Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade  

[Context: I would like to do an in-place repair upgrade. I am running Version 1803 (OS Build 17134.1) because since that upgrade Windows Update has always failed. The Windows Update service is disabled, and any attempt to enable it is met with "Access is Denied". Dism /Online /Cleanup-image /Restore-health runs for some time, but ultimately exits with Error: 1058 ("The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.") A look at the dism log reveals that "The Service" in question is of course... Windows Update (that is, the very service which --because it is fixed "disabled" -- Microsoft instructed me to run dism to enable. Sigh. Tweaking.com ran to completion very successfully -- but changed nothing about WIndows Update being disabled or the "Access is Denied" error when i try to enable it. I had great hopes for an in-place repair upgrade, but have hit TWO snags which seem to be PURELY a problem with the in-place upgrade. Hence I bother you here.]

I downloaded an .iso of version 1909 and used Rufus to make a USB install stick. (My windows install is UEFI, and Rufus seems to make TWO partitions on the USB stick, a tiny FAT partition that loads an NTFS filesystem and then runs setup.exe on a big NTFS partition.). I click on "setup.exe" and go through all the screens in your tutorial until I tell it "Not at the moment" when it asks if it should get upgrades. Then it goes to "Preparing" and the next thing i see is:


"Windows 10 Setup / Setup has failed to validate the product key" and a close button. I assure you that it is a genuine activated copy of Windows 10, activated with a retail standalone license. (slmgr /xpr returns Windows(R), Professional edition; the machine is permanently activated). I know my product key. Can I do something to get the damn in-place upgrade to continue?

2. Actually, i needed to know the system default lanugage of my current install, because I know from your tutorial that i can't do an in-place repair upgrade until the installation media matches my install. "Luckily" you have a tutorial which gives me THREE different ways to find this information:
a. An elevated Power Shell tells me:


b .the elevated command prompt tells me:



c. and the registry says


Is it "majority rules" or "2 out of 3 ain't bad" -- so I need en-GB install media to do the in-place upgrade; or do i discount the command liine since it's now deprecated and only pay attention to PowerShell -- which doesn't mention anything but en-US.

First however i must get my product key recognized. Is there anything I can do (other than just single boot Arch Linux)?

THank you very much

sbpetrack,

Please indicate whether these options are possible solutions:
a) manually save files and clean install Windows 10 2004
b) reset save files (windows saves the files and install a fresh operating system; drivers and applications need to be reinstalled
c) troubleshoot (spend any amount of time to troubleshoot the failed upgrade)

These are tutorials with possible fixes:
Reset Windows 10
Custom Install Windows 10
Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade
Clean Install Windows 10
Refresh Windows 10

If you choose c then open a new thread.

These may help with activation:
Activation troubleshooting

Which is the problematic computer:
a) system one desktop
b) system two HP laptop

Heartfelt thanks to both of you. Some questions and some answers: :)

First, after literally years of not being able to upgrade, I tore out what little hair remained and got to the bottom of the reason I could not move the Windows Update service from disabled. The key was Brinks set of registry keys to restore Windows services to their defaults. How frustrating was it to have the keys in my hand, knowing they MUST be the right keys, and yet they only produced "an error accessing the registry". That was a clue: WIndows Update had been disabled, and the permissions of the registry keys for all of the Windows Update had been set like a medieval chastity belt. It was so locked down that not even Corona would ever infect it. I only had to take ownership of the keys, and give myself permission to change them, merge/import Brinks .reg file, and I could immediately enable Windows Update.

I may still have to clean install, g-d forbid, but armed with WIndows Update working (in principle), my plan is to do

0th: give my own user rw permission over at least HKLM\CurrentControlSet (so that the following steps can do something)
1st: dism /cleanup-image /restore-health /online
2nd. sfc /scannow
3rd. the Windows upgrade that Brink suggests

zbook, i hear you about the potential wisdom of saving files and clean installing. I suppose that with Windows one always needs to have a backup that can remove the sting from doing that.

Please let me clarify that I have no activation problem. I sort of assume that the reason the install media couldn't verify the product key was some other bit of registry isolation. Whereever the product key is stored, the key was not readable. I just confirmed this by runnning NirSoft's produkey as adminstrator -- and it could not find a product key!! I will search around, but if one of you knows what in the registry needs to be liberated in order for the product key to be seen, I would be grateful to learn.

I think the last question still open is whether the machine is a desktop or an HP laptop: it is a Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming 7577 laptop.

Thank you so much for you amazingly prompt and even more amazingly useful replies. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the help.

There is one more horror about this machine, completely unrelated to any of this (i think), related to what my Microsoft Account thinks the lisencing situation is of this machine, which i will ask separately.

scott

Thanks for this! My updater was stuck and I was beginning to lose all hope. I used the USB method and manage to update to May-build-2004.

Brink said:

I'm glad it was able to help Billy, and welcome to Ten Forums.

Just a quick note to add. I tried the ISO method at first but Windows was blocking me via family settings, despite me being the administrator on the computer. I also had to disconnect from the internet completely for the USB method to work. I don't think there's anything wrong with the guide as it was excellent but I do believe my computer was pretty messed up and trying to block me at every turn. It got there in the end though.