Win10 update hanging?

[Digitalbanana]

I've been stuck on these screens at 10% all morning? Anyway to kick start it going again I wonder? Any help appreciated folks.

[steveb6]

I had the same problem today, I closed the update page and opened it again and it worked. I also had an error message that updates stopped working. I downloaded Windows Update Troubleshooter and ran it and it's working now. You may want to run it.

[Pib]

I notice the upgrade to Win 10 build "10586" attempted to download. That the "upgrade" to Win 10 that been talked about for a while...upgrade from the Released To Manufacturer version 10240. See this article and also this article.

My Win 10 last did some updates on 11 Nov. I just did a Check for Updates a few minutes ago and it said I was up to date. Maybe ver 10586 is being rolled out in stages to where different computers will get it at different times.. I even tried a VPN connection which gives me a U.S. IP address to see if that might say I have the ver 10586 upgrade available but it didn't. I'll wait..hopefully it will show up in a few days.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Pib

[Digitalbanana]

OK thanks guys. Somehow after a day I ended up with a new message saying Windows failed to update and will try again later...

[Hans12345]

I read this on softpedia perhaps it helps.

According to posts on Microsoft's Community forums, installation of Windows 10 Threshold 2, also known as November Update, freezes at 44 percent. Microsoft has already confirmed the problem and says that the issues are only happening on devices with SD cards.

“We’ve observed that some devices that have an SD bus with an SD card inserted while installing the Windows 10 November update will stop responding at 44%, and we are currently investigating the issue,” the company said in a statement.

“If your install is freezing at 44%, check if you have an SD card inserted and remove it, and the update should be able to progress beyond this spot. If you needed the SD card for additional disk space, see if you have a USB/Mini-USB port available that you can use instead for the upgrade. Otherwise, you may have to try freeing up some disk space off the hard drive.”

[soumanioco]

Started the update yesterday. Downloaded the Win 10 upgrade which took around 20 minutes. Twenty more minutes for the "Preparing to istall". After that right before the Restart process got an error. Clicked "Retry" and was immediately taken to the "Your device is up to date" page. I checked for updates half a dozen times but my device was always up to date.

I even manually restarted my laptop but no luck.

This morning i checked again and this time i went straight to preparing to install. Took a bit more time than yesterday, i think, and after that i was prompted to Restart. Which i did.

Now i'm running Win 10 Pro version 1511 (OS build 10586.3)

The whole process is well over an hour.

[Pib]

Strange how computers get Window updates at different times. Once again, with my Lenovo laptop running Win 10 Pro I did a Check for Updates at 4:46pm today (did in many times yesterday) and each time it comes back saying I'm up to date.

I'm still on Win 10 Pro ver 10240 which was the RTM version released on 29 July....I'll standby to standby in waiting for those updates to come to my computer...hopefully over the next few days. I've seen this numerous times where people get a certain windows update, it causes problems for them, they start complaining in social media, I check to see if my computer has downloaded/installed those updates yet and it hasn't...but a few days later they appear.

I guess there is some type of magic queue system Microsoft uses...maybe they limit the number of downloads per day for certain updates just in case it causes major problem and then they can stop distribution to others to avoid many more people having the problem. Basically don't make the update available to all at the same time to avoid problems, server overload, etc.

[Pib]

Here's an article on what to do if you are not getting the Win 10 November Update (like me) that some people have referred to as a Service Pack/Threshold update. I'll give it another week or so for this major update to arrive my computer the normal updates way before I try the approach in the article...and I'll be sure to do an image backup before also

http://www.windowscentral.com/use-media-creation-tool-update-windows10

[Pib]

Here's an article on what to do if you are not getting the Win 10 November Update (like me) that some people have referred to as a Service Pack/Threshold update. I'll give it another week or so for this major update to arrive my computer the normal updates way before I try the approach in the article...and I'll be sure to do an image backup before also

http://www.windowscentral.com/use-media-creation-tool-update-windows10

After posting above last night I googled some more about the big November upgrade to Win 10 (i.e.., from ver 10240 to ver 10576) that some people refer to as Threshold or the first Service Pack and I saw that lots of folks were complaining about not receiving the upgrade while still continuing to receive standard Windows security/driver updates--a category I fell in. And there were plenty of webpages taking the issue. Here's a webpage that discusses the "new features" in the upgrade ver 10576.

Also found some websites discussing the three reasons Microsoft said people may not receive the upgrade immediately or at all (see this webpage for the three reasons). None of those three reasons applied to me. I clicked Windows Check for Updates a few more times last night and this morning and it continued to say I was up to date but I was still on ver 10240...I just wasn't being offered the upgrade for some unknown reason. Maybe there was some Microsoft download server queue system in play for the upgrade to arrive your computer via the normal Windows update/OTA...I don't know.

