Error 0xC1900101 – 0x20017 when installing Windows 8.1

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Anonymous

(Updated January 28, 2014)

Hello,

Microsoft is aware some customers are unable to install Windows 8.1 due to error 0xC1900101 -0x20017.

This error indicates a failure to boot Windows 8.1 occurred during the initial reboot of the update, causing the system to roll back to Windows 8. The most likely cause of this error is an incompatible driver or hardware defect critical for booting the intermediary environment necessary to perform upgrade actions. Unfortunately, due to the timing of this failure, there are often no logs, crash dumps or other diagnostic information available to investigate the issue easily, which makes it difficult to determine which, if any, of the drivers or system components are causing the update to fail.

We are currently working with the companies to help them update their problematic drivers whenever they are identified. Some of the identified drivers that are known to cause this error are listed here and are the first steps you can try to resolve the issue:

· Make sure you are not running any drive-encryption software. If so, you must decrypt your drive before updating to Windows 8.1.

· Check for and uninstall any desktop utilities you may have running. For example, uninstalling IOBit or Intel Desktop Utilities (including Extreme Tuning software, but excluding Managed Engine) has been observed to resolve this issue.

· Older NFORCE drivers may not be supported on Windows 8.1. If you have an NVIDIA graphics card, make sure they are currently supported and you’ve installed the latest NVIDIA drivers.

· Please remove any connected USB devices (except the keyboard and mouse) and then try the upgrade.

· Check that you do not have any SteelSeries products that support the SteelSeries Engine installed on your PC. The SteelSeries Engine software is currently not supported on Windows 8.1. Please uninstall the software before attempting to update to Windows 8.1.

· Try disabling or uninstalling your antivirus software and see if the upgrade will succeed. Problems have been observed updating to Windows 8.1 if ESET or AVAST are installed. Please see the following links for product further information

ESET - http://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=SOLN3153
AVAST - http://www.avast.com/en-us/faq.php?article=AVKB97#artTitle

Unfortunately, due to the sheer number of drivers constantly being created by other companies all over the world, identifying every problematic driver is a daunting task. We understand that the inability to easily identify the incompatible driver can be incredibly frustrating and we are sorry for the inconvenience.

Make sure you’ve installed all the latest Windows Updates and latest drivers from your hardware and software manufacturers, and uninstall any unnecessary hardware or software prior to updating to Windows 8.1.

If your hardware and software manufacturers do not have updated drivers and you are experiencing this error, the best method for upgrading to Windows 8.1 is to clean install Windows 8, and then update to Windows 8.1 before allowing any additional drivers or software to install. Instructions to do this are provided below. If you still experience this error after performing a clean install, your hardware is not compatible with Windows 8.1.

To prevent the installation of additional drivers or software during a clean install:

Back up all of your personal documents and data to an external drive.
Disconnect your computer from the Internet.
Perform a clean install of Windows 8 using Windows 8 installation media (DVD or USB). For help performing a clean install of Windows, see How to perform a clean install of Windows. Note: If you do not have media and Windows 8 was pre-installed on your PC, please contact your PC manufacturer for assistance. Otherwise to get help obtaining installation media, contact Microsoft Support.
Once you’ve reinstalled Windows 8, change your hardware settings so that you do not automatically install driver updates.

From the Start screen, type “System”, and then click on “View advanced system settings” in the search results. This will open the System Properties dialog.
Click on the Hardware tab, and then click Device Installation Settings.
When the Device Installation Settings window appears, click the “No, let me choose what to” button, and then “Never install driver software from Windows Update”. Click Save Changes to save the setting.

Reconnect your computer to the Internet.
Install Windows Updates. Restart the computer when prompted.
Open Windows Store and install Windows 8.1.

Afterwards, be sure to restore your hardware settings so that your device drivers once again install automatically. (Repeat Step 4, but restore this setting to “**Yes, do this automatically (recommended)”**and Save changes.)

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Anonymous

2014-04-17T17:07:21+00:00
I've done a little more of search to figure out what is wrong. This is what I know:
- Error message on boot BSOD is: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
- Error code of BSOD: 0x000000001
- The boot process can't find the hardrive (SATA, IDE, USB)
- The problem is with a windows driver, not a proprietary one
--

If anyone can relate to any of the following hardware, that might be the cause:
- ASUS Laptop F5 Series
- SiS 671 chipset
- Atheros/Azurewave Wifi + Bluetooth
- Realtek cardreader
--

I made a new install.wim with other pc with 8.1 + all updates + update 1 but it also fails to boot once applied to the faulty laptop. Same symptoms as before.

