Thanks everyone. I thought doing a clean install meant wiping the drive which apparently didn't have to happen. I went to the MS site and followed the instructions and low an behold all I lost were some apps and my audio and video drivers. After installing my drivers I created a restore point which I should have originally done. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10startfresh
The start fresh app is not a clean install it's a major cleanup utility Microsoft came up recently - but now we know another solution to this problem that plagues a lot of users! It certainly did remove whatever app or driver was blocking the upgrade. Thanks for posting the solution! Now we all have an additional tool we can recommend for people to try.
I've done my share of clean installs, wiping drives and using an installation disc. It is certainly the best option. My biggest concern with doing the upgrade is having a disc I know is going to work since I don't have an upgrade key. I have no problem moving files to another drive and starting from scratch, other than the time it consumes.
I don't like the start menu at all but will have to get used to it. I right click on the start button more often than not but the folders I use most are on the desktop so not a huge deal.
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