So, this morning I decided to try the method given in my earlier post above instead of waiting another week....if it didn't' work I would just reload my image backup. See this webpage for how to do it which is nothing more than an upgrade of Win 10 using Microsoft's Upgrade and Media Creator Tool. It's not a Clean Install...you don't lose your apps or settings. Well, it might remove any app which has an issue with the upgrade because I had one app removed...a small Freeware program called CPU-Z. But I just redownloaded/reinstalled CPU-Z no problem...it works fine. At the end of the upgrade process Windows will tell you if any removed any of your apps. I expect any app removal is by exception especially if you are all ready running Win 10 like I was...specifically I was running Win 10 Pro.

Anyway, I started a little after 7am this morning and right a 8am the upgrade was done. Over half of that time was spent downloading the upgrade files which is basically downloading all Windows files needed like you were upgrading from Win 7 or Win 8.X. A lot more files than if you got the upgrade normally via Windows Update/OTA. So, if you have a slow internet connection (I only have a 15Mb connection here in Bangkok), how loaded the Microsoft servers may be, and depending on the horsepower your computer has (I have a Lenovo i7 CPU based laptop) it may take a longer or shorter time than what it took me. I was not upgrading from Win 7 or Win 8.X as I was already running Win 10 Pro ver 10240 which was version released back on 29 Jul 15 when Win 10 was initially released to the public.

And since some people who when originally upgraded from Win 7 Pro or Win 8.X Pro a few months ago ended up being only upgraded to Win 7 Home or Win 8.X Home the upgrade this morning properly identified I was running Win 10 Pro just before beginning the install and when it completed the upgrade I was still running my activated Win 10 Pro but ver 10576 now instead of the original ver 10240.

Summary: I now have the Win 10 upgrade as shown below...my Win 10 Pro is still activated....all appears to be fine after playing with it for around an hour....knock on wood (my head)...keeping my fingers crossed, etc.

[Digitalbanana]

Well my Win10 upgrade has now crashed the PC! After powerup the Windows icon on screen and revolving circle then a black screen forever. Anyone know how to get back to the previous version easily?

History behind this, after my previous posts here, I noticed the CPU was hogging the PC with the update process all day making it unusable. So I deleted the C:\Windows\Softwaredistribution folder in Safe Boot mode and then Win10 ran smoothly saying it would check for updates later. A day later it was saying updates were ready to install inc the new build and AMD drivers etc, then rebooted itself to a blank screen and I haven't been able to access the PC since. I suspect it is relate to the AMD graphics driver update that it was attempting but I am unsure.

So how to revert to previous version easily and quicky?

[Pib]

Go into your Settings under Update and Security, Recover, and see if you can return to any earlier build.

Or see if you can return to an early Restore Point.

Personally, my choice, if you made an image backup recently or just before doing the upgrade just reload the image. That's probably your only choice since you can't get Windows to boot now.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Pib

[JetsetBkk]

I just updated my dual-booting Win10+XP PCs - a laptop and a netbook.

No problems with the laptop, but the netbook wouldn't shutdown.

So I Googled it - https://goo.gl/B6M10O - Lots of people with similar problem.

Another brilliant piece of software from the incompetents at MS.

[Pib]

I just updated my dual-booting Win10+XP PCs - a laptop and a netbook.

No problems with the laptop, but the netbook wouldn't shutdown.

So I Googled it - https://goo.gl/B6M10O - Lots of people with similar problem.

Another brilliant piece of software from the incompetents at MS.

My Lenovo laptop use to intermittently do the same thing when on Win 8.1...never done it on Win 10. By intermittent I mean a couple times per month when turning the computer off for the night, Windows would close down, the screen go black but the laptop's LED power button would not turn off---basically not completely turning off. I would then have to hold down the power button for about 10 second to force it to completely turn off.

I did some googling on the issue and found lots of links with people experiencing the same issue....not just on a Lenovo computers but just a whole variety of manufacturers.

The problem was apparently happening to folks who have the Windows Shutdown setting of "Turn on Fast Startup" enabled which is the Windows default recommendation/setting. The fix was to disable that setting, then shutdown the computer, and that would case the old fast bootup temporary files to be deleted. Then turn the computer back on, go back to that "Turn on Fast Startup" setting and re-enable it and new fast bootup temporary files are created. These files are not critical Window boot files but files only related to Fast Startup...kinda like how your browser creates temporary files that need to cleared/deleted periodically to possibly solve a browser/website problem. Anyway, it fixed my intermittent shutdown problem...the problem has never returned.

