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

"...Next time I will buy a Mac. "

I am certainly not here to defend Microsoft on this 8.1 upgrade issue. I have been using the 8.1 preview for quite awhile, and have found it stable and a subtle but huge improvement. (I did not dislike Windows 8 and have also been using it for a long time back to its preview -- I found it made old hardware work better and live longer after upgrading from Win 7).  I think that the 8.1 preview did provide a stable launch for those who have successfully upgraded, but something has gone wrong in the upgrade process itself, which largely did NOT get the extensive preview treatment. In fact, the path from 8.1 preview to 8.1 is far different (and seemingly less troublesome?) than from 8 to 8.1. Which means somebody took their eye off the ball or never had it there in the first place. The big market for 8.1 in Microsoft's eyes appears to be new system sales. Makes sense from a pure marketing point-of-view I guess given the relatively slow adoption of Windows 8. But it misses the power that lost loyalty and new detractors can have on a launch -- even if the numbers are fractional. The noise is loud and the tail is long. It is disappointing that Microsoft has not gotten in front of this and is largely absent from this discussion in any meaningfully helpful way, and it will likely hurt the effectiveness of their $400+ million marketing campaign -- from a shear $ and cents perspective, they should be all over this rather than hoping it will pass.

But, having said that, if you think buying a Mac will solve all of your problems, it won't.

I have a new MacBook Air (well, mid-2012) that I got for work. It is a nice machine, but not as nice as Apple fans think it is (relative to a decent ultrabook PC). It has a hairline crack in the aluminum case (considered by Apple to be a cosmetic scratch but is clearly a stress-fracture). Some applications do freeze regularly and are difficult to kill and restart (ask any Mac fan and they'll be able to show you the shortcut to do this, which simply proves the point that it is far from rare). I have had BSOD. Battery life on mine is down to 4-hours or less which is nothing to get excited about 18 months in. It is not replaceable. I can dock to an external monitor with a dongle (nice), I can connect to hard-wired Ethernet with a dongle (nice), but cannot do both simultaneously without some expense. The solid state drive is at risk of losing all of my data (Apple has a repair program). Recent OS updates have included bugs which disable the ability to use the microphone on WebEx sessions and the ability to hear anything from the speakers. Minor bugs, unless you happen to be using the Web to communicate with something other than your eyes and fingers. As for not getting viruses -- well, it is STRONGLY suggested that you run a 3rd party add-on AV and Malware detection app.

Apple has a closed ecosystem to support, only a few models with small variations. Certainly such basic things should have been caught in testing. Compared to the number of configurations running Windows, it is fractional, so any misses like this should be non-existent. As for the Windows machines I have recently upgraded to 8.1 (one with difficulty), Apple's own products that old are NOT eligible for free Mavericks and would not run it if paid for.

This is not meant to bash Apple either. Like I said, the Macbook Air is a nice machine. It's just not a panacea. It will not make all your problems go away. It is a machine made by humans. If you need something that works the day you buy it and will for the life of the warranty, try alternatives and chose the one that suits you. If you want a machine that will flawlessly upgrade ad-infinitum into the future, it is has not been made yet.

Still, Microsoft should be paying close and visible attention to this issue, get in front of it, and realize that disgruntled loyalist former supporters can each negate 10 to 12 supporters. Turn those around, and they are worth their weight in gold. Your choice, Microsoft. Hold the upgrade team accountable to fix this FAST -- it is marring your launch and you are appearing to not care.

I also have a DELL XPS 15 and I tried to update from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1.

I got to the point where it is "getting my devices ready", then the PC restarts to a blue screen. The screen was frozen for more than one hour. No messages. I was desperate. Then I decided to restart the computer. It tried to recover the installation, it  failed, and  then restored Windows 8. When the system boots up after this, I got a message saying:

"Couldn't update to Windows 8.1

Sorry, we couldn't complete the update to Windows 8.1. We've restored your previous version of Windows to this PC.

0xC1900101 - 0x40017"

For sure I will not try another upgrade. I think Microsoft should be more careful before any upgrade release. Next time I will buy a Mac.

