Something happened and the install of Windows 8.1 can't be completed. (And now you're annoyed)

 

A friend of mine called me in a panic because his Samsung tablet wouldn't upgrade to Windows 8.1. 

Every visit to the Windows Store he was offered the Upgrade, but each attempt to upgraded ended in the error below:

 

Sometimes this error will read "Something happened and the Windows 8.1 could’nt be installed. Please try again. Error code 0×80240031"

 Fortunately, this was a relatively simple fix.

First open up the Command Prompt as an Administrator: 

  

At the Command Prompt type the following commands one at a time:

'net stop wuauserv' hit enter

'net stop bits' hit enter

 

Now browse to the C:\Windows\Software Distribution folder and delete all the files and folders inside. 

 You may be told files are in use, if so, restart your device, and run the commands above again,

but this time make sure the Windows Store app isn't open.

Now back to the Command Prompt and type the following commands one at a time:

'net start wuauserv' hit enter

'net start bits' hit enter

 

Now open the Windows Store.  It should look like this:

 

Try the Upgrade again... It should start downloading like the below: 

 

 Enjoy Windows 8.1!

  UPDATE #2 - If you are still having issues after trying these steps, please check out my article Windows 8.1 and the Nuclear Option for additional steps.

  

https://blogs.technet.com/b/ouc1too/archive/2013/12/31/windows-8-1-and-the-nuclear-option.aspx

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  THANK YOU!! I've already had to wipe the computer once and re-install Windows 8 because I couldn't upgrade the 64-bit version. So I was about to fly to Redmond to kick someone's rear. This fixed it!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  LIFE SAVER!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Thank you! It solved!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Worked, Thanks

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  it doesn't worked for me. whyy?

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  thank you sir..it works..

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  wow, appreciate the effort, but still not getting it done here. maybe the difference is that even though i have 8.1 preview installed, when i try to install 8.1, it says that 8.1 preview couldn't be installed.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  With me none of the above worked, I simply had to sign into the store in order to start the download. Try it :)

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Thank you so much...this saved me a ton of time!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  There's hope for the hopeless. As noted in my post yesterday, deleting the files inside the SoftwareDistribution folder did not work for me. However, renaming the folder worked perfectly.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Did not work!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  It is works like charm dude. I already lost how to update this. but once i tried for this, it works and really thanks to you, sir

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  the command prompt isn't working

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Works!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  thanks ..but once d installation page opens it says " there is a problem with store server" n d download stops..this is happening repeatedly.. how can i fix this..

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  I follow the above instructions and it works for me. Thank you so much. Keep posted any tips.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Appreciate this! Thanks!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  ding ding ding, this is the winning solution. Thank you. But, the fact that this fixed it really means there are fundamental flaws in Windows now that were not there in previous edition.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  This worked, thanks so much!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Thank you David. Good works.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  followed instructions.. stil getting the same message!!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Thx so much bro

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  thanks

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  thank you.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  This helped me out, thanks!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  umm i did it but it says error 0x80040155

• Anonymous
  October 26, 2013
  THANK YOU SIR!

• Anonymous
  October 27, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 28, 2013
  Followed instructions. It did not work.

• Anonymous
  October 29, 2013
  Perfect! Thanks!

• Anonymous
  October 29, 2013
  Thank you it worked >.<

• Anonymous
  October 29, 2013
  Still having issues.   I'm on a domain, I know that blocked me from installing Office 365.   I'll try removing computer from domain and trying again.

• Anonymous
  October 29, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2013
  Thanks!  Things seem to be moving along nicely now.

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2013
  Thank you Mr. Dixon this method does work thanks again.

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2013
  Many thanks for this! Was ready to smash my face into laptops screen trying to sort the update out. Worked perfectly for me! So again, thank you thank you thank you

• Anonymous
  November 03, 2013
  Worked like a charm! Many thanks, kind sir, your article was of immense help.

• Anonymous
  November 03, 2013
  Nope, doesn't work. Thanks for playing.

• Anonymous
  November 03, 2013
  I'm having a different problem. I can get the thing to download and install. But when it restarts to complete the update, I get an error 0.0000x... When I try to download the ISO and update -manually- per Paul Thurrott's supersite instructions, the application starts but then it tells me it can't connect to the internet! Ideas?

• Anonymous
  November 04, 2013
  Thank you, you just saved our jobs!

• Anonymous
  November 05, 2013
  Thank you!

• Anonymous
  November 05, 2013
  When I type in the command it says "The service is not responding to the control function" Please help.

