In place windows 11 upgrade results in a BSOD after the first restart.

streetwolf · Feb 26, 2025

I've been trying to do an in place upgrade of my Windows 11 system to see if it will fix some issues I am having. I have tried the 'old' in place upgrade using a 24H2 ISO and also tried the newer Settings/System/Recovery Fix problems using Windows Update /Reinstall feature.

The upgrade goes fine in both cases but when the system reboots to Windows it gets a BSOD INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. It appears the upgrade has mucked around with my boot device so that it can't be found. My boot device is setup properly in my BIOS and I've had no problems of this sort other than doing this repair install. When I reboot again things go into revert back to previous version mode to what I had before. So this isn't your run of the mill boot device problem. As I said the install must have made my boot drive inaccessible in some way. After I'm back to my previous version it boots just fine. Also restoring a disk image I took prior to the repair install boots fine. So it must be the install playing games on me. Maybe it's downloading some incorrect disk controller drivers. I boot from a NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen4 SSD.

Any thoughts on this?

BTW... I did a clean install with no problems. I didn't stay with this as I have way to many things to reinstall and don't have the time or where with all to do it.

antspants · Feb 26, 2025

Hi.

Not sure how much help i’d be able to be, but can I please ask? ~~Which option are you using to perform an in-place upgrade?~~

~~Option One:~~ ~~Repair Install Windows 11 via Windows Update~~
Option Two: Repair Install Windows 11 using ISO or USB Installation Media

Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade

This tutorial will show you how to do a repair install of Windows 11 by performing an in-place upgrade without losing anything. If you need to repair or create a new recovery partition or having problems with the Windows 11 operating system on your PC, and the usual solutions will not fix it...

www.elevenforum.com

Also, are you unchecking the option to check for updates when asked during the in-place upgrade? (apparently advised)

Edir:

Sorry, I obviously didn’t read your post proplerly. Have you tried doing it via Option One?

streetwolf · Feb 27, 2025

Tried Option 1 also. Thinking some more on this problem I recall that after I got the BSOD I restarted my machine and got the same BSOD again. I did not get the automatic revert back to my old version. I booted up a Windows PE on a USB drive and rebuilt the boot records. After doing so and rebooting I then got the message that Windows was reverting back to my original system. I guess this tells us that the repair in-place install changed the boot records.

Tester · Feb 27, 2025

Can you check if you have the option: Virtualisation Direct I/O' in the BIOS enabled, if so disable it before inplace upgrade.

streetwolf · Feb 27, 2025

I have two options in my BIOS that might be the option you mentioned. Vt-d and 'Intel VMX Virtualization Technology. Both are enabled. Nothing in the BIOS with the name you mentioned. I am somewhat hesitant to believe that these options being enabled would cause my problems as they are also enabled in my BIOS when I did a clean install and that ran just fine. Unless an in-place upgrade is a different animal.

Tester · Feb 27, 2025

It would be the first option: Vt-d

more people that have had issues with upgrades:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHelp/comments/xkftil/inaccessible_boot_device_bsod_on_two_systems

streetwolf · Feb 27, 2025

I also have another related option enabled called “Enable IOMMU during boot”. I will give your suggestion a try after I make a disk image of my boot drive just in case I run into the BSOD again.

BTW.. Does disabling these options affect Windows in other ways that might not be beneficial to me?

Tester · Feb 27, 2025

Enable Vt-d again after the upgrade, so everything is back how it was.

streetwolf · Feb 28, 2025

Disabling Vt-d did not help. Every subsequent reboot ends up with the same BSOD. The only way to get a good boot is to boot up my Windows PE USB drive and rebuild the boot record. However, when my machine successfully boots up it reverts back to my previous version because of the BSOD. As I mentioned earlier I have no problems doing a clean install. The in place install, not matter which method I use, appears to be screwing up my boot records.

