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

After my insane adventure, it turned out to not be worth it (be careful what you wish for). Every time a driver updated, the system would crash with "Driver Violation" and the PC would reboot infinitely until I booted into safe mode (one of these drivers was for the MICROSOFT sidewinder, believe it or not). The gaming performance was beyond ****, some of them wouldn't even install correctly, and some of them wouldn't even start.

For my gaming PC, I'm back on Windows 8... 8.1 will have to wait until MS gets their act together.

Finally was able to get 8.1 installed.

I tried everything I could to troubleshoot this and eventually got Microsoft supports team involved.  I did not have the Steelseries drivers installed, yet I had traces of it within my Windows registry.  Unfortunately removing all traces of Steelseries did not fix the update issue.

So, instead of spending any more time trying to figure out what driver was causing my issues, we decided to use the ISO 8.1 method to try updating.  We selected option two during the install which only saves personal data and leaves you with a fresh Windows install.

This may have been extreme but the update did work and I'm activated.

I suggest others go this method if they have tried all they can to update to 8.1

Where can we get the ISO 8.1 method? Is it possible in French? Thanks.

Not sure about getting this in French, but here is the how to,

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57608376-285/how-to-download-the-official-microsoft-windows-8.1-iso/

Once the ISO file has been downloaded, when you run it you'll have to use the generic Windows key to start the 8.1 install.  Then, once 8.1 is installed you can activate Windows 8.1 with your 8.0 key.

Thanks a lot.

I don't think that will actually help me now.  I cannot even install a fresh copy of Windows 8.0 on my PC.  It just sits there with the spinning ball saying "setup is starting".

Its been doing that for hours now - looks like this upgrade has cooked my SSD.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can recover that now.

Fortunately I do not keep much data on my PC - but it will still cause me problems to re-install all my CAD software etc.

Finally was able to get 8.1 installed.

I tried everything I could to troubleshoot this and eventually got Microsoft supports team involved.  I did not have the Steelseries drivers installed, yet I had traces of it within my Windows registry.  Unfortunately removing all traces of Steelseries did not fix the update issue.

So, instead of spending any more time trying to figure out what driver was causing my issues, we decided to use the ISO 8.1 method to try updating.  We selected option two during the install which only saves personal data and leaves you with a fresh Windows install.

This may have been extreme but the update did work and I'm activated.

I suggest others go this method if they have tried all they can to update to 8.1

Where can we get the ISO 8.1 method? Is it possible in French? Thanks.

Not sure about getting this in French, but here is the how to,

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57608376-285/how-to-download-the-official-microsoft-windows-8.1-iso/

Once the ISO file has been downloaded, when you run it you'll have to use the generic Windows key to start the 8.1 install.  Then, once 8.1 is installed you can activate Windows 8.1 with your 8.0 key.