Upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 problem

[GussNemo]

I have tried 23 times to upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit but the upgrade stops at 32% total installation and 6% installing features and drivers.  So it's 23 tries and 23 failures.  And I don't know how to pinpoint the exact problem.

In case someone is wondering, here is my system information . And in case someone asks, the check my status under the Get Windows icon indicated my system is compatible with Windows 10.

I'm going to list everything I've tried based on posts I've read, including the video I watched about uninstalling and reinstalling the video drivers, so that no one will suggest things I've already tried.  Hopefully someone will have a way for me to find what's causing the upgrade to fail.  So get comfortable, get a cup of coffee, and here goes.

As stated, the upgrade fails at 32% total installation and 6% installing features and drives.  After a short while a blue screen appears which states my PC has encountered a problem and needs to restart.  It then says please wait we are gathering error information.  Below this is another message which says "System Thread Exception Not Handled."  After the counter on the screen reaches 100% the system reboots.  Once the system restarts a messages appears which says trying to recover installation.  Then a message appears saying restoring your version of windows.  The system then reboots and I'm back to the log in screen.  I log in as administrator, the update window opens and says Windows 10 could not be installed.  Another error message is displayed saying "Windows has encountered an unknown error: c1900101-30018."

Since day one of trying to upgrade my system, I've have tried to find answers for the above two error messages but nothing anyone suggested has helped narrow down the root cause of the upgrade failure.  Listed below are my efforts in trying to solve this problem.

1.  chkdsk was run but nothing was found.

2.  sfc /scannow was run but nothing was found.

3.  per a post I read, Silverlight was uninstalled and restalled.  Upgrade failed.

4.  Backup and Restore stopped working and a post I read said to run MiniToolKit to fix the problem.  It did, backup was completed, more for my peace of mind than fixing the upgrade problem.

5.  Several MS Troubleshooters were run but upgrade still failed.

6.  Several MS Fixit were run and upgrade still failed.

7.  Hotfix was installed but upgrade still failed.

8.  System Readiness tool was Run/Installed but upgrade still failed.

9.  Verified both KB2952664 and KB3035583 were installed.

10. Per a post I read, the contents of the download folder under SoftwareDistribution were deleted.  Upgrade still failed.

11. Malwarebytes and Avast had been both left running and disabled but upgrade still failed.

12. During upgrade attempts 17-23, Avast had been completely uninstalled but upgrade still failed.  It was reinstalled after 23rd failed attempt.

13. Trying upgrade in Clean Boot made no difference.  Upgrade still failed.

14. Several times all peripherals were left connected to the system.  During one upgrade attempt all peripherals except mouse, keyboard, and monitor were disconnected.  The RJ45 cable to the router was also disconnected.  But the upgrade still failed.  Because of this step, all peripherals were left as is during other upgrade attempts.

15. Drivers for the sound card, video card, and monitor were updated.  Upgrade still failed.  The video on how to uninstall and reinstall the video driver is how I found this site.

16. Software for BIOS was flashed with the latest available.  Upgrade still failed.

17. Per a post I read, Tweaking.com Windows Repair was run.  Even though it did find some errors, and fixed those errors(?) upgrade still failed.

18. Per another post, I ran another Malware program but upgrade still failed.

19. Just before the upgrade rebooted the system for the first time, an error message popped up.  I was able to get a picture of that error and found it might be related to the Acer eDisplay Management on my system.  I did find the Acer eDisplay Management program was corrupt and able to download a newer version to install.  The newer version fixed the Acer eDisplay Management problem I was seeing with that program but upgrade still failed.

20. Ran Windows Memory Diagnostic but nothing was found wrong.

21. One post suggested disabling the Network Controller. Upgrade still failed.


As you can see I've tried a lot of suggestions, none of which has found the root problem which causes the upgrade to fail. I don't know how to proceed, how to find the main cause of what's keeping Windows 10 from installing. I've read other posts where people have been told to use the Media Creation Tool to create an bootable ISO disk and upgrade that way. Upgrade, not clean install, as a clean install would cost the price of the product key per MS. I haven't gone this route because it seems to me if one way fails, another way will fail as well. I could be wrong in my reason, but that is my thinking.

The one thing I will not do, so it shouldn't be suggested, and that's a complete reinstall of my Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit. And everything that's currently on my HD. While the reinstall itself might not take long to complete, reinstalling everything currently on the HD would. Going this route would making upgrading my system a very tiresome activity. True, after installing all of the current Windows 7 Ultimate updates upgrading before reinstalling anything else might prove successful, it's not a guarantee. I'd hate to go this route only to watch as the upgrade failed again.

My other option, if no one can offer a possible pin point solution, is to find a computer shop and let them have a go at finding the problem. It might not be too expensive but at least they'd have more experience and equipment at their disposal.

[Timster]

Welcome to the forums. Just to make sure, is the Windows 7 ultimate 32bit currently installed a legitimate version? Did you actually buy a license key to this OS? The reason I ask is that most home users who have Utlimate editions are usually using a pirated or "pre-activated" copy.

