Windows 10: "Something Happened" What Next?

Hi.
All attached devices must be removed except keyboard, mouse and monitor.

Does it fail before the first reboot or the second reboot?

Have you run sfc /scannow before upgrading to make sure all system files are intact?

Sorry, I didn't realise your link to this thread took me to page 2!
I am just reading everything through now........

 

try to extract the ISO to your harddrive and install it. it did bypass the "something happened".
but, unfortunately (for me) it did restart but error at 10% of instalation and then reverting to 10240

 

I've already copied the ISO to my hard drive, mounted it and ran setup.exe with no success - I got the same error as running setup.exe from the USB installation drive.

 

Try to Extract The file using Winrar (or any compresion application)




Then run the Setup Directly

it did bypass the "something happened".

 

Is there anything "unusual" or "customized" about your Windows 8.1 installation? Like 'Users' folder relocated to a different drive? Or 'AppData' folder relocated to a different drive?

 

There is nothing unusual on my 1 year old Dell laptop - there is only one hard drive having a single user partition with key files in default locations. I have some concerns about the disk partition layout - see https://www.tenforums.com/installatio...tallation.html. I have some more things to try:

• Disable secure boot
• Run diagnostics checks - see post 5 this thread
• Extract ISO directly & run setup.exe - see post 17 this thread
• Clean install which I was hoping to avoid

 

I've now tried running this bat file, removed Classic Shell & Kaspersky Anti Virus but the installation still fails at the same point where Windows is about to restart for the first time.

I've now exhausted all of the common fixes and seek advice what to try next. I'm trying to avoid a clean install if possible since the upgrade process is meant to be 'simple'.

Many people praise the Windows 10 installation process but this has been my worst upgrade experience to date.

 

Have you tried creating a new partition for Windows 10 and doing a clean install to the new partition, which will setup dual booting with Windows 8.1 and you can then see if a clean install will even work, without erasing the Windows 8.

 

Thanks - I could try that but will I have activation problems with trying to run two versions from the same licence?

 

Starting with the November update Windows 10 will activate by reading the Windows 8 key stored in bios (if there is one) or by manually entering the Windows 8 product key after install. It does violate the EULA to permanently have both Windows 8 and Windows 10 installed and activated at the same time (using the Windows 8 license to upgrade to Windows 10) - although Microsoft does not physically prevent this. In your case of testing only just to even see if Windows 10 will do a clean install, it definitely won't be a problem.

 

@Steve C
A failure at this point has typically indicated driver issues.

I see you've tried a lot of different things here, and I'm sure you've done these already, but let me just reiterate:
run chkdsk
run sfc /scannow
remove all 3rd party a/v, 3rd party backup utility, hard drive monitoring programs, speccy, speedfan, etc.

update your BIOS; [be sure to enable required extensions if they are not already: Physical Address Extension (PAE), NX, and SSE2; use CPU-Z http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html to check if the NX (MMX) feature is enabled/available on your CPU. (This shouldn't be an issue because you're already running W8.x, and it is a requirement for W8.x, but wanted to mention it.)]

Open Device Manager and right click on every device one at a time, and check Windows Update for driver updates.

Go to the Dell support web site and update every single driver available for your machine, especially bluetooth, wireless, USB & Intel controllers - everything.

Once that's all done, highlight your computer name in Device Manager and select to search for changes in hardware. See if any problems show up. Click Show Hidden Devices and make sure there are no bangs on anything.

Do you have Intel/nVidia graphics drivers on that laptop? You might try uninstalling and letting Windows use standard graphics drivers until you can get through the upgrade. (I think this is THE problem.)


Run W10 setup without an internet connection. This will prevent Windows from trying to install a graphics driver. When setup completes successfully, install the latest driver updates for the device through Windows Update or from the Dell website using compatibility mode if necessary. Set a restore point first.

One question: Have you modified the original partition structure of your W8.1 installation using EaseUS or similar? If so, you will not be able to upgrade until your recovery partitions are properly re-mapped.

 

Thanks to Simrick at post 24 for more tips. I have some feedback and seek advice on the following:

• chkdsk, sfc/scannow has been done and are fine, AV is Windows Defender & BIOS is the latest Dell version.
• The CPU is a Core i7 4500U which CPU-Z reports supports MMX & SSE2 amongst others. I don't see PAE reported by CPU-Z?
• I do have Macrium Reflect installed - should I remove it?
• I have the latest Dell Windows 8.1 drivers from their web site. There is a range of new Dell Windows 10 drivers. Should I install these now in Windows 8.1 before I upgrade or install them from Windows 10? I've run through the individual updates in Device Manager as you suggest which resulted in the Intel Grpahics & Wireless drivers being updated.
• My laptop has two GPUs - Intel HD Graphics & GeForce GT 750M. Should I uninstall or disable the GeForce GPU in Device Manager? I've now disabled and enabled the Geforce driver to let Windows install its default driver.
• I did wonder about my Dell partition structure - please see https://www.tenforums.com/installatio...tallation.html However, post 9 at https://www.tenforums.com/installatio...-win-10-a.html reports a similar partition structure to mine and Windows 10 installs OK.
• I've been connected to the internet over WiFi - I'll disconnect this as you suggest

I've also been looking at this thread https://www.tenforums.com/installatio...ll-doesnt.html I get the same error mentioned in Post 8 -when I try to do a "bcdedit /export <file>" I get an error message "The store export operation has failed. The handle is invalid" . Is this something I should try to fix and how?

I enclose the latest Windows 10 installation error report in case someone can make sense of it!

setuperr.log

 

Okay good. Yeah i7 is nothing to worry about - it's fine.

I don't think it's necessary, but it can't hurt.

Nope, I wouldn't. You are on W8.1 and the drivers should be for that right now. W10 drivers can be installed once we get you upgraded.

I would get rid of the GeForce - disable it in Device Manager. That should do it.

I will have a look at this a little later - out of time at the moment, unfortunately.

Yes, I'd like to see your next attempt at upgrading to be without a connection to the internet.

Again, will have a look a little later.

If you're game, you could try running setup.exe from within W8.1 with GeForce disabled and disconnected from the internet, and see if you get through the upgrade.

I'll post back after I've had a chance to read the other links you provided.

 

Okay, I've had a chance to read those links.
Here is what my partition structure looks like on a Dell Inspiron 660s, purchased with W8.0, upgraded to W8.1:









It's a mess, yes. And I am thinking I will have a bear of a time upgrading this thing to W10. I'll probably try once, and if it fails, I'll just do a clean install with the latest ISO from Technet, as the key is stored in the BIOS, and the upgrade will see it, and activate accordingly.

Here's a shot of another rig with a clean install of W10Prox64 UEFI







Big difference, eh?

You said you have the same BCD problems as the other post - I suppose you could try fixing it as the OP did in that thread first, if you want to. But, after all you've been through, maybe it would be better to copy/paste your files to an external HDD and do a clean install, (I think, choosing "custom" will give you the option to wipe all existing partitions).

If you want to try the BCD fix and need step-by-step instructions, I'll have to get some help, because I don't know the exact procedure. But, your error list shows that Windows is failing to set the rollback, in addition to driver issues. Honestly, if it were me, I'd rather have a clean install and not carry over any problems.

If you already have a Macrium image of your entire W8.1 hard drive install, and it's verified, you can always go back that way (make sure you have the Rescue Media available and tested). I would copy/paste my data to an external HDD, grab my keycodes and install media for my paid software, download the Technet ISO, and go for it.

 

Or he could shrink C: drive partition by 50GB, create a 50GB empty NTFS partition and do a clean install to that partition just to see if it would finish.