Windows 8.1 installation error 0x80004005

This is a problem which likely has multiplle causes.  I finally got 8.1 to install.  I had tried all the above suggestions without success including reinstallation on the old partition without success.  I finally stumbled on the idea that the problem was the MBR.  I had been double booting with Ubuntu and at somepoint erased the 350mb MBR and was somehow still booting from another location on the drive.

To get 8.1 to install I deleted the partition containing the Windows 8 OS and then installed into the unallocated space.  The installer automatically recreated the MBR as well as a partition for 8.1.  After the lengthy download of 8.1, it upgraded without a glitch. 

Parenthetically I spent two hours with Microsoft support prior to figuring out my problem.  They were very nice but clueless.

Well, this sounds interesting, but seems to be valid for computers with one physical disk, right?

I have three in my development maschine, each of them having one (and *active*) partition. The primary boot disk was the one with XP installed giving me the well known boot options 1. Earlier version of Windows and 2. Windows 8. So what I tried was, that I moved BCD files to Windows 8 disk and disconnected the two other disks from motherboard so that I had just one bootable Windows 8 disk in my PC with one and active partition. Ok, I retried the Windows 8.1 update and ... got the 80004005 error again. I still do not know how to update... Argggh.

Alex

You don't need to start from scratch, I found the full solution here:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-windows_install/windows-81-installation-fails-at-installing-app/de6522d2-ee43-49e2-a2e2-6924c9222d27

So what you need to do is set the Windows partition to active, but this will mess up the boot record so you have to have a Windows 8 DVD or USB handy because when you restart it will give you an error.

You boot from the DVD/USB and then follow the instructions in that link so it fixes the boot record and then you run the update, which then works without that stupid annoying error. It keeps all the applications and settings too so no need to install from scratch.

I think this error is common on DIY desktops and people who have added SSD's because of that set Active step.

After trying everything else possible, I tried this, and yes, it does work, AWESOME. I am very computer literate, and this doesn't make sense (changing the active boot partition to a partition that has no boot files), but it finally allowed the upgrade to finish and to request the reboot. As previously stated, the system will not boot after this because you changed the active partition to one with no boot files, but if you run the repair option off of the original installation disk or a recovery disk, it will place the boot files on the changed active partition, allowing it to boot. Mine actually gave an error message saying that the update failed, so I ran it again, and it did the upgrade, reboot, then installed the update automatically.

I have read this "fix" in several different forums, but just could not believe that it would work, so I never tried it, it just does not make sense, at least from a user friendly installation perspective. So now Microsoft needs to figure out an easy way for this to be accomplished, especially for those a bit reluctant to mess with these settings. It's not rocket science, but it should not be necessary to go through this process.

So to summarize, if you go into Disk Management, you should see two partitions, the first one small (350 MB) possibly saying System Reserved and no drive letter, also saying active: the other being the remainder of your disk that contains the operating system, and probably with labels of Page File and Primary Partition, probably labeled C. Right click on this larger partition, select "Mark Partition as Active", it will give an error message saying you can only have one active partition, say OK. Now resume the upgrade. Be sure you have the ability to boot off of an installation disk or USB (you should test this first, Google it if you don't know how). As always, caution says you should back up your data before trying this, as it can make your you system inoperable if you cannot repair it.

I tweeted to all the @MS tweet adresses and got the following reply: Customer Support at spr.ly/6015barL? Looks as if there is a thread but I need to be on the problem machine to use it so will look this evening! E

What happened to my Graphic?

I was getting this exact error for a week at least. My error was resolved this morning. Here's exactly what I did:

1. Since I was logged out of my account, I logged back in.
2. I opened up the Store.
3. I clicked the "Installing 8.1" text in the top right (since it was automatically retrying/resuming)
4. I selected and cancelled the installation.
5. I opened up my pending app updates, and proceeded to update them.
6. Then I went into my desktop browser (IE) and downloaded the 8.1 update form windows.microsof.com (the button read: "get the update")
7. It opened up the Store app, and I let the installation run over night.
8. 8.1 was ready for term acceptance and it installed this morning.

What I had previously done (which didn't resolve the error) was this:

1. Stop the download from the store.
2. Restart computer.
3. Initiate re-download from within the store

If you've been trying to re-download from that big 8.1 banner in the Store and it's not working, try re-initiating the update using your DESKTOP BROWSER, and NOT WITHIN THE STORE.

I hope this works for somebody.