*Note 1* – This retains the Channel type.
*Note 2* – Requires a new Key.
*Note 3* – You can go from LTSB to SA, keeping files if you specify new key.
*Note 4* – LTSC versions.
*Note 5* – Access to ISO’s. This is hard and most places state to use the MS download tool. I however, managed to get the image and key thanks to having a MSDN aka Visual Studio subscription.
I attempted to grab the 2021 Eval copy and ran the setup exe. When it got to the point of wanting to keep existing file (aka upgrading) it would grey them all out… 🙁
So I said no to that, and grabbed the 2019 copy which when running the setup exe directly asks for the key before moving on in the install wizard… which seems to let me keep existing files (upgrade) 🙂
My enjoyment was short lived when I was presented with a nice window update failed window.
Classic. So the usual, “sfc /scannow”
Classic. So fix it, “dism /online/ cleanup-image /restorehealth”
Stop, Disable Update service, then clear cache:
Scan system files again, “sfc /scannow”
reboot make sure system still boots fine, check, do another sfc /scannow, returns 100% clean. Run Windows update (after enabling the service) comes back saying 100% up to date. Run installer….
For… Fuck… Sakes… what logs are there for this dumb shit? Log files created when you upgrade Windows 11/10 to a newer version (thewindowsclub.com)
| setuperr.log | Same as setupact.log | Data about setup errors during the installation. | Review all errors encountered during the installation phase. |
Coool… where is this dumb shit?
Log files created when an upgrade fails during installation before the computer restarts for the second time.
- C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\panther\setupact.log
- C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\panther\miglog.xml
- C:\Windows\setupapi.log
- [Windows 10:] C:\Windows\Logs\MoSetup\BlueBox.log
OK checking the log…..
Lucky me, something exists as documented, count my graces, what this file got for me?
PC Load letter? WTF does that mean?! While it’s not listed in this image it must have been resolved but I had a line that stated “required profile hive does not exist” in which I managed to find this MS thread of the same problem, and thankfully someone in the community came back with an answer, which was to create a new local temp account, and remove all old profiles and accounts on the system (this might be hard for some, it was not an issue for me), sadly I still got, Windows 10 install failed.
For some reason the next one that seems to stick out like a sore thumb for me is “PidGenX function failed on this product key”. Which lead me to this thread all the way back from 2015.
While there’s a useless comment by “SaktinathMukherjee”, don’t be this dink saying they downloaded some third party software to fix their problem, gross negligent bullshit. The real hero is a comment by a guy named “Nathan Earnest” – “I had this same problem for a couple weeks. Background: I had a brand new Dell Optiplex 9020M running Windows 8.1 Pro. We unboxed it and connected it to the domain. I received the same errors above when attempting to do the Windows 10 upgrade. I spent about two weeks parsing through the setup error logs seeing the same errors as you. I started searching for each error (0x800xxxxxx) + Windows 8.1. Eventually I found one suggesting that there is a problem that occurs during the update from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 in domain-connected machines. It doesn’t appear to cause any issues in Windows 8.1, but when you try to upgrade to Windows 10… “something happened.”
In my case, the solution: Remove the Windows 8.1 machine from the domain, retry the Windows 10 upgrade, and it just worked. Afterwards, re-join the machine to the domain and go about your business.
Totally **** dumb… but it worked. I hope it helps someone else.”
Again, I’m free to try stuff, so since I was testing I cloned the machine and left it disconnected from the network, then under computer properties changed from domain to workgroup (which means it doesn’t remove the computer object from AD, it just removes itself from being part of a domain). After this I ran another sfc /scannow just to make sure no issue happened from the VM cloning, with 100% green I ran the installer yet again, and guess what… Nathan was right. The update finally succeeded, I can now choose to rename the PC and rejoin the domain, or whatever, but the software on the machine shouldn’t need to be re-installed.
Another fun dumb day in paradise, I hope this blog post ends up helping someone.
