0xc000007b BSOD on boot after Windows 7 to 10 Upgrade

I just finished the upgrade from Windows 7 SP1 Pro to Windows 10 Pro and immediately after the computer fires up, I receive the error code 0xc000007b and the blue screen.

I was able to get the computer up and running again via the "remove last windows feature" in the startup/repair options.

Now that I'm up and running, I couldn't find any minidumps on my C drive to further investigate what was going on.

Any suggestions where to look next? I'm back down to Windows 7, but it looks like there's a C:\$WINDOWS.~BT folder as well as C:\Windows\Panther that from some googling shows may contain helpful information regarding the upgrade.

I scanned all folders/logs for the error code 0xc000007b and nothing turned up.

I would like to attempt the upgrade again, but if there's something I can uninstall or do ahead of time, I'd love to do that first.

I'm running an ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE motherboard, which isn't "officially" supported under Windows 10, but it sounds like folks have been able to get it working.

I've gone through all the Windows 7 updates, as well as updated the BIOS for my motherboard.

The benefit for me with an upgrade, is that windows 10 upgrade is offered for free… Unfortunately, this computer acts as our local home server, running a ton of different services… It would be a full weekend event to reinstall and reconfigure each one, which at that point I’d just build a new machine 😭

I did flash to that BIOS today just to be safe, as well as went through all the win 7 updates and did many clean restarts before attempting the upgrade.

I unplugged my 10Gbe pci card, but didn’t uninstall the driver for that. I may give it another go without that driver installed to see if it makes a difference.

I also uninstalled my AV just to be safe.

Thanks, but it seems like that’s a pretty basic video, doesn’t get into much other than the search and clicks for a simple upgrade. That was primarily the process I followed, outside of removing apps known to not work, uninstalling antivirus, etc...

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Just to add, this PC acts more of a server... completely headless and runs a security camera server, print server, Plex, remote data recovery services (R Studio), Splunk, DNS server through docker for PiHole, so there’s a good chance one item may be causing problems under windows 10. All the software is fully up to date and does support windows 10.. but maybe a specific program or driver is the cause and one of the many services simply needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled post upgrade...

I just wish I could tell from the logs what would indicate the problem. I also kind of want a new computer since this build is from 2012... but the hardware still runs great and is super zippy. I try to wait for the cpu/mb to go out before jumping into a new build.

This thing idles at 5% cpu and only ~7gb ram.

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Ok.. so round 2 with the windows 10 upgrade...

I was able to get the full install to complete again, but this time I hooked up a monitor so I could watch progress.

When the system finished the upgrade, after the "this is taking a little longer...." message finished, the only thing I saw was a black desktop and A POPUP TO UGPRADE iTunes. iTunes was already upgraded under Windows 7, so my guess is that there's a separate upgrade for Windows 10. I chose to not install iTunes at this point, but I probably should have clicked install. I was just worried about installing something without actually seeing the entire desktop.

Super weird to see the only thing on the screen be an iTunes upgrade, but still.. I guess I'll revert the upgrade, uninstall iTunes and then see if the upgrade works.

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So my last and final attempt ended up getting stuck before the install even could start (downloaded win10, stuck on preparing computer for install).

I removed iTunes, disabled various services from running (non-Microsoft), uninstalled every program that is not being used, reviewed device manager or any odd drivers still installed, and still had no luck.

My guess is a clean install would probably work, but I'll have go do that on a completely new build and let this 9 year old PC RIP.

So I was able to rebuild my main computer over the weekend, transfer all the stuff I cared about and needed to configure under the new build.

Since I plan to sell the old build, I did a clean install of Windows 10 and it was 100% successful. All drivers were found immediately via Windows Update. I did previously upgrade the BIOS of the ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE motherboard to whatever the latest version was (few years old still).

So all in all, the ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE motherboard is fully supported by Windows 10. Seems like one of the Windows 7 drivers causes issues with upgrades and as suspected, a clean install is the ONLY way to go.