Microsoft printer drivers preventing an update to Win11?

Hi Thorgils.

Thank you for your reply. I have understood that you are having issues with SetupDiag, answers to questions in this regard are not within the scope of our community support, you can post this question on Microsoft Learn, where a more specialized support person will be able to answer your query.

In the meantime, you can refer to the following link to enter safe mode

Start your PC in safe mode in Windows - Microsoft Support

In safe mode, try to remove the problematic driver by following the steps below

1 Search for "Command Prompt" in the taskbar, right-click it, and select Run as administrator.

2 Enter the following command, note: here oem65.inf driver as an example, please change it to the problematic driver, and then press the Enter button

pnputil /delete-driver oem65.inf

See if you can upgrade to Windows 11 properly after uninstalling all your problematic drivers.

Additionally, you can get the update log by following the steps below.

You will need Explorer's address bar and type in

$Windows.~BT\Sources\Panther

This path is a hidden folder, so if you can't see it, set Show hidden files in Explorer. Locate the file named setupact.log and open it with Notepad or another text editor.

Since this log file is large, you may need to be patient until the file opens.

Once it opens, search for 0xc0000409 from the bottom up until you begin to see the Windows error 0xc0000409, which will be accompanied by the cause of the error. If you are not sure what is affected, please upload the log file to OneDrive and send it to us.

Share OneDrive files and folders - Microsoft Support

If you're not using OneDrive, let me know and I'll start a private message with you where you can upload the issue to me.

Best regards,

Zev - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Hi Zev.L,

Thank you for staying with me.

I had hoped that my last post made clear that I had been able to identify the two oemxxx.inf drivers as the MS "Print to .pdf" and "Print XPS" drivers, and that I had disabled those capabilities and removed the drivers. But that alone didn't resolve the 0xc0000409 crashes every time I try to upgrade to Win11.

I'm trying to avoid the agonies of doing a clean Win11 install. The Win10>Win11 upgrade alone probably isn't worth it to me, particularly if the rumors are true that Win12 will be released before the Win10 support ceases.

So I'm trying to use SetupDiag to diagnose what is now causing the upgrade to crash, but since my first successful runs of SetupDiag (described in my initial post) I haven't been able to get SetupDiag to run properly again to examine the crash dumps (because of the failure to recognize that the x64 debugging tools are in fact installed, as I described in my second post above).

So I'm wondering: If I were to send you the log files and crash dumps from my most recent attempt to install Win11, would you be able to tell me any other possible issues that SetupDiag is able to identify at this stage?

Independent of this, I used sigverif.exe to identify any unsigned drivers on my device. There are 10, all apparently installed/modified at the same time, probably during an Intel update of my UHD Graphics 630 drivers. Do you have any advice about what (if anything) to do about these?

Thanks again for your help.

Hi Thorgils.

Thanks for your reply. I understand that you are getting an inoperative error trying to remove some drivers that are preventing you from upgrading to Windows 11.

Based on the information you provided, your inferences about the Microsoft printer drivers oem141.inf and oem142.inf potentially causing issues with your Windows 11 upgrade seem reasonable. Here's a breakdown of your questions:

1. Yes, your inferences are likely correct. The SetupDiag results indicate that these two printer driver packages are being flagged as potentially problematic for the Windows 11 upgrade. Microsoft printer drivers, especially older ones, have been known to cause compatibility issues with Windows 11 upgrades in some cases.
2. To further investigate the presence and usage of these drivers, you can try the following:

   a. Open the Device Manager (right-click the Start menu and select "Device Manager").

   b. Expand the "Printers" section and check if any of the installed printers are using the oem141.inf or oem142.inf drivers. If you find any, make a note of the printer models.

   c. You can also try searching for the printer models associated with those driver files in the Devices and Printers control panel. This may help you identify any hidden or inactive printer queues that are still using these drivers.

   d. If you don't find any active printers using these drivers, you can try temporarily disabling or uninstalling the corresponding printer drivers before attempting the Windows 11 upgrade again. This may help bypass the compatibility issue.

Before permanently deleting or uninstalling the drivers, it's a good idea to create a system restore point or backup your data, just in case the upgrade process still encounters issues. Additionally, you may want to check if there are any updated versions of the printer drivers available from the printer manufacturer's website, as newer drivers may be more compatible with Windows 11.

If the Windows 11 upgrade still fails after resolving the potential printer driver issue, please make a good backup of your applications and data, refer to the content in the link below and try to perform a clean installation of Windows 11.

Windows 11 Clean Installation (microsoft.com)

Disclaimer: At this point, we have exhausted all troubleshooting and I recommend that we try to perform a clean install to get your computer back into a working condition. Please ensure that you backup any important data, including Documents, Pictures, Videos, and more.  

Additionally, I have noted your concern that you may not be able to use Lotus 1-2-3 and MS Money.

