Windows 10: Update from 1607 to 1703 failing (again!)

If you look up my threads, you'll find that last winter going from 1511 to a properly working 1607 proved impossible after seven tries, so I cleared the system SSD, disconnected all the other HDD/SSD's and did a clean reinstall. Well, same thing is happening with 1611 to 1703. Windows is now daily trying prompting me to make the update, which I'd delayed, and now won't even complete the most recent 1607 cumulative updates unless I allow 1703 to come along for the ride. 1703 crashes (computer freezes) at 25% during "working on updates" every time, even with MBAM turned off and disabled in Autoruns. The only good news is that a manual shutdown and reboot brings back 1607 intact. I'm neither in the mood nor see the need for another clean install. What the heck could be going on this??

Win 10 Pro x64 desktop
i7-4790K

:)

 

Updates for Windows 10 Version 1607 and Windows Server 2016

I checked my Update history today and noticed that an Update for Windows 10 Version 1703 Failed. Not sure why that happened and it is trying to download the Build again. I checked the Microsoft site and noticed that there is a long list of Version 1607 and
Windows Server 2016 Builds that never installed or at least my history shows they weren't.

What would be causing all those 1607 Builds from not updating/installing (no indication they failed to install) and why now is Version 1703 trying to download and will it keep failing? I've got my computer on automatic update. Confused.

Thanks for helping.

 

Windows 10 update 1703 keeps repeatedly installing

Update 1607 installed successfully. Windows then downloaded update 1703, installed it and restarted the system. It then immediately starts to download and install 1703 again. This has happened four times today. The update history doesn't show 1703 as being
installed but I haven't seen any error messages that it failed.

 

Hi, you may know that here:
Upgrade to Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

in the yellow section there is an outline of how you can explore the logs
and in 'Here's how' suggestions that may help.

Please post any error message you receive.

===============================================
Hi, best to eliminate elementary issues - please try some basic checks.
1. Download and run Hard Disk Sentinel (trial) and post a screenshot of its GUI
To post a screenshot please use the Insert Image icon above your post to the left of the video icon


2. If ok:
From an admin command prompt
[Windows key + X, click command prompt (admin)]
chkdsk C: /F
Your PC will need to restart.
Post back the result, which you can get after a restart as follows:
Read Chkdsk Log in Event Viewer in Windows 10 Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials
or
How to read Event Viewer log for Chkdsk in Windows 10 [Tip] | Reviews, news, tips, and tricks | dotTechdotTech
or
How do I see the results of a CHKDSK that ran on boot? - Ask Leo!
Make sure the result is clear or fixed- else do not proceed.

3. Separate downloading the iso and the update and installation process.
Download it manually:
Download Windows 10 ISO File Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

When you have that you can use it repeatedly, and you also have a useful bootable tool for certain repairs if you create a DVD or bootable USB drive.

Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

4. Before you try upgrading again - which is a risk - please create a disk image of what you have now. (We strongly urge people to routinely use disk imaging- so many advantages, including potentially reducing the need to clean install). E.g. Macrium reflect (free) + its boot medium + external storage for image sets.

If things go wrong, you can get back to where you were fairly readily.
(Disk imaging helps even if your disk fails or your PC is unbootable e.g. and also creates a full backup)

5. When upgrading:
- disable your AV, disconnect any unnecessary peripherals; also see 'Here's How' in the tutorial below.

What went wrong? See:
Upgrade to Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

- & see the yellow Tips section

Then see this where many error numbers and messages are listed:
Microsoft Community

Please also post a screenshot of your partitions: Minitool Partition Wizard is good for this - please make sure all text in columns is fully displayed.
==========================================
And see:

 

Look it, thanks for the list but the vast majority of what you posted has been covered (Win 10 Mgr) or, if I'm not mistaken, is not particularly relevant, given the same kind of problem going from 1511 to 1607, when I jumped through all those hoops and it didn't do any good, hence starting over with a clean reinstall. chkdsk is clean as usual, as is sfc /scannow. HD Sentinal screenshot is attached. That's clean. There are no error messages during the update attempts, just a computer freeze (though I didn't go back and check Event Viewer, if anything would be there). Creating media tools and all that is all fine and dandy - how many times have I done those! - without a way through the roadblock. And last time we were unable to find it.

At this point, I can think of only two things to try:

- In-place repair install - but would that bring in 1703 or just stay with 1607?

- Turn off all A/V, disconnect all other drives and peripherals and see if the update goes through (not that I want or need it). An annoyance to be sure, one that I'd like to avoid.

- other - am I missing something? (your tutorial, etc., links are for upgrading to Win 10 from an earlier version. not clear how they apply here).

 

A couple of things to bear in mind- some hardware configs are incompatible with the Creator's build e.g. broadcom devices.
If the upgrade failure is hardware related, an in-place upgrade repair install won't help, for example, as you know.

Analysis requires looking at the logs. Have you done that? The same log files apply to any upgrade.
What was your error message?

Please also post a screenshot of your partitions: Minitool Partition Wizard is good for this - please make sure all text in columns is fully displayed.

The outcome depends on the build of the iso. used. If 1607, and your build is 1607, that's an in-place repair install. If 1703, and your build level is 1607, that's an upgrade.

