Win8.1 to Win10 21H2: Windows 10 installation has failed

The system is a 'Nextbook' model NXW101QC232, a now defunct Atom tablet manufacturer. Using an extracted Win10 ISO or using the Media Creation Tool result in the error.

An in-place upgrade / repair install for 10 lacks the audio and camera with no yellow-banged / missing drivers and has other issues. Audio is not a category. Someone did claim success online.

Win8.1 was basically untouched, with two apps installed and no connectivity (94 patches queued) for years. They were were all installed, the system SFC'd and DISM /restorehealth'd without success. What logs would assist? TIA

This seems to be a 32Gb device from around 2014.

I could not advise spending time on trying to diagnose upgrade failure for this.

a. Very old and no support you say
b. Noted you say someone succeeded
c. Very limited space adds to the difficulty of any upgrades, whether those be from Win 8 to Win 10, or from one Win 10 major build to another.

How much free space do you have? (Normally 30Gb min is recommended - special methods are needed with these small devices).

Upgrade failure analysis can take days of iterative attempts and trial and error and analysis. Only a couple of members here have both the expertise and been willing to spend the time (for free!) that is needed- and not for a long time now that I've seen.

Consider whether this is really worth the effort...

Hint: run
setupdiag.exe (free from MS) - attempts to analyse logs and match to known cases.
Search based on elements on any failure message you receive
Maximise free space on C:
Thoroughly remove any 3rd party security software

Research tenforums to see how such small tablets have been upgraded - plenty of examples

Logs: setupact.log, setuperr.log
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...rade/log-files
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...8-e9c6714349b9

Find threads on upgrade failure where Tekkieboy has helped.

And thank you very much for taking the time to reply.

MisterEd said:

This computer has 32GB eMMC for main storage. The eMMC is a flash memory chip soldered to the motherboard. That means that your main storage is not upgradable.

I assume the computer has a microSD slot. If so you can store data on it. Unfortunately, that does not help you with Windows.

Windows 8.1 by itself takes up most of the 32GB main storage. That means there is not enough free space left to upgrade to Windows 10.

If you are willing then you might be able to do a clean install of Windows 10. Then there are the problem of drivers. You would have to try this to see if it finds any drivers it needs.

If you succeed then there is another problem. Since Windows 10 would take up most of the 32GB main drive then there would not be enough free space to do one of its semi-annual or annual major update.

If you download the latest iso, and attach a usb drive, mount the iso as a drive, then run setup.exe, the tablet will use the usb as free space to upgrade. However you do need a few GB spare space before you start.

OP should make an image backup with Maxrium Reflect Free first.

Clean installing is usually a bad plan as tablets often use special drivers not in standard MS iso, and worse often not in a standard format to export them.

Frankly, I would not bother.

They are usually time-consuming and difficult to interpret. I think you may have seen the verdict it's not really worth the effort...