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

The first time I tried installing the 8.1 update I got the same error message.

I've tried it yesteday again after doing the following:

Installed the latest Important update from Microsoft

Updated my Intel RST drivers  to the latest version = 12.8.0.1016

Updated AMD Display Drivers to the latest beta drivers (finally was able to install these without BSOD)

Rebooted PC, Installed 8.1 update. The entire process was done quickly without crashes or BSODs now.

So somewhere along those 3 steps there's a fix but can't say exactly which one as I did them all at once.

This may of course not work for everyone (like Nvidia users) but it doesn't hurt to try.

i have the same problem. buildt my own computer;

z77 G1Sniper3, i5 3570k, ddr3 16gb ram, msi gtx680,

after this error, my computer freeze all the time! internet browsers works for 2-4min before "not responding". sometimes everything else, even w8 freezes as well:/

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

I thought I'd give this a try, as the inplace upgrade didn't seem like it would be too destructive or take up too much time. As it happens it didn't quite go according to plan and instead of simply repairing the Windows 8 installation while leaving everything else intact, it deleted all applications etc. and did a clean install.

The good news (for me) is that the upgrade to 8.1 now works perfectly well for me. unfortunately, I've no idea whether this is because my Windows 8 installation needed repairing or whether the clean install flushed out some dodgy drivers - I suspect the latter.

Good luck everyone else. Let's hope Microsoft can come up with a more user-friendly solution in the near future - and that future releases don't require a clean install to work.

So is spent another couple of hours taking out my nvidia card and any other unnecessary cards and rerunning the upgrade.

Perhaps unsurprisingly nothing changed and I still get the same error.

Come on Microsoft ... Time for a proper fix !

To conclude my Windows 8.1 installation problems, I asked the tech how he was able to install Windows 8 fresh successfully.  Apparently in my failed attempt, it installed the ESD hidden folder on my root.  So, in order to install Windows 8 fresh (assuming the download won't install), you can run it by going to \ESD\Sources and run setup.exe from inside that folder.  I know this won't excite everyone, but if you've been through the insane ridiculous I have, there's the permanent fix (this deletes everything btw).  After that,  I installed the 65(?) updates, ran Windows 8.1 install, and here we are with a successful 8.1 machine.