Now what? (Computer department)

[Hawkmoon]

For the past two mornings, when I have sat down at my computer (Dell Inspiron desktop) I have found a message on the screen that updates failed and it is restarting.

This evening I checked Windows Updates and it said the update to Windows 10 release 21H2 was ready, so I told it to go ahead and install it.

It failed. Download okay, the install was churning along up to around 50%, so I walked away. When I can back, it was undoing whatever it had done.

Why can't I install 21H2?

[lee n. field]

There's a update troubleshooter in the Settings ap.  Maybe run that.

[WLJ]

When was the last time you did a clean install on this machine?

[Hawkmoon]

When was the last time you did a clean install on this machine?

Dunno. Probably when I made the jump from Windows 7 to Windows 10. That would have been a month or so after the end-of-life date for Windows 7.

[HeroHog]

Web Search it and ya might find the issue. I did but don't remember it. On 11 now so, there's that.

[Hawkmoon]

When I tried to use Windows Update manually to install the updates, Windows kindly informed me that my computer cannot run Windows 11. So I have a little less than four years to decide what to do about that.

[WLJ]

When I tried to use Windows Update manually to install the updates, Windows kindly informed me that my computer cannot run Windows 11. So I have a little less than four years to decide what to do about that.

Either
A) Switch to one of the many flavors of Linux
B) Hope MS relaxes some of the requirements for 11
C) Retire the Flintstone 2000BC and get or build something newer

I'm going to do a mix of A and C.
C for my main PC (motherboard swap), A for the secondary ones.

[zxcvbob]

Either
A) Switch to one of the many flavors of Linux
B) Hope MS relaxes some of the requirements for 11
C) Retire the Flintstone 2000BC and get or build something newer

I'm going to do a mix of A and C.
C for my main PC (motherboard swap), A for the secondary ones.

If you swap out the motherboard, won't the digital license go with it?  (so you'll have to pay for 11 instead of a free upgrade) I've just started looking at the same thing for a HP 8200 desktop that I've upgraded with an SSD and a large HDD; it has a i5-2700 processor. Or maybe it's an i5-2400, I don't remember.  Anyway, it's second generation which is way too old for W11 but it runs 10 very well.

Perhaps if you swap the motherboard first, then powerup and go online with the old W10 install, it will detect the new motherboard and update the license, then you upgrade the OS.

[WLJ]

If you swap out the motherboard, won't the digital license go with it?  (so you'll have to pay for 11 instead of a free upgrade) I've just started looking at the same thing for a HP 8200 desktop that I've upgraded with an SSD and a large HDD; it has a i5-2700 processor. Or maybe it's an i5-2400, I don't remember.  Anyway, it's second generation which is way too old for W11 but it runs 10 very well.

Perhaps if you swap the motherboard first, then powerup and go online with the old W10 install, it will detect the new motherboard and update the license, then you upgrade the OS.

How to Transfer a Windows 10 License to Another PC
https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-license-transfer-another-pc/

[lee n. field]

Either
A) Switch to one of the many flavors of Linux
B) Hope MS relaxes some of the requirements for 11

When we were in Walmart yesterday, I checked out the laptops.  (Customer said she bought her new laptop at Walmart.  "It cost $300."  Wanted to see what I might have in store for me, 'cause she wanted me to transfer data.  (Hers was a Samsung Galaxy, ARM processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB "disk", neither upgradable.  <sigh>.))

There's a bunch of crap grade laptops, running Win 11.  Intel Pentium, 4GB RAM.

[Bogie]

Look at microcenter.com - There is one local to me.
 
And I haven't bought a new computer since about 2005 or so. Refurbs work just fine for going online or doing vector-based graphics (most vector-based, at least...). If I was doing serious photochop, I would likely upgrade. But I'm not.
 
My living room computer, which I finally fired up, has Win10 on it, but it has Mint on the main partition. I just have Windows so I can use an old version of Corel Draw.

[zxcvbob]

How to Transfer a Windows 10 License to Another PC
https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-license-transfer-another-pc/

That won't work with an OEM license.  But I wonder if I swap the motherboard and call MS and tell them it's the same computer with a new motherboard they might activate it.  But I read on the HP forum today that this exact machine will support W11 if you go into the BIOS and enable TPM 1.2.  Might have to turn on secure boot too, and if I do that I might have to reformat the drives.  (I've run into that with enabling secure boot on a laptop)

This machine might be a good candidate for Linux in a few years.