I was trying to replace some windows 8.1 drivers with windows 8 ones related to storage and usb devices (atapi.sys/pciide.sys/....) but the boot fails when those drivers are verified on the boot process.

I can't do more than this.

Your turn MS.
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Anonymous

2014-03-18T21:30:46+00:00
I so enjoy it when I read that Microsoft is pinning its hopes for the future on Windows 8.1 and its supposed enhancements that will supposedly stop the desktop users fleeing from Windows 8 — all the while Microsoft totally ignores the huge segment of its users who simply cannot upgrade to 8.1.

I've read on here about folks who were on the phone with Microsoft techs remoting into their PCs for half a day. I've tried the phone support several times. The last time, the tech remoted into my PC for three solid days, and did everything including a complete clean install — over 30 solid hours in all — and guess what. He ended the whole thing by downloading an .iso for Windows 8.1, telling me that he was sure that it would solve the whole problem, and oh by the way, he was closing the ticket as resolved. That resolved nothing at all.

In total, I have done a complete reformat of my hard disk drive and a completely clean install of Windows 8 with absolutely everything that could be disconnected removed from the system three times. After every such install the upgrade to 8.1 failed.

What Microsoft can't explain is:
- How come I can repeatedly install Windows 8 without any problems whatsoever, but the install of Windows 8.1 from an 8.1 .iso fails every time?
- How come I can repeatedly install Windows 8 without any problems whatsoever, but can't ever upgrade to 8.1?
- I'm a fairly adept computer jock, Web developer, and have been installing Windows and associated software since the days of Windows 3.1 (yes, that's three-dot.one, not eight-dot-one). When a supposedly simple upgrade is totally beyond me, how does Microsoft expect the general public — the ones they so desperately hope to woo into Windows 8 — to be able to handle this? I can so truly understand why so very many people are so desperately holding on to Windows XP. At least it worked which most folks can agree that Windows 8 doesn't.
Perhaps the most entertaining part of this for me was on one of the many times I called into Microsoft on this problem. A Tier 2 tech remoted into my computer and said very excitedly, "I can see exactly what your problem is!" That got me excited since no one else seemed to know squat about what the problem is/was. Then, that Tier 2 tech proceeded to tell me that the whole problem was that I had applications installed on my PC. He explained that Windows worked best when you just install the OS and absolutely nothing else on the PC. Not even Microsoft Office; he said that has been known to mess up the OS. Now, what he couldn't explain to me is why I had problems upgrading after a complete reformat and clean install and exactly what I was supposed to do with a computer that had nothing but an OS installed. But that conversation was entertaining.

I hope that Microsoft can someday come up with an OS that actually works. For now, just across the room, I have my trusty Linux machine. It's been going solid for five years, with annual upgrades and way too much in the way applications installed, without a single complaint. I have a very strong feeling that five years from now, most of us will be working on a Linux machine and laughing about Microsoft's failures and demise.
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Anonymous

2014-03-17T20:53:43+00:00

I would just like to remind @Microsoft that this is still an issue.

I get this error when trying to upgrade an Intel® NUC Kit D54250WYK from Windows 8.0 to 8.1

I have tried all suggestions in several of the threads regarding this problem.

Please let us know ASAP when you have a fix for this..
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Anonymous

2014-03-03T16:11:09+00:00

We’d like to offer a huge ‘Thank You!’ to everyone who provided logs to help us further analyze this problem. Your feedback has been extremely valuable to us in our efforts to improve the product.

Unfortunately, due to the timing of this particular error, there is no easy method for determining the incompatible hardware or software that causes this error. We apologize for the inconvenience, and we are continuing to work with companies to help them provide updated drivers. We have updated the marked “Answer” to this thread, which now contains some additional methods you can try for resolving this issue.

I'm sure our logs were helpful, not!

The error occurs so early in the boot process that nothing goes to the log.

I've tried many things, even Windows-2-Go and there is only one file in the hard drive that gets changed after the error and that file (C:\Boot\BOOTSTAT.DAT) has nothing to do with a log.
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