresh copy of Windows 11 and run the Windows 10 image in a virtual machine if it is that important.

Keep in mind that if there are issues later the solution is going to be wipe it all and start over with a known supported OS. Everyone gets to pick their own battles. This is not one many would choose willingly.

P.S. The concern about a network connection can be easily circumvented by using a USB dock with an ethernet connection as one of the ports. After the OS is running, then the driver pack can be installed to use the built in WiFi card.

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11

Thank you very much for all the valuable information about the TPM module issue. I will give setup.exe /product server a try, because this starts Windows PE from the installation medium which skips the TPM check.

12

Thank you very much for the list of alternatives.

I thought of 3. too, may be using the Windows Hyper-V tool, but then I thought: a customer virtual machine inside a virtual machine? Brrrr :sweat_smile:.

  1. is also interesting, I already did such in the past.
    One funny thing: I have the USB dock in front of my nose (DELL U3223QE monitor) and forgot it :joy: (I gave it a try when new, but it slowed down my fiber optic connection too much). Very good tip!
13

OK, here we are. I succeeded, but it was rather clumsy.

Creating the bootable USB stick and generating the wmi image of my 200 GB Windows 10 installation with the ct-WIMage.ps1 script was tedious.

The MS tool WISM used performs a full virus scan, which took more than 3 hours on my computer.

And it stopped because another zip file from c’t was flagged. Deleted.

New run. This time, the run stopped after 4 hours due to a Cisco DLL, with an obscure Microsoft error. At least I could work on documentations during the run.

I disabled all Cisco autostarts and rebooted.

The third attempt during the night was successful (7 hours).

The restore to the empty frame.work laptop worked perfectly. No license problems.

I was able to work as if nothing had happened. The Ethernet expansion card was automatically recognized. Only the sound was missing, but an USB-headset worked.

I used rufus to create a second USB stick with a bootable Windows 11 25H2 version.

From the migrated Windows 10, I started setup.exe (always with “keep all settings”) on the stick, connected to the network, and selected upgrade drivers. It froze at 31%.

Second attempt with /product server and without upgrading drivers froze at 86%. Btw. you have now to go to the sources folder and execute there “setupprep /product server”.

Since the point of freezing is erratic, it can’t be a driver problem.

Want to bet that Cisco is to blame again?

I deactivate all Cisco services and try a third time, this time just setup.exe – and it runs through.

I install the driver package, and here I am :slight_smile:

14

I have not had to use any of Cisco’s integrated VPN software for many years. What you are describing was really common with how they integrated their software into the network stack.

They have always had a unique approach to how they want their security products to interface with the OS. This has caused numerous diagnostic and troubleshooting issues unless everything lines up perfectly.

Lots of enterprise environments do know know any better or just stick with whatever Cisco sells/operates and just presumes it is the best for them. Though to be fair I have not looked at their integrated device services in years. It used to be all Cisco or nothing, they even have special protocol adaptations that are unique to how their hardware communicates. They do make a really robust product though.

Glad to hear you got it running.

15

Thanks! Btw. the installation of OpenSuse Tumbleweed went like clockwork. Since Linux is much better designed than Windows, it was sufficient to import the rsync backup from the old /home using also rsync.

Until now everything works (knock on wood :wink: ). I can confirm that frame.work 16 is compatible to OpenSuse Tumbleweed.