When I encountered this issue, I disabled a BIOS setting on my Asrock MoBo: No-Excute Memory Protection

After that change, 8.1 installed correctly. When setup had completed, I re-enabled the BIOS option again and no issues encountered.

The problem could be in the hard drive not reporting the proper information MTBF;

Fix Corrupt Files and Disk Errors with Chkdsk /SpotFix; Then reinstall Windows 8 and continue to Windows 8.1

My system is very brand new and custom built with components specifically targeting Windows 8 compatibility. With the original Windows 8 install, everything was fine. Windows 8.1 has broken it in ways that are confounding.

This is from the event logs...

Log Name:      Application

Source:        Application Error

Date:          11/3/2013 12:05:26 PM

Event ID:      1000

Task Category: (100)

Level:         Error

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      Michael-PC

Description:

Faulting application name: svchost.exe_CryptSvc, version: 6.3.9600.16384, time stamp: 0x5215dfe3

Faulting module name: bcryptPrimitives.dll, version: 6.3.9600.16384, time stamp: 0x5215e222

Exception code: 0xc0000006

Fault offset: 0x000000000000311e

Faulting process id: 0x1394

Faulting application start time: 0x01ced8c7a4efa215

Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe

Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\bcryptPrimitives.dll

Report Id: e54dacc1-44ba-11e3-bef3-3085a9a3610e

Faulting package full name:

Faulting package-relative application ID:

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="Application Error" />

    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>

    <Level>2</Level>

    <Task>100</Task>

    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-11-03T19:05:26.000000000Z" />

    <EventRecordID>119127</EventRecordID>

    <Channel>Application</Channel>

    <Computer>Michael-PC</Computer>

    <Security />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data>svchost.exe_CryptSvc</Data>

    <Data>6.3.9600.16384</Data>

    <Data>5215dfe3</Data>

    <Data>bcryptPrimitives.dll</Data>

    <Data>6.3.9600.16384</Data>

    <Data>5215e222</Data>

    <Data>c0000006</Data>

    <Data>000000000000311e</Data>

    <Data>1394</Data>

    <Data>01ced8c7a4efa215</Data>

    <Data>C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe</Data>

    <Data>C:\WINDOWS\system32\bcryptPrimitives.dll</Data>

    <Data>e54dacc1-44ba-11e3-bef3-3085a9a3610e</Data>

    <Data>

    </Data>

    <Data>

    </Data>

  </EventData>

</Event>

---

Then there is this one....

Log Name:      Setup

Source:        Microsoft-Windows-WUSA

Date:          10/30/2013 5:03:15 PM

Event ID:      3

Task Category: None

Level:         Error

Keywords:     

User:          MICHAEL-PC\Michael

Computer:      Michael-PC

Description:

Windows update "Update for Windows (KB2902864)" could not be installed because of error 2147944126 "The remote procedure call failed." (Command line: ""C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\wusa.exe" "C:\Users\Michael\AppData\Local\Temp\Windows8.1-KB2902864-x64.msu" ")

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-WUSA" Guid="{09608C12-C1DA-4104-A6FE-B959CF57560A}" />

    <EventID>3</EventID>

    <Version>0</Version>

    <Level>2</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Opcode>0</Opcode>

    <Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-10-30T23:03:15.637431000Z" />

    <EventRecordID>849</EventRecordID>

    <Correlation />

    <Execution ProcessID="4832" ThreadID="4268" />

    <Channel>Setup</Channel>

    <Computer>Michael-PC</Computer>

    <Security UserID="S-1-5-21-2381410086-3876901529-2362349839-1001" />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data Name="UpdateTitle">"Update for Windows (KB2902864)"</Data>

    <Data Name="ErrorCode">2147944126</Data>

    <Data Name="ErrorString">The remote procedure call failed.</Data>

    <Data Name="CommandLine">"C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\wusa.exe" "C:\Users\Michael\AppData\Local\Temp\Windows8.1-KB2902864-x64.msu" </Data>

  </EventData>

</Event>