On one PC, Windows 7 to Windows 10 update fails at 'fetching updates: 46%'. What to do next?

So are you saying that the media creation tool simply stops downloading?

I've only seen that occur if you attempt it on a mobile derived connection and you run out of data.

Its been a while since I did any. I decided to stay with 7 on this machine due to the constant issues of new updates breaking software. If you do get a large ram drive with the install media, and it fails on the machine itself, often its the lack of space on the hard drive that screws things up. Lets just say that you need more free space than they suggest you do if you want to be able to roll back afterwards. Other than that, I'll bow to people who have done it more recently. Brian

Any antivirus?

Try deleting everything from C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download (Don't need to remove the folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\SharedFileCache)

Then try again.

When I upgraded three computers from W7 to W10, it took six or seven hours per computer. I can't remember if there were actually long pauses when absolutely nothing happened though. Does the computer actually stick, or is there disc activity as indicated by the activity light? Is stuff being downloaded or shuffled around on the hard drive?

As BG suggested, have you got enough space on the hard drive?

Do the computers still run W7 after these abortive attempts at upgrading, i.e. has it got stuck half way between 7 and 10 and now won't run either?

If you can still run the computers under W7, have you tried the free Windows media creation tool for upgrading from W7 to W10? It's what I used. Lots of links here

The media creation tool normally works which is what he probably used to create the usb in the first place. The problems start if the drive is too small as at the time it is downloading the latest stuff, it tends to run out of drive on older machines. At this time it normally has both versions of windows on it of course, since it will allow you to roll back. Drives are so cheap now, it might be a good policy to remove the old drive with a working windows 7 and shove in a new nice big on of a similar type. It should then work a lot faster. The virgin connection is going to be fast. If that then fails it might be something we have not thought of, some oddity in what we used to call bios or something Brian

Is the O/P booting from the USB stick, or running the setup.exe on the stick from within the existing win7?

Install Linux Mint?

THIS IS A GENERAL REPLY TO WHAT HAS BEEN POSTED UP TO NOW

Since the update fails at the same point whether or not I use the USB method, I'm continuing just with the direct update using only the neighbour's machine.

BG> So are you saying that the media creation tool simply stops downloading?

I'm saying that it gets to "fetching updates: 46%" and there is no further apparent progress. I add that there is then irregular intermittent disc activity, to judge by the light.

DIR says that C: has almost 399 GB free; File Explorer says "371 GB free of 465 GB". Surely that should be enough?

pog> Any antivirus?

AVG free, and Malwarebytes. Both show no faults, though AVG indicates that there is work for the paid version of AVG.

Pressing F2 or Del during boot gets something which calls itself "ASUS UEFI BIOS utility -EZ Mode"

After non-completion of the conversion to Windows 10, it always boots to Windows 7 just as before.

I tried the stick once, using the existing Win7 to run the stick's setup.exe.

Otherwise I use the update-in-place method, without USB.

GM> Install Linux Mint? [g]

That would baffle her completely.

NEW RESULTS, NO BETTER.

A remote ally has just E-mailed to say that he has just successfully done a free Windows 7 to Windows 10 update-in-place by this method.

pog> Try deleting everything from C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download

No SharedFileCache. I moved the rest to \STUFF\ on my IMPACT USB and removed the USB. Shut down. Did a cold reboot, logged in as LocalAdmin, tried the "direct" method, without any USB present. Still sticking as 46%; disc activity light shows weakly active. 22:30 to 23:05. Shut down.

I'M NOW OUT OF IDEAS, apart from getting it done commercially - it seems that the PC itself is at fault.

Then I'd recommend booting from the stick, my main laptop was on Win10 but got "stuck" on v1809 and every time it decided to do the v1903 or v1909 upgrade it froze at a specific %age and I had to power if off and let it roll-back, when booted from the stick it went straight through.

When I went through the same exercise on Win7/32 Pro, somewhere I saw a note that any anti-virus programs should be disabled or paused.

It did seem to have lengthy periods where there was little disk activity and not much seeming to be happening. I just left it and came back about 2 hours later and it was waiting for me to log in to Win 10.

One thing to do if possible.

Start Task Manager then Performance Monitor and see if the HDD, network and processors are all idle.

If everything sits idle for a long while then probably there is a glitch, but if there is something thrashing away in the background then leave it alone for a few hours.

Second thing: if you can locate another HDD do a clean install on the PC of the latest version of W10 and see if that goes all the way. That should check if there is a fault or incompatibility with the PC or if the issue is the W7 install you are trying to upgrade.

HTH

Dave R

I was having the same trouble until i uninstalled the Realtek Bluetooth adapter.

I now have Windows 10 working well, might be worth a try.

Missed the OP, but when I updated three computers from W7 to W10 at the beginning of the year, I used the media creation tool to upgrade

Whatever media you've got the Win10 image on, run Setup.exe when the media is available on the Win7 machine. Win7 does not have an ISO mounter, so you could use the DVD you made or a USB stick. This amounts to a "Repair Install", as it's done while the original OS is running.

The MediaCreationTool can make an ISO file, or prepare a USB stick and so on.

You can even "mount" the ISO file using OSFMounter on Win7 and run the setup.exe off the virtual DVD drive that way. But I still would recommend making bootable media, in case you ever need to do an offline repair or maintenance of the OS.

or two.

Apologies; I forgot to say, three months ago, that, on 2020-03-10, after waiting the usual couple of hours at 46%, I was distracted by something; when I looked again after a total of under three hours, I saw that the PC had finished that stage and was ready to install Windows 10. I agreed to that. Then it appeared that Windows 10 was running and was patching itself with updates to reach the current build. After another hour, it looked like Windows 10 was waiting for a user to appear. YES!!! This was 64-bit Windows 10.

I'm hoping that the May Update of Windows 10 will have less trouble on that PC.

Based on the bug-rate so far, the May Update will be available in November. So far, none of the bugs involve data loss (whew!).

I would still recommend a full backup before the fateful day. The more bulletproof they make the OS, the harder it falls.

Paul

If she has a printer, I'd wait a month, microsoft just had to scrabble to get a hotfix out to stop the spooler crashing ... just spent 2 days with a customer who has 2x 24" plotters unable to work properly.

Patience grasshopper, patience. It seems that one some legacy machines the damn thing can sit at 46% for a few hours before moving on. I have no idea what it is doing but MSKB threw up this exact response.

This requires going into the registry with your trusty flint axe or risking one of the automated registry checkers. My last portable was bought secondhand at a reduced price because its upgrade had borked it.

I'd be inclined to let it sit at 46% overnight and see if that works.

How big is the hard drive and how much of it is free? the lack of space is the most common problem when this occurs. You may need to have a new hard drive as a slave and move a lot of the crud onto it. Brian

On the other hand its not worth panicking about getting 10, as most stuff still runs on 7 anyway, even Edge browser. Brian