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According to the description of the fixes in KB4497935 the bug with the USB devices should have been fixed, but it still does not allow updates with installation media on a USB stick.
Fix description:
"Addresses an issue that may cause an external USB device or SD memory card to be reassigned to an incorrect drive during installation. For more information, see "This PC can't be upgraded to Windows 10" error on a computer that has a USB device or SD card attached"
I tried to do an update with installation media build 18362.145 on a system already at 18362.145 and still gets the error message below:
Is there a fix yet for this bug in the v 1903 release ? Which build do I need to get this bug fixed ?
I know that I can work around the issue installing from a local drive.
Also if I try upgrading from1903 to a preview 20H1 build 18908.1000 using a USB stick the update completes without this message.
I hope we don't need to wait for 20H1 to get this bug resolved.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I tried to outsmart the process by pulling the USB at the "downloading" stage, but quickly got a message saying "we can't tell" whether the computer is "ready".
OK, thanks for your experience, fg2001. I'll go for the .iso (or maybe try a Memorex 16 GB) only if I become impatient again, but for now am cured of it. Thanks again, & thanks to Saltgrass for the idea of trying other USB media.
Hi PCR,
On one of my machines, windows update offered the upgrade from 1809 to 1903 the first day it was available on 5/21/2019, but not on any of the other ones.
Since that worked fine, I decided to upgrade all the other machines by downloading the 1903 installation ISO using the media creator 1903 available on the MS site.
That ISO turned out to be build 18362.30.
Anyway when I tried upgrading from the USB that I created it was blocked in every machine including the one that was already at 1903 for the reasons explained in this link:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4500988/windows-update-hold-for-windows-10
I then decided to do the upgrades directly from the mounted ISO file residing on an internal local drive and everything worked fine.
After that, windows update downloaded all the fixes to bring up the machines to build 18362.145. (KB4497935)
Now I was just trying to see if they also fixed the Windows installer to work from the USB stick, or when any USB disk is plugged in, but clearly they did not, at least not yet.
My 32 GB drive is a Sandisk Cruzer Glide. If you use inexpensive USB drives, they can cause problems with any install, but I don't use those types so my 16 GB and 8 GB drives are of the same relative quality as the Sandisk drive and were SanDisk or Kingston USB 3.0 drives..
If I had a failure on the first attempt, which happened 5 times out of 6, I always started over when I used the 32 GB drive. The only normal install I got was using the 32 GB drive with the first attempt.
An install will download an additional 2 GB of data but I can't think why that would be a problem. You do have the option to install while offline which might stop that download from happening.
Just in case it matters, I set up my USB drives using Diskpart and then copy over the install files from a mounted .iso file.
Saltgrass,
I don't think it matters which way you create the USB installation media. To be bootable on UEFI it needs to be formatted as FAT32.
Then you can just copy the files and folders from the mounted ISO.
That always worked fine before 1903 regardless of what type of USB stick.
I think that the trap they added in the installer for the USB bug may not filter out all types of USB drives, the one that works for you (SanDisk Cruzer Glide 32GB) may not be blocked by the trap.
As I said earlier I also got a USB device that eludes the block and the upgrade works fine without any issue from that USB disk.
Anyway the alternative that worked fine on all my machines was by doing the upgrade directly from the mounted ISO residing on an internal drive.
It looks to me that till MS fixes the installer setup.exe and eliminates the trap you can still get the problem even with installation media that includes KB4497935 (Build 18362.145).
My 32 GB drive is a Sandisk Cruzer Glide. If you use inexpensive USB drives, they can cause problems with any install, but I don't use those types so my 16 GB and 8 GB drives are of the same relative quality as the Sandisk drive and were SanDisk or Kingston USB 3.0 drives..
If I had a failure on the first attempt, which happened 5 times out of 6, I always started over when I used the 32 GB drive. The only normal install I got was using the 32 GB drive with the first attempt.
An install will download an additional 2 GB of data but I can't think why that would be a problem. You do have the option to install while offline which might stop that download from happening.
Just in case it matters, I set up my USB drives using Diskpart and then copy over the install files from a mounted .iso file.
Absolutely, there should be a link at the Download Windows 10 site to...
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-information/status-windows-10-1903
Windows 10, version 1903 and Windows Server, version 1903 - Known Issues
It is mentioned so many times there this way: "NoteWe recommend that you do not attempt to manually update using the Update now button or the Media Creation Tool until this issue has been resolved.".
Then - when the problem is resolved - the site should say whether the installer (Setup.exe) was also fixed (if it were involved).
Mine is on a SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 (16GB) - which looks like offspring of your two failures. I'll try later to see whether mine will fail. I've been clicking for days, & 1903 hasn't been offered by Windows Update yet. I'll be upgrading from 1809, OS build 17763.529. I did do an upgrade this way before - was it 1809? If so, that is also on a SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 (16GB), & 1803 was on the very same one that holds 1903 now. If it doesn't work, I'll have to decide between an ISO or to resume my wait.
Edit: It took 3.5 minutes...
It did downloads up front which I guess got ...145. It seemed to pass two quick ~"checking your computer". But there it is. I don't want to waste a 32 GB USB on it to see whether Saltgrass's cure will work. I'm thinking about an .iso - but then still I will want a Setup.exe that will work on my SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 (16GB).
