Windows 11, version 24H2 won't install

I don't think you're reading the comment properly. I said it's downloaded but won't install. I've got 2.3 GB of space left because it's downloaded, but I can't install. There's absolutey nothing else that I can delete. Solution for that please?

Continued from my previous reply for when you are installing windows, assuming you can get it to work...

TO AVOID MS PRODUCTS FROM BECOMING RANSOMWARE, HERE ARE SOME TIPS:

(Feel free to copy and paste this for anyone needing to get out from under Microsoft's worsening attempts to extort users by controlling their data)

WINDOWS AS LOCAL USER

YouTube video with instructions for installing windows using a local account. (https://youtu.be/j-0OvmjGtmw?si=qPpLV8od1-EBqtcD)

Now that ms has disabled the old way of bypassing ms account setup (using the oobe\bypassnro command with F10), the method in this video is the only way I know of that currently works without installing with an ms account and then subsequently making changes to the registry and in the windows settings. This option works as of June 16, 2025:

When using this method, you do not need to disconnect your wi-fi until you get to the "select language" screen during the actual installation. You must be connected when creating the USB boot disk, and that process has a screen to select your language as well, so don't disconnect then. If memory serves, so does the process of booting into the windows installation mode. You want to disconnect during the actual windows installation setup and not the boot setup. The video linked above starts with the correct "select language" screen, so be sure it looks like the screen at the start of the video.

BACKUP AND SYNC

Backing up and syncing your data is still possible without OneDrive.

There are free 3rd party backup/sync options if you only have basic needs. Even if you need to pay for additional cloud storage options, you'd be paying for Microsoft's extra cloud storage as well, if that's what you were using. If you need more advanced options, you may need to purchase a backup app, but if you get a perpetual license, it's not expensive and you don't need to pay a subscription fee. Usually the perpetual license options are not much more than the cost of a single year.

CLOUD STORAGE (NOT RELYING ON ONE BRAND)

There are many brands offering cloud storage and many provide a small amount of storage for free. That amount won't satisfy most users, but you can use many without needing to be naturally organized, without forgetting one of the locations, and without forgetting which data is where.

It's extremely important to note that data you store on the cloud is NOT under your control. You should always back up your data to a physical, external drive that you have full control of. Cloud storage should only be used as one of your (at least) three data locations. Obviously, you will have your data on your local computer (unless you use OneDrive without understanding how it works). You should have at least one external physical drive where your data is backed up (at least two versions - current backup and previous backup), and an off-site backup in case something happens to the location and not just your computer. The cloud can serve as your off-site backup, but again, it's not your data if it's stored on a system you don't own and control. For that reason, you need a backup you own and control, which can be done with an external hard drive.

Back to cloud accounts...

If you use a cloud storage manager, you can sync specific data to specific cloud storage accounts that are managed with one app. For many users, this can also make it possible to stay within the free limits of these accounts without being limited to only the free amount of space for any one account. With the right cloud manager and multiple email addresses, you could even have multiple free accounts with the same cloud service.

Multiple cloud accounts would normally be confusing and somewhat difficult to manage, but using a cloud storage manager can handle multiple accounts for you. With many of these cloud managers, each cloud account will show on your computer as its own network drive with a separate drive letter (in file explorer). That allows you to set up automated backups of that data onto a local, physical drive. Most backup apps will have options to back up on a schedule. Some even have real-time syncing. Know that some of the apps only allow you to access the cloud services from within the manager app interface, rather than showing as network drives, but that's still better than OneDrive hijacking your data.

There is also a free option for cloud storage management if you are only connecting to one account for each major cloud service.

NOTES ABOUT USING 3RD PARTY APPS FOR ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Be aware that most perpetual license purchases include updates for that app version, but usually don't include upgrades to new versions that have new features. However, most desktop apps like this, with basic system features, continue to work just fine even when windows updates or the app is discontinued. I'm still using apps for basic utility functions that are more than 15 years old and no longer exist, although, it was called software back then lol.

An exception to that would be features that require connecting to the company's server. For example, if the backup app includes its own cloud storage, a feature like that won't work if the company shuts down and those servers aren't available. However, the functions it performs on your own system should work locally. That usually wouldn't change unless the functionality becomes incompatible with a future version of windows and you upgrade to that version windows. Most windows versions don't change enough to make it incompatible, but windows 7 to 10 was an exception.

If purchasing a perpetual license, it's a good idea to try the free trial of an app before committing. In addition to making sure it does the things you need an app to do, and the interface is comfortable for you; make sure the essential functions are happening on your local system. If you're unsure, disconnect the Internet and see if the primary functions can still be initiated and completed.

In case you usually consider install files to be temporary, when you purchase perpetual license options, be sure to treat the install files as permanent. I recommend that you save the install files to a place you won't forget. I actually do this with all apps I use, even free apps. I have a subfolder in my documents library folder named "Program Install Files" and every app I install (perpetual or not) has yet another subfolder named as the app and version. I download the install files into that folder instead of of the download library folder or whatever the download tries to default to. This way, if anything happens to the app or I need to reinstall windows, I can easily reinstall those apps. For the apps that allow downloading newer versions, I download the new version into a new folder with that version in the folder name. If that new version installs properly, I delete the older version files. That way, if there is any incompatibility with the newer version, or if the newer version isn't as good (for me), I still have the old version.

