Windows 10 Upgrade Errors

Microsoft has finally released Windows 10 on July 29, 2015. I took part in the tech preview and was impressed by how the new operating system looked and felt. Even though I was running the beta for several months on a VM, I was excited that the final release is finally available for download for current Windows 7 and 8 users. That excitement however, quickly turned into frustration.

What I wanted to do was upgrade my machines running Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. Then do a clean install. In order to do this, you would have to upgrade to Windows 10 and wait for the activated confirmation message. Once you see this, you should be able to do a clean install and it will automatically activate afterwards. The upgrade process already gave me issues.

Everything was going well during the upgrade but during the reboot I get the following error.

I’ve tried different things, even disabling the AVG 2015 antivirus (which I read some people having issues with). I also started uninstall software that I feel may have compatibility issues with Windows 10. Still no luck. Finally, I decided to uninstall AVG and it looks like that was the culprit.

I didn’t get a chance to take photos of the settings part when it asks after upgrading but it’s something I’d like to mention. There are many settings that you should pay attention to regarding privacy. Here’s some photos I took when I was upgrading my HP Stream 7 tablet.

After running Windows update and restarting Windows 10, I checked the Windows activation status and it said it was activated. I felt confident that the troubles are over and I now can do a clean install. The process went fine but now I have more issues, this time regarding activation. I now get the following error with activation.

Error code: 0xC004C003

If you run the following command, it’ll bring up the screen to call Microsoft and display the installation ID, which should then give you an activation code.

SLUI 4

Select your country and it will give you the phone number to call. You will have to provide your installation ID which should generate a confirmation ID that is similarly long.

I ended up speaking with something and they told me that the blocked key error is a bit misleading. He said that the activation server cannot handle all the requests so it’s blocking people out. It’s not necessarily mean you have a bad copy of Windows and it won’t allow you to activate. They recommend to continue to wait and it will activate. I also found this thread to be a little helpful in terms of what others are experiencing – [http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install/error-code-0xc004c003-on-clean-reinstall-of/834e0c2d-6229-4258-8038-3e209b745242](http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install/error-code-0xc004c003-on-clean-reinstall-of/834e0c2d-6229-4258-8038-3e209b745242).

So I guess I’ll have to wait. Back to the AVG 2015 antivirus. Once I stabilized Windows 10, I installed it again and it ran fine. It should, since they said it was fully compatible. From what I heard, the reason why it could affect upgrades is AVG can sometimes lock files and prevent the upgrade process from upgrading them. So it’s best to uninstall it and reinstall once everything is finished.

Finally, I want to share an error I got with a Dell T3600 workstation I upgraded to Windows 10. This error occurs after I used the Reset This PC. I chose to delete all the files and applications. During the final reboot, I get this error. It will just keep restarting and never fix itself.

Looks like I’ll have to do a clean install on this one as well.

I’ve talked to a few friends who upgraded to Windows 10 and not have any issues. For some reason, I attract these kinds of issues. I hope Microsoft can improve on the upgrade process. So far though, Windows 10 has been a treat. I guess anything is better than Windows 8 – it’s not too bad, but this has been a better user experience (except for the upgrade process).