0xC1900101 – 0x20017 Error Fix

The following guide is aimed at solving Error 0xC1900101 – 0x20017 “We couldn’t install Windows 10” in Windows 7, 8 and 8.1

Many users have reported experiencing issues with updating to Windows 10 from older versions of the Windows operating system (7, 8 and 8.1). The error code they see is 0xC1900101 – 0x20017 and it is accompanied by a message saying something along the lines of: “The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during BOOT operation”.

The error usually occurs after the update process has seemingly been completed, i.e. it has reached 100%, and your machine attempts to reboot. After a while you will notice that your computer hasn’t actually gotten any closer to restarting and is stuck on the Windows logo screen. This will either be followed by an eventual restart or perhaps by a force shutdown initiated by the impatient user, which upon starting will reveal the said error 0xC1900101 – 0x20017 code. As a result, the user will be left with the version of Windows they tried upgrading from, which can be pretty annoying.

To fix this problem, we’ve assembled a guide with a few possible solutions. Try them out and one of them will have solved the issue with error 0xC1900101 – 0x20017.

0xC1900101 – 0x20017 Error Fix

Fix 1:

1. Remove any and all external drives from your machine.
2. Create a Restore Point in the event that something goes wrong. Go to Start and type in “restore point”. Open Create Restore point and wait for it to be created.
3. Note: this step is optional, so if you don’t feel like you want to do this – just skip to the next step instead. Uninstall your Bluetooth and Wireless Network drivers from the the Control Panel.
4. Shut down your PC and reboot it with the help of the power button and start repeatedly pressing the F2 button on your keyboard to enter BIOS mode. In there, with the help of the arrow keys go to Advanced -> Wireless. Hit Enter.
5. You will see the following options: Internal Bluetooth and Internal WLAN. For each of them, hit Enter and select Disable, after this press F10 to save the changes and exit the BIOS.

Fix 2:

If you have added RAM to your computer, you might need to temporarily remove it. This may be done differently depending on the brand and model of your computer, so be sure to look this up, before attempting to remove the RAM (unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing). If you don’t have additional RAM, simply disregard this fix.

Fix 3:

After you have completed all of the above, restart your computer and go to C:\$Windows.~WS\Sources\Windows. Unless you haven’t deleted the Setup after the unsuccessful upgrade attempt, you should see an executable file titled Setup. Double click in to run. Alternatively, the executable can be found in this location: C:\ESD\Windows

This should be sufficient to successfully install Windows 10 on your PC. Please let us know in the comments if the above was helpful or if you’ve come up with an even better solution yourself!