• Anonymous
  November 06, 2013
  Thanks alot!!!! i almost thought everything was messed up in my new laptop!

• Anonymous
  November 06, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 06, 2013
  This didn't work for me either.  It did force it to fully download and postponed seeing the error so quickly, but it is still there.

• Anonymous
  November 07, 2013
  I can't thank you enough!! worked like a charm

• Anonymous
  November 08, 2013
  I too had this message displayed. I tried the above suggestions, but to no avail. The solution I found was to log in to my Microsoft account at www.live.com, and open my "Account Settings" by clicking on my account name in the right hand corner of the window. In my "Settings" page, under "Overview", I selected "Edit Security Info". This took me to the "Security Info" section. Under "Trusted Devices", I selected "Remove all the trusted devices from your account". After a short while, the system I was trying to upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1 displayed a notification that the machine needed to be "Trusted". After opening "Action Center" and "Trusting" the system, the Windows 8.1 upgrade proceeded normally from the Windows Store.

• Anonymous
  November 10, 2013
  You are awesome.  I tried so many different things to get past that error that proved unsuccessful.  then I came across your article and it worked like magic.  I was shocked.  thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!

• Anonymous
  November 10, 2013
  Thank you so much for your useful tip. first time i tried didn't worked, so i closed app store and tried again 1- did  the command 2- deleted files inside folder 3- empty recycle bin 4- run command again 5 opened app store and click download 6- yay downloading worked on my laptop and PC , so thank you again

• Anonymous
  November 12, 2013
  Yes it worked, thanks, but I cannot believe that at this point in time I need to go into the command prompt and enter this kind of thing.  I thought that, finally, this version of Windows would be the good one.

• Anonymous
  November 17, 2013
  I downloaded the 8.1 upgrade and now my touch screen doesn.t work.

• Anonymous
  November 17, 2013
  i tried first command , it said access denied

• Anonymous
  November 18, 2013
  Thank you so much for your clear steps. I followed them and the process started from scratch, which gave me hope. When I got nearly to the end, just before restarting, I got the same message as before: "Something happened and Windows 8.1 couldn't be installed. Please try again. Error code: 0x80004005" There are two options Tray again or Cancel install I made my own third option: Give up and stay with Windows 8.0

• Anonymous
  November 23, 2013
  i tried doing the thing int he command prompt in admin mode  but it said an error "this service is not responding to the control function"... any ideas how to deal with this?

• Anonymous
  November 24, 2013
  If you could help, when I write either net stop wuauserv stop or start (same with bits) it said "This service is not responding to the control function" if anyone could email me please comment or something. I will be forever in your debt. Thank you

• Anonymous
  November 24, 2013
  "First open up the Command Prompt as an Administrator: " I've had this computer about a week, having upgraded from XP. How do you open up the Command Prompt as an Administrator? My start screen doesn't look like yours!

• Anonymous
  November 27, 2013
  Thanks, i hope it worked!!!

• Anonymous
  November 27, 2013
  YES YES YES IT WORKED THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH..... PFFFF......

• Anonymous
  November 29, 2013
  This worked great! If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did I do? I know I stopped and started a service but which one? And how come it affected a windows 8 app?

• Anonymous
  November 29, 2013
  perfect 100% for me thanks so much!

• Anonymous
  November 30, 2013
  Thank you. Very easy solution to a problem that should never have existed

• Anonymous
  December 01, 2013
  Nope. Still won't install. Says 'Something happened and Windows 8.1 cannot be installed. error code 0x80240031'. I am really beginning to hate Microsoft! Brand new laptop and can't get 8.1 upgrade to work. Got every Windows Update performed because I read that that could be the problem. Nope, didn't matter either. This is totally ridiculous!! Followed your directions, stopped processes, deleted folders inside, restarted processes, went to Win Store, clicked on Upgrade, same stupid error code as before. I may just take this thing back. Sick of it. I want Win 7 back.....

• Anonymous
  December 01, 2013
  That Worked Great

• Anonymous
  December 04, 2013
  Thanks a lot, this works perfectly.

• Anonymous
  December 05, 2013
  command prompt did not work. It said the windows update service is not started and then more help is available by typing NET HELPINGMSG 3521

• Anonymous
  December 06, 2013
  both could not be stopped.. help please.. www.tiikoni.com/.../view

• Anonymous
  December 06, 2013
  working now. I just need to restart it.

