Windows 10: Can't upgrade my W10

The BIOS screen shown that you don't have anything connected to port 0 in the mother board and it does not matter since disk management assigned it to disk 0 which is the first disk on the list. If you want to correct this then find out from MB manual where port 0 is then reconnect it then connect the 1TB disk to port 1.

Open admin command prompt and type:
diskpart
select disk 0
list par

Then post a screen shot of the result.

How did you upgrade Windows ? Via Windows update or from the installation disk ?
If you upgrade from the installion disk, you must boot it using UEFI-USB style, the message about "Reserved partition" is confusing, With GPT disk, there's no such thing as "System Reseved partition".

 

This is what I would do. Install Macrium Reflect Free. Create both a Macrium Reflect rescue drive (USB flash drive) and a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive using the Media Creation Tool that Microsoft provides. Save a backup image of the C: drive partition only to the second HDD. Boot from the Windows 10 installation USB flash drive. Do a clean install of Windows 10 to the primary drive (SSD or HDD?), wiping it completely in the process and installing to nothing but unallocated space. Then boot the computer from the Macrium Reflect recovery drive. Replace the brand new Windows 10 partition created by the new clean install with the C: drive partition that was backed up to the second HDD. Run the Fix Windows boot problem utility from the restore menu of Macrium Reflect Free. Reboot - you should be back into your original Windows 10 and the upgrade should probably work then.

 

@NavyLCDR
You dont need to re-install Windows which might take time. Just rebuild the first 3 partitions:

• Copy the script below and save it in a text file together in the Macrium Rescue Disk USB, name it anything you want e.g. buildEFI.txt
  NOTE: Make sure the Didk # is 0, if not replace it in the script.
  Code: select disk 0 clean convert GPT create partition primary size=500 format quick fs=ntfs set id=DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC override create partition primary size=100 format quick fs=FAT32 set id=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B override create par MSR size=16 list par exit[/quote]
• Boot Up Macrium Rescue disk. Open file explorer from the bottom left to find out the drive letter of the Rescue disk. Next, open the command prompt on the bottom left of the screen then type:
  diskpart /s F:\buildEFI.txt =====> replace the drive letter if not F:
• Click on Backup tab then click Refresh. Click on Restore tab then Copy C: drive from the backup image to the last empty partition.
• Once done with step 3, click on fix windows boot problems
• reboot

The new layout should look as shown:




Try upgrade again.

 

@topgundcp,

Why bother making the recovery partition at the front of the drive that is going to remain empty and unused? A Windows 10 upgrade will not fail due to the absence of a Recovery Partition - especially an empty one.

 

Trust me. Been there, done that.

 

So you don't have an answer? None of my computers have recovery partitions and they upgrade just fine.

Code: Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.16299.19] (c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\system32>reagentc /info Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration Information: Windows RE status: Disabled Windows RE location: Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 668387ed-ad21-11e7-b98a-a264a63b44cf Recovery image location: Recovery image index: 0 Custom image location: Custom image index: 0 REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.[/quote]



My R: "Recovery" partition is not actually a Windows 10 Recovery Partition. It is a custom partition that boots into Kyhi's Recovery Tools that I can clean install Windows 10 from or restore a backup image from. And this computer upgrades just fine to new builds. I've "been there and done that before" too.

If something goes wrong, I don't rely on a standard Windows 10 recovery partition and the advanced troubleshooting menu. Instead I enter the boot override menu, select the second internal HDD installed to boot from, and boot into Kyhi's Recovery Tools that gives me a lot more options to fix what is wrong than the standard Windows recovery partition.

 

@NavyLCDR
What I am saying is you are asking the OP to re-install Windows and I said you don't need to, why re-install windows if you can accomplish the same thing with a small script which takes only a few second ?.

To answer your question:

• Since you deleted the Recovery partition. This is one of the reason during the upgrade Windows creates a new Recovery partition, copy WinRe to it. My last three upgrades: 1607->1703->1709 did not create any extra Recovery partitions.
• FYI, you could have a recovery environment without having any Recovery partition at all.
  - Open install.wim or install.esd with 7-zi
  - Copy: WinRe.wim and ReAgent.xml from Windows\System32\Recovery to C:\Windows\System32\Recovery
  - Run: reagentc /enable ===> This will put all WindowsRE stuff in C:\Recovery

C:\Recovery is not accessible. Use Treesize to explore C:\Recovery.

As mentioned above. If OP is running Windows using GPT disk then he must boot with UEFI Mode. Else if Windows failed to create an extra Recovery partition at the end of C: then may be the disk is fragmented and Windows cannot shrink it.

 

Lots of information here - including the debate. Also, would like to get Zbook's take on all of this given that he and I have some history on this issue and he has examined my setup can configuration - and has offered some advice that has inched me further to a solution. In any event - I'll try everything unless there is something that will nullify my attempts to update W10. But it may take a while.

In answer to a direct question - my computer came with W8 and I took advantage of the free upgrade to 10 (no CD/DVD involved).

Thanks for all the help.

