Can't upgrade my W10

lbeck · 01 Nov 2017

Lots of information here - including the debate. Also, would like to get Zbook's take on all of this given that he and I have some history on this issue and he has examined my setup can configuration - and has offered some advice that has inched me further to a solution. In any event - I'll try everything unless there is something that will nullify my attempts to update W10. But it may take a while.

In answer to a direct question - my computer came with W8 and I took advantage of the free upgrade to 10 (no CD/DVD involved).

Thanks for all the help.

NavyLCDR · 01 Nov 2017

@lbeck ,

Both @topgundcp and my suggestions accomplish the same end result, we are just suggesting two different methods of doing it. His method is much faster, but it is a bit more technical. His method is actually the method I use to set up drives. The method I suggested accomplishes the same result, but it lets the Windows setup program do it instead of doing it by manual commands.

Our goal is to get the rest of the drive set up properly so it isn't the other partitions that are causing the upgrade to fail. Then you transfer back your original Windows partition ONLY. Then try the upgrade. If the upgrade succeeds, you know it was probably the EFI System partition that was the problem. If the upgrade fails again, now you know the problem is with the Windows installation itself - and that is more than likely going to require a clean install from scratch to get everything running properly again.

ThrashZone · 01 Nov 2017

Hi,
Just from post 3 you system reserved partition is only 100mb's
It needs to be increased to at least 450mb's.
I'd make a system image first then use free minitool to increase it which I'm sure has already been suggested.
Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

topgundcp · 01 Nov 2017

@ThrashZone
OP is running GPT disk, there's no "System Reserved" here, 100MB is EFI System partition which is correct.
@NavyLCDR
My suggestion above will not require the Windows Installation Media, just use the Rescue disk and faster.
Your suggestion will work but will take longer but if you use the Installation Media, you still don't have to re-install completely. The whole idea is to re-create the 1st 3 partition. You can stop the installation by clicking on the X after the first check mark is done to cancel the installation then reboot with Macrium to restore C drive.

see post: Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss - Page 8 - Installation Upgrade Tutorials

Can't upgrade my W10-screen-shot-2015-07-29-3.02.17-pm.png

ThrashZone · 01 Nov 2017

Hi,
You don't think the upgrade installer error message is just miss stating the partitions name in post 1 :/

topgundcp · 01 Nov 2017

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
You don't think the upgrade installer error message is just miss stating the partitions name in post 1 :/

That's why I suspect that OP boot up with wrong selection from boot screen. When working with GPT disk, you must boot up using #1 as shown below. Use #2 if working with MBR disk which has "System Reserved " partition.

Can't upgrade my W10-boot-menu-mbr-uefi.jpg

zbook · 03 Nov 2017

In post #12 there are event log entries displaying problems with the drive.
These event log problems should be evaluated before fixing the failed Windows 10 upgrade to reduce the possibility of any unexpected drive problems.

There are multiple methods to fix the problem.

First though please check each drive with HD tune, Sea Tools, and chkdsk /x /f /r.

And second back up all files and make an image.

The EFI partition by default is 100 MB.
The system reserved partition by default is 16 MB.
The Panther log CONX report indicated that it needed 15 MB of free space and that it only found 11 MB during the attempted upgrade. The free space insufficiency was 4 MB.

When windows is installed after a clean install the languages and fonts are placed into the EFI partition.
When the contents of the EFI partition are viewed they may contain folders related to the bios, bios upgrades, languages and fonts, and UEFI diagnostics.

Some computer manufacturers such as HP have UEFI diagnostics to test the computer hardware and this is also stored in the EFI partition.

In most cases the default 16 MB /100 MB is sufficient space for the upgrade.

Unknowingly some have installed extra languages, fonts, UEFI diagnostics, multiple bios updates and all of these combined reduced the free space preventing upgrades. There may be other computer manufacturer folders/files installed within the EFI partition reducing its size.

Microsoft has published fixes for this problem and the approaches differ depending on whether it is a GPT or MBR drive.

HP has published fixes for this problem.

Both Microsoft and HP fixes have the same approach.
They are steps to remove the contents of of the EFI partition to alter the free space.

It turns out that for those that only use English there are multiple language folders that can be deleted.
The same for fonts.

For HP they provide a method to remove the UEFI diagnostics from the EFI partition and use the UEFI diagnostics from a bootable USB drive.
Alternatively the UEFI diagnostics can be reinstalled after the upgrade.

For the drive that failed the upgrade the amount of free space that needs to change is by > 4 MB.
The free space within the system reserved partition was only 11 MB and it needed 15 MB for the Windows 10 upgrade.

The steps require using administrative command prompt.

The alternative method is to increase the size of the EFI 100 MB partition. This will require the reduction of another partition on the drive.
The mini tool partition wizard may be able to be used enabling an increase of 100 or 200 MB. Alternatively there are other options offered in the thread.

So the failure to upgrade may be able to be fixed by either deleting unneeded folders or altering the sizes of the partitions. The result needs to create more free space within the EFI partition so the system reserved partition has at least 15 MB of free space. It currently has 11 MB of free space and is insufficient by 4 MB.

Please download and install Mini Partition Wizard and post an image of the drive into the thread.

Please evaluate each drive with HD tune, Sea Tools, and chkdsk /r and post results into the thread.
Use the information in this link to find the chkdsk report in the event.vwr and post the results into the thread:
Read Chkdsk Log in Event Viewer in Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials

lbeck · 05 Nov 2017

Thanks to all for your help.

Zbook - I've been traveling so haven't been at my desktop computer for a few days. But I have started or performed some of the tests that you recommend. Screen captures are provided. I'm having a little trouble with partition mini tools in that it doesn't want to resize my "Active & system" partition. I'll continue to research this but it appears as you say that this partition needs to be larger.

I'll be gone again starting tomorrow through mid-week and will let my computer run chkdsk-full during that time.

I'll eventually try all of the tests that you recommend but decided to provide an update now to let you know that I haven't lost interest or solved the update problem.

Thanks again and I'll be back.

zbook · 05 Nov 2017

For HD Tune please post images of these scans for each drive/partition: (see tabs)
1) health
2) error or surface scan
3) benchmark

When available please post the chkdsk results for each drive.

lbeck · 05 Nov 2017

Here is my chkdsk report. The images are for the tests that you suggest.

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Acer.

WARNING! /C parameter specified.
Your drive may still be corrupt even after running CHKDSK.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
625920 file records processed. File verification completed.
21510 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed.
Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
738292 index entries processed. Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.
Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Cleaning up 14 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 14 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 14 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
56187 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
40824728 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed.

Stage 4: Looking for bad clusters in user file data ...
625904 files processed. File data verification completed.

Stage 5: Looking for bad, free clusters ...
103926702 free clusters processed. Free space verification is complete.

Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.

507543548 KB total disk space.
90798512 KB in 484403 files.
285236 KB in 56188 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
752992 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
415706808 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
126885887 total allocation units on disk.
103926702 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 8d 09 00 e9 3e 08 00 4f 0a 0f 00 00 00 00 00 .....>..O.......
a3 02 00 00 4e 61 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....Na..........

Windows has finished checking your disk.