To reach that setting, right click on the Windows icon, selet Power Options, select either the Choose What Power Button Does or Choose What Closes the Lid Does, and check in the Shutdown settings as to if the Turn On Fast Startup setting is enabled or disabled. It's probably enabled so you will want to disable it at least for one computer shutdown to clear the possibly corrupt fast startup files. Since the setting will be greyed out, "Change Settings That Are Currently Unavailable" which un-greys the greyed-out settings which allows you to disable the Fast Startup and then click Save Change. Now turn the computer off and then turn it back on....and go back and re-enable the Fast Startup Setting so you can get faster boot-up if desired.

If you get lucky like me, that could very well be your fix. But if computer continues not to fully turn off, try leaving the Fast Startup disabled to see what happens because apparently Fast Startup don't agree with some computers and one way it can display its disagreement is by also not shutting down completely.

Couldn't hurt to give it a try unless you have tried already. Heck, every month or so when I remember I do above process "just to be doing it."

[JetsetBkk]

<snip>

If you get lucky like me, that could very well be your fix. But if computer continues not to fully turn off, try leaving the Fast Startup disabled to see what happens because apparently Fast Startup don't agree with some computers and one way it can display its disagreement is by also not shutting down completely.

Couldn't hurt to give it a try unless you have tried already. Heck, every month or so when I remember I do above process "just to be doing it."

Capture.JPG

Yes, I found that answer somewhere, but my problem is not - I believe - precisely that one. What happens on my Netbook is, after I go to "Start" and click on "Shutdown", nothing happens. It keeps going as if I'd not clicked on anything! I also tried logging off - nothing happened!

I Googled the problem on my desktop PC but couldn't find a solution to my exact problem, so I just held the power button down until it went off.

I rebooted the netbook into XP and it works fine. I then hibernated it and haven't started it since.

Later on today I will restart it (back into XP), then shut down and reboot into Windows 10 and see if the Win10 Shutdown problem is still there.

But I still think the people at MS are incompetent . This never happened or happens with XP!

[Pib]

Yea, your shutdown problem is different. I googled a little bit about it and see people even with earlier version of Windows (Win 7 & Win 8.X) having the same problem. The few times I saw a solution from some brief googling it seemed everyone fixed it a different way...or the problem just went away and they don't know why.

[Digitalbanana]

I got the PC back going again when eventually Win10 threw up a recovery screen so I could restore to a previous point. All good again then Windows 10 re-downloads the same AMD graphics driver update (that even the AMD web site says is not needed as I am already up to date) and the screen blanks out again. I suspect the AMD driver update is for the new build of Win10 that it is also trying to download but that hasn't even been installed yet by Windows. A real mess if you ask me!

[Pib]

Yea, sounds like it could very well be the video driver....and you just can't stop it from reinstalling again...about the best you can do is defer certain updates under Win 10...security updates will still come through even with the defer setting is turned on. Now Win 10 Pro has a defer setting; not sure about Win 10...forgot already since I've been running Win 10 Pro for about two months now.

However, but, this article talks about how to block/hid the download of an individual driver by using the Windows tool talked about at the bottom of this webpage....don't know if it really works or not but it shouldn't hurt to try it and see if you could block the suspect AMD driver from installing.

I had similar Blue Screen of Death problem with my 8 year Toshiba laptop running Win 7 Home about 6 months ago, but instead of the video driver it was the Wifi driver. I could not boot period...Blue Screen of Death would appear just a few seconds into the boo-tup process. I had to reload a backup image to get the computer going again. I didn't allow the Wifi driver to download again....I Hid it in Windows Update and the laptop continued to work fine. I then did a test by unhiding this Optional Wifi Update in Windows (I almost always install optional updates also), the Wifi driver downloaded again, and turned my laptop into a brick again...I reloaded an image again...and hid that update again...it remains hidden to this day. My laptop just did not like that Wifi driver Windows offerred, but worked fine with the Wifi driver from the manufacturer's website. Laptops can be very picky about some of their drivers.

[JetsetBkk]

Yea, your shutdown problem is different. I googled a little bit about it and see people even with earlier version of Windows (Win 7 & Win 8.X) having the same problem. The few times I saw a solution from some brief googling it seemed everyone fixed it a different way...or the problem just went away and they don't know why.

I powered up the netbook and it un-hibernated the XP system. So I shut it down and booted into Win10. I then was able to successfully shut down Win10. So it was "just" an update "glitch".

I don't like glitches and I don't like MS any more.

I wonder where their good software engineers went? To Apple? To work on Android? Who knows.

They're certainly not at MS any more.

[Digitalbanana]

Yea, sounds like it could very well be the video driver....and you just can't stop it from reinstalling again...about the best you can do is defer certain updates under Win 10...security updates will still come through even with the defer setting is turned on. Now Win 10 Pro has a defer setting; not sure about Win 10...forgot already since I've been running Win 10 Pro for about two months now.

