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Windows 10 updates failing

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staffordian
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Windows 10 updates failing

#277487

Postby staffordian » January 14th, 2020, 10:15 pm

Inspired by several recent posts about updates, I decided to look into the version of Windows 10 my Acer Aspire laptop was running.

It is 1803 and looking at the Windows update history, I can see that several attempts by my laptop to upgrade to 1903 have failed between 28/08/2019 and 14/12/2019

Tonight I installed the Windows 10 Update Assistant and it spent well over an hour downloading, checking and attempting to install an update, but again it failed.

I thought these updates were automatic (unless specifically switched off) so I'm at a loss to understand why I'm still stuck on 1803 and cannot update.

There are error codes associated with each update failure, but Googling them hasn't given me anything definitive which helps.

The most recent failure, tonight, has this narrative:

Feature update to Windows 10, version 1903 (5)
Last failed install attempt on ‎10/‎01/‎2020 - 0xc1420121


Can anyone possibly give me an idiots guide to getting back on track?

TIA

Staffordian

Infrasonic
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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277501

Postby Infrasonic » January 14th, 2020, 11:44 pm

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/163 ... grade.html

I'd go for option 6.
To do a repair install of Windows 10 with Media Creation Tool

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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277505

Postby supremetwo » January 15th, 2020, 1:42 am

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/hel ... ate-errors

Scroll down to this - you need to tick the 'No' several times:-

Fix Windows file corruption
Important -
You need to run both the DISM and SFC commands shown below, not just one of them.

P.s. The one after has a video for Infrasonic's option 6.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... baa2a6190a

staffordian
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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277521

Postby staffordian » January 15th, 2020, 8:25 am

Thanks for that. Both options look far easier to follow than information I found.

I'll try them and report back, though it will be a couple of days as I'm a bit busy now.

Infrasonic
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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277529

Postby Infrasonic » January 15th, 2020, 9:01 am

Just to add, I always do my major W10 Feature Updates via the MCT route (downloaded to a USB flash drive) these days as I find it a bit quicker and there's less to potentially go wrong in terms of internet connections flaking out midway through et al. Additionally you then have an up to date copy of W10 ready to go for any future install/repair situations that might require it ( I go for the 'any pc' option when creating my MCT flash drive).

I used the repair install upgrade method to get from 1803 to 1903, 1809 was never offered to me and 1903 was flagged up as 'not ready' with various error codes. 1903 to 1909 (a very minor feature update) went fine via the normal download/update route in about five minutes.
All the repair/updates went without a hitch.

I've also previously run the SFC DISM routines linked to upthread just to be belt and braces.

Stompa
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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277552

Postby Stompa » January 15th, 2020, 10:10 am

If the options suggested so far should fail, then there's a potential solution mentioned towards the end of this thread:

https://www.windows10forums.com/threads ... 909.20640/

scotia
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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277576

Postby scotia » January 15th, 2020, 11:02 am

Windows 10 Updates loaded last night on closedown on my Lenovo Laptop. Major problem this morning when the PC attempted to install them. Briefly the sequence was
Lenovo - Diagnosing your PC - Attempting Repairs
Booting into Windows - We couldn't complete the updates - Undoing Changes
Windows starting - then Automatic Repair with Lenovo logo showing
Lenovo - Diagnosing your PC - Attempting Repairs
Automatic Repair couldn't repair your PC - Log File C:\Windows\System32\Logfiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt
Still no Windows
I was offered a button for Advanced Options - so gave it a try. This gave me a list of recovery options involving a USB drive, the network, a recovery DVD, or another operating system. I ignored all of these and used the Continue button
We couldn't complete the updates
Undoing changes
Don't turn off your computer
Then - Windows 10 loaded successfully.