Another step that can be important: If a license number, activation key, or if there is something unique about the process, I create a text file (.TXT) with those details, name it according to the type of info (product_key.txt, install_notes.txt, etc.), and save that file into the folder with the install files.

I don't think you're reading the comment properly. I said it's downloaded but won't install. I've got 2.3 GB of space left because it's downloaded, but I can't install. There's absolutey nothing else that I can delete. Solution for that please?

Hi Ron,

Know that I'm not a tech and know almost nothing about windows other than what I need to know to use it on a day-to-day basis. Whenever I need to do anything with the command prompt or regedit, it requires searching for instructions online. However, I'm responding because you probably won't get this kind of answer from people who ARE actually knowledgeable and experienced on the tech side. Take what I just said into consideration when deciding whether or not to pay attention to what I say.

Tech people find all of the instructions sprinkled throughout these threads to be simple and relatively quick. For those of us who don't know/understand these methods or how the underlying systems work, these things are confusing and extremely time consuming.

My issues were unrelated to insufficient disk space, and I didn't find any potential tech-savvy solution in 7 months of searching. I took the atomic way out which, if you have any chance of updating, will probably be necessary for you if you have less than 3 GB of free space right now. It may not have been necessary for me to go this route, but I didn't find a decent discussion about the 24H2 update issues until AFTER going nuclear.

Based on the issue of insufficient free space, BEFORE considering the windows upgrade, be sure you know the CAPACITY of your hard drive. I'm not talking about FREE space.

A lot of space is used/wasted in the process of updating/upgrading windows that isn't actually needed to store and run windows. You also have a lot of space being used for your existing version of windows. A lot of the space used during the installation process will free up (or can be freed up) after installation. That means if it takes nearly your entire hard drive to install windows, you can still have space for personal files after you accomplish this flawed update.

In any case, you certainly don't have enough space to update as your PC is set up right now and it seems unlikely you'd be able to free up enough space by being selective about what can/can't go.

If your disk CAPACITY has the space, you may still be able to accomplish this without upgrading your hard drive or purchasing a new computer. Although, even if you succeed with this update, if you have a hard drive typically running close to its capacity, you will need to upgrade to a larger capacity in the near future. You're going to run into issues even with less robust updates, and keep in mind that windows 12 is right around the corner. I'm sure this update was intended to be part of the windows 12 update, but had even more issues with the full upgrade and this was what we were left with. That's only a hunch.

So, the difficult part for you is recommended that you have 64 GB of FREE space. I've seen that you may be able to complete an install with only 40 GB of FREE space, but there are likely a few steps you'd need to take during installation to make that work. I've also seen ways to use external drives to handle the temporary files, meaning you don't need nearly as much space, but you need more than one available USB port and more than one USB drives withat least 16 GB from what I saw. However, your drive still needs a lot of space. It looked like you could test this method without formatting the drives so that the old windows files are maintained in the event it still doesn't work.

I would not suggest attempting this unless your drive capacity is at least 40 GB. That's the lowest number I've seen. Most alternative methods don't mention what would be required for space. What I'm going to suggest will mean that you don't need to worry about what is free and what is used. It will only matter what the capacity is.

No matter what you try, be sure to make a full disk image backup of your drive, not just your personal files. If you know your system easily meets all of the system requirements, you can get away with only backing up your personal files, but if you remove your existing operating system and can't install the new operating system... you don't have a computer.

It's a better idea to back up to an external hard drive, but if you don't have one and money is very tight, you can get 128 GB thumb drives for under $20 on Amazon these days. That's insane to this old guy, but it's true. Personally, I don't have as much faith in flash drives, so if I were backing up to flash drives, I'd make two backups on separate drives. This is an extra step (and time), of course, but for most people, it would be a very minimal inconvenience compared to attempting to restore that data and finding out it's corrupt or unreadable.

IN YOUR SITUATION DO NOT DO ANYTHING UNTIL YOU HAVE A FULL DISK IMAGE.

The solution for me was to do a clean windows install while deleting partitions and "quick" formatting the drives during that process. It's important to note that a clean install while maintaining my partitions and preserving old windows files did NOT work for me. Since you need all of the space that stuff is taking up, I can't imagine that would work for you either.

This was the absolute last thing I wanted to do because of the effort and time involved in getting my system and apps back the way I need/want them. HOWEVER, after seeing what people are going through, especially those of us with limited tech experience, I believe starting from scratch was faster, easier, and less frustrating.

About a page up in the thread is my original answer with more details and some steps to be aware of in the process, along with links to instructions and a step by step walkthrough video for the last resort option.

