Windows error 0xc1900101 when trying to update to Windows 11

JaleeG

I've been trying to update my computer to Windows 11 and I keep getting error 0xc1900101. I bought my computer less than a year ago and it appears to be fully Windows 11 compliant; I have a PowerSpec B677 and haven't added anything unique to it. I've tried every "fix" I can except to upgrade the BIOS (ASRock motherboard H310CM-HDVM.2) and that seems potentially troublesome (if it doesn't work then it is nonfunctional and would require a service call).

Has anyone had a similar problem and worked around it?

Thanks!

Jalee

PowerSpec_MikeW

@JaleeG

A clean install of Windows 11 isn't a bad idea and I doubt you'd run into any problems. Monday I'll test 10 21H1 to 11 21H2. At least verify you're not running into an issue with the board/BIOS.

PowerSpec_MikeW

In case anyone was curious, no issues upgrading to 21H1 then Windows 11 21H2.

Glad you're having no issues after the clean install. There was some underlying OS corruption and while inconvenient that was the best solution.

Ian

Greetings. Are you installing through Windows Update on your computer or from Microsoft's website? https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/get-windows-11

JaleeG

I have been using the Windows Update, since that seemed like the least intrusive method. I didn't want to have to do a clean install, since I just got this computer less than a year ago, but may have to go that route.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@JaleeG

Using that link wouldn't require a clean reinstall. You can do an in-place upgrade from the media. Here's what I would do. Download the ISO first from here: https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11

Choose the Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) option. This will give us a local installer to work with. Double click on the ISO to mount it then navigate to the mounted drive letter and run Setup.exe. This will perform an in place upgrade, it'll ask you if you want to keep your files and apps, which is the default. Try that first.

If that still fails with an error code, tell us if the code is different. Otherwise, I would go into Device Manager. Disable both the wired and wireless network adapter, as well as you bluetooth radio then try again. You can re-enable them afterwards. It's possible one of these drives is the culprit, the error code in question is pretty vague unfortunately. We may be able to tell you more with the setupact.log and setuperr.log logs from C:\Windows\Panther.

JaleeG

OK, tried and still failed. Here's what I did; note that this is from Windows 10 Pro.

I had to enable wireless internet to get updates but tried disabling immediately after the updates seemed to be complete. It says "Installing Windows 11" and last says "Your PC will restart in a few moments" (it hadn't restarted yet) followed by a dialog box that says "Windows 11 installation has failed" with no further data.

Files under C:\Windows\Panther are all older but there is a new folder called "NewOs" that has a Panther folder and both setupact.log and setuperr.log files. In setuperr.log I see several entries for 0xC1900101 with an error of 0x8007000d prior to those showing up. There's also a lot of data in setupact.log (it's a 16 MB file) and it looks like it couldn't find a number of files at the start but I don't know which are useful and which aren't. Should I attach one or both of these files?

Thanks VERY MUCH for your help.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@JaleeG

Sounds like there are some underlying issues with the existing OS that are creating problems with the Windows 11 update. This may fail in the same manner but this is likely going to be the easiest fix all. Download the media creation tool for Windows 10 here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Choose the ISO option, we want the ISO just like before. Mount it, run setup.exe. I suggest you do an in place upgrade. Again, select the option to keep files and apps, so nothing should change. This will replace the underlying OS. If successful, reattempt the Windows 11 upgrade.

Yes, uploading the log files would help. The setupact is always huge, it's basically a full log of the update process.

JaleeG

So, installing Windows 10 seemed to work but it apparently corrupted my user account. I've been trying several things to restore it but it looks like I'll have to start over with a new account and restore all the data I can. I do have a disk image from several days ago but I don't know if that would be a good choice or not. The first two files here are the log files.

Since Windows 10 seemed to succeed, I went ahead and tried Windows 11 again and got exactly the same error. Interestingly enough, setuperr wasn't updated at all so I don't know what that means. The 3rd file is the setupact for this last attempt, if it's worth anything. I did keep the log files from what I tried yesterday but it seems like we're well past that point at this stage.

I did find an interesting comment on https://www.technipages.com/how-to-fix-windows-10-update-error-0xc1900101 that said if you have an ASRock motherboard then you have to update the BIOS. Does that sound right to you?

Perhaps at this stage a clean install doesn't "cost" anything more than having to create a new user account and get all the data. I'm quite frustrated at the moment so I'm seriously considering restoring the disk image I made and ignoring Windows 11 for a while. That doesn't sound like a great answer, though.

I do appreciate your help!

Note that I had to compress the setupact files since they were too big. Hopefully that doesn't matter.

setupact.zip

setuperr.log

setupact.zip

Thank you for any help you can provide, either on restoring my user account or which approach to proceed. If it the issue isn't just the Windows installation then ...

PowerSpec_MikeW

@JaleeG

Nothing obvious in the logs as to the issue. The BIOS could potentially be an issue. The only update available is 4.30, and per the notes, they're just enabling TPM 2.0 as a default. We do this in our custom BIOS. Always possible they changed something more significant, that isn't listed in the notes.

What's the issue with the user account? Are you getting an error when you try to login and if so, what does it say?

JaleeG

When I log in, I see "Welcome" immediately followed by "Signing out" (or similar).

PowerSpec_MikeW

@JaleeG

Check: HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon

What's the value for the Userinit key?

I've built a copy of your model and I'll image it as soon as I have time. I will attempt the update from the original 19H2 image. If it fails I'll flash our board to 4.30 and try again. Should have the results by Monday.

JaleeG

Userinit is C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe, but it looks like it might have an extra character on the end.

Will any of this help me fix the NTUser.dat problem, at least in the interim?

Thanks!

Jalee

PowerSpec_MikeW

@JaleeG

That's normal. Were you able to create a new user account on the system? If so, it indicates corrupt nduser.dat on the existing users account. I'd restore to your backup, or I'd create a new profile and move your information over.

Regarding my tests for your model. I was able to upgrade from the original image to Windows 11. I'll test upgrading to 21H1 first then to Windows 11 to see if there's possibly an issue there.

JaleeG

I’m sure I can create a new user account. I remembered I had the same issue on a Windows update back in March so perhaps this was a repeat after reinstalling Windows 10 and doing whatever updates were done.

I’ll see about restoring from my backup but might also try a clean install, unless you’d rather I stay where I am to help finish up any testing. It’s good to hear yours worked, at least initially. I’m pretty sure I had all the updates installed before attempting it the first time.

JaleeG

I was able to do a clean install of Windows 11, so the issue I had was definitely not with the board. I guess at this point it doesn't matter what it was, since the clean install worked.

Thank you VERY MUCH for your help here.