Upgrade to 1803 version fails with 0xc1900101-0x30017 error

Yeah, I share the frustration.
Two of my computers failed to upgrade and one of these days I'm going to fix them.
These are recurrent problems and I had identified the problems with prior upgrade failure.
There is software/firmware that was installed the prevents the upgrade as it alters the size of the partition.
So with so many variables mixed together (hardware, software, firmware, etc.) each computer environment may have created a scenario that prevents the upgrade. Sometimes the failed upgrades are easy: It may display the problem and the fix is easy. More often it becomes a project. Over time the decoding of the ambiguous messages becomes easier. However it is a lot of tedious work.

@EdTittel, Agree. Clean install followed by restore eliminates the troubleshooting. Time is then spent reinstalling applications and there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Then everything is fresh again. Typically, most OP dread the process of reinstalling everything knowing in advance the time required for the OS reboots, drivers, customizations, applications, etc. They may also wonder about whether they can or cannot rely on the restore. In contrast the troubleshooting has an indeterminate end point and this can be frustrating. If you are learning something in the troubleshooting then you may find the time spent useful. Copying the users folder to another drive can be done overnight so that the time spent is minimal. Making a backup image with Macrium can also be done overnight. And if Macrium displays error messages or codes these are worth the time fixing knowing that you end up with a backup image. Years ago the Panther logs were reading a foreign language without a translator, dictionary or decoder. They still are that way but some of the language can be deciphered.

Memtest86+ version 5.01 passed with 9 passes, 0 errors, 8 GB RAM.
With the Macrium backup image the backup plan is clean install and image restoration
The current plan is to tune up the computer ( fix misbehaving drivers ) , run through a Windows upgrade checklist, and attempt an upgrade with a Windows 10 iso. If it works then troubleshooting has been completed. If it fails the upgrade attempt will produce new Panther logs. If the problem(s) is/are evident in the logs then attempt fixes. If problem(s) is/are not evident in the logs then clean install and restore.

Is Macrium backup a must? I do have a regular Windows system image already backed up to an external disk. As for my personal files I've a separate one backed up to a veracrypt container on the same external disk. So, there's no more space on the disk for a macrium backup unless I delete the current image.

Macrium is highly recommended at Ten Forums.
There is a link for backup and restore:
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect | Windows 10 Tutorials
If you have an alternative method that you have used then you can use it.
A backup plan is needed in case the unexpected happens.
The tradeoff is the cost of another drive.
A Seagate 4TB USB 3.0 is approximately $100.

I do have prior experience with restoring from a Windows image backup. It works without any issues.

A new disk is not something I can consider now. I do plan to explore Macrium in the future. But do you have a specific reason for not recommending the built in Windows image backup/restore?

On Ten Forums there is a forum for backup and restore so that question is best directed to the forum.
Backup and Restore

EdTittel said:

@zbook: I'm getting to the point where I do things on a strict time invested basis. Anything that takes more than an hour to fix leads to an attempt at an upgrade repair install. If that doesn't do the trick, I usually start planning for and staging a clean install/environment rebuild. Some of this stuff takes so long to diagnose and repair, it's just not worth the time. As long as you keep most of your data on another drive, and have an image of the current/troubled environment at your disposal in the future, it seems a lot smarter to just clean up and start over sometimes, rather than spending DAYS fixing something.
I'd be interested in hearing your take on this strategy, thanks,
--Ed--

You are right.
Already tried to install 1803 a few times now. It takes quite a lot of time and after reboot, with me, it ends up with a BSOD "System Thread Exception Not Handled"-error. I started at around 07:30 this morning and with a break of about 1-1,5 hour, I still have nothing, but wasted some 6-7 hours.

Maybe the the Windows upgrade setup has been tested on simple 1 HDD 'no applications installed' PC's with Intel integrated graphics, I don't know.
With the last upgrade (1709), I started out on Dec.2017 and finally got it solved on Jan. 14 . . . (with a lot of help from our friends here)

Finding out that I even could not install a clean Windows (from USB using MCT) on a formatted drive...!
Sounds crazy and you start wondering : what's left if that doesn't work.

At the end I found out that I needed to disable a HDD in BIOS. Windows was installed on DISK 1 (diskmgmt) but when upgrading -must- it had to be installed on DISK 0.

Anyway, it seems that if your system is more 'exotic' than a simple off the shelf PC, you will easily run into mysterious errors.

Right now, with me, I have done the same thing as before, disabling the "DISK 1" HDD in BIOS, so the Windows system HDD was assigned to DISK 0, but the upgrade didn't work nonetheless.

A fresh install of Windows, if it succeeds, takes a relative short time.
However, installing all the applications AND going through hundreds of pages of settings, that is problem...