This is definitely not the solution any of us want, but in order to correct your situation, you will need to go through a process to remove the windows files for the new version AND the backup files created as part of the installation process that are both wasting your disk space, which is likely to be a detailed process that is a lot without tech knowledge/experience, because it must be done without affecting your necessary files, and it's not like deleting a folder from the file manager. THEN if you pass the hardware requirement checks, you will seemingly have about a 50/50 chance of having the compatibility issues we're all having with the update. If so, you'll need to go through all of the steps you see people discussing in threads like this to find the problems and try to fix them. THEN install the update.

What I'm trying to say is that the one possible solution you would probably try to avoid at all costs because of the time and effort involved in setting everything up again, may be easier than doing EVERYTHING else required to avoid it.

I'm also guessing that this would be the only way to free up enough storage and unallocated space to install this heap of **** update.

To be clear, upgrading security isn't a bad thing, and my system is running just fine with the update. It's the way they rolled it out and the process they programmed for all of these changes that is the heap of ****.

Not that you were asking for a rant about the new Microsoft business model, but you're going to get one anyway.

I'm also going to get into way too much detail about how to ensure you control your data when using windows, since they control your data if you set up your system the way they try and force you to and/or follow their constant prompts and popups (ms adware).

It's the lack of care in their product and the lack of respect for their users that infuriates me. Not just the update itself, but the way they are handling the support side for the overwhelming number of users having issues. Support is pretending they don't know about the issues and they are only providing solutions that would solve the issues people have with the general update process with typical updates. That simply wastes everyone's time and they KNOW it's a waste of time. They just don't care.

After about 30 years of being an intensely loyal windows/microsoft user, this experience has made me eager for replacements for windows and ms office. I've never even looked at alternatives, but now I am.

This all proved to me that microsoft is not the same kind of company, and there is no longer an overarching convenience to using their products like I used to perceive. In the past 7 months of frustration, time, and energy trying to update, I could have learned a new operating system and software.

In addition, throughout this process I realized the forced integration with a Microsoft account, and the intrusive nature of the new backup/sync (OneDrive); they are quietly making their systems a seemingly accepted form of ransomware/aware/malware.

The scariest part of this is that if you set your system up the way they try to force you to, if you lose access to your Microsoft account, you lose access to your computer and your data. They do all of this by making it all seem like improvements and added layers of convenience and protection without explaining what these things are truly doing to your system and data, and without providing any statements or warnings about what these changes/settings actually mean for the user. Windows installation requires that you log on with your ms account which means you have no local account on your pc. To bypass this requirement, you must jump through hoops, bypass your internet connections, and use the command prompt to make system changes -- none of which are provided as options during the setup.

More scariness...

OneDrive removes the files and folders you are "backing up" or "syncing" from your PC -- that's NOT a backup or a sync.

Another is the single sign-on overrides any settings you have and forces all microsoft apps and processes to integrate and connect to your Microsoft account in the background, even though it's presented only as an option for signing in. It makes no mention that it removes your ability to use local apps without logging in, or to login with a different account.

Since I was now starting fresh after failing to get any helpful assistance from MS support, it gave me an opportunity to learn how to install windows without connecting to a ms account.

Since I needed to set up my system and apps again, I knew not to set it up with OneDrive, and instead use a 3rd party backup/sync option that truly backs up and syncs my data. You know, having data locally stored on my PC, and simply backs up that data to an external drive on a schedule and keeps it synced to a cloud account that isn't trying to take over my system and data.

If you go through the process of a clean install, I highly recommend installing windows with a local user account.

I also recommend finding a backup/sync option other than OneDrive. You can still use OneDrive for storage, but absolutely DO NOT set up the sync options. Just use it as basic cloud storage and do a true backup by copying your local data to the cloud rather than using the automated features that remove the files from your local computer and replace your local folders with links to the cloud. Also be sure you DO NOT set up the single sign on option, which is a check box at setup, in the app settings, and sometimes at sign-in. Be sure that anything saying "Single Sign-on" or "Seamless Sign-on" is not checked. It may also say something like, "Use this account to sign into all Microsoft apps and services". That is a very bad idea.

I'll leave a 2nd reply with tips for maintaining control of your data while still using Microsoft.

I have done everything suggested in this reply, and the update still will not install. It is impossible to actually reach a Microsoft technician. Please advise. This is truly a major Microsoft failure. I get a prompt to restart my computer daily. I restart it, and the same error message 0xd0000034 appears every time with the notice that the update failed to install

I don't think you're reading the comment properly. I said it's downloaded but won't install. I've got 2.3 GB of space left because it's downloaded, but I can't install. There's absolutey nothing else that I can delete. Solution for that please?

You have got to free up a lot of storage space to get it to install which is really your problem. You might have a recycle bin that needs cleaning out but other than that you are stuck. If it's a system where you can install an additional drive then is a possibility. On mine I store music files on a different drive. If you can do something like that or is it a laptop with limited expansion then you have stuffed it full of stuff to a point where you can't update or as I suggested you might have a lot in your recycle bin than can be cleaned out.

I don't think you're reading the comment properly. I said it's downloaded but won't install. I've got 2.3 GB of space left because it's downloaded, but I can't install. There's absolutey nothing else that I can delete. Solution for that please?