[MikeB]

Try the first post in this link before anything else.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/sfc-scannow-and-dismexe-online-cleanup-image/db3b24de-a261-403e-9d11-8141d13f7954

This will both check the actual updates and also look for corrupt system files. You may need to do this twice. May or may not help, but I’ve seen it fix update issues when there are corrupt system files or when the update ‘cache’ has issues. There is probably a more technical MS term, but I’m using cache for how windows stores all the updates now.

[Hawkmoon]

When we were in Walmart yesterday, I checked out the laptops.  (Customer said she bought her new laptop at Walmart.  "It cost $300."  Wanted to see what I might have in store for me, 'cause she wanted me to transfer data.  (Hers was a Samsung Galaxy, ARM processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB "disk", neither upgradable.  <sigh>.))

There's a bunch of crap grade laptops, running Win 11.  Intel Pentium, 4GB RAM.

When I was in a Wally World a few days ago, I saw a bunch of Chromebooks, and a bunch of Windows 11 computers running ... Celerons. I didn't know the Celeron was still a thing.

[Hawkmoon]

Try the first post in this link before anything else.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/sfc-scannow-and-dismexe-online-cleanup-image/db3b24de-a261-403e-9d11-8141d13f7954

This will both check the actual updates and also look for corrupt system files. You may need to do this twice. May or may not help, but I’ve seen it fix update issues when there are corrupt system files or when the update ‘cache’ has issues. There is probably a more technical MS term, but I’m using cache for how windows stores all the updates now.

Problem solved -- it's dead.

Came home from work to find it endlessly cycling between a blue screen of death and a black screen of death. I suspect the Western Digital Green SSD drive has bought the farm. The original hard drive is still in the box and has an earlier version of Windows 10 on it, so the plan now is to re-connect the old hard drive, clone it to a new SSD drive (either a W-D Blue, or a Samsung 870 EVO), fire it up on the new SSD drive, and do a hard update using a newly created 21H2 ISO that I conveniently made last night.

Meanwhile, I'm working on a backup computer.

[WLJ]

When I was in a Wally World a few days ago, I saw a bunch of Chromebooks, and a bunch of Windows 11 computers running ... Celerons. I didn't know the Celeron was still a thing.

Not the same Celeron of old you may be thinking of. Intel still uses that name to refer to whatever is their current line of low end but still modern CPUs

[lee n. field]

Problem solved -- it's dead.

Came home from work to find it endlessly cycling between a blue screen of death and a black screen of death. I suspect the Western Digital Green SSD drive has bought the farm.

Let's just say we haven't had real good luck with the WD Green drives.

The original hard drive is still in the box and has an earlier version of Windows 10 on it, so the plan now is to re-connect the old hard drive, clone it to a new SSD drive (either a W-D Blue, or a Samsung 870 EVO), fire it up on the new SSD drive, and do a hard update using a newly created 21H2 ISO that I conveniently made last night.

Meanwhile, I'm working on a backup computer.

[Bogie]

Seriously - have you guys even looked at a listing of the processor chip models?
 
Let's put it this way - it's easier dealing with auto parts, and various Chrysler versions...
 
Just how many letters and numbers could they figure on munging together?
 
Refurb box. Linux Mint. Done.

[HeroHog]

Linux Mint has a ridiculously small footprint, works on the most MINIMAL of platforms, is easy to learn and can do a TON.

[Hawkmoon]

Let's just say we haven't had real good luck with the WD Green drives.

So I've heard.

I have a choice of a W-D Blue or a Samsung 870 EVO, both 1TB. Which would you use in the primary computer and which would you use in the spare/backup computer?

[WLJ]

So I've heard.

I have a choice of a W-D Blue or a Samsung 870 EVO, both 1TB. Which would you use in the primary computer and which would you use in the spare/backup computer?

Primary Samsung

[cordex]

Primary Samsung

Agreed.

[230RN]

^^^^ "There's an update troubleshooter in the Settings ap.  Maybe run that."

Does anyone else find that hilarious?  A troublshooter for the updates?

No?

Must be just crazy old me.

I'm not signing this one so nobody will know who posted it.

[RocketMan]

Primary Samsung

I second that notion.

[lee n. field]

^^^^ "There's an update troubleshooter in the Settings ap.  Maybe run that."

Does anyone else find that hilarious?  A troublshooter for the updates?

No?

Must be just crazy old me.

I'm not signing this one so nobody will know who posted it.

hilarious?  Whatever.  Windows updates, at least in versions prior to 10, was prone to breaking and often needed command line with admin rights witchery to get working again.  (I have had Win 10 updates get weirdly broken, but not often.)