Looking at the update record, Cumulative update for Windows 1903 KB4528760 failed to install,
and Cumulative Update for .NET Framework KB4532938 also failed to install.
Looking at the srtTrail file - it finishes with the statement "A recently serviced boot binary is corrupt"
I have Macrium Reflect installed - and at boot-up I get a choice of Macrium or Windows. Could this be the problem?

staffordian
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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277595

Postby staffordian » January 15th, 2020, 12:29 pm

Infrasonic wrote:https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html

I'd go for option 6.
To do a repair install of Windows 10 with Media Creation Tool

I found some time this morning and tried option 6.

It got so far then came up with a dialogue box informing me that the Windows Update had failed.

Will look at the other options later.

Very tempted to try threatening the laptop with a big hammer. It cant be any less successful than the methods tried to date :D

scotia
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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277604

Postby scotia » January 15th, 2020, 12:51 pm

Further update - I tried manually loading Windows updates via Settings - Update & Security - Check for Updates, and it offered me KB4532938 - The .NET Framework update. I selected this and it loaded it successfully.
It now told me "You're not up to date - Your device is missing important security and quality fixes". So I pressed the "Check for Updates" button, and after about 10 seconds, it simply repeated "You're not up to date - Your device is missing important security and quality fixes" - without any indication as to what fix is missing. Could they have found a bug in update KB4528760 - and have withdrawn it?

scotia
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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277625

Postby scotia » January 15th, 2020, 2:08 pm

And a further update. The other two experiences today were with a Lenovo Laptop running Windows 10 64 bit.
Being a glutton for punishment, I had a look at my (older) Samsung Laptop running Windows 10 32 bit.
It had made no attempt to automatically load the most recent updates - so I manually had a look at available updates. The NET framework update KB4532938 was present and loaded, waiting for a reset. The Cumulative Update for Windows 10 (KB4528760) was shown as loading - very slowly. When it had loaded, I carried out the restart - and the installation proceeded very slowly - with a long wait in the "Cleaning" operation. But it worked - and I have both KB4532938 and KB4528760 installed on Windows 10 32-bit. Going back to the Lenovo - I'm still "Not Up To Date", but the "check for updates " lists no available update file.

staffordian
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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277828

Postby staffordian » January 16th, 2020, 12:32 pm

Just to round this off, I'm now the proud owner of a laptop with Windows 10 v1903 :)

Problem is, I'm not certain what made the difference to allow it to update.

I deleted the C:\Windows\Software Distribution folder and cleared several programs which I don't really need, including Classic Shell, and after this the update went ahead, though it took a couple of hours or so.

I initially used the Media Creation tool, as mentioned above, which didn't work, and my first attempt at a solution my son found, which involved deleting the software distribution folder failed too; it only worked when I deleted it then also uninstalled a few programs, and ran the update from within Windows Update within the Update and Security section, so really, I'm none the wiser as to what made the difference

But the laptop does run faster now some of the accumulated cr@p from the last two or three years has gone.

Thanks to all who offered suggestions.

Staffordian

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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277847

Postby Infrasonic » January 16th, 2020, 1:51 pm

^^ If you'd tried the MCT route after you'd done the cleanup it probably would have worked too. At some point soon you should get offered the 1909 update.

Generally when W10 has failed updates it's due to some software incompatibility, unfortunately despite the telemetry going back to MS it's often difficult to pin down exactly what the specific issue is, even with the error codes. (That was the issue I had with 1803, I knew there was an update problem but not what it was...).

This is one reason to try and keep your W10 install as vanilla as possible and make use of things like portable apps where you can to avoid app installation bloat...https://portableapps.com/

staffordian
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Re: Windows 10 updates failing

#277882

Postby staffordian » January 16th, 2020, 4:03 pm

Infrasonic wrote:If you'd tried the MCT route after you'd done the cleanup it probably would have worked too. At some point soon you should get offered the 1909 update./

Yes, I intend to try that method next time.
Infrasonic wrote:This is one reason to try and keep your W10 install as vanilla as possible and make use of things like portable apps where you can to avoid app installation bloat...https://portableapps.com/


A plan I shall follow too after this experience!

Staffordian


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