Windows 10: Windows 10 installation process freezes at 32% and 6%

There are some devices that cause problems in Windows 10 and they are better disabled before trying the upgrade. You can install drivers for them later, after a successful upgrade. One of them is Realtek AC'97 audio that most old motherboards have. Read all about it and how to solve it in this thread. In later pages there is a solution for Windows 10 64-bit as well. So when you experience freezes during the upgrade, don't wait. Restart, undo the changes and then disable any non-critical device (audio, lan, Wi-Fi etc). Leave only the devices necessary for the computer to work and perform the upgrade. Uncheck the box to search for updates during install. No! It's far better to do the updates later. And I would recommend to also disconnect from the internet during the upgrade.

 

I did start to use the software that everybody loves to hate so my strategy is to update each driver, one at a time and reboot and check before doing the Windows 10 upgrade. Yesterday I did 8 reboots on an Asus motherboard OEM system then did the Windows 10 upgrade, no problem. After spending hours and days on the eight year old Sony's laptops stuck at the 32 / 6 percent, my strategy is to update the drivers as you are told to do, then do the Windows 10 upgrade, not do a trial and error approach since you can waste a lot of time with a slow machine just getting to the 32 / 6 percent screen. About two hours each time. Faster hardware you get there quicker. It was the audio driver on my Sony that was causing the issues with mine but not the one you list and the other two drivers referenced on the partners.

Saying all of that I'm not too sure whether Microsoft might have added a few more drivers or not to the upgrade more recently, dunno except it's been smoother with the last three machines than the first two and I have used the software that people love to hate. Those were the eight year old Sony's. Then a Samsung netbook N210plus (had to revert back to the Samsung Windows 7 modified video driver on that one just to give the same funny resolution options as were present although the driver one upgraded to was OK but not the Samsung modified one, but did take the suggestions by the software that people love to hate), a three year old HP tower unit and a three year old OEM Asus tower unit. All but one were not suppose to be upgradable according to the manufacturer (no support) but work well under Windows 10, given that it's lighter they all work better than before.

My original posting up was to give the Sony model number to go along with the others so people doing googles could also find the correct drivers for these rather old machines. Once again thanks to the guy who found the correct drivers to the Sony variation that my partner had which got me out of an embarrassing situation.

Windows 10 has given the eight year old Sony laptops a new lease of life liberated from Vista which you can see was problematic and Samsung N210plus running under 10 works better than 7 so I'm told.

 

In my example of Realtek AC'97 audio, the last Vista driver works OK on Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 but gives a BSOD when you try to install it in Windows 10. The same is true for the last Windows XP driver. It also gives a BSOD in Windows 10. For these (rare I believe) cases, there is little advantage in installing the latest drivers before upgrading to Windows 10. It is safer to disable the device, when in doubt, upgrade to Windows 10 and then try to install any drivers.

 

DRIVERSCAPE looks ok.
I found the AMD drivers below there, optimistically all listed as fine for Windows 10.

Drivers caused a slightly older Dell than this one to FAIL at Windows 10 upgrade. The old AMD video card was the issue.
AMD has two Windows 7 drivers pre HD5000: the later one is only Vista-Windows 7 and will NOT work in Windows 8.1 (Windows 10) which caused multiple failures of the W-7 to W-10 upgrade for me.
First roll back the AMD driver to the earlier (Windows 7 & 8) driver and then do the upgrade.

Older AMD version (W-7, W-8) works:
Catalyst Software Suite 13.1 --- Display Driver ver. 8.97.100.700
(13.1 is only available via AMD Driver Downloads - Manually select (Windows 8) and not via the groupings to the right.

AMD version (Vista, W-7) will FAIL:
Catalyst Software Suite 13.9 --- Display Driver ver. 8.97.100.11
(AMD Downloads to the right for Windows 7 provides this one)

Windows 10 Update then provides the Windows 10 driver 8.970.100.9001

 

AMD HD 5000 was known to cause upgrade issues since the original version of Windows 10 at July 2015. Hopefully some newer driver can fix that issue. The remedy is to install a generic Microsoft driver (uninstall the AMD Catalyst suite) before the upgrade and then try to install any driver. I would also manually change the display adapter to Microsoft Basic Display Adapter before the update, just in case. To make sure Windows Update won't interfere during the upgrade to Windows 10, I recommend to uncheck the "Search for updates" box during the setup and even better, disconnect from the Internet.

 

I can't thank you enough for your post! I've been trying to upgrade my ASUS G50Vseries laptop since Win. 10 was released, and just couldn't get past being stuck at 32%/6%. I've read, and read, and researched. Deactivated, uninstalled, unplugged, reset ad nauseam... I finally came across your post and (by this point VERY sarcastically) checked my "Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller. Sure enough, I had the same old driver you mentioned. Downloaded the .zip (from driverscape.com though, not driverscope), installed... Done! Again, THANK YOU!

 

I had the same problem when it came to it freezing at 32%... it came up with a message saying something about it having a problem continuing with the installation and that Windows will run an error scan. After that happened it restarted gathered some info and continued from 32% and worked from then onwards.. so unfortunately I cannot say what the problem was but if yours freezes and restarts and then looks as though it's loading windows 10 you know it will worked *Smile

 

Well done, you really find the clue. *Wink
I had the same problem and tried so many things before I read your post. *Banghead
For some reason, those drivers weren't even detected by few drivers update program, including the one you mentioned, but definitely the ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI driver wouldn't let the Windows update progress on my Sony VGN- FW16G.
Thank you so much for publishing that tip*Thumbs