Failing Win10 update, how to obtain info on WHAT is failing?

Hi all! Every time Windows 10 Home decides it is time for a forced upgrade of my OS (currently on the 1709 version) I have the same nightmare. The upgrade eventually fails with the message that some windows component is not compatible. After a lot of work last year I managed to get it to upgrade to 1709. Now I am fighting with my machine with 1803. I have tried it all: clean boot, running command line functions to analyse and fix windows database, renaming my update folder (as a way to have it start fresh), removing all peripherals during the upgrade, upgrading directly from the internet to have a fresh upgrade media. Nothing seems to work. I have now downloaded a third party software that disables Windows Update so I can get some peace from the constant upgrade attempts. But of course I would rather have the updates for security and bug fixes.

So, instead of asking for a how to upgrade, I would here like to ask if someone could walk me through a way to find out exactly what component(s) the upgrade is complaining about, so that I could possibly find a work around or a fix for it. I think it is a huge oversight on Microsoft's part to not make the error messages more descriptive.

Thanks for any help!

sshhii said:

.. a way to find out exactly what component(s) the upgrade is complaining about, so that I could possibly find a work around or a fix for it. I think it is a huge oversight on Microsoft's part to not make the error messages more descriptive.

Welcome to TenFofums sshhii.

Microsoft have a comprehensive document on resolving upgrade issues, listing error codes and their meanings, and describing what to look for in the log files.

Resolve Windows 10 upgrade errors - Windows IT Pro | Microsoft Docs

Thanks for the link. In the past I had only Google searched the main error code but never found any help or information other than a general description of the error class (not how to find out in detail where the problem is).

Perhaps this link you sent me will help me find the exact error or errors.

I am traveling soon so it will first be in a week or so that I can let the upgrade fail again in order to read the logs. But thanks! I will come back to this thread if, at that time, I get stuck.

well i have a suggestion , try using Media Creation Tool 1809 to do the update instead of the usual windows update way , Media creation is just a couple of clicks and you are updating , is my safe path for all updates as i came to the conclusion that 99% of all update errors revolve around corrupted windows update cache or DNS problems (believe it or not some countries/ISPs try to block windows updates through dns because the bandwidth it may use among the vast number of users can clog their internet) and both of these are pretty iffy to resolve , where media creation tool comes in handy since it uses different route .

Also check if you have enough disk space .

Last time I attempted the update I was in clean boot mode and I attempted the update from a website to avoid any potential problems with media that was downloaded to my PC. Didn't help. I do have plenty of hard disk space on the main partition so that is not the problem. I will just have to go through the various steps in the link mentioned in the first reply to see if I can locate the problem that is blocking for completion of the update.

But thank you kindly for the reply and the advice. When I do attempt this again, I will try it this way.

I have tried to upgrade to 1803 for months now. I have tried this each time Windows Update would begin to insist that I needed to upgrade and would wake up my sleeping PC middle of the night (I now turn off my PC completely each night) or even be so bold as to suddenly reboot my PC while I am in the middle of working on something (seems to happen if you ignore the request to upgrade long enough).

But each time I try to upgrade to 1803, using various combinations of clean boot, direct install from internet, etc, it would fail with the same non-descriptive error message saying some component is not compatible. Of course I do not wish to stay behind forever, but if its not possible to upgrade my PC, then I would prefer the Windows Update to leave me alone.

I have not tried downloading an ISO form of upgrade media yet. I don't think it will solve the issue here, there seems to be something with my hard/software that Windows does not like, and I need to find out what it is. I have not upgraded to Windows Pro because for this PC I was granted the free upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 10 and as long as Home works for me, I don't care to pay for more licensing.

sshhii said:

I have not tried downloading an ISO form of upgrade media yet. I don't think it will solve the issue here...

No, it probably won't. But what it will do is provide a more detailed two-part error code on failing rather than the single code provided by windows update or the update assistant. This is your first step towards resolving the issue(s). From the documentation I linked to earlier...

If the upgrade process is not successful, Windows Setup will return two codes:

A result code: The result code corresponds to a specific Win32 or NTSTATUS error.
An extend code: The extend code contains information about both the phase in which an error occurred, and the operation that was being performed when the error occurred.

Upgrade error codes - Windows IT Pro | Microsoft Docs