Windows 10 update fails with error about iastora.sys after upgrading to recommended Intel Rapid Storage version

Hi Todd

My name is Andre Da Costa; an Independent Consultant, Windows Insider MVP and Windows & Devices for IT MVP. I'm here to help you with your problem.

What is the exact make and model?

Open Start, type: system information

Hit Enter

Click System summary

Look in the right pane

Copy the system sku info into reply here.

See example: https://imgur.com/qzektpA

Have you checked the manufacturers website to determine compatibility?

Check this List to Determine if Your Computer is Compatible with the Windows 10 1903

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wik...

perform the following tasks:

12 Things You Should Do Before Installing Windows 10 

[https://www.groovypost.com/howto/prepare-comput...](https://www.groovypost.com/howto/prepare-computer-windows-10-creators-update-version-1703/)

Free up space:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

Another way users have been able to successfully install the update is by using the Update Assistant. Go to the following page then click 'Update Now'

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/win...

Ultimately, if you insist on installing Windows 10 1903, your best option might be to perform a direct clean install.

You could also try performing the upgrade from within a different user account to see if it is successful.

Could you confirm if this also happens in the default Administrator account?

Open Start

Type: cmd

Right click CMD

Click Run as administrator

At the command prompt, type:

net user administrator /active:yes

Hit Enter

Close command prompt, restart, then try signing into the Administrator account.

Try installing again.

If it does not work, then you should try performing a custom install.

Step 1: How to download official Windows 10 ISO files

	[http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...](http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_10-windows_install/how-to-download-official-windows-10-iso-files/35cde7ec-5b6f-481c-a02d-dadf465df326)



	Step 2 How to Prepare Bootable Install Media for Windows 10 - DVD, USB or SD Card

	[https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wik...](https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_10-windows_install/how-to-prepare-bootable-install-media-for-windows/442447c3-0826-4473-a5b7-36568d20ef9d)

Review the following guide for instructions and details about configuring your BIOS or UEFI boot settings for DVD, CD, USB or SD Card.

BIOS/UEFI Setup Guide: Boot from a CD, DVD, USB Drive or SD Card

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/bios-uefi-setu...

Once your computer is set to boot from the DVD or USB, you should see this option.

The Windows logo will appear on screen, this might be here for a while, as long as you see the indicater, everything should be ok.

Select your Language, Time and Keyboard method then click Next.

Click Install now

Wait while Setup starts.

Accept the license terms and click Next

Click Custom

Select the Primary Partition then click Next

You will receive the following warning:

The partition you selected might contain files from a previous Windows Installation. If it does, these files and folders will be moved to a folder named Windows.old. You will be able to access the information in Windows.old, but you will be able to use your previous version of Windows.

Click OK

Wait while Windows installs

When this phase of setup is complete, Windows will automatically restart and reboot into setup again.

Windows is detecting and installing your hardware. After this is complete, Windows will restart one last time.

Out of Box Experience

The Out of Box Experience page is where you get to configure detailed settings in Windows, which includes creating a user account, privacy, sync PC settings and install modern applications.

Windows will check if there is an active Internet connection. If it does not find one, you will be presented with the following screen.

Create a Local Account and click Next

Wait while Windows finalizes your settings

Continue to wait while Windows installs modern applications.

When setup is complete you can retrieve any personal files from the Windows.old

Browse to C:\ Local Disk and open the Windows.old folder

how to recover your files from Windows.old:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

Thanks very much! That didn't quite get it through, but the logs from that tool were much more helpful and let me find the problem.

I did have the same issue the first time running the media tool. In case anyone else is having this issue, what I had to do after that was run grepWin (or any file search utility), and I found that even after uninstalling the Intel Rapid Storage service, several copies of iastora.sys were hanging around in System32 and some other locations. I suspect one of those was an old version that was triggering the failure in the install process, even though the service wasn't running at all. I saved copies of those and got rid of them, and with that the install went through. I then reinstalled the Intel Rapid Storage drivers after that, and everything's working just fine.

Thanks again, that was really driving me crazy.

THis does no seem to work with the Enterprise version of Windows 10.

Can I ask where/how you searched using grepWin?  I am having the exact same error and am trying your solution.