Can't upgrade to Win 10 1903

[pagosajoe]

Despite repeated attempts to upgrade to Win 10 1903 (I'm on 1803), I continue to get errors such as Bad Pool Header, DPC Watchdog Violation, and other errors resulting in termination of the upgrade.  I've updated all drivers, disconnected USB connections to external drives, run the Microsoft compatibility checker, and everything says the HP Pavilion All-in-One 27-r0xx is ready to go.  Beyond frustrating....any suggestions?

[WAWood]

@pagosajoe 

You didn't say specifically, but my guess is that you are using Windows Update to attempt this and that is what is failing repeatedly. 

If it were mine, I would do the following -- as doing an in-place Feature Upgrade using Windows Update is unreliable and risky: 

1) Use Macrium Reflect to create a backup on a large USB stick or external drive (see below)

2) Us this link to download and create Win10 install media: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

3) insert that into your PC (do NOT boot from it), find the folder containing the media, select the setup.exe file, right-click that and select Run as Administrator.  This will start an in-place Upgrade which could then take a couple of hours to complete.

------------------------------

I personally prefer to use third-party Backup solutions as they tend to be both more flexible and more reliable than any built-in solutions.

Macrium Reflect (MR) provides a FREE version that can be used to image and restore partitions or entire drives.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR) from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
2) Run MR and choose the option: "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" to write a full backup to an external drive or USB stick
3) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

My experience is that MR, when using the High Compression option, typically can compress the saved image file to about 50% of the USED space in the OS partition. This means if you have an 80GB OS partition, and 40GB is used, MR only needs about 20GB to store the image file.

I use this all the time and it typically takes less than 15 minutes to do the image backup and about the same time or less to do a restore.

NOW, you have the means to restore a full working system from the external drive or USB stick in only a few minutes.

[pagosajoe]

Indeed, you are correct that I am using Windows Update to attempt this update.  I appreciate your suggestion, and will give it a try.  I too use Macrium Reflect free. 

Thanks for your assistance!

[pagosajoe]

I downloaded Win 10 1903 on a new USB 64GB thumb drive, used Macrium Reflect to create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows on a USB hard drive,  began the upgrade, and it resulted in the process hanging at about 58%, then failing with a BAD POOL HEADER error.  Perhaps I'm destined to retain Win 10 1803.  I've never had any issues with upgrading Win 10 before.

Dang.  Any recommendations?

[WAWood]

@pagosajoe 

Certainly sounds like you are doing the right stuff -- so I have no idea why the update is hanging with that error.

Sorry

[pagosajoe]

Thanks for your suggestions.  Much appreciated!

Joe

[Hibb1]

Can you try to do the upgrade, but say "keep nothing" .. Then it'll be like a clean install.

Or if you can boot off the install media, can you delete all partitions (once backed up) and do a NEW CLEAN install? Sine you already had an activated Win10 on there, you don't need another key or anything, even if you do a clean install as opposed to an upgrade.

I know it's more effort as you need to re-install everything again, but windows upgrades have always been a hit-and-miss affair, even back to the Win 3.11 to Win95 days.

[Grzwacz]

Hi,

This Microsoft site (Link) has a quick fix checklist that may help.

Try all steps at this site to see what happens.

Regards