Windows 10: KB4019472 Humongous Patch Tuesday Update Failed Due to Lack of Space

So if I try that, the worst that can happen is my Windows will remain unchanged? Or will it leave me with a half-installed and unusable Windows OS? I went to the page and requested to be notified when Windows Creator is available, but I did not pick the option to install it now.

 

I guess it depends on how far it goes and at which point it fails. Mine fails before it made any changes to system, so the only thing it leaves behind is the installation files it downloads (hidden files on C: drive with names like $WINDOWS.~BT).

 

Ok, so after spending a few more hours on this, looking at the install logs, and reading numerous forums, I found the following.

If you absolutely cannot install ANY updates (which seems to be the case with me or eweiss), is most likely caused by Windows system components getting corrupt. It's been reported that this might get resolved by repairing your current installation of Windows. In order to do this, download and install Windows Media Creator, run it and choose option "Upgrade this PC now". This will keep your files and settings, but will re-install all Windows system files. In my case, though, this didn't work, as the update process would go to about 37% and fail without explanation. I tried different suggestions, such as removing all additional hard drives, disconnecting all devices, etc., but no luck.

I also found that some users were able to fix their installations by built-in Windows tools. Try running PowerShell as admin and then typing "Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth". Then run command prompt as admin (cmd) and type "sfc /scannow". Some people were able to fix Windows Update after that. However, in my case it didn't help either, as sfc refuses to run. I spent another 2 hours trying to figure out how to get it to work, but at some point I realized I already wasted 12 hours on this and in order to stop wasting more time, I have to give up and go to always-working solution of doing a full reinstall of Windows.

So I just created a USB installer for Windows 10 using Windows Media Creator and backed up my ProgramData and Users. Tomorrow I am going to format hard drive and do a clean install of Windows. Hopefully Windows Update will start working after that and KB4019472 will also install. Will report how it goes.

 

Did you try what worked for me?:

 

I've tried all of the above and nothing seems to work. I'm not going to do a fresh install as I just set this PC up about two weeks ago and don't really want to go through all that work again.

 

Today I reinstalled Windows and went to install updates. You would expect that on a clean, fresh install everything would go smooth? Wrong!

First I went went to Windows Update. It found KB4019472 and started downloading it. It went to 47% and stopped. An hour passed and it was still at 47%. I tried stopping the Windows Update service and couldn't do it (it gave an error message saying that service is not responding or something like that.

Then I went to restart the computer. A screen with message "Preparing to configure Windows, do not turn off" came up and got stuck. I waited for about 15 minutes and restarted with holding power button.

Then I downloaded manual update and ran it. It took about 10 minutes of copying the files screen, then went to install screen. For another 15 minutes it was at 1% then moved to 15% then... FAIL! Updates were not installed.

Restarting the service, restarting computer, clearing update cache, whatever you can think of. Same result. Unable to install updates. If I do it through Windows Update center, it gets to certain percentage and then gets stuck forever. If I do it manually, it "installs" it for about 10 minutes and then exists with failure message.

WHAT A TOTAL PIECE OF USELESS JUNK IS WINDOWS 10!

 

I tried that. I went to Windows Update and found it was already stopped. I changed Automatic to Disabled, and clicked OK. Then I rebooted. I went to the downloads folder and saw it was Empty. So I shut down and rebooted and went to Windows update and picked Automatic and OK or Apply and then selected Start. So now my Windows updater is supposedly running.

I then tried to manually install the 1GB Cumulative Update for Windows 10 for x64 systems I had downloaded 2 days ago. Nothing. Should I download the Delta update?

I may have to pay the people who built my PC to remote in and fix it - probably at $100-150 per hour. Sheesh!

 

I was finally able to install KB4019472. Here's what worked:

- Create Windows Installation Flash drive using Windows Media Creation tool.
- Download manual update file and put it on another flash drive.
- (IMPORTANT) Disconnect your computer from internet (unplug ethernet cable)
- Do a clean install of Windows. MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HAVE INTERNET ACCESS WHEN WINDOWS STARTS!
- Insert flash drive with manual update, copy it to desktop and run. In my case it took about 20 minutes to complete. But the update finally installed.

If you have internet when Windows starts for the first time, it's going to attempt installing updates automatically. Something is not working properly there, so after it attempts to update, Windows Update stops working completely. Even if you disable internet after that, it's not going to help.

 

Do I need to download the latest Windows Media Creation tool? Do I already have it with Windows 10?