catch36 · Mar 3, 2025

In the Motherboard Bios "VMD setup menu" is "VMD Controller" set to Enabled and the other two Options "Disabled"? If the VMD Controller is Enabled do you have the Intel IRST VMD driver installed?

zbook · Mar 3, 2025

Please run the V2 log collector > post a share link

BSOD - Posting Instructions

BSOD - Posting Instructions This will show you how to help provide needed information about your system and dump files. It will not contain any personal or sensitive information about you or your data. To get better help with your Windows BSOD issue, please read these instructions and follow...

www.elevenforum.com

Please run > post share links

a)

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/bsod-crashes-debugging/360137d1645183388-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging-tuneup_plus_log.bat

b)

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/bsod-crashes-debugging/355861d1640707960-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging-diskparinfo.bat

c)

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/bsod-crashes-debugging/353454d1638278360-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging-upgrade_failure_info.bat

Batch files for use in BSOD debugging - Windows 10 Help Forums

Information This thread is for use by the BSOD team to store batch files that can be used to collect additional data, fix settings or anything else that is useful in debugging BSOD problems in Windows 10. The way I see it working is the first

www.tenforums.com

antspants · Mar 3, 2025

What’s you BIOS version, is it the latest? Version 2801

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rog.asus.com

streetwolf · Mar 4, 2025

I am on 2801. As I mentioned after I get the first BSOD after the in place update or repair update reboots I have to fire up a Windows USB PE where I can fix the BCD records. If I don't the next reboot will result in the same BSOD. This is telling me the update is screwing around with the boot records. My BIOS is correctly set to the correct partition but the update Windows must be pointing to some other device or the BCD is corrupted. Fixing the boot records gets me into Windows but the update process knowing I had problems reverts me back to my original configuration so I can't do much troubleshooting.

My next step is to disconnect all my unneeded devices before the update. Perhaps another unbootable device is changed to my boot device by mistake.

Winuser · Mar 4, 2025

streetwolf said:
My next step is to disconnect all my unneeded devices before the update. Perhaps another unbootable device is changed to my boot device by mistake.

Do you have up to date system images? If you do and it happens again, you can try restoring just the boot partition to to drive.

streetwolf · Mar 4, 2025

As mentioned once I get the BSOD the damage is done already. After I fix the boot stuff and reboot again Windows rolls back the update. Same thing would probably happen if I restored the boot partition from my disk image. Also, correct me if I am wrong, but the boot process is more than just the boot partition (EFI partition to be exact). The inplace/repair upgrade seems to be messing with something that boots to a non-existent boot device. That's why the next time I try this I am going to disconnect as many peripherals as I can.

Winuser · Mar 4, 2025

streetwolf said:
As mentioned once I get the BSOD the damage is done already. After I fix the boot stuff and reboot again Windows rolls back the update. Same thing would probably happen if I restored the boot partition from my disk image. Also, correct me if I am wrong, but the boot process is more than just the boot partition (EFI partition to be exact). The inplace/repair upgrade seems to be messing with something that boots to a non-existent boot device. That's why the next time I try this I am going to disconnect as many peripherals as I can.

I'm meaning if disconnecting as many devices as you can doesn't work, try restoring the boot partition and see what happens.

hdmi · Mar 5, 2025

In addition to disabling VT-d, you might also need to disable Secure Boot. Then, after the in-place upgrade is finished, you can re-enable VT-d and Secure Boot.

Also note: this is actually just a workaround. Oftentimes, the "real" fix is to update the BIOS, at least if a BIOS update that fixes it is available for your specific motherboard.

hdmi · Mar 5, 2025

streetwolf said:
Unless an in-place upgrade is a different animal.

It is.

streetwolf · Mar 5, 2025

I already have Secure Boot disabled. This is a head scratcher.

hdmi · Mar 5, 2025

streetwolf said:
I already have Secure Boot disabled. This is a head scratcher.

Did you also disable both VT-d and VMX Virtualization Technology (VT-x)?

In place windows 11 upgrade results in a BSOD after the first restart.

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