However, but, this article talks about how to block/hid the download of an individual driver by using the Windows tool talked about at the bottom of this webpage....don't know if it really works or not but it shouldn't hurt to try it and see if you could block the suspect AMD driver from installing.

I had similar Blue Screen of Death problem with my 8 year Toshiba laptop running Win 7 Home about 6 months ago, but instead of the video driver it was the Wifi driver. I could not boot period...Blue Screen of Death would appear just a few seconds into the boo-tup process. I had to reload a backup image to get the computer going again. I didn't allow the Wifi driver to download again....I Hid it in Windows Update and the laptop continued to work fine. I then did a test by unhiding this Optional Wifi Update in Windows (I almost always install optional updates also), the Wifi driver downloaded again, and turned my laptop into a brick again...I reloaded an image again...and hid that update again...it remains hidden to this day. My laptop just did not like that Wifi driver Windows offerred, but worked fine with the Wifi driver from the manufacturer's website. Laptops can be very picky about some of their drivers.

Definitely a AMD screen driver. No BSOD for me, the PC runs but with a blank screen, so useless. I sometimes can get an external monitor to run in duplicate mode with main PC screen blank and see the AMD driver has a 1511 name to it suggesting a new build for the newer Windows that Windows hasn't installed yet. I will now try and force the new Win10 build 10560 install first by downloading the ISO and then re-enabling updates for the AMD to update afterwards. This looks like a complete MS screw up rather than AMD to me - but I still don't know if the new AMD and new Windows will work together until I try?

Edited November 16, 2015 by Digitalbanana

[Digitalbanana]

Yea, sounds like it could very well be the video driver....and you just can't stop it from reinstalling again...about the best you can do is defer certain updates under Win 10...security updates will still come through even with the defer setting is turned on. Now Win 10 Pro has a defer setting; not sure about Win 10...forgot already since I've been running Win 10 Pro for about two months now.

However, but, this article talks about how to block/hid the download of an individual driver by using the Windows tool talked about at the bottom of this webpage....don't know if it really works or not but it shouldn't hurt to try it and see if you could block the suspect AMD driver from installing.

I had similar Blue Screen of Death problem with my 8 year Toshiba laptop running Win 7 Home about 6 months ago, but instead of the video driver it was the Wifi driver. I could not boot period...Blue Screen of Death would appear just a few seconds into the boo-tup process. I had to reload a backup image to get the computer going again. I didn't allow the Wifi driver to download again....I Hid it in Windows Update and the laptop continued to work fine. I then did a test by unhiding this Optional Wifi Update in Windows (I almost always install optional updates also), the Wifi driver downloaded again, and turned my laptop into a brick again...I reloaded an image again...and hid that update again...it remains hidden to this day. My laptop just did not like that Wifi driver Windows offerred, but worked fine with the Wifi driver from the manufacturer's website. Laptops can be very picky about some of their drivers.

Some useful ideas there thanks. I will try the Win10 update troubleshooter first - then a full ISO install if no luck.

[Digitalbanana]

Yea, sounds like it could very well be the video driver....and you just can't stop it from reinstalling again...about the best you can do is defer certain updates under Win 10...security updates will still come through even with the defer setting is turned on. Now Win 10 Pro has a defer setting; not sure about Win 10...forgot already since I've been running Win 10 Pro for about two months now.

However, but, this article talks about how to block/hid the download of an individual driver by using the Windows tool talked about at the bottom of this webpage....don't know if it really works or not but it shouldn't hurt to try it and see if you could block the suspect AMD driver from installing.

I had similar Blue Screen of Death problem with my 8 year Toshiba laptop running Win 7 Home about 6 months ago, but instead of the video driver it was the Wifi driver. I could not boot period...Blue Screen of Death would appear just a few seconds into the boo-tup process. I had to reload a backup image to get the computer going again. I didn't allow the Wifi driver to download again....I Hid it in Windows Update and the laptop continued to work fine. I then did a test by unhiding this Optional Wifi Update in Windows (I almost always install optional updates also), the Wifi driver downloaded again, and turned my laptop into a brick again...I reloaded an image again...and hid that update again...it remains hidden to this day. My laptop just did not like that Wifi driver Windows offerred, but worked fine with the Wifi driver from the manufacturer's website. Laptops can be very picky about some of their drivers.

Some useful ideas there thanks. I will try the Win10 update troubleshooter first - then a full ISO install if no luck.

So the Win10 update troubleshooter worked and my o/s was able to update itself without me resorting to a full ISO download. I disabled AMD driver update with the troubleshooter and Win10 automatically updated Windows to latest ver 10586.3 and when I checked the AMD drivers, these were also updated, but now do not blank the screen, and the settings from update troubleshooter had been cleared.