Also, by doing a new install of Windows, will I lose my User accounts and access to my computer, especially my account as Administrator?

And... how do I do a new install of Windows with this? I have my Product ID and Product Key for Windows 10 Pro. Do I need those?

Thanks for helping me in my ignorance and frustration. I'm tempted to try to get Remote help, but if I have to be disconnected from the Internet for a fix to work, then that becomes a non-solution.

 

You can download Media Creation tool here: Download Windows 10

One thing you must understand is when you do a clean install, all your data, settings, user accounts, Outlook emails, etc. will be GONE. This means before you do it, you must back up all your data (ie save to external hard drive or to the cloud). If you are not comfortable doing this, or not sure what should be saved and backed up, I suggest that you don't do it, otherwise it's pretty easy to permanently lose your data.

As far as the key goes, just write it down and enter it when you install Windows.

 

I don't use Outlook. So if I save all the files I need to save to an external drive, then I can do what you're saying and I'll basically have a new Windows 10, and then (after it installs the drivers for my peripherals, etc.) I can copy the files back to it. As well as recreate User accounts.

What happens to me as Admin if I do that? Do I have to recreate my account as an Admin so I can have total control of my computer?

Also, will it leave my external drives and internal drives alone other than the C: drive where Windows is? E.g., I use E: with ShadowProtect to regularly back up my C:, D: and K: drives (I don't back up my L: and M: drives - which are external HDDs). K: is an internal SSD. D: is an internal drive where I moved my User Accounts (to free up space on C: ) and User files/documents are.

If I have to reinstall Windows - which seems the only way to get things working, even though it means recreating everything - I will probably wait until I have a couple free days in case things go south (but I will backup what I need to save first).

Hopefully doing that will let me Add a PIN to my account as well as let me change between Microsoft and Local Account and vice-versa like I used to be able to do. (I posted about this new problem in another thread Cannot Add PIN Solved - Page 3 - Windows 10 Forums .)

 

I tried that. I went to Windows Update and found it was already stopped. I changed Automatic to Disabled, and clicked OK. Then I rebooted. I went to the downloads folder and saw it was Empty. So I shut down and rebooted and went to Windows update and picked Automatic and OK or Apply and then selected Start. So now my Windows updater is supposedly running.

I then tried to manually install the 1GB Cumulative Update for Windows 10 for x64 systems I had downloaded 2 days ago. Nothing. Should I download the Delta update?

I may have to pay the people who built my PC to remote in and fix it - probably at $100-150 per hour. Sheesh! It's odd that your "\SoftwareDistribution\Download" folder was empty - mine had about 600 MB of updates in it. After deleting it and downloading the KB4019472 update, it was about 200 MB. Now it contains only 2.6 MB - I don't know when or why Windows decides to delete stuff in the folder but, before I got the update to install, there was 600 MB in it, so maybe that is a clue: if Windows can't delete what is in the downloads folder, it can't replace it with a new copy, so can't install it.

If that is the case, then this update process is pretty poorly written - it should be able to create a new folder with a different name if it can't delete the original.

 

I joined this forum so that I could let folks know what fixed my update problem. After trying everything, I just went to Disk Management and set my C: drive where Windows is installed to Active. Update was then successful.
My mistake was installing a boot loader once.

 

The only reason I can surmise that it would even make a difference setting your C: drive as Active using Disk Management, is because of either one or two things. Firstly, it would only make a difference if you were running more than one physical hard drive or secondly, you have more than one operating system on a primary partitioned hard drive; in other words your C: drive on one physical hard disk.

The MBR (Master Boot Record) is what I'm getting at; so if this made a difference and your computer is not structured as I outlined above in the two scenarios, I would be inclined for further input from you as to why this worked or why you think it worked.

By the way, that Cumulative Update that this thread is about, downloaded successfully for me by the sixth day after its official release. Just like they normally do after so many days of their official Microsoft release date.

This pertains to my rant in post #21 in case anyone missed it. Furthermore, I don't understand why so many feel the need to restructure their computers because of slow updates or updates freezing. Did anyone ever think that maybe Microsoft servers are extremely busy and nothing is wrong with the computer at all?

 

I added a second drive for a short time but the primary drive did not play nice with it so I removed it again. The reason I know the update process was faulty is that after approximately 17 various occasions having the update install up to 100% and than saying the update failed and waiting for it to uninstall again, I suspected an update problem.
I had tried all of the usual fixes, both automatic and batch files. It wasn't until I set the partition active that the update installed.