Windows 10: Weird behavior at restart, please help analyze error reports.

Use it to inspect your partitions, check for unallocated space and as necessary shrink a partition on your system disk to leave say 700Mb unallocated. It's well supported with help.

NB you probably can't shrink C: on line.

 

I can't see how to check for unallocated space in AOMEI.

I believe that Disk Management has the ability to shrink partitions. Would it be better to use it or AOMEI?

What do you mean?

EDIT: What are the chances of the 500 MB not being enough? One thing that I forgot to mention is that the previous computer that I had also upgraded to the Anniversary Update, and it had the same partition sizes as far as I can recall.

 

I have gone to the Aomei site, found the help page, and the relevant article for you:
How to Resize Partition with AOMEI Partition Assistant?

NB you probably can't shrink C: on line.
- when Windows is running.

It is not uncommon to find Windows creates another recovery partition when upgrading.

 

Thank you.

I don't see any information on that page regarding checking for unallocated space. I assume that the Disk Management properties tab that I showed a while back is probably right when it says that there is only 1 MB, though.

That's a bit of a catch-22, then. The process of downloading the update has already started, so it's too late for me to try to do anything that requires Windows to not be running (I'd have to interrupt the update process).

Since you said that it might not be possible to alter my partition sizes while Windows is running, and the update is already downloading (it's at 83% now), should I just take the chance and let it install with the partitions as-is at this point?

 

You have a full system image backup so you can always get back to where you are now. I would go ahead with the upgrade. After the download finishes you may get the option to install now or later. The install will take a while and involve several restarts of the PC, the process could take an hour or more depending on how much data and programs have to be transferred.

 

This is why I said - way back -
Probably a good way forward would be to
a. Create a disk image
b. update your BIOS
c. manually upgrade Win 10

If it is done manually, you are in control. Unfortunately events have somewhat overtaken you.

Done manually, you have a downloaded copy of Win 10, downloaded once that you can use to make repeated attempts.

If the current presumed upgrade fails, you will lose your download - at least without research I don't know if there's any chance of recovering it.

 

As far as worst-case scenarios go, that's not too bad. I could always download the ISO afterward.

If it does indeed give me a choice between installing now or later, what would you recommend as the best course of action from that point onward?

 

If you want to upgrade to 1607 manually, you will need to get that from an iso library.

 

I believe that this would be the correct place to get it:

http://windowsiso.net/windows-10-iso...load-standard/

 

I suggest a direct Microsoft site:

Download Windows 10

 

Well, I went to bed and left the update downloading last night (it was at 92% at the time). This morning, I restarted the computer, and it successfully updated. When I logged back into my account, it gave me the same "Hello, we're getting things ready for you" messages that one typically gets when logging into a newly-created Windows account for the first time. The Photos app is now working, and a registry key that had been edited by Display Driver Uninstaller (when I had used it to uninstall my display drivers so I could perform a clean manual update of them) has now been automatically set back to Windows' default (which is a good thing, as I had wanted to set it back to default anyway). I also now have a Windows.old folder.

Attachment 138179

Afterward, I checked for more updates, which caused it to find some. It's currently downloading them.

Attachment 138186

Since the update was successful, do you think that I have anything to be worried about at this point, in terms of system instability or corruption? Should I go ahead with a full reset like I was considering before, or would that be overkill at this point?

Also, should I bother with adding extra unallocated space to my system drive at this point? Would that run the risk of messing up something on my system drive, and what are the chances that I will ever need it?

EDIT: Now it only has one update listed as downloading (rather than two). Does this mean that the other one has already finished downloading and/or installing, or that it didn't successfully download?

Attachment 138192

 

That's a good outcome- you're fortunate.

*** Please now as an urgent priority create a disk image of your new Windows.

Now, I would expect you will receive another significant update quite soon.

As you have Pro Go to Settings, Updates, Advanced.. and select Defer feature updates.
That will defer the Creator's Update as you know.

Now you can also take control of Windows Update. This is what I do:
Using (for convenience) Winaero's free tweaker (it gives the full manual equivalent if you don't trust such tools) I have set Windows to notify only. No unexpected downloads or restarts.

Attachment 138189

Read the instructions carefully. It's confusing.
a. Click Check for updates. Wait.
b. Click the button on the tweaker.
c. Check you see this (text at bottom).
Attachment 138190

Yes, I would recommend leaving some unallocated space on your system disk as I said for future situations.
You can see I have 2 450Mb recovery partitions (one not used) - this is not uncommon.
Attachment 138191

 

Right now, or after the update that is currently downloading finishes installing?

EDIT: As the download is progressing at a fairly quick pace and I didn't have time to wait for your answer, I created a Macrium backup. However, I still need to know if I need to create one after the update is downloaded and installed.

It's already selected.

 

A Windows MAcrium image is best created using options
Backup, Windows Backup (or there's an option to click on on the left with a longer title that's the same thing).

This will give you a popup picture with all your Windows partitions selected.

Once you've created your base image (bigger, slower) you maintain your image set through the lifetime of your Windows by creating differential images (smaller, faster, the difference to the base image). Do this periodically and before/after each major change.

Restoring requires 1 base image + 1 differential image.

At longer intervals, repeat the whole process to create a new image set.

This can be done on a schedule, but that means your backup disk remains connected- not a good idea.

 

Those instructions that you wrote down were slightly incorrect. I tried it in that sequence, and it didn't work. Then I read what Winaero Tweaker itself said to do (click the button in Winaero first, then check for updates) and it worked.

How should I achieve this? I take it that AOMEI itself can't do it, as it runs within Windows. Is it necessary to use some program that runs on a bootable disc? And what are the risks that it could corrupt my Windows partition?

Also, should I try doing it with AOMEI while Windows is running to see if it's possible, or is it too risky to try that?

What advantages do backups made using this method provide that the full disc backups that I currently run don't? It sounds much more complicated and work-intensive. The way that I currently do it, one file contains everything, and there is no need for extra files. With a previous computer, I successfully used it to restore my system many times.

EDIT: Does the free version (which I use) even include the option to make differential backups? According to this page, it doesn't:

The benefits of differential and incremental backup (Differential, Incremental)