Windows 10 Upgrade Install Failing With A PRE_OS Error (Something Happened)

I have seen other guides that say to fix a failed Windows 10 install by doing a clean boot among other things:

• disabling items in MSCONFIG
• run setup.exe as administrator
• ensure that a bunch of services are set to automatic and start them
• disabled all antivirus
• boot into safe mode and run delete both folders that start with $Windows at the root of the C: Drive
• change your locale settings.
• remove all previous files, settings, and applications
• Create a registry key called AllowOSUpgrade to 1

I tried all of these at the same time, and none of them worked. The upgrade to Windows 10 kept failing and it would not give any reason why other than an inexplicable error message. I did two things after this: I installed Windows 7 Service Pack 1, which was not installed before. Still no dice. So I imaged the drive to another drive, and lo and behold, Acronis True Image found some unreadable sectors. I set it to ignore read errors while cloning, then booted up into 7 and Windows 10 installed just fine!

People are also saying to do a clean install of 7 or 8 first, or run chkdsk, which could be the reason that the upgrade then proceeds, if the hard drive errors are correctable!

Hey Apple, will you be giving away OS X version 11 away for free? (Or OS XI or OS 11 or OS 10.11?)

How To Permanently Disable Windows 10 Home Edition Updates

This will also work on Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, but on those editions you can disable the Windows Update service by running services.msc, finding the Windows Update service, stop it, and set startup to Disabled.

Please note that this may also block Windows 10 from phoning home to Microsoft, and is also likely to disable most Microsoft Cloud products (OneDrive, etc...)

Disable Windows 10 Updates:

Click on Start and Run, or type the "Windows Key" and "R", then type this command:

notepad %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

or this one:

notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Add these lines below to the hosts file and click save. If it asks you for a location to save, then launch notepad as an administrative user first and then open the hosts file and make the edits above/below. You'll have to type this filename directly into the File Open box, since normally only .txt files are shown:

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Then paste the list below into the hosts file above and save the file.

# 
0.0.0.0    0.0.0.0     # Important! fix for network status and diagnostic tools
0.0.0.0  dns.msftncsi.com
0.0.0.0  ipv6.msftncsi.com
0.0.0.0  win10.ipv6.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  ipv6.msftncsi.com.edgesuite.net
0.0.0.0  a978.i6g1.akamai.net
0.0.0.0  win10.ipv6.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  en-us.appex-rf.msn.com
0.0.0.0  v10.vortex-win.data.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  client.wns.windows.com
0.0.0.0  wildcard.appex-rf.msn.com.edgesuite.net
0.0.0.0  v10.vortex-win.data.metron.life.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  wns.notify.windows.com.akadns.net
0.0.0.0  americas2.notify.windows.com.akadns.net
0.0.0.0  travel.tile.appex.bing.com
0.0.0.0  any.edge.bing.com
0.0.0.0  fe3.delivery.mp.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  fe3.delivery.dsp.mp.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  ssw.live.com
0.0.0.0  ssw.live.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  login.live.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  directory.services.live.com
0.0.0.0  directory.services.live.com.akadns.net
0.0.0.0  bl3302.storage.live.com
0.0.0.0  skyapi.live.net
0.0.0.0  bl3302geo.storage.dkyprod.akadns.net
0.0.0.0  skyapi.skyprod.akadns.net
0.0.0.0  skydrive.wns.windows.com
0.0.0.0  register.mesh.com
0.0.0.0  BN1WNS2011508.wns.windows.com
0.0.0.0  settings-win.data.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  settings.data.glbdns2.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  OneSettings-bn2.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  watson.telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  watson.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  vortex.data.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  vortex-win.data.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  oca.telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  oca.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  redir.metaservices.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  choice.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  choice.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  df.telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  reports.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  services.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  sqm.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  watson.ppe.telemetry.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  telemetry.appex.bing.net
0.0.0.0  telemetry.urs.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  telemetry.appex.bing.net:443
0.0.0.0  settings-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  vortex-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  survey.watson.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  watson.live.com
0.0.0.0  watson.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  statsfe2.ws.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  corpext.msitadfs.glbdns2.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  compatexchange.cloudapp.net
0.0.0.0  cs1.wpc.v0cdn.net
0.0.0.0  a-0001.a-msedge.net
0.0.0.0  statsfe2.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net
0.0.0.0  sls.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net
0.0.0.0  fe2.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net
0.0.0.0  diagnostics.support.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  corp.sts.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  statsfe1.ws.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  pre.footprintpredict.com
0.0.0.0  i1.services.social.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  i1.services.social.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
0.0.0.0  feedback.windows.com
0.0.0.0  feedback.microsoft-hohm.com
0.0.0.0  feedback.search.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0  preview.msn.com
0.0.0.0  ad.doubleclick.net
0.0.0.0  ads.msn.com
0.0.0.0  ads1.msads.net
0.0.0.0  a.ads1.msn.com
0.0.0.0  a.ads2.msn.com
0.0.0.0  adnexus.net
0.0.0.0  adnxs.com
0.0.0.0  az361816.vo.msecnd.net
0.0.0.0  az512334.vo.msecnd.net


This list came from DSLReports. If anyone has any updates on this issue, such as a more complete list, or a better way to disable updates, please post a comment below.