Unable to install Windows Update 1903

[Kittymom]

I have tried everything to get the latest 1903 update....including getting more RAM per Geek Squad advice....nothing I try works....it always stops at 60% and rolls back to 1803.  Some people say my laptop is too old and some say it doesnt matter. Please help!

[WAWood]

@Kittymom 

Sorry, but unless you had 2GB of RAM or less, adding more RAM was only wasting your time and money --bad advice was given to you in that regard.

Your PC came with Win7 preloaded and with every new version of Win10, those older PCs are less and less compatible with Win10.

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.

[Kittymom]

Thank you....I did only have 2G of RAM....

I will try to do this later....need to hunt down some blank cds....

A new machine just isn't in the finances right now.... 

[WAWood]

@Kittymom 

Win10 is too large to fit on a DVD (if you were planning on using disk media for Win10) and backups to CDs are inherently unreliable plus, would take LOTS of them.

To do backups, or create Win10 media, you need blank DVDs.

[Kittymom]

I found a 256G USB stick but it is a cheap made in China one..doesn't want to work.  I went back to Best Buy and a different person helped me.  He looked at the BIOS and said its from 2011...this laptop has reached the end of its life cycle.  He said they could force this 1 last update...for $200.  I decided to just use it while I can and save money towards a new machine.

[WAWood]

@Kittymom 

The BIOS in my HP laptop is also from 2011 -- and it is running Win10 v1909 just fine!

[Kittymom]

Well I tried that usb stick I had for the 1st part...and it actually worked!  I got all the way to the burn the ISO file to dvd...my husband has to buy some after work today.  

You said 1909...is that the one after 1903?  Hopefully this process will install that one as well....

[WAWood]

@Kittymom 

Yes .. 1909 is the next one after 1903.

But, there is no need to burn an ISO or use a DVD; instead, MS released this yesterday to Windows Update -- and unlike the usual version Upgrades, this is only a Cumulative Update.

But ... you have to look for it to get it, as MS is not pushing this out.  Open Windows Update and do Check for Updates.  It will take a while, but it should find that.  It might be under Optional Updates, so you have to look carefully to find it.

[Kittymom]

Ok it is supposedly installing from the disc but I'm not totally sure...it was a blue screeen then restarted a couple times now it's that red screen where it usually cancels

[WAWood]

@Kittymom 

Don't know why the screen is red -- but that is the typical spinning dots indicating that Windows Update is working.

It generally rebooots twice -- once to get to 30%, and second time to get to 100%