Windows 10: W7 to W10 upgrade fails – can't update the system reserved partition

Apologies for the length of the post but I wanted to pre-empt requests for info.

Dell E5450 laptop; Windows 7 SP1; Samsung 250 SSD

W7 updates have all been applied other than the August monthly security update. I have cloned the SSD to another Samsung 250, in case the upgrade corrupts the installed SSD.

Attempted to upgrade from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro. I cannot perform a clean install because I need the laptop/data for urgent work and want to keep as many programs and as much data as possible.
I followed the MS instructions to upgrade system, downloaded, received message ‘Creating Media’ and ‘Getting Updates’. Installation failed with ‘This PC can’t run Windows 10’ and ‘We couldn’t update the system reserved partition’. The process hadn’t yet requested the serial number.

Downloaded the ISO file and ran this because, in another query I had read that there is an option to keep programs and data and that this can create the partition (only for a clean install?). Following the message ‘Checking your PC’ the same above error appeared, again before requesting a serial number.

I read much about increasing the size of the partition and also EasyBCD being used to move boot details to the C: drive, but I’m not sure that it applies and does seem rather iffy.

The disk management info is show below. The layout of the SSD and data is the same as on my desktop, which also has a Samsung 250 SSD.









I realise that a clean install is recommended but is there any way that I can go through the upgrade process?

:)

 

W10 System Reserved Partition Error

Hi,

Have you tried all the suggestions above? If not, we suggest the resolution provided above. We also suggest that you follow the steps on this link:

“We couldn’t update system reserved partition” error installing Windows 10.

Let us know how it goes.

 

System Reserved Partition W10 install problems

I have more than ample specs for W10 but the install continues to fail perhaps because I replaced the 2 hard drives with one Samsung SSD, which works great and runs W7 (64-bit) and all apps flawlessly.

None of the suggested fixes has helped and the partition tools suggested do not show the format as depicted in the examples (perhaps due to the one SSD?).

PC Magazine is reporting that Microsoft is preparing to push more people into upgrading to W10 through various means.

I am concerned about that as I seem unable to address the system reserved partition problem.

Bill Black

 

W10 System Reserved Partition Error

I have an up-to-date W7 Dell laptop and received my W10 upgrade notice today. When going through the upgrade process, after I agreed to the legal terms, I get an error that says "Windows 10 couldn't be installed", "We couldn't update the system reserved
partition."

The 'Learn more' link takes me to a page to buy a Dell PC. I'm running an i5 with 8GB memory and already meet the specs needed to upgrade.

My reserve partition is 100MB and has 7% free.

What do I have to do to get past this error?