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

You set up what the PM is to do, usually 'Apply' the change, then restart to have the change applied where that can't be done online.

I would expect the Help documentation makes that clear.

Or of course you could use a boot disk- longer-winded.

Macrium- it takes me about 9 minutes to do a differential image of my SSD-based Windows over USB3.

I don't know what your full disk backup method is so can't comment

An elementary search shows MR free offers differential imaging. It doesn't offer incremental.
Attachment 138241
Macrium Reflect Free

 

I'm sorry for the delay, but I've been running errands for a large chunk of the day, then later ran into some more computer trouble. I was going to create another backup (in preparation to using AOMEI to create some unallocated space). But I ran into a problem. I restarted my computer, and it froze on the BIOS splash screen. This has happened to me before (on my last computer before this one). Basically, it's a bug caused by when I restart the computer with a particular exterior hard drive plugged in and turned on (due to complacency - I should have learned by now never to do this), then restart it or turn it off and back on again with the drive turned off. The computer tries to find the drive that it thinks should be there, and thus gets permanently stuck, never booting up. The only solution is to turn off the computer via the power button, which I did.

As I always do when this bug presents itself, I restored the computer to the most recent Macrium system image in case the forced shutdown caused any system corruption (in this case, the system image that I restored to is the one that I made right after the Anniversary Update installed but while another update was downloading).

The problem is that I now see a failure message in Windows Update (presumably because I had made the Macrium backup while Windows Update was downloading an update), which makes me worried that I've corrupted something in my system (I assume that failed updates cause system corruption, at least if they fail during the actual installation process rather than the download process, and the fact that Windows says "failed to install" rather than "failed to download" makes it sound like the former). Here's the part of Windows Update featuring the error message:

Attachment 138379

Windows Update now says that it is downloading an update (seemingly the same one). Here's the message:

Attachment 138377

EDIT: Here's the Windows Update history after I finished installing the update that was downloading in the above picture and also downloaded and installed a few more updates until Windows said it was up to date:

Attachment 138390

The updates seem to have successfully downloaded ind installed, but I fear that it is too little and too late to stop any permanent damage to my Windows installation from the first failure. I might have to reinstall the Anniversary Update over again to make sure of getting rid of any corruption.

 

Windows does a good job of sorting itself out with these updates so I think you are are all done! See how it goes for a few days and of course make a new system image.

 

So you don't think that I need to install the Anniversary Update over again to make sure that there's no corruption? I've been figuratively "burned" twice in the past year alone by computers that had mysterious problems (the sources of which couldn't be pinpointed), so I'm extremely nervous about such things.

Also, how much unallocated space do you think that I should create with AOMEI? Dalchina said that at least 700 MB would be good, but would 1 GB (or some other amount) be even better?

 

I don't think you need to install AU again. *Smile

700MB of unallocated space sounds like plenty to me. It's a precaution and probably won't be needed but as dalchina points out some major upgrades have been known to create new system reserved partitions.

 

Is there any particular reason for the 700 MB number? Does it fall into some sort of not too big, not too small "Goldilocks zone"?

The current recovery partition is 500 MB. Would a second recovery partition, if one were to be automatically created, be the same size? Is it necessary to leave space for more than one possible future recovery partition?

Also, is it necessary for the unallocated space to be placed in any particular order among the partitions? Does it have to be places directly after the existing recovery partition?


And this might be an odd question, but is it best to restart a computer before creating a Macrium backup? Ever since I first started using Macrium months ago, it has been my procedure to turn my computer off and on again or restart it, wait for everything to load properly, then perform the backup. It is my reasoning that the leftover effects of programs (browsers, etc) running during a Windows session might in some way introduce problematic elements of some kind into the backup, thus requiring me to restart to start a "clean" session with minimal programs and features running so as to provide the lowest risk or creating a system image that would feature some type of flaws.

My system drive is automatically selected when I open the program. I click "Image this disc", which opens a window. Within the window, I run a regular default backup by clicking "Finish". It creates a full system image each time, and usually takes about 17 minutes (including verification).

 

I'll let @dalchina comment on why he suggested 700MB, but it would be enough for one new recovery partition. Placing at the end is fine IMO.

A restart before creating a system image is a good precaution. The image backup process is clever, it creates a snapshot of the system but you can carry on working and it will collect up any new changes you make before it finally writes the new system image backup.

 

So it falls into the category of "probably unnecessary, but still a good idea"?

EDIT: After writing this post, I decided to try creating a differential backup. It took only about five minutes (including verification, and created a small file (4 GB). I can see the benefits now. dalchina, thank you for recommending it to me.

I think I'll attempt to add the unallocated space tomorrow.

 

Sounds good. The unallocated space is just a pragmatic measure. Normally Recovery partitions for EFI installations are 450Mb, 500Mb for legacy BIos, which yours appears to be. So 700Mb..

I found my second recovery partition appeared after doing an in-place upgrade repair install.

If there isn't room on your system disk, but is elsewhere, the partition can be created on a different disk- messy.

Quite why this happens is unclear- I did once find a bit of MS text on that.

 

The reason why I'm wondering whether it might be better to create room for more than one recovery partition is that I don't know whether Windows will create more than one.

What I mean is this: I don't know whether it's possible that the next major update (such as the Creators Upgrade) will create another 500 MB recovery partition in addition to the one that I have now, then the next update after it will try to create a third. It's because of that hypothetical third recovery partition that I'm wondering whether I should make the unallocated space larger than 700 MB. Should this be a concern?

 

Reckon on 2 max. You can always remove the unused one.

 

How would I be able to tell which was used and which was unused?

 

You need to use the reagentc and bcdedit commands at an admin command prompt.

/? gives help

E.g.
reagentc /?

 

And that would tell me which one I need to keep?

I'm currently defragmenting the drive in preparation to creating the unallocated space. Are there any other last-minute things I should know before going ahead and creating it?

 

Win 10 takes care of routine defrag. Shouldn't be necessary, really.

Always safest to update your disk image before making changes, though this is relatively trivial.

You'd need info from both to work out the relevant partition number.