* However after the above taking 3 hours and my system reported as up to date, the MS Store and all the modern apps are now not accessible in most cases (a few work like Twitter and Flipboard) - and blanked out on the start menu. Message "This app cannot open. Contact your system administrator about repairing or reinstalling it".

This is the worst Windows upgrade I have ever experienced.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Digitalbanana

[Pib]

I think if I was you I would just do a Windows 10 upgrade/refresh like described at this webpage. That's how I did my Win 10 upgrade to Win 10 Threshold (or whatever we want to call it).

You don't lose your apps or settings and a new/refreshed install (and I'm not talking a Clean install) might fix your problem. It took pretty much 1 hour for the upgrade/refresh on my laptop with the majority of that time just being the time to download the files since all the Win 10 files are being downloaded instead of a subset like in upgrade via Windows Updates/OTA.

How fast the files download will depend on your internet connection, how bogged down the MS servers are, etc. I can tell you that if you contact Microsoft Tech support that is what they would first try. Well, it might be the second thing...the first thing would probably be going to the Command Prompt (Admin) selection in the Start menu to get into the command window and they they would run "sfc /scannow" to check for and attempt fix any file corruption. If the sfc command did find/fix any corruption and fix the problem then do the Windows refresh like described at the webpage link above. Seems it couldn't hurt (famous last words). Good luck.

[BB24]

_{Had same thing, and others - too many. Windows10 was such a disaster that i went back to windows7. Still had problems so had to do a complete new install - pc now works ok. Got so angry i did a review of windows10 - summary = khrapp. Msoft have turned a great OS (7) computer system into an IOS locked down smartphone system - one that i could not control or change I will look again in a year but if windows10 is still controlled by msoft techs and marketing, and i cannot turn off their 'features' i dont want, then i will stick with it until 2020 at least (support guaranteed til then).}

[Digitalbanana]

I think if I was you I would just do a Windows 10 upgrade/refresh like described at this webpage. That's how I did my Win 10 upgrade to Win 10 Threshold (or whatever we want to call it).

You don't lose your apps or settings and a new/refreshed install (and I'm not talking a Clean install) might fix your problem.

I currently have a working version of Win10 latest build except there is no access to Windows Store or modern apps and these are blanked out on start menu except two apps Microsoft Edge, Twitter, Flipboard and most important of all (according to MS) Candy Crush Soda modern app which I clicked once and never again - although it works! All the old programs seem to work as well.

* But I cannot find a solution to Store access and other important apps like Mail, Calender, Calculator that do not work. When I click on app I get "This app can't open, contact system admin"!

I tried your idea above using MediaCreationTool.exe latest download with upgrade PC option and after about 80 minutes I got to the screen below where only bottom option - clean install - is available?! Seriously..the C:\Windows\ folder is unsupported?

[chrisinth]

Just to add my experience to this thread, even though i didn't have any hang problems with 1511, as such.

I decided to have a look at the updates yesterday after reading the thread. Even though automatic updates were on, i still had to go to Update and Security to manually begin the W10 update to version 10586.

I started updating two devices at the same time (approx. midday), a Lenovo G40 laptop and a Dell desktop with an 13-4150 CPU @ 3.50GHz processor. Both devices were on different connections, laptop on a CAT 20/3 fiber and the desktop on a 3BB 10/10 business fiber connection. Both connections are normally extremely stable.

The Lenovo completed the update, download, preparation and installation of the upgrade to 10586 inside an hour, with no apparent issues. Watching the progress, this was an installation of W10 again.

With the Dell work station, this was another story; i left the office at 16:30 and it had downloaded about 70%. I left it running overnight and this morning i was good to go, the machine had obviously rebooted after install and it was on the welcome screen asking for the password. Possibly just a bad connection on 3BB yesterday, but i did expect the work station to finish first.

First thing i noticed was that the Edge browser had taken over as the default pdf reader. That was a bit of a surprise. Even though all files were where they should be, the update to 10586 had reset the default 'talk to MS' functions. So for those that have installed 1511, and updated to version 10586, it may be worth checking what MS is getting from your computer if that bothers you.

This time i tried the free, stand alone anti-spy remover from O&O, Shutup 10 (latest version 1.2.1350) which is pretty straight forward and will close off most contact with Microsoft for the average user on it's default settings.

If anyone wants to try it, the link is: http://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

Still looking for anything else it has changed. Both devices are running 64 bit W10 Pro and seem to be working fine.

[Pib]

I think if I was you I would just do a Windows 10 upgrade/refresh like described at this webpage. That's how I did my Win 10 upgrade to Win 10 Threshold (or whatever we want to call it).

You don't lose your apps or settings and a new/refreshed install (and I'm not talking a Clean install) might fix your problem.