Note that some have had success by disconnecting unrelated drives.

- and of course you do have a current disk image to fall back on.

 

I didn't look at the logs. It's been a couple of days, so I'll run it again soon and post. Will the entry for the crash be obvious? And yes, I do both image backups and create restore points regularly. A screenshot from EaseUs partition manager is attached.

 

Your system disk looks ok- it is wise to ensure there's 500Mb of unallocated space as Windows sometimes requires to create a new Recovery paritition.

Plus points for disk imaging *chuckle

Inspecting the logs basically means research. Don't expect to see
'The upgrade failed because x was unable to do y and therefore you should...'
but obscure geeky tech bits and error numbers. Great.

 

I ran the update from Windows Update to see if we could spot the problem. Prior to that, I shut down MBAM, got rid of its entries in Autoruns and rebooted. Looking at Event Viewer, from the time Update finished configuring the update and restarted the computer, until the time I restarted it after Update crashed while "working on updates" (25% again), no category in Event Viewer shows any entries, none at all. Anywhere else to look?

OTOH, it did finish the cumulative updates for 1607.

Follow up: Uninstalled MBAM and tried an in-place repair install using the latest download from a USB stick. Same result: freeze crash at 25% working on updates. Again, restored 1607 and nothing in Event Viewer. Btw, when it crashes, the SSD light goes full and holds, then maybe 10 seconds later the dotted circle stops and partially falls apart.

 

Is the

message because you've accepted updates? Try upgrading with no internet connection - or do not opt to update as part of the upgrade. (You can do that later).

Please post log content.

Let's focus on one of the links I posted as I've nothing from that- else it's just a stab in the dark.
Resolve Windows 10 upgrade errors - Windows IT Pro | Microsoft Docs

Please read through that.
For example:
setupact.log Windows.~BT\Sources\Panther

setuperr.log Same as setupact.log Contains information about setup errors during the installation.
miglog.xml Post-upgrade (after OOBE):
Windows\Panther Contains information about what was migrated during the installation.
Supplemental rollback logs:
Setupmem.dmp
setupapi.dev.log
Event logs (*.evtx) $Windows.~BT\Sources\Rollback Additional logs collected during rollback


Note: (again from what I posted previously) - possible hardware issues - one well-known example:
What might stop an upgrade to the Creator’s build:
Old computers not yet compatible with 1703 (Broadcom 440x driver) - Windows 10 Forums

 

See attached files from last try Thursday afternoon (setup from USB stick). The setuperr.log file ends before "working on updates" starts. The last error code refers to the software distribution folder, which I've deleted. The setupact.log file ends well before the last try started, so is not included. Nothing relevant in event logs. Not sure the miglog should be posted, but here it is.

I don't have a broadcom controller. This is an i7-4790K cpu on an ASRock Extreme6 mobo. Not an old computer.

Will give offline and w/o updates a try Friday.

 

*** I've just noticed you have a number of Reserved partitions on the other disks. (The rest of the text is lost).
Disks 3,5,6.

This takes me back to the idea of disconnecting the other disks. Crude, but definitive.

Also check your system boots ok when that's done.

Suggest you try that first, and attempt the upgrade without updates.

========================================================

Otherwise: thanks, so what you can do is try searches on any part of the logs, as you will see they are not, put politely, immediately informative. That goes for many of the responses to requests for help with these too, unfortunately.

Take any sections of the text and error numbers and see what you can find.

Did I mention the setupact.log?

It's also in what I posted above about logs.

In any further attempt you make to upgrade, think how to make the environment- hardware and software- as simple as possible. You will read comments such as:
The most likely cause of this error is an incompatible driver or hardware defect critical for booting the intermediary environment necessary to perform upgrade actions. Some of the identified drivers that are known to cause this error are listed here and are the first steps you can try to resolve the issue:

• Make sure you are not running any drive-encryption software. If so, you must decrypt your drive before updating.
  
• Check for and uninstall any desktop utilities you may have running. For example, uninstalling IOBit or Intel Desktop Utilities (including Extreme Tuning software, but excluding Managed Engine) has been observed to resolve this issue.
  
• I suggest you to update the graphics card before proceeding to upgrade to the latest build.
• Please remove any connected USB devices (except the keyboard and mouse) and then try the upgrade.
• Try disabling or uninstalling your antivirus software and see if the upgrade will succeed. Problems have been observed updating to Windows 8.1 if ESET or AVAST are installed.
  

 

OK, thanks for the suggestions: mainly, isolate the system drive and see what happens. It's strange that the update from Win 8.1 to 10 went ok, but the big updates since then have been a pain. Seems almost worth it to keep putting off 1703 and wait for the Fall one. In any case, I mentioned not including the setupact.log because its last time mark was most of 20 monutes before I started the last try.

 

You can also try doing a clean boot first- and no AV or 3rd party firewall. This only helps if there's a conflict with a running program- which I once experienced. It doesn't affect drivers, for example.

I've tried finding something relevant based on your log, and whilst I can find matches to parts, nothing that looks directly helpful. You can try that yourself of course.

 

The only thing that stood out to me was the error code for the software distribution folder, which that link you mentioned said can get in the way of a successful update. I don't know if it's really a problem here, but I deleted it. Thanks, good ideas to try.