 

@lbeck ,

Both @topgundcp and my suggestions accomplish the same end result, we are just suggesting two different methods of doing it. His method is much faster, but it is a bit more technical. His method is actually the method I use to set up drives. The method I suggested accomplishes the same result, but it lets the Windows setup program do it instead of doing it by manual commands.

Our goal is to get the rest of the drive set up properly so it isn't the other partitions that are causing the upgrade to fail. Then you transfer back your original Windows partition ONLY. Then try the upgrade. If the upgrade succeeds, you know it was probably the EFI System partition that was the problem. If the upgrade fails again, now you know the problem is with the Windows installation itself - and that is more than likely going to require a clean install from scratch to get everything running properly again.

 

Hi,
Just from post 3 you system reserved partition is only 100mb's
It needs to be increased to at least 450mb's.
I'd make a system image first then use free minitool to increase it which I'm sure has already been suggested.
Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

 

@ThrashZone
OP is running GPT disk, there's no "System Reserved" here, 100MB is EFI System partition which is correct.
@NavyLCDR
My suggestion above will not require the Windows Installation Media, just use the Rescue disk and faster.
Your suggestion will work but will take longer but if you use the Installation Media, you still don't have to re-install completely. The whole idea is to re-create the 1st 3 partition. You can stop the installation by clicking on the X after the first check mark is done to cancel the installation then reboot with Macrium to restore C drive.

see post: Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss - Page 8 - Installation Upgrade Tutorials

 

Hi,
You don't think the upgrade installer error message is just miss stating the partitions name in post 1 :/

 

That's why I suspect that OP boot up with wrong selection from boot screen. When working with GPT disk, you must boot up using #1 as shown below. Use #2 if working with MBR disk which has "System Reserved " partition.

 

In post #12 there are event log entries displaying problems with the drive.
These event log problems should be evaluated before fixing the failed Windows 10 upgrade to reduce the possibility of any unexpected drive problems.

There are multiple methods to fix the problem.

First though please check each drive with HD tune, Sea Tools, and chkdsk /x /f /r.

And second back up all files and make an image.

The EFI partition by default is 100 MB.
The system reserved partition by default is 16 MB.
The Panther log CONX report indicated that it needed 15 MB of free space and that it only found 11 MB during the attempted upgrade. The free space insufficiency was 4 MB.

When windows is installed after a clean install the languages and fonts are placed into the EFI partition.
When the contents of the EFI partition are viewed they may contain folders related to the bios, bios upgrades, languages and fonts, and UEFI diagnostics.

Some computer manufacturers such as HP have UEFI diagnostics to test the computer hardware and this is also stored in the EFI partition.

In most cases the default 16 MB /100 MB is sufficient space for the upgrade.

Unknowingly some have installed extra languages, fonts, UEFI diagnostics, multiple bios updates and all of these combined reduced the free space preventing upgrades. There may be other computer manufacturer folders/files installed within the EFI partition reducing its size.

Microsoft has published fixes for this problem and the approaches differ depending on whether it is a GPT or MBR drive.

HP has published fixes for this problem.

Both Microsoft and HP fixes have the same approach.
They are steps to remove the contents of of the EFI partition to alter the free space.

It turns out that for those that only use English there are multiple language folders that can be deleted.
The same for fonts.

For HP they provide a method to remove the UEFI diagnostics from the EFI partition and use the UEFI diagnostics from a bootable USB drive.
Alternatively the UEFI diagnostics can be reinstalled after the upgrade.

For the drive that failed the upgrade the amount of free space that needs to change is by > 4 MB.
The free space within the system reserved partition was only 11 MB and it needed 15 MB for the Windows 10 upgrade.

The steps require using administrative command prompt.

The alternative method is to increase the size of the EFI 100 MB partition. This will require the reduction of another partition on the drive.
The mini tool partition wizard may be able to be used enabling an increase of 100 or 200 MB. Alternatively there are other options offered in the thread.

So the failure to upgrade may be able to be fixed by either deleting unneeded folders or altering the sizes of the partitions. The result needs to create more free space within the EFI partition so the system reserved partition has at least 15 MB of free space. It currently has 11 MB of free space and is insufficient by 4 MB.

Please download and install Mini Partition Wizard and post an image of the drive into the thread.

Please evaluate each drive with HD tune, Sea Tools, and chkdsk /r and post results into the thread.
Use the information in this link to find the chkdsk report in the event.vwr and post the results into the thread:
Read Chkdsk Log in Event Viewer in Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials

 

Thanks to all for your help.

Zbook - I've been traveling so haven't been at my desktop computer for a few days. But I have started or performed some of the tests that you recommend. Screen captures are provided. I'm having a little trouble with partition mini tools in that it doesn't want to resize my "Active & system" partition. I'll continue to research this but it appears as you say that this partition needs to be larger.

I'll be gone again starting tomorrow through mid-week and will let my computer run chkdsk-full during that time.

I'll eventually try all of the tests that you recommend but decided to provide an update now to let you know that I haven't lost interest or solved the update problem.

Thanks again and I'll be back.