Windows 8.1-10 Upgrade Failure: 800703EE-2000C

[BeefMaster]

Hi, everyone. Newbie to the forums here, so apologies if I'm retreading old ground (although search turned up empty). I've got a 32GB T100T that I am attempting to upgrade from 8.1 to 10. I've made a few attempts through two different methods, and all of them end the same - I get to 2% on the black "Upgrading Windows" screen (after all the downloading and whatnot is completed), and then it reboots, gives a "Restoring your previous version of Windows" message, and boots me back into 8.1. When that starts, I see the following message in the Windows Update box on the desktop:

Windows 10 couldn't be installed
Failed: 1 update
Error(s) found:
800703EE-2000C Windows Update ran into a problem

That was when doing the install through Windows Update. I tried it again by running setup.exe from a USB stik created with the Media Creation Tool, and it did basically the same thing, although it greeted me post-reboot with a different window that included the above error code and this message:

The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during APPLY_IMAGE operation

Besides trying both Windows Update and the USB stick, I've also tried a couple different configs in the installation itself. When it yapped at me for not having 5GB free, I pointed it to my SD card, which had plenty of free space - based on the message, that's what's used for the old OS recovery, so it shouldn't have affected the OS install, but after that failed, I went on an app-deleting spree so I could slide over the free space threshold... and using the local backup didn't make any difference.

Anyone know what that error means or what I might be able to do to get around it? Prior to my each reinstall, I ran the Windows Update troubleshooter to clean up Windows Update and ran Disk Cleanup to clear out old update files, if those could potentially be behind the issues. The fact that the error occurred "during APPLY_IMAGE" sounds like something to do with writing the update, so I suppose it could be disk-related, but no idea how one would fix that (or, for that matter, find the specific issue). On a whim, I went old-school and ran chkdsk from an Administrative Command Prompt, but it reported no problems.

[janner43]

Welcome to the forum

Given that the next bit of advice is from MS...

Recommended Disk Space from official MS page for Windows 10:
16 GB for 32 Bit Os's
20 GB for 64 Bit Os's

My advice to you is to follow the guide threads in the W10 discussion area.
No disrespect intended ('cos I do not think you are a dummy), but start with the upgrade for dummies guide and do essential & normal system maintenence on 8.1 FIRST.
Then refresh your Windows
Then follow Caster's guide.

Once you have done all that, post back with your news.

[BeefMaster]

Welcome to the forum

Given that the next bit of advice is from MS...


My advice to you is to follow the guide threads in the W10 discussion area.
No disrespect intended ('cos I do not think you are a dummy), but start with the upgrade for dummies guide and do essential & normal system maintenence on 8.1 FIRST.
Then refresh your Windows
Then follow Caster's guide.

Once you have done all that, post back with your news.

I did not come here and post blindly :-)

The 16GB requirement is the amount required for the whole OS, not for the upgrade - if you had to have 16GB of free space for the upgrade, it would be literally impossible to put it on a 32GB tablet, because Win8 takes up close to 20 on its own. Everything I'd read in advance had implied that 5-ish should be sufficient, and honestly I don't see any way to get to 10 even if I nuke every app on the system.

I'd already applied every critical and driver update from Windows Update, plus every recommended update except the .NET framework and desktop Skype (to save on SSD space). As mentioned above, I ran Disk Cleanup (to clear old files) and the Windows Update troubleshooter before attempting anything, and also between attempts. I had not thought to update the BIOS (which hasn't had an update in a year), but I did check that just now, and the only update from the ASUS update tool was something for the thermal framework, which I applied just to be thorough but doesn't seem like it would be connected.

[rickscheller]

Did you run "disk cleanup"? I'm 100% sure 5GB free is not enough to update with and ideally you need a minimum of 10GB free. And no you can't use a removable drive as space for the update.

[BeefMaster]

Did you run "disk cleanup"? I'm 100% sure 5GB free is not enough to update with and ideally you need a minimum of 10GB free. And no you can't use a removable drive as space for the update.

I don't know that it's physically possible to get a 32GB tablet to 10GB free (already nuked Office and basically all of my apps and my family's apps, and I'm still around 7; I'm at the point of considering fully resetting the Windows install to see if that works), but I did find in some MS docs that they require 8GB, which would have been nice IF THE INSTALLER WOULD ACTUALLY TELL YOU THAT. It consistently has let me go ahead, get started, and let itself waste an hour on something it should know is a futile effort, if that doc was correct about the requirements.

Regarding the removable storage, again, that's something explicitly prescribed by the installer - it tells you that you either need 5GB on your local drive or a separate drive with 9GB free, and when you select the other drive, it then tells you to put that drive in a safe place post-install in the event that you want to move back to your old OS. That implies that the space is for a recovery image, not the actual Windows 10 image.

Thanks for the constructive tips; I'll report back if I have any success.

[BeefMaster]

VERDICT: It was the disk space. I nuked enough stuff to get it up to 8GB free, and the install went off without a hitch. I still consider the fact that the installer doesn't actually TELL you that in advance (plus the nearly-useless error message) to be a dismal failure on MS's part, but at least I'm running Windows 10 now. Thanks again, ladies/gentlemen, for your suggestions.

[rickscheller]

I still consider the fact that the installer doesn't actually TELL you that in advance (plus the nearly-useless error message) to be a dismal failure on MS's part.

I've always considered this a giant gap in OS user friendliness... it's a computer for crying out loud... it should be an easy calculation with an immediate message if it won't work.

[Emilys7]

Curious...how much disk space did you have after the upgrade? I currently have 11.9 Gb free on Windows 8.1 and don't want to use it ALL up upgrading to Windows 10. Thanks!

[Rocket_Scientist]

I've always considered this a giant gap in OS user friendliness... it's a computer for crying out loud... it should be an easy calculation with an immediate message if it won't work.

Older versions of Windows did tell you right away if here was not enough space. One of the 7 computers I updated said there was not enough disk space & said that more could be gained by inserting a USB flash drive. Didn't want to do that & aborted the update & increased the partition size.

[Rocket_Scientist]

Curious...how much disk space did you have after the upgrade? I currently have 11.9 Gb free on Windows 8.1 and don't want to use it ALL up upgrading to Windows 10. Thanks!

After the update run Disk Cleanup, it will delete the Windows 8.1 which is stored in Windows.old.
It won't remove the entire folder leaving about 350KB.