windows 10 202h fails to install

Question

I received a donated Dell laptop with windows 10. Windows Update downloaded the next update and I keep getting "you can't install windows on a USB using Setup.

• ran trouble shooter/admin which claimed to fix the problem but the failure loop continues
• here are the 3 screen messages:

I've rebooted but this failure occurs at 20% stage of the setup.

How can I resolve this update?

Answer 1

Hi,

Thanks very much for your feedback and sharing. We're glad that the issue is gone now. It's appreciated that you could click "Accept Answer" to the helpful reply, this will help other users to search for useful information more quickly. Here's a short summary for the problem.

Problem/Symptom:

Windows 10 202h fails to install on Dell inspiron 3521 with below error:

"You can't install Windows on a USB Flash Drive using Set-Up".

Solution/Workaround:

The solution points to a registry error "PortableOperatingSystem" under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control.

Set this bit to zero, turning it off; ran Media creation tool and the update worked.

Reference:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-setup-fails-with-you-cant-install-windows/755abc19-d6ff-4936-a9b9-16cde235d498

Thanks again for your time. Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Simon

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Answer 2

I found this solution which points to a registry error "PortableOperatingSystem"

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-setup-fails-with-you-cant-install-windows/755abc19-d6ff-4936-a9b9-16cde235d498

I set this bit to zero, turning it off; ran Media creation tool and the update worked

Answer 3

Hi,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Q&A forum.

1,Are you using configuration manager to deploy the windows update or manually download the update? How many clients are facing this issue?

2,Can we find any error in the WindowsUpdate.log, WUAHandler.log and UpdatesHandler.log?

Thanks for your time. Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Simon

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Answer 4

Sorry my last update did take so I will post it again.

1. not using Config. Manager. This is a stand alone Laptop. Using windows 10 update to download the next update.
2. Not seeing any problems in the update log but I'm not a log expert.
3. Since I've received no other guidance, I decided to use Media Creation tool to down load 22h2 but I got the same error as above "you can't install windows on a USB flash drive using Setup". I don't have a USB drive inserted. Is the registry corrupted?