[EAPTCB]

The c1900101-30018 error code refers to device/peripheral conflict if I remember correctly. There is one more thing you could try. Take your graphics card out of the computer completely and then uninstall the drivers. Once you've rebooted try the upgrade again, if it's successful you can then replace your graphics card. As an extra precaution and since you are inside your PC you should remove any other drives you have and only leave your C:/ drive (or wherever Windows 7 is installed) still keep everything else unplugged as you've already done. If your mouse and keyboard are wireless, I would swap them out for wired versions temporarily.

[EAPTCB]

@GussNemo Did your upgrade issue get sorted?

[GussNemo]

(02-27-2016, 11:57 AM)EAPTCB Wrote:  @GussNemo Did your upgrade issue get sorted?

Yes to your question of the Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit on my system being legitimate. This is one of the things from several posts, including MS, that was suggested to look at. Mine is legitimate and activated, according to the System Information, and the product key stuck on the side of the tower case.

But no, I haven't found a fix yet. And I'm not yet at the stage where I want to start removing hardware from inside the case, since I have no idea how doing something like that will affect my system. I did leave a post on the MS Community page, and a person there has asked for some information, running DriverView the latest he ask me to do. I had to bump my post back to page 1 before I got a reply from him, though.

I did look for more posts concerning the error code I see in the Windows Update window, and found no one thing which would be causing the error. One person did suggest the cause could be found in the Windows Update Log, and I did look through it, but I don't understand what's written in that log. I did find the error code c1900101 listed under the BIOS section, but don't know if that actually means anything; it didn't actually say "error code c1900101" just c1900101.

One thing I do know is that I'm out of my depths on all of this. I can do general things, update drivers, install and the like, but troubleshooting is above my head. By the way, if someone knows how to read the Windows Update log I'll gladly attach a link for the file.

[GussNemo]

Now there's a new wrinkle to my Windows 10 upgrade problem, even using Media Creation Tool the upgrade fails.

Media Creation Tool does what it does, and then the main upgrade window appears--the one showing percentage of total install. And as usual, when total install reaches 32% and 6% installing features and drivers the blue screen will appear shortly with the message I mentioned in my original post.

However, there a new twist. After logging in as administrator, the Media Creation Tool opens a window saying the upgrade failed and saying something about First_Boot phase with error during SYSPREP operation, and the error code 0xc1900101-0x30018. The last error code is the same that appears when the update windows opens letting me know the upgrade failed, but the First_Boot error code is new. And as usual, I haven't a clue what it means or how to go about finding out the problem.

Something that's simple for some has turned out to be a nightmare for me.

[Britec]

Take a look at this article relating to your error.

Fix We Couldn’t Install Windows 10 Error (0XC1900101 – 0x20017) While Installing Windows 10

[GussNemo]

Thank you for that link. Seems the only thing I'd have to do is check the BIOS to see the condition of the Bluetooth and WiFi settings, as I've had all peripherals but mouse, keyboard, and monitor disconnected during two failed upgrade attempts.

Based on something I once saw in the Update History, I have a theory which I will test before going into the BIOS. Once upon a time, after one of the attempted upgrades failed, I viewed the Update History. Besides the number of failed upgrade attempts, I also noticed that Update had tried to install three drivers. And the attempt failed.

This didn't seem important, and may not be, it's just a theory after all, but I started thinking about everything I'd done and realized each failure showed this or that action didn't change anything with respect to the next upgrade attempt. In fact, three times my system has been checked and three times it's been found compatible with Windows 10. So that lead me to wonder if there wasn't a setting somewhere which was preventing something during the "Installing features and drivers" from installing. And because of the three failed driver install attempts by Update, I started looking for the setting which allowed Windows Updater to install drivers.

I finally found out that these settings could be accessed by going to Start --> Devices and Printers, right click on my system icon, and selecting Device Installation Settings. It was here I found "Yes" to be grayed out, and started my hunt for the reason. I found posts about checking the Group Profiles, User Profiles, and other profiles to see if a Policy wasn't blocking the "Yes" setting. But I finally found out the problem wasn't in the Group or User Profiles but in the Registry. In fact it was this key, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverSearching, which was blocking the "Yes" in Device Installation Settings. Once it was deleted, the grayed out "Yes" was once again black, and usable.

As I said, all of this is just a theory, but it's one I will test some time in the coming week. And if the upgrade fails again, then I'll get into the BIOS and check the Bluetooth and WiFi settings--even though my system doesn't contain any hardware which would use these features.

[Britec]

Yeah keep us informed  

[GussNemo]

(03-07-2016, 10:54 AM)Britec Wrote:  Yeah keep us informed  

I did go into BIOS setup and looked for the Bluetooth and WiFi settings, but didn't find anything.  Per the linked article, peripherals are to be disconnected and AV uninstalled.  These steps were already preformed in previous upgrade attempts and had no effect in allowing the upgrade to complete.

I talked to a computer tech and it was suggested to update the chipset on the motherboard.  I went to the ASUS website and downloaded the latest chipset download and used that to update(?) the chipset on the motherboard.  He also told me how to do a more extensive chkdsk by right clicking on the icon for my HD, going to properties, choosing tools, then error check.  I selected both options, and followed the prompts to perform the check disk when the computer was restarted.  Apparently nothing was found as the computer completed booting once the chkdsk was completed.

Since I made a change to the chipset, I'll attempt another upgrade when time permits to see if this might have been the cause of the upgrade failure.