I currently have a working version of Win10 latest build except there is no access to Windows Store or modern apps and these are blanked out on start menu except two apps Microsoft Edge, Twitter, Flipboard and most important of all (according to MS) Candy Crush Soda modern app which I clicked once and never again - although it works! All the old programs seem to work as well.

* But I cannot find a solution to Store access and other important apps like Mail, Calender, Calculator that do not work. When I click on app I get "This app can't open, contact system admin"!

I tried your idea above using MediaCreationTool.exe latest download with upgrade PC option and after about 80 minutes I got to the screen below where only bottom option - clean install - is available?! Seriously..the C:\Windows\ folder is unsupported?

I have seen that screen one time when upgrading/reinstalling Win 10 and that was on 5 Aug about a week after 29 Jul which was the day my Lenovo laptop running Win 8.1 Intl/UK (English) upgraded to Win 10 Home. I did another reinstall on 5 Aug because of a disk lettering problem when doing image backups. Anyway, instead of selecting the "Upgrade the PC Now" option like shown in above webpage link, I instead just downloaded the ISO like I was going to install it on a different computer or maybe do a Clean Install. I actually downloaded the ISO to my desktop, and then went to bed to finish the job the next morning as it was already late and I was a tired puppy.

OK next morning I'm ready to finish the reinstall/upgrade/refresh (whatever you want to call it) again and wanted to keep the apps and settings. I clicked on the ISO file, it opens-up to where you can see the image/files making up the ISO, I click the Setup file, and it began the install/upgrade and one of the first screens was to select the Language, Keyboard, Locale, etc....I forget the exact wording but there were three selections to complete.

Now being a US person I really wanted the US English language versus the UK English language for my Windows "System" language (not to be confused with language keyboards that you can select)...I'm talking the English used in all the Windows menus and Microsoft apps. OK, I select US English, click next to go to the next step and that's when that window like you got appeared and I could "not" select the option to keep my apps & settings...I could only do a Clean Install and lose all my current apps/settings. I aborted the process at that time, then started over again, and this time selected UK English...and this time I could then select keep apps and settings....and continued on with the reinstall with no drama.

Since my original Win 8.1 was an Intl/UK English version (the underlying Windows version for the upgrade to Win 10) it would only allow UK English for the install process if you wanted to keep your apps/settings. And by gosh if reinstalling Win 10 again and wanting to use another system language then you would have to do a Clean Install which I didn't want have to reload my apps...start from day one of loading up/setting up my computer. Didn't want to do that.

What was happening here is Win 10 was still looking at what I had upgraded from (some hidden config files somewhere I guess) and was going to keep me with basically the same system language version if I wanted to keep my apps/settings. I could only upgrade from Win 8.1 UK English to Win 10 UK English...I could not choose US English or any other English variety...it had to be UK English. Later on I bought the Win 10 "Pro" license and upgraded to Pro that which allows you to select any systems language....however, even after upgrading to Pro and now being able to install the US English Language for my Windows "system" language the UK English language was still a choice in my Windows language settings area to re-enable if desired and it can "not" be removed since it was the original language that came with my Win 8.1 license...it's like ingrained.

So, with above being said, you sure you didn't download the Win 10 ISO...maybe download the wrong language version if your previous Windows version was like UK English only, US English only, etc. Microsoft sells Windows versions with a specific systems language vs being multilanguage in order to help reduce privacy since Windows pricing various among countries.

Anyway, I did another upgrade/reinstall/refresh today a little after lunch using again the same method as in above weblink and it went OK fine again...took approx 55 minutes total time like the first time from downloading the files to installing all the files. If you remember from my post #9 above when I first used the weblink method to get the 10586 upgrade, it went OK fine also and removed one incompatible program which was the CPU-Z program...that little freeware program that gives you info on your CPU, memory, motherboard, etc. Win 10 notified me of its removal...but I reinstalled it no problem.

But I noticed today that I was still getting the CPU-Z has been removed notification for about 3 seconds right after my bootup had completed and I was at the Desktop screen. You know, the little notifications that may pop up occasionally from the lower right hand corner of Win 10 when a certain app wants to notify you of something. It would give me that notification every time I booted up the computer that CPU-Z had been removed. I even uninstalled, installed again, uninstalled again, etc., CPU-Z to see if that notification would stop but it didn't....it just wouldn't stop even with CPU-Z uninstalled. And when you go into the Windows Settings Notifications area CPU-Z was not listed there...maybe I could have got the notification to stop by turning off all notifications which I didn't want to do. I seemed even with the CPU-Z removed that Windows was still going to continue to give me that notification popup on every bootup saying CPU-Z had been removed...OK, I understand, it was removed stop bugging me with that 3 second notification I can't get rid of unless maybe turning off notifications for all apps.

