"Couldn't update to Windows 8.1 - 0xC1900101 - 0x40017"

2013-10-26 05:01:47, Info                  SP     Attempting to reset setup.

2013-10-26 05:01:47, Info                  SP     The system will now restart.

2013-10-26 05:01:47, Info                  SP     Persisting diagnostics data to C:$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Diagnostics\diagnostics.dat

2013-10-26 05:01:47, Info                  SP     Diagnostics data saved successfully

2013-10-26 05:01:47, Info                  SP     Recovery succeeded. Rollback will now restart the machine.

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Initializing diagnostics helper; data file = C:$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Diagnostics\diagnostics.dat

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Found existing diagnostics data, attempting to load it.

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Rollback: Showing splash window

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Rollback: Attempting recovery first.

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Current phase string : FirstBoot,End

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Current op string    : NULL

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Current result string: NULL

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Current bugcheck string: NULL

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Connected standby str: No

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Connected standby    : No

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Current phase : 4

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Current op    : 23

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Current result: Unknown

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Bugcheck code : 0x9DE9E1E6

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Maximum recovery attempts reached.

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     Not attempting to recover system in C:\WINDOWS

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  SP     SetupPlatfrom: Executing Execute.PreRollback commands

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  IBSLIB RollbackReinitialize in progress...

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info                  IBSLIB RollbackReinitialize finished.

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info       [0x064149] IBSLIB RollbackExecuteSequence in progress...

2013-10-26 05:04:12, Info       [0x064130] IBSLIB ExecuteRollbackSequence: Checkpoint(SetupPlatformOnlineApplyCheckpoint) rollback in progress.

2013-10-26 05:04:15, Info       [0x064131] IBSLIB ExecuteRollbackSequence: Checkpoint(SetupPlatformOnlineApplyCheckpoint) rollback finished.

2013-10-26 05:04:15, Info       [0x064130] IBSLIB ExecuteRollbackSequence: Checkpoint(SetupPlatformOSSwitchCheckpoint) rollback in progress.

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  IBSLIB OSRollbackService::CCheckpoint::MoveOrCopyDirectory: source path "C:\WINDOWS\Minidump" does not exist; ignoring

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  IBSLIB OSRollbackService::CCheckpoint::MoveOrCopyFiles: Moving/copying memory.dmp from C:\WINDOWS to C:$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Rollback

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  IBSLIB OSRollbackService::CCheckpoint::ExtractCrashDump: Found page file at C:\pagefile.sys; attempting to extract crash dump

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  IBSLIB OSRollbackService::CCheckpoint::ExtractCrashDump: Pagefile at C:\pagefile.sys did not contain a crash dump.

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  IBSLIB OSRollbackService::CCheckpoint::MoveOrCopyFiles: Moving/copying setupapi*.log from C:\WINDOWS\inf to C:$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Rollback\setupapi

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  IBSLIB OSRollbackService::CCheckpoint::MoveOrCopyFiles: Moved C:\WINDOWS\inf\setupapi.app.log to C:$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Rollback\setupapi\setupapi.app.log

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  IBSLIB OSRollbackService::CCheckpoint::MoveOrCopyFiles: Moved C:\WINDOWS\inf\setupapi.dev.log to C:$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Rollback\setupapi\setupapi.dev.log

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  IBSLIB OSRollbackService::CCheckpoint::MoveOrCopyFiles: Moved C:\WINDOWS\inf\setupapi.offline.log to C:$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Rollback\setupapi\setupapi.offline.log

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  IBSLIB OSRollbackService::CCheckpoint::MoveOrCopyDirectory: MoveFile(from "C:\WINDOWS\system32\logfiles\scm" to "C:$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Rollback\scmlogs") succeeded.

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  IBSLIB OSRollbackService::CCheckpoint::MoveOrCopyDirectory: MoveFile(from "C:\WINDOWS\system32\winevt\logs" to "C:$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Rollback\evtlogs") succeeded.

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  SP     CSetupPlatformOSSwitchCheckpoint::Rollback: Quarantine log file exists; proceeding with QuarantineRollback

2013-10-26 05:05:39, Info                  SP     CSetupPlatformOSSwitchCheckpoint::Rollback: Attempting to remove file C:\BOOTNXT

Note that my $WINDOWS.~BT folder is on S: not C:

I'm getting the same error and after looking at the logs, I'm guessing it is because somewhere in the upgrade process, it ASSUMES that C: is your boot drive, which mine isn't.  It's looking for the boot files on C: and can't find them.  Nice one.

Many people have already suggested these exact steps, thanks anyway,

Hi

     Do a repair of your windows 8 (Inplace Upgrade). Once the upgrade is completed remove all the 3rd party antivirus programs. Install all the updates from store and windows update. Run a disk cleanup and cleanup all the files including the system files from disk clean up and then try to install windows 8.1 this works.

Thanks

Rakesh Jain

Same deal for me but with AMD/ATi Catalyst drivers likely at fault. 

Adding another voice to the throng.

It seems AMD updated their Mobility drivers yesterday.

I tried updating my drivers again to this latest, but it still did not work for me. But, perhaps this can help some people with other configurations:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/mobile?os=Windows%208.1%20-%2064