• Anonymous
  December 07, 2013
  I've spent the last ages trying to get 8.1 on my computer. Everything here failed (I also ran wsreset.exe to no avail) and I decided to reinstall everything from scratch but something strange happened along the way. I placed the DVD installer for Windows 8 in my computer, rebooted, got distracted and missed the key press to load the installer. Windows 8 booted as per usual, I went to the store and it worked.

• Anonymous
  December 07, 2013
  I must add, I've been trying to get this to work for hours.

• Anonymous
  December 08, 2013
  top notch! worked like a charm. The most frustrating part was Windows wouldn't even tell me what the error was, or even give me an error code. I am glad I found this article so easily.

• Anonymous
  December 13, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 15, 2013
  This is the reason why I want to ditch windows period! It never fails, everytime I do a update or an upgrade, I always have to deal with some type of stupid error. I hear that Macs never have these idiotic errors and bugs. IOS is way more stable and performs with quality. Whats the point of using an OS thats not reliable or unstable. The developers at Microsoft need to get it together or see the death of the PC.

• Anonymous
  December 16, 2013
  Thank you so much! If it doesn't work the first time just restart your PC and run the command prompt as admin then. This worked the second time I tried it!

• Anonymous
  December 16, 2013
  Grrreat!!

• Anonymous
  December 17, 2013
  Afraid it didn't work.

• Anonymous
  December 18, 2013
  Thank you so much! I couldn't delete all of the files, even after a reboot, as it still said they were opened by another program. But it still worked! :) Many thanks!

• Anonymous
  January 09, 2014
  Pingback from Fix: Your Windows 8.1 install couldn???t be completed error

• Anonymous
  January 10, 2014
  Pingback from Fix: Your Windows 8.1 install couldn???t be completed error

• Anonymous
  January 15, 2014
  I started to download the windows 8 update. asked for my password, and I typed it in, kept on saying wrong password. Fed up with it, I canceled the download. Now I have a blank screen. Tried turning off laptop, reboots to blank screen.

• Anonymous
  January 15, 2014
  Not worked for me ? please any other soulution

• Anonymous
  January 16, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 17, 2014
  it says access is denied and can not do .. Pls another solution...

• Anonymous
  January 18, 2014
  This seemed the most promising of the many suggestions I have tried, but the same thing happened and Windows 8.1 upgrade failed at 87% installed.

• Anonymous
  January 18, 2014
  Guys if this is not working try to switch the admin account to a microsoft account if it isn't. When I clicked the download button on the store, it said apps like these require microsoft accounts. It worked after I did this

• Anonymous
  January 21, 2014
  It would help if people would note what type machine they are using. I have a new Dell XPS special edition. It has a 32 GB SSD used for caching.... I am thinking this is why this fix is not working for me....yet. I still have a few more things to try. I can't believe I am spending this much time trying to upgrade one POS OSS to one that is just as bad.

• Anonymous
  January 22, 2014
  I've try this at first attempt, and its still fail to update win8 to win8.1.After changing internet connection, from my home broadband cable internet, to another ISP used by my office, and performs step mentioned in here, update went fine and smooth.I think the key is: some ISP prevent connection to microsoft server.Details of problems can be found in: C:WindowsSoftwareDistributionReportingEvents.logThank you.

• Anonymous
  January 22, 2014
  Very informative..thanks for sharing

• Anonymous
  January 23, 2014
  its working....

• Anonymous
  January 26, 2014
  I tried everything suggested but nothing worked for my new Gateway NV570 Series notebook. I then disconnected my wi-fi connection, connected with a wired ethernet connection and downloaded the Windows 8.1 Upgrade from the MS Store without a problem.

• Anonymous
  January 27, 2014
  wow, appreciate the effort, but still not getting it done here. maybe the difference is that even though i have 8.1 preview installed, when i try to install 8.1, it says that 8.1 preview couldn't be installed.

• Anonymous
  January 29, 2014
  thank you

• Anonymous
  January 31, 2014
  Hello is this working on desktop or laptop or only Windows 8.1 Tablet

• Anonymous
  January 31, 2014
  Hello is this working on desktop or laptop or only Windows 8.1 Tablet

• Anonymous
  January 31, 2014
  Hello is this working on desktop or laptop or only Windows 8.1 Tablet

• Anonymous
  February 01, 2014
  Thank you!

• Anonymous
  February 04, 2014
  That worked, thank you!

• Anonymous
  February 04, 2014
  Thanks man. This worked.