I did some googling on this problem and saw lots of folks were having these Win 10 "ghost notifications" from apps they had uninstalled themselves or maybe Win 10 automatically uninstalled during the upgrade process and I could not find a fix anywhere...one person referred to a registry modification using guidance in a German post which appeared to work for some folks but didn't for others...in fact doing the registry mod made the problem worst by killing some other needed notifications. Plenty of hate posts toward Microsoft Tech Support for not identify a fix....apparently this "ghost notificaiton" bug has been around since Win 10 first released.

I then go to the Windows Command window and run the "sfc /scannow" command which is a system file check command to look for and try to fix any file corruption....I only learned about this command a few months ago when it was used to fix an Outlook sending/outbox problem. Anyway, running the sfc command came back saying there was some file corruption and it couldn't fix everything. A file corruption could even be a 3d party app file corruption and not necessarily a file corruption with Windows files. But running sfc did not fix that notification nuisance. Really a minor thing as it only appears for about 3 seconds right after you reach your Desktop during boot-up. Even clearing/deleting that notification wouldn't stop it from coming back on the next boot-up. Everything else on the computer worked fine. And I don't know exactly how long some type of issue that the sfc command identifies as a corruption issue has exist because it been over a month since I last ran it just for gee-whizzes and no corruption issues were found back then...the corruption could have materialized even before I did the first reinstall 2 days ago....I just don't know.

So, today I decided just to do another upgrade/install/refresh just like a did two days earlier using above weblink as guidance but I uninstalled CPU-Z first so Windows wouldn't have anything to remove during the upgrade. The upgrade went without drama again. Notification bug fixed but if I run sfc /scannow it still says some files are corrupted (could be most anything to include a registry error, 3d party app setting in the registry, etc), but the computer works fine so I'm not going to worry about it. I had an image backup so I figured why not run the upgrade again...if it don't work out I just reinstall my earlier image.

I say the computer works fine because for around 7 hours now I have opened/used about every app on my computer, the Windows apps like Mail, Weather, Calendar, etc and they all work...just everything works. I did have to reinstall my Canon printer/scanner driver by downloading the driver from Canon's support website as Windows was taking forever in trying to install it on it's own...like it was trying to download/install the driver from it's driver bank but just couldn't finish even after almost 10 minutes of watching the install progress bar so I aborted it. When I downloaded/installed the driver from Canon it installed in just 20 seconds or so. And maybe the printer/scanner driver had not properly reinstalled two days ago when I did the refresh the first time because I didn't check then....I just checked today after the 2nd refresh.

A long story I know...but using the process in the weblink above has worked as advertised for me twice over the last 48 hours. And the second reinstall fixed a problem from the first reinstall...fixed that nuisance notification thing. Everything appears OK (knock on wood).

[Digitalbanana]

So, with above being said, you sure you didn't download the Win 10 ISO...maybe download the wrong language version if your previous Windows version was like UK English only, US English only, etc. Microsoft sells Windows versions with a specific systems language vs being multilanguage in order to help reduce privacy since Windows pricing various among countries.

Really appreciate the lengthy feedback which got me thinking albeit didn't help in the end.

I wasn't sure if my ISO download was same language (didn't know it was an issue til you mentioned it) so I checked and sure enough I had tried to use the UK version English ISO installed onto a Win10 US language version which also has an Australian English language locale in it with Thai language installed as extra language as well. I changed everything to US English on the PC and checked it with a "DISM /online /get-intl" in an elevated CMD window to show everything as US English. Then I downloaded the ISO file using MediaCreationToolx64. It is this tool that asks about language before you download anything (unlike what you seem to imply) as on the start screen:

but even after making the ISO and installing from it using setup.exe, both top two options are greyed out and it only allows a clean install. Clicking on the help explanation doesn't inspire confidence in Win10 setup.exe as it still mentions an upgrade to Win 8.1!

Anyway I have given up for time being and left it. If I check Windows update status it now tells me I'm fully up to date and there is nothing else to do. I can see various modern apps like photos and the store are inaccessible (shown as ! on start menu), whereas others like mail, calender have started working again. I can get by without them as my main programs I use are old school stuff not available in the store anyway, but it is annoying Windows says I'm up to date when something is wrong.

[Pib]

When you go into your Settings under System what description is given for your OS?. Does it say something along the lines of just Windows 10 English US or Windows 10 Single Language US or UK, etc. I'm still not convinced you are downloading the right language especially if your had a "Single Language" version of Windows when you upgraded from it to Win 10.

And it would actually say "Single Language" somewhere in the description when you go to the System area and look....it would have those two words or maybe the abbreviation of SL. Before I upgraded to Win 10 Pro I had Win 10 Home Single Language English International which is really just UK English....and that description of Win 10 Home Single Language was displayed in my Systems decription....I can't give you snapshot now because it just says Win 10 Pro since I bought a Win 10 Pro license, entered it, it took away that Single Language restriciton and decription and then I could load a different Systems language....I loaded US English...before it was UK English. And I also have the Thai language loaded as a keyboard input language....you can load all the keyboard languages you want even with a Single Language version of Windows as the Single Language just means you are restricted on one "Systems" language....the one the license originally came with.