For Lotus 1-2-3, if it states that it can be used in Windows 11, then when you have problems using it in Windows 11, please contact the developers of the program and they will be able to provide you with more targeted assistance in this regard. Also, you can try similar software like Excel in Microsoft 365.

For MS Money, do you mean MSN Money? If so, please rest assured that you can download and install it in Microsoft Store.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Best regards,

Zev - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Zev.L,

Thanks for replying.

1. Yes, my Dell Inspiron 3671 meets the requirements for upgrading to Win11.
2. I followed your advice to use the x64 ISO update in place, but that failed in exactly the same way as all the Installation Assistant attempts.

So I'm back trying to identify the specific cause(s) of the failures, trying to use SetupDiag to do so as detailed in my original question. Only, since my initial runs which resulted in the diagnostic excerpts I included with the question, I now need to resolve another issue that has emerged. Here's an update:

3. Re the oem141.inf/prnms009 and oem142.inf/prnms001 issues described previously, I did find in this forum that those two drivers (which are for the MS "print to .pdf" and "print XPS" functions) have been identified by some others as causing related issues, so I went ahead and removed them (before my failed ISO installation attempt). So there may be a possibility that their removal could have triggered the new issue described below.
4. When I run SetupDiag to examine the crash dump file, that now fails on a complaint that there is a mismatch between the OS and my debugger tools. But the Win10 x64 debugger tools are all there in their default directory. Here's the most recent diagnostic:

07/16/2024 22:28:52: Debug: 1: DEBUGGER: ENTER: XcaDebugger:ExecuteCommand(): Timeout = 600000, Command = !analyze -v

07/16/2024 22:29:06: Debug: 1: DEBUGGER: ERROR: XcaDebugger:ExecuteCommand(): Exception hit during function execution:

System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (0x80004005): The specified executable is not a valid application for this OS platform.

at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithCreateProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)

at Microsoft.Internal.Deployment.SetupDiag.XcaDebugger.StartDebugger()

at Microsoft.Internal.Deployment.SetupDiag.XcaDebugger.ExecuteCommand(String DebuggerCommand, Int32 Timeout)

07/16/2024 22:29:06: Debug: 1: DEBUGGER: EXIT: XcaDebugger:ExecuteCommand(): Timeout = 600000, Command = !analyze -v: Time to execute: 13989ms

07/17/2024 11:13:23: Debug: 1: DEBUGGER: ENTER: XcaDebugger:ExecuteCommand(): Timeout = 600000, Command = !analyze -v

07/17/2024 11:13:24: Debug: 1: DEBUGGER: ERROR: XcaDebugger:ExecuteCommand(): Exception hit during function execution:

System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (0x80004005): The specified executable is not a valid application for this OS platform.

at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithCreateProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)

at Microsoft.Internal.Deployment.SetupDiag.XcaDebugger.StartDebugger()

at Microsoft.Internal.Deployment.SetupDiag.XcaDebugger.ExecuteCommand(String DebuggerCommand, Int32 Timeout)

07/17/2024 11:13:24: Debug: 1: DEBUGGER: EXIT: XcaDebugger:ExecuteCommand(): Timeout = 600000, Command = !analyze -v: Time to execute: 1182ms

Are you able to help me surmount this particular diversion, so that I can then get back to using SetupDiag to find the culprit(s) of my Win11 upgrade failures? [Incidentally, I'm using a "clean boot" as I try to upgrade.]

5. I use two pieces of legacy software, both of which are very important to me and both of which are purported to work in Win11. They are Lotus 1-2-3 and MS Money. Do you happen to know whether there's any evidence that either of those has caused other people to have Win10>Win11 upgrade failures? And if so, if I were to remove either or both before migrating, would I experience any issues reinstalling them anew once I've managed to upgrade to Win11?

Hi Thorgils.

Thanks for your post in Microsoft Community.

I have learned that you have failed after several attempts to upgrade to Windows 11. Thank you for the effort you have put in, your efforts deserve to be recognized.

Please refer to the following article to check if your computer meets the requirements for upgrading to Windows 11

Windows 11 Specs and System Requirements | Microsoft

Windows 11 emphasizes stricter requirements for hardware and drivers to ensure system security, performance, and stability. Some older drivers may not meet the requirements of the new system, which may cause some problems or errors during the system upgrade process.

If your computer meets the upgrade requirements, please refer to the link below to upgrade to Windows 11 via an in-place update.

Disclaimer: Let’s try performing an in-place install or in-place upgrade which will refresh your Windows files and operating system without removing files or applications. That being said, we always recommend that if you have important data, you should back it up before making large system changes. If you want to back up your data first, please do so. Once you are done backing up, you can follow the steps in the following guides:

How to run In-place upgrade in Windows 11 - Microsoft Community

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Best regards,

Zev - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist