Windows 10: Failed 7-to-10 Upgrade Attempt — Still Salvageable ?

At around 23:22 EST on Friday, July 29th, I began the subject upgrade process, assuming I'd be able to “slide in under the deadline wire.” And perhaps I did . . . or could have. But somewhere along the line, something seems to have gone wrong. And I think it's probably my own darn fault — perhaps, what I deserve for being such a chicken s#%t and putting this off to the last possible minute. I was about to throw in the towel altogether when it occurred to me the situation may still be salvageable.

To explain . . . After beginning the process at 23:22, the regular Windows Update dialogue window opened, telling me that it was downloading the upgrade code. Some 80 minutes later (now, around 00:40 EST on Saturday, July 30), I was presented with a dialogue saying that the process was ready to begin the installation and the choice to begin immediately or schedule it to occur sometime over the next several days.

This is probably where my mistakes began . . . As mentioned, it was now going on one o'clock in the morning. At some point during the preceding 80 minutes, whatever energy and mental acuity I had going for me at 23:22 had since departed. So, I decided to put off any further action until after I'd gotten some sleep. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get back to the upgrade process until much later; i.e., Saturday evening. I'm not sure about this, but I think at some point in the interim, I had closed the Windows Update dialogue window (…and this may be where I specifically went wrong).

In any event, when I went back to the ready-to-install dialogue and selected the option to install now (as opposed to a scheduled later time), I was presented once again with the familiar Windows Update dialogue window — this time with the {!} Restart your computer to install important updates displayed. So, I clicked the [·Restart now·] button and upon completion of the reboot process, the Windows Update dialogue window re-appeared — again with the {!} Restart your computer… message/prompt displayed. So, I repeated the reboot a couple more times before concluding that I'd gotten stuck in some kind of loop.
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### Relevant aside ### : I've embarked on this upgrade using more or less the approach outlined in posts 11 & 12 in this thread.
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It was at this juncture that I was about to just forget about the free upgrade and restore the (pre-download) back-up image of my boot partition. But when I opened Macrium Reflect to begin the restore operation, it occurred to me to check the before-and-after sizes of my boot partition. Sure enough, there was enough (? : 6.95·GB) of a difference to confirm that the Windows 10 install code had been successfully downloaded. Confirming this (if, indeed it is confirmed) made me reconsider my decision to just forget about the upgrade. Perhaps, everything I need to proceed is already on my hard drive and all I need to do is find out how to jump start a resumption of the install process.

So all of the preceding (hopefully, helpful background) info boils down to this question: Is there a way for me to effectively restart the upgrade installation process?

I know this was more than a tad bit long-winded, so thanks for your patience . . . and thanks ahead of time for whatever guidance you may be able to provide.

—Thri

:)

 

How I "fixed" the Windows 10 activation error 0xc004f050

Unfortunately, this does not work for those of us who's Windows 7 came installed on a PC. My OS was corrupted to the point that even my Win 7 recovery disks would not salvage it. I upgraded to Windows 10 as a last resort and like it, but am still unable
to activate. I have a valid product key, but Microsoft will not accept it.

??

 

Windows 10 install fails with error code 8007005

I have attempted to upgrade to Windows 10 several times. The upgrade fails with an 8007005 error. I have attempted every fix suggested online without success. Is there another method to receive the Windows 10 upgrade or eliminate the update so I can return
to normal Windows 7 automatic updates?

Original title: Windows 10 install fails

 

Worth a shot, as long as you have a complete image to restore if things don't work out.

Check in your C drive, with Hidden Items displayed, looking for C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources
See if you have an install.esd file. If so, you can copy the esd file to another folder and create a W10 ISO from it using this tutorial.

ESD to ISO - Create Bootable ISO from Windows 10 ESD File - Windows 10 Forums

Once the ISO is created, use 7-zip to mount the ISO, and run setup.exe from within your W7 OS. The upgrade will proceed from there.

You can read the tutorial here and watch the video starting at about 22:00 to see how to mount the ISO using 7-zip.
Windows 10 - Upgrade Installation - Windows 10 Forums

The only issue is whether the system will be activated once W10 is installed. It's pretty far past the deadline, but some people were reporting activations earlier today.

 

simrick—

Thanks for your help. Unfortunately, I think I may be SOL. Here's a directory listing for {…~BT}:
_________________________________________ Volume in drive K is System
Volume Serial Number is 6373-3030

Directory of K:\$WINDOWS.~BT

2016.0731 0105 <DIR> .
2016.0731 0105 <DIR> ..
2016.0731 0105 <DIR> Sources
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of K:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources

2016.0731 0105 <DIR> .
2016.0731 0105 <DIR> ..
2016.0731 0104 <DIR> SafeOS
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of K:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS

2016.0731 0104 <DIR> .
2016.0731 0104 <DIR> ..
2016.0731 0105 <DIR> SafeOS.Mount
2016.0730 0129 305,204,925 winre.wim
1 File(s) 305,204,925 bytes

Directory of K:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS\SafeOS.Mount

2016.0731 0105 <DIR> .
2016.0731 0105 <DIR> ..
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Total Files Listed:
1 File(s) 305,204,925 bytes
11 Dir(s) 36,078,227,456 bytes free ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
It looks like the only file I have is <winre.wim> and it's only about 291MB.

What say thee?

Thanks again for your help.

—Thri
________________________________
PS - Subsequent to my original post, I began to suspect that the difference in the before-and-after partition sizes had more to do with my Macrium Reflect operations than anything else.

 

That doesn't look good.
You could try using the Media Creation Tool.
Windows 10
Again, not sure you will activate since it's so far past the deadline.

 

Thanks. I shall explore. —Thri

 

Yes, please report back what happens. Will be interesting to know. *Wink

 

Will do. Thanks again for your help. —Thri

 

Don't shoot the messenger now but terms of free upgrade were clear: Windows 10 must be installed and activated before the deadline. You had already missed it when you started, 38 minutes is in most case not enough to upgrade from Windows 7.

Prepare to pay for your Windows 10 license.

 

It appears the rumor is true-the upgrade has been extended:
Definitive Answer: Is the free upgrade really expired? - Windows 10 Forums

 

simrick— Thanks for the info. I've followed the links and learned two things: (1) there's a report that someone at MS has stated that the available method for the extended upgrade window will be disabled within the next couple weeks; (2) there seems to be some spirited discussion regarding the ethics of using this method if one doesn't, in fact, qualify in terms of being a member of a user population with a legitimate need. ¶ Personally, I'm a bit ambivalent about these arguments, but in my case, were I to use this method, I could easily justify it predicated on the fact that, albeit at the proverbial "last minute," I did in fact begin the upgrade on July 29th. ¶ In any event, for now, I've decided to just stick with using Windows 7. ¶ Thanks again for this update, and for your previous suggestions. —Thri

 

Sounds like a plan. Please mark the thread as solved.

 

I'm going to prepare by saving $1 a week until 2020.01.14. Hopefully, by then, the upgrade cost won't exceed $180. And who knows, maybe I'll even have enough money left over for a laité! *Wink

But on a more serious note, I guess I just made the wrong-headed assumption that if one starts the process before the deadline expires, one would be okay.

And I don't remember reading anything about “activating” the upgrade. I just thought if one installs it (which, obviously, I didn't succeed at; i.e., never got that far), then once installed, it's automatically activated. Question: is that not the case? Is there some kind of actual activation step one must go through? Like I say, I don't remember reading about that.

In any case, Kari, thanks for the feedback.

—Thri