I'm yet another Windows 8.0 user totally frustrated having wasted nearly two weeks of my time trying to upgrade to Windows 8.1. I'm old enough to have used every version of Windows
since the very first version released by Microsoft in 1983 and this "upgrade" is in my experience by the far worst Microsoft has ever released. The fact Microsoft doesn't even have the decency to acknowledge there is a problem is totally reprehensible and
shows how arrogant this organization has now become.
The irony hasn’t been lost on me that Apple has also chosen the same time to release a new version of its OS, called Mavericks.
I installed this completely uneventfully on my MacBook Air in an hour one evening, whilst at the same time going through yet another round of updating drivers and disabling services to try and get 8.1 to install.
The experience with Apple couldn’t be more different and it really does make me think that my next desktop needs to be an Apple and not Microsoft based.
I have a business to run and just don’t have the time to play these stupid games that Microsoft seem happy for us all to endure.
I've progressed from having the 0x20017 error initially, but by updating my BIOS and all drivers to the latest versions available from the manufacturer’s websites, I now get the
0x40017 error appearing following the re-boot which occurs after the “Applying PC Settings” phase of the update.
No amount of disabling services and other software, including performing a “clean boot” as has been suggested by some, has made any difference at all.
Assuming the problems are being caused by incompatible drivers, what still remains to be explained by anyone – least of all Microsoft, is why a point release upgrade needs so many
new drivers? What has been changed in 8.1 so significantly that means 8.0 drivers will no longer work?
Everything I’ve read about the changes in 8.1 sound quite cosmetic, but there must be some much more fundamental “under the hood” changes that have been included.
It would help to know what these are, as is might identify the most likely drivers to be causing the problem.
For what it's worth, the configuration of my PC is below.
However if you look at the configurations other users with the 0x40017 error have, there seems to be very little in common between these machines.
Some are using Asus motherboards (like me), some are using Gigabyte, some are using nVidia video cards some are using AMD, some are using SSD’s, some are not, and so on.
There seems to be a completely random selection of hardware 8.1 won’t work with.
We as users shouldn’t be having to try and work this out.
Our computers are tools that should just work. That certainly is Apple’s attitude, but Microsoft seems to have other ideas.
Only Microsoft have the ability to debug their own code, so they need to be doing this now as a matter of urgency.
If they already are, then why don’t they tell us that so we can be reassured that they do care about us poor users?
With the continuing silence are we correct to assume that Microsoft is doing absolutely nothing and we are all going to be left on a dead-end and flawed operating system: Windows 8.
In case anyone from Microsoft is monitoring this thread (sorry, but that seems unlikely) and it might help, here is the configuration of my PC:
Windows 8 Pro with Media Center
Processor
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3930K CPU @ 3.20GHz, 3201 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
Motherboard:
ASUS P9X79 Pro
BIOS Version/Date
American Megatrends Inc. 4404, 24/09/2013
Display adapter:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX670
SSD:
Corsair Neutron GTX
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)
32.0 GB
Network adapter:
Intel 82579V Gigabit
Audio:
Realtek High Definition Audio
Windows Directory
C:\Windows
System Directory
C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device
\Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale
United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer
Version = "6.2.9200.16442"
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions
Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions
Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualisation Enabled in Firmware
Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection
Yes