But actually that "may" show what you have loaded now (which ain't totally working), instead of what you had before. You sure you didn't have Win 7/Win 8.X that was a Single Language version...and actually had Single Language in the description somewhere.

And just to repeat don't confuse "Systems" language like we are talking about with keyboard input language. Even with a Single Language version which only allows one "Systems Language" to be installed--the original one it came with such as US or UK, etc., a person can install as many keyboard input language as desired.

After thinking about which version of Windows you had before, a Single Language version or maybe a multinational version, maybe you would want to try downloading the ISO from the Microsoft TechBench web site since it presents the language versions differently. If you think you had a Single Language version before the selected Win 10 Single Language, the select the version of English you want which will either be "English" (which I think is US English) or "English International" (which I think is UK English). Download that ISO and give it another try.

Yea, something in my gut is telling me you are trying to install the wrong language version based on the version of Win 7/Win 8.X your originally upgraded from. Good luck.

[Digitalbanana]

...maybe you would want to try downloading the ISO from the Microsoft TechBench web site since it presents the language versions differently. If you think you had a Single Language version before the selected Win 10 Single Language, the select the version of English you want which will either be "English" (which I think is US English) or "English International" (which I think is UK English). Download that ISO and give it another try.

Yea, something in my gut is telling me you are trying to install the wrong language version based on the version of Win 7/Win 8.X your originally upgraded from. Good luck.

Well done sir, you have finally helped me fix it. I owe you eternally, or at least until the next Win10 update! Now my PC is fully working with all the modern apps and store access. How I did it:

My system says Win10 Home 64 bit. Nothing about SL or languages before or after latest update. I'm pretty sure its set for English US and allows multi language support, I have always used Thai language added as extra language if that is what is meant by mulit language?.

I almost didn't your download link above having downloaded Win10 ISO three times already using the Media Creation Tool. But just out of interest I tried the download options on your link above using the first Win10 with English option and it creates an ISO file that is US English but 500MB bigger than the one created by Media Creation Tool that I used yesterday. I ran setup from the new ISO and the start menu is different with just two options as below with option to keep files and apps. It took 80 minutes off an SSD drive but now everything is back to normal.

So the Media Creation Tool I got from your previous link and still available here (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10) was the problem and causes Win10 to misbehave without recourse. (I suspected something was up when the help menu on it refers to it as Win8.1!). Great stuff MS.

Thanks Pib.

[Pib]

Glad it worked out...something in my gut just kept telling me it was a systems/display language thing which I still think was your core problem. The Win 10 Media Creation Tool website and TechBench website offers up Win 10 a little differently and maybe the ISOs are indeed a little different....I ain't smart enough to figure that out or decipher's some of Microsoft's vague, secretive explanations of certain things.

The display language (or what I have been calling systems language) is the language all your Windows menus/displays will display in. Like the difference between UK English and US English is generally nothing more than how they spell certain words, slang used, etc. Example: "color or flavor " for US English, "colour or flavour" for UK English...more examples of spelling differences between British and American English at this webpage. Really just minor stuff but being a US person I prefer to read/see US English.

And then you have the separate keyboard input layout language setting---this is different than display language. Like for me I have US English set as my primary display language right now and have my keyboard input set to US English and Thai since I have a dual language keyboard. And for a long time until I upgraded from my Windows SL English (UK) version to Windows Pro which did away with the SL restriction, my "only" display language was UK English but wilth US English and Thai language keyboard layout languages.

And up to a few minutes ago I still had UK English display language "available" in my language settings although I had changed my "primary" display language to US English because I could not remove/delete the UK English option...Windows would just not let me even after I upgraded to Pro. However, but, that was before the Threshold/10586 upgrade a few days ago...I once again tried deleting the UK English available option a few minutes ago just for gee-whizzes as I expect it would just say Sorry, No Can Do....but by gosh it was removed this time. I could add it back if desired. But I wanted to remove it just to free up a little bit of space on my hard drive because that UK English language pack was not being used anymore....each display language pack is usually around 25MB in size.

Below is what my language settings where before and after deleting/removing the UK English display language. Now I only have US English as my display language and also as a keyboard input language in addition to the Thai keyboard input language. Yeap, display language and keyboard input layout language can be different animals.

Before

After

Below is a Microsoft weblink/short video talking display and keyboard llayout languages...Win 8 is used in the the weblink but its basically same-same as in Win 10.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/using-multiple-languages

Yeap, glad you got Win 10 fully working again.