Update Win10/Pro x64 From Ver. 1903 to Most Recent Update Release

I have an unused Win 10 machine, custom build, that I finally have bandwidth to update and use. WinUpdate has not been 'friendly' in the experience.

I have the machine up, offline, and I'm trying to understand my options.

The Data Drive is empty. The System Drive has the OEM installation of Version 1903.

I encounter error x80071A91 when attempt to update 1909 (6)

I tried 20H2 and encountered 0xc1900101.

What should I do next?

thanks,
baumgrenze

@baumgrenze

I would just do an In-Place Upgrade. That fixes Windows while leaving your programs and files alone.
Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade




Here is the short version of the In-place upgrade tutorial...

DISABLE non-Microsoft:
a) antivirus software
b) firewall software
c) drive encryption software

Make a full OS backup with a program like Macrium Reflect (free)
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

Go here and get the Media Creation Tool and save it to your desktop.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

RUN the Media Creation Tool and use it to: Create an ISO image... save IT to your desktop.
This will be the latest version of the ISO image.

For older ISO image versions, go here instead...
Download Windows 10 ISO File


Right click the ISO image and choose: MOUNT
Open File Explorer and you will see a new drive letter. It will look like a DVD optical drive.
Double click the new drive letter to open it.
Find setup.exe and double click it to start the in-place upgrade.

Choose the Keep personal files and apps option.

After it's all done... to UNmount the ISO image, right click the new drive letter and choose: EJECT.


The ONLY thing you will lose is some of your personalizations. Your programs and data will be intact.

Caveat: attempts to diagnose upgrade errors, unless you are very lucky, can go on for days. If there's no quick resolution, and you have nothing you need on the PC and reinstalling programs will not be hard, then consider a clean install.

Noting you say it's offline, please confirm you have been offered an upgrade via Windows update - if not, that may indicate MS considers there is an incompatibility.

Note you can upgrade multiple machines with the same base language and 'bitness' using the same once-downloaded iso file- this could help you deal with bandwidth issues in future.

Further, downloading and then using the iso file manually saves you both the time downloading it each time for each reattempt, and your data, should you have a data cap.

Recommendation: if you are going to attempt the upgrade, then create a disk image (hope you're already using disk imaging as is so very often recommended here) before starting, just in case something goes horribly wrong. E.g. Macrium reflect (free).

I tried Macrium in 2014 and was never confident that it successfully created an image. There were always error messages.
I now subscribe to IDrive and create an image of the drive there. That should be as good, no?

I have been keeping the internet connection disconnected except when trying downloads. It does have MS protection but it is not clear how up-to-date it is.

The fact that I can see error messages that the latest update failed (20H2) with a different error suggests that it downloaded. I'm concerned that I needed a cross check to learn that it had failed. When I ran the update it seemed to go fine.

Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement,
baumgrenze

I tried Macrium in 2014 and was never confident that it successfully created an image. There were always error messages.

There should be none if your drive is good. Many here use it and rely on it.

If you got e.g. CRC error reports, suspect your drive.

Example: I imaged a drive regularly. Suddenly imaging failed. Investigation with Hard Disk Sentinel and a disk scan showed failing and weak sectors.

Please try a disk scan (various free tools available) and run Hard Disk Sentinel.

I now subscribe to IDrive and create an image of the drive there. That should be as good, no?

No idea what that is - if that's a cloud service, you must have excellent upload speeds, yes?

I downloaded Macrium Free and found it much more friendly than the version I tried in 2014. It reported that I successfully created an image of my C:\ drive.

Intending to follow Ghot's instructions I then went to

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

and above the option to 'download tool now' was a 'gray box' reading Windows 10 October 2020 Update where I was promised that "The Update Assistant can help you update to the latest version of Windows 10. To get started click Update now.

I clicked and it appears to have worked!

My System Information page now reads 10.0.19042 Build 19042!

I thought others might want to see the simple solution that worked for me.

Stay safe, everybody!

- - - Updated - - -

Can I mark this post solved?

Thanks for all I learned 'on the side' from the advice I was given.

Stay safe. We all need the help our experienced members offer us.

@baumgrenze

Glad you got it worked out. Make sure to run Windows Updates.
The current version as of today is 19042.804

You can check your version by typing winver in the taskbar search box.



...and yes. You can mark any topic solved. It's your topic.