Windows 10 Windows Insider Build Not Installing???

ygswagness

Active Member
I am a Windows Insider user currently with build 17650 and in the fast lane for skip-ahead.

I am trying to update to build 17666.1000 ('Redstone 5') however I was stuck on Preparing to install 100%.

I tried ending the Windows Update service, clearing the 'SoftwareDistribution' folder, starting the service again and running the troubleshooter for Windows Update, but I'm now stuck on 'Downloading 100%'

This status has been stuck on this for too long however is there anything I could do to start installing the preview?

Thanks
ygswagness
 
I am helping a family member do his. So far we're into like 6 or 7 hours. It's still not finished. And sitting there looking like it's doing nothing is pretty normal. You'll really need patience for this.
 
What are you running this on. Updates take at most 15 minutes. I shall create a system image and check how long it takes.
 
My relative's upgrade finally finished. So far it seems Ok. It depends on the hardware I think. I just did the latest Insider build. I have an SSD for my O/S. It took close to one hour start to finish.
 
Just backing up my system. Shall how join the insider again and see how long it takes. Should be around 20 mins if anything like other upgrades

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
I have mine stuck at 100% Preparing to install with minimal cpu activity. Has been like that for 10 minutes which isn't normal.
 
Just downloaded 17672.1000 windows insider. Download time for this one was a little over an hour as compared to two hours on the previous one.
 
Ok that was different. The big change to 17672 is about security. It made me restart again after it was installed to activate the Trusted Platform Module. It left the choice to reset it or not up to me. It said something about erasing some stuff that I didn't understand. I opted not to. Then when I went into the Security section of settings it was doing more stuff I didn't know about. Something about my antivirus needing to be registered. It looks like ESET is registering alright I guess. Anyway, it says it's all Ok. I guess more research is in order.

Did it make sense to you @Sonny? I'm a little confused.

@nmsuk. The fixed issues page for this build says it fixes the "Stuck at preparing to install" issue while installing.
 
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@stueycaster I didn't have to do any of that. Maybe because I use Windows Defender as my anti-virus program. Not sure why you had to go through all that. Don't make any sense to me.
 
@Sonny, yeah if you're not using a third party Antivirus that'd be why you didn't have to do all that other stuff. It's Ok. Mine says it's all good. I won't be online without my ESET. I use it on my phone too.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
 
Ok that was different. The big change to 17672 is about security. It made me restart again after it was installed to activate the Trusted Platform Module. It left the choice to reset it or not up to me. It said something about erasing some stuff that I didn't understand. I opted not to. Then when I went into the Security section of settings it was doing more stuff I didn't know about. Something about my antivirus needing to be registered. It looks like ESET is registering alright I guess. Anyway, it says it's all Ok. I guess more research is in order.

Did it make sense to you @Sonny? I'm a little confused.

@nmsuk. The fixed issues page for this build says it fixes the "Stuck at preparing to install" issue while installing.

For me it was stuck on preparing for over two hours, at which point I put my backup back on and continued mt day.
 
Yeah it looks like V-17666 is the one that gets stuck. Supposedly 17672 fixes that. It took about 10 minutes less to install the second one. Of course an SSD makes things like this go pretty fast. Mechanical HDD's take quite a while with these uprades.

But then the TPM reset was a little scary. Information I read about that was kinda all over the place. It says:

"A configuration change was requested to clear this computer's TPM (Trusted Platform Module)

WARNING: Clearing erases information stored on the TPM. You will lose all created keys and access to data encrypted by these keys.

Press F12 or Volume Up to clear the TPM Press ESC or Volume Down to reject the change request and continue"

But the scary part is some people said you might lose your data. So I went to a lot of trouble to manually back up any data I had recently acquired that wasn't already backed up. I'm not real good about regular backups but whenever I run across something that might lose stuff for me, I make sure it's all done.

When I did reset it, at reboot, I didn't lose anything. It kept going back to this every time I booted up. I guess it was talking about encryption keys and since I have W10 Home I don't have Bitlocker. Therefore I can't encrypt anything. Then it made me do it again in the "Windows Security" section of Settings.

So this TPM thing was really a pain but the good thing is I didn't lose anything and now I'm all backed up. I just thought I'd share this so others might not get blind sided like I did. The thing is all of these new security requirements might be coming for all Windows 10 users.
 
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I had that with the latest april update, but it kept dumping me in the efi shell and on reboot demanded secure boot keys and access to the tpm.
 
This could come as a shock to a lot of less informed users. I hope Microsoft hasn't opened a can of worms.

I sent in feedback about this. Hopefully everyone else won't get blind sided.
 
I've been doing this for many years and never has a windows update dumped me unceremoniously into a bios or efi shell. Putting my backup back on didn't fix the issue, only a reinstall did that. I'm guessing only a reinstall worked as the install sorts out the secure boot keys at install. Utter pain though and the average less informed user wouldn't have a clue what even a efi shell is. Nevermind having knowledge of key management.
 
Yeah I don't know what that is either. This could get ugly. Hopefully some others will provide feedback and M$ might change something about the way they're handling it.
 
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