• Anonymous
  February 06, 2014
  thank you sir till now m nt getting the required option in store for update to win 8.1

• Anonymous
  February 06, 2014
  I successfully logged in with another account that I setup as an admin on the PC and that worked. I hate it when MS does things like this :@

• Anonymous
  February 08, 2014
  Great tips fixed my problems!

• Anonymous
  February 08, 2014
  Great tips fixed my problems!

• Anonymous
  February 08, 2014
  Great tips fixed my problems!

• Anonymous
  February 08, 2014
  Great tips fixed my problems!

• Anonymous
  February 08, 2014
  Great tips fixed my problems!

• Anonymous
  February 08, 2014
  Great tips fixed my problems!

• Anonymous
  February 13, 2014
  I have tried everything and it still says I need to be an administrator, BTW I have set my account as an administrator, this is really frustrating aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

• Anonymous
  February 13, 2014
  Thanks it worked!

• Anonymous
  February 15, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 16, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 21, 2014
  When I type either 'net stop bits" or "net start bits", "System error 5 has occurred." Even before this, Windows 8.1 appeared to be downloading, gathering info, etc. for 1.5 hours. Then "Something happened..."

• Anonymous
  March 02, 2014
  Frustration overcome.... worked perfectly.....many thanks.

• Anonymous
  March 04, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2014
  Here we are five months later...this thing spends two hours downloading, gathering info, then gets to "Installing Windows 8.1. We'll let you know when we're done" Hours later, something happened. How the !@#$% is ms gonna stay in business like this.

• Anonymous
  March 19, 2014
  it works. thank you so much!

• Anonymous
  March 21, 2014
  If it doesn't work try restarting your computer and running windows update a few times. It found I had up to 60 updates that hadn't installed. I updated then it worked :)

• Anonymous
  March 21, 2014
  It worked! Thank you!
  
  For those who are having problems with this.. When you are in command prompt make sure you leave it a few seconds before typing in the second command. I think I was a bit hasty the first time I tried it.

• Anonymous
  March 29, 2014
  Thanks! This worked!

• Anonymous
  April 01, 2014
  Thanks so much it worked for me!

• Anonymous
  April 10, 2014
  Sir, my cmd doesn't show up like the one you presented here. It says I need a supplementary help: net helpmsg 2182. Can anybody help on this issue, please?

• Anonymous
  April 14, 2014
  Thank you this seems to be working. I only had to type in the first command net stop wuauserv and the problem was fixed.

• Anonymous
  April 14, 2014
  Thanks man. It seems to be downloading now. But why did we have to go thru all that to get it working again??

• Anonymous
  April 15, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 15, 2014
  ^dennis, im having the same issue ><

• Anonymous
  April 17, 2014
  Thanx thanx thanx a lot, it worked you made my day.. :D

• Anonymous
  April 20, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 24, 2014
  didnt work, in the cmd, my bits keeps saying "the service is starting or stopping. please try again later". and i tried to install, and it's still the same. please email me the solution... wenkuzz@gmail.com

• Anonymous
  May 01, 2014
  Thanks a lot for the solution.

• Anonymous
  May 04, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 05, 2014
  Thanks a lot man

• Anonymous
  May 13, 2014
  Worked for me ... thanks!

• Anonymous
  May 13, 2014
  Worked for me thank you David.

• Anonymous
  May 14, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 16, 2014
  Cheers Man! your a legend....
  

• Anonymous
  May 19, 2014
  Amazing - been pulling hair out for ages. thanks.

• Anonymous
  May 21, 2014
  Really Appreciate your effort to put this up, immensely helped me !

• Anonymous
  May 25, 2014
  works like a charm. Why Microsoft still needs us to enter these obscure commands in this day and age...

• Anonymous
  May 25, 2014
  works like a charm. Why Microsoft still needs us to enter these obscure commands in this day and age...

• Anonymous
  May 25, 2014
  Not working... Need help!
  

• Anonymous
  June 02, 2014
  I won’t upgrade to windows 8.1. I have tried several times from store which displayed as “Update to Windows 8.1 for free”. The file size is 3GB + and when I start downloading, at certain point it again stated from the beginning. It would have resumed from the point it failed, well that’s what I expected. How frustrating is this. I mean is it worth upgrading from windows 8 to 8.1? I would say yes only if Microsoft had made it easy to do so with a click of a bottom and without an issue. Since technology has advanced in such a great deal just to make user easy in every step, Microsoft still lack behind to fulfill such a simple user expectation.

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Life would of been easier if there was an offline installation.

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  When i am entering NET STOP WUAUSERV; its showing "system error 5 has occurred. Access us denied"
  
  Ps help.

