Several weeks ago when the Windows 8.1 upgrade was released, I attempted unsuccessfully to download and install it on my laptop (HP Touchsmart TM2T). As I pretty much expected, it failed. I figured a likely candidate was the fact that the drive is encrypted with TrueCrypt and I did not have the time at that point to decrypt.
This past weekend, I was home with a cold anyway, so I figured it was a good opportunity to do go through the process with my TM2T, as well as a new HP Envy 15t-J000 Quad that I had purchased to create a highly portable server for our company in the event of a hurricane, fire, or what-have-you. Not only is a disaster plan a requirement for us under HIPAA, but also it is just plain smart for all businesses.
On Friday I decrypted the TM2T and imaged it. I also did a "DR" full disk backup of the still-unencrypted Envy 15t using Novabackup. Friday night I attempted to upgrade the TM2T using a DVD I had created from an ISO downloaded from Microsoft through our partner benefits. It failed, reporting that USB installations ("Windows-to-Go") cannot be updated in this fashion.
OK, this issue was really no surprise either and has haunted me on and off ever since my migration of that computer from a traditional HD to an SSD many months back. Somehow during that process Windows decided that it was installed on a USB drive, which should not even be possible with Windows 8 Pro. That feature ("Windows-to-Go") supposedly requires an Enterprise license of Win 8, which I do not have. Anyway, at the time I could not find a solution to the problem, and for the most part the computer ran fine, so I ignored it. Now it could be no longer pushed to the side. Turns out that there is an easy fix involving a single registry setting that must be reset from 1 to 0. That whole issue is well documented, including the fix, in a message thread on technet:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/af05f60a-4cb0-4561-b49f-71938dad6853/my-computer-thinks-its-a-windows-to-go-computer-but-its-not?forum=W8ITProWTG
So, with that resolved, I decided to try the direct upgrade from the Windows Store. Same old story, namely that the download from Microsoft would fail, with the progress bar about halfway. I suspect that is the point at which the backup of the existing system files is complete, and the download of the Win 8.1 installation files is starting. I tried updating on the Envy as well, with exactly the same result. That computer has very little in the way of software on it, other than a couple of VM's, so I even went so far as to do a Windows Refresh, which wipes out all your installed software and re-initializes the registry, but to no avail. Here are two posts that provide a good assortment of the recommended fixes, none of which worked for me:
http://tipsandtricksforum.com/Thread-Update-to-Windows-8-1-failed-Error-Code-0x80240031#.UoFDmuI4lFs
http://xstechx.blogspot.com/2013/10/windows-81-upgrade-interruptions.html
I sifted through a bunch of message threads on this topic and encounted many that blamed Verizon for blocking the update, and others that identified their anti-virus software as the problem. Finally, a light went on...
I realized that it had to be something that prevents the download from getting onto our local network. That meant that it could be blocked for some reason at CenturyLink, our ISP, or right here on our own system. I googled for related complaints against CenturyLink (my ISP), but came up dry. The missing piece fell into place when I realized that it had to be the anti-virus installed right on our security gateway, a Zyxel USG-100. Once I turned off the anti-virus feature on the security gateway, everything went just as it should. I could white-list Microsoft's download sites, but to do that I need the ip addresses, which are probably infinite.
Anyway, it took some time, but finally both of the laptops are happily running Windows 8.1. When I get to the desktops things should go much more smoothly.
