Stop Windows 10 Update Assistant from running

The windows.old files seem to be backups, but not sure if they are images in a restore volume sense. One is 3gb another is 5gb in size. The folder marked Reover is EMPTY. The item windows.old is a folder. The similar item windows.wim appears to be a disk image file. One the OS versions prior Windows 10 releases I used Acronis True Image for complete backups and was quite happy. But current versions are quite anemic and often bundled as a free option with hard drives.

Arcronis Disk Director ($$) is the goto for non Windows images and multiple partitions support. But, both Arcronis versions have had issues with USB and SDHC drives as backup media.

With Windows 10 on a desktop it's been mixed results and a failed backup, not sure I trust it nowdays. Tried another popular utility Erasus Backup and found it less easy to navigate. Will give Windows 7 backup a try, it's been good too for restoring PC images in the past. I'm not sure I like the new backup in Windows 10 as I really don't understand what it's archiving, not sure it's a full image backup. Seems like they are trying to be more like OSX with the Time Machine "like" archives. Still use Disk Utility to image the Mac drives for a bootable volume backup.

Need to learn more about the UEFI Bios used in these units. My only prior experience with UEFI Bios was with a Macintosh and it made for some intersting long nights. But I do have one iMac booting multiple OS operating systems and it's a nice anything system to work with WIndows 10, OSX Serria and Linux Mint. 

The 2gb memory really limits the tablet, but for grab and go, surfing, email, some paper writing and games I think it will get a lot of use for a less than $100 device. I mostly spend 70% on a phone doing some of these tasks but miss the keyboard availability. Most homework gets stored on Google but there are Apple and Microsoft cloud space options as well, just a bit easier until recently when they dropped new PC account support. Prior it was easy to get connected to Google for all devices anywhere.

Just looking to get the tablet OS current and get on with using it in the wild.

Hi,

What is in the Windows.old folder are for the most part, the files that were replaced by the upgrade... Any personal files would probably not be there..

I'm not even sure there is a way to copy the Windows.old folder to another drive..

It can't even be deleted by normal means... You need to use Disk Cleanup of System Files..

Your best bet would be to make a image of everything... I used the Win 7 Backup and Restore feature, but I've been reading that it is now having issues with the FAT32 EFI partition UEFI Bios uses..

My last upgrade was build 15063 (1703) and it worked, but I can't say if it still will...

A image I made before I made any changes at all really saved my bacon after a mistake I made doing something else..

I also had a Acronis Image, but could not get it back on the internal drive for some reason..

No mine is just a cheapo $99 Insignia brand 64bit cpu tablet with Win 10 32bit, UEFI Bios, 32gb nand storage and 2GB memory.

The reason I had to use the USB stick was no space to manage update files, so windows used the USB drive to copy files.

So I will keep on the watch for another update.

Fingers Still Crossed... 

PS -

Windows just prompted me to delete the previous version of Windows. 

I think I would prefer to it to a flash drive.

SO, is all that's needed the windows.old folder and contents?

Or should i be looking for other files as well?

Hi,

(1709) refers to the Fall Creator's Update of September\November 2017...

This started as Windows 10 Build 16299.15... and is currently at 16299.431...

One is describing the actual Build\Version number, and the other is describing it in a more "Retail" manner...

The newest actual build that was just released last week is the April Update (1803), which is Build number 17134.1, with a recent update that makes it 17134.48...

You may be getting a prompt to upgrade again...

Glad you were successful in your accomplishment... Hopefully it stays that way...

One difference between your machine and some of the others may be the amount of memory, or more likely a larger drive... Or 32 bit vs 64 bit Windows...

I have a cheapo tablet that I upgraded and it went without issues, but it came preinstalled with Win 10 32bit...

This was specifically done to eliminate some of the lack of space issues with the 64bit installations

I recently got this Insignia P11W1700 hybrid tablet for school refurb clearance. 

After reading all the issues with updates and ATOM based processors I was in a panic when my tablet wanted to update Win 10.

First it failed, then I added a USB stick formatted NTFS to the port and it used that to shuffle some of the temp files and then set about 6+ hours of updating.

Still on the USB stick is a folder called $WINDOWS, inside are folders for dlmanafests, RecoveryPartitionBackup, replacementmanafests, Rollback, Store, Work, SetupPlatformExternal, and the file WindowsOld.wim. I guess that needs to be saved if it's ever needed, specificaly the RecoveryPartitonBackup.

I was relieved to see at reboot that touch and wifi still were working. Now I'm wondering if I got the full update or will still have an issue at some point. The OS is currently at Windows 10 Home (10.0.16299.125) but shows in the update log that says Windows 10, version 1709 successfully installed on 2018-05-14.

What versions are your PCs at and at what updates did they fail? 

Does passing 1709 mean that things should work?

Did a restore point just to be safe, now Defender wants to update files.

Will see what happens next.

Fingers Crossed!