Can't update Windows

I forgot to ask ... what is CD-ROM 1 ... UNKNOWN device type?

Do you have any BDROM software (Daemon Tools) installed?

Ok, off to bed for me, g'nite

Disk Management

Right click the partition

Select Change Diver Letter and Paths ....

Select Add in the dialog window

It can be any letter, but for the sake of conversation, make it S
Both of us can refer to work on that partition as drive S.

Once the partition has a letter, you can explore it by right clicking the same partition (now letter S) and select Explore or you can use File Explorer to look around.

Another way to explore the partition is
Launch Command Prompt (Admin)
type the following commands

S:
dir /a /s

The dir /a command gets around the view issues of hidden and system files and the /s looks at all sub-folders

The intent is to find out what's on that partition in order to determine if there needs to be any adjustment to the partition setup. I don't know at this point, I just want to know your system better.

To that end, please also provide the results of the Recovery Agent command:

Command Prompt (Admin)
Reagentc /info

and...
Please follow this tutorial to provide the current operating environment of your machine.
Speccy - Publish Snapshot of your System Specs

Thanks

You've been doing great, but the next phase might be tortuous - change, test, change, test, change, test...
Just to let you know, our efforts might not bear fruit since this is really in the domain of MS to fix. If we stumble across something that resolves the issue on your machine, great ... you should also report it over on the Reddit page.

A few things you can do/try
Check Device Manager for any unknown devices or flagged device
let me know if any devices are not working properly
-- oh yeah... how about that CD-ROM 1 question before

Check your time settings - set Internet time server to Nist.gov and update now

Create a new admin account (Local) and run WU manually from that account

Perform a Clean Startup
msconfig
Services tab
hide all MS services (lower left)
disable all non-MS services

Startup/TaskMgr
disable all

restart and test WU

There are many other troubleshooting suggestions, but I wanted to write some down before I forgot to mention them

I strongly suspect though, only a repair install (even that's questionable since Dism essentially does that) or a Clean install (always fixes issues except HW issues) will do the trick.
Your choice to continue troubleshooting or bite the bullet and Clean install.

I'm in it for the duration, you can cry UNCLE at any time

The plot thickens ... I'll address each one and wait until you reply OK?

The Drive Letter didn't work bc you selected the OSDisk (C:) partition which already had C assigned to it.
I'm interested in what's on the unlabeled 450 MB partition just above OSDisk in the top pane

You can select that object in the top list pane or the bottom graphical representation pane
(the 450 MB part to the right of OSDisk ... behind the drive Letter dialog in your picture)

Give that Drive Letter S and tell me what you see on the drive

Command Prompt (Admin)
S:
dir /a /s

That's the easiest (for me anyway) I don't have to ask about File Explorer View settings

Ok, I'll read the other stuff you posted .. The other user might be a clue to this whole issue - not sure .. but we started this adventure by looking at ProfileImagePath on your machine (looked fine then)

Lots of reading for me.

Bill

jmbtexas4 said:

I forgot to ask ... what is CD-ROM 1 ... UNKNOWN device type?
I only have one built in cd-rom on this laptop.

Do you have any BDROM software (Daemon Tools)?
None that I am aware of

My first dive into your Speccy shows: MagicISO Virtual DVD-ROM0000

3rd Party burners / ISO mounters are not necessary in Win10 and might/have been known to cause issues, even BSODs.
I suggest that if you don't have some requirement for that software, then it should be exorcised from your system.
Uninstall it
To mount an ISO all you have to do is double click the file, it gets mounted, and you can access the contents in File Explorer.

Edit

Your PATH environmental variable is blank. I need to jump over to my Win10 box to verify, but it should be, at a minimal
PATH=C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v 1.0\;C:\Program Files;

nothng for you to do unitl I confirm

Edit

I'll keep digging thru Speccy and there might be more 3rd party software that I'll suggest you uninstall. If there is a trusted alternative, I'll offer that as well. With a few exceptions, these are not hard and fast - you decide if you need the software.

7-zip is an excellent replacement for handling compressed containers that Windows does not natively handle.

be back with a reply to your "can't add drive letter to 450 MB part in the next post.

jmbtexas4 said:

I did right click on the 450 partition, but there is no option to "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." like there is on the C drive.. It only says "Help." See screen shots...

Thanks, I looked at the scren shot a little closer after your post.
There is no file system so sure ... you can't add a drive letter.

Your system has everything on the C: part (System, Boot, Paging, Active...) I missed that before.

So we can forget about that 450 MB - there's nothing on it. Leave it be for now, I might come back to it later.
I'll keep reading the Speccy - probably won't post anything until something tomorrow after I digest it.

Bill
.

Hi @Slartybart. I hope I found the correct thread. :)

If I understand correctly, I think you are on the right track with reagentc - the rollback error is because Windows can't set the recovery (the final step in the install).

Here is a shot of my old lappy's drive structure. This is a legacy boot, 32-bit W10Pro system, clean installed on a bare spinner with TP9926, (Oct 2014), and upgraded all the way through to IP14332.








My suggestions:
If there are still problems with the OS, I would do as you previously suggested, the repair install using an in-place upgrade.

Once the OS is in good shape, I would do this:

Image the C partition to an external drive (use Macrium, be sure verification is ON).
Clean install the latest version W10 to Disk 0, being sure to nuke all partitions and start with an "unallocated" drive.
Once the OS is installed and the correct partitions exist, boot to Kyhi's custom rescue media.
Open Macrium Reflect in the rescue media and restore the imaged C partition back to the new install C partition.

EDIT: I did not look at installed programs...

simrick said:

Hi @Slartybart. I hope I found the correct thread. :)
...

You found it ... I should have given you the link
I appreciate your taking time to help work through this.

Your part schema looks as I would expect it, except the Recovery part is not formatted. I might be missing something and still need to confirm a few things.

You have a SysRes, whereas jmbtexas4 setup does not (everything is on C:).

The last thing that caught my eye in Speccy was

Hotfixes
Installed
6/5/2016 Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB2267602 (Definition 1.223.795.0)

Not Installed
6/5/2016 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 (KB3156421)
Installation Status: Failed

12/30/1899
Installation Status: Failed

12/30/1899
Installation Status: Failed

KB3156421 was where we started - there are known issues with it and jmbtexas4 has it hidden for now.

There is also the Other User issue that reared it's ugly head when I asked jmbtexas4 to create a new account for testing profile corruption on the original account being used. Oy vey!

Dism & SFC came back clean. A repair install might be the best prescription, but I'm wondering if creating the SysRes part and move the boot config would change anything (450 MB is fine even though a clean Windows install on a MBR/Bios system creates a 500 MB SysRes). The Recovery part ... I'm not really concerned about (although it would be nice to have in case. Reconstructing a pristine disk schema isn't hard, but I'm not certain it would change the issue(s).

I'll cry UNCLE when I don't see any value added by not doing a Clean install - I'm fairly close to that, but willing to try a few more things. If we stumble across the fix John Winks(msft) might benefit and that might help a LOT of people with the KB3156421 issue.