• Anonymous
  June 05, 2014
  After all doing all of that the store doesnt show the update.....
  

• Anonymous
  June 09, 2014
  thanks this worked for me i have updated without any problems to 8.1 on other pcs but this one gave trouble glad to say its downloading now

• Anonymous
  June 09, 2014
  I updated to windows 8.1 and it left me at a page that says continue exit and continue to windows 8, turn off your PC, use a device a USB network connection or windows recovery DVD, troubleshoot refresh or reset your PC or use advanced tools. I already clicked on all of them and it keeps bringing me to this page!

• Anonymous
  June 10, 2014
  sir i am getting the error code:0x80080008 even for this error can i use the above procedure??

• Anonymous
  June 12, 2014
  Thanks! worked first time... now to pick up my hair that I had torn out and put it back :)

• Anonymous
  June 17, 2014
  Positive! Thanks!

• Anonymous
  June 27, 2014
  Worked perfect, thanks

• Anonymous
  July 01, 2014
  You are genius... worked perfectly...

• Anonymous
  July 05, 2014
  Worked great, thank you loads :D

• Anonymous
  July 16, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  July 16, 2014
  BTW, they have a Dixons here too that purports to deal with tech http://www.dixonsretail.com/ Wish they were as helpful as you :-)

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2014
  Whoever wrote this guide, I'd just like you to know that you are a beautiful person.
  

• Anonymous
  July 20, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  July 21, 2014
  Worked for me. Thank you.
  
  Important to note that I needed to make sure you've installed all the updates sitting in Windows Update otherwise the command to turn it off wouldn't work. Maybe that will help some other people.

• Anonymous
  July 22, 2014
  Holy ***! It worked!!!! You are awesome and super amazing!!!!

• Anonymous
  July 26, 2014
  thanks

• Anonymous
  August 01, 2014
  Great tip. Thank you it worked like a charm. Viva la 8.1!

• Anonymous
  August 05, 2014
  Many Thanks!

• Anonymous
  August 09, 2014
  It worked :-)
  
  You Sir, deserve a medal..

• Anonymous
  August 11, 2014
  thx a lot！！！

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2014
  could not run the admin commands access denied. but a few reboots i was able to delete all the files then it worked fine

• Anonymous
  August 25, 2014
  Thank you very much, that worked. If anybody is interested, I could not find how to start command prompt, so I used Control panels> Services instead. Does the same thing
  

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2014
  still same

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2014
  How do i do this
  

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2014
  How does this work
  

• Anonymous
  September 04, 2014
  Worked for me after installing all other updates first. Many thanks

• Anonymous
  September 04, 2014
  thx

• Anonymous
  September 08, 2014
  Worked!

• Anonymous
  September 12, 2014
  Thanks for fixing me up!

• Anonymous
  September 13, 2014
  Excellent post, works a charm, thanks.

• Anonymous
  September 28, 2014
  Can't tell you how thankful I am for this tutorial! I've had every problem possible with my new laptop including this one T_T hopefully it's the last problem I have to deal with!

• Anonymous
  September 28, 2014
  used this solution on an HP refusing to update. thank you for the information.

• Anonymous
  September 29, 2014
  Worked like a charm, thank you sir

• Anonymous
  October 03, 2014
  need help
  

• Anonymous
  October 04, 2014
  Thank You soooooooo much you dont know how happy i am i phycially want to hug you !!!! thank you
  

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2014
  ty ur the best'!
  

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2014
  ty ur the best'!
  

• Anonymous
  October 08, 2014
  Much appreciated. It worked perfectly.

• Anonymous
  October 12, 2014
  You know have a small wish. Thank You!

• Anonymous
  October 14, 2014
  It's downloading, let's see what Happens now.... Never mind got to like 60%then stopped... Now won't work at all

• Anonymous
  October 15, 2014
  Excellent! Thanks!

• Anonymous
  October 17, 2014
  Cheers man. It's working. Thanks for this fix.

• Anonymous
  October 18, 2014
  Thanks but I think I'll stick to Windows 8 much as I dislike it. If it's such a big download, I don't want to hassle my little laptop with a mighty burden. I have enough bother as it is. I'll save the email just in case I feel like an adventure. GIVE ME BACK MY WINDOWS VISTA!

• Anonymous
  October 24, 2014
  Thank you so much!!

• Anonymous
  October 29, 2014
  Thank you, it worked!

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2014
  fty remember to run command prompt as admin or else you won't be able to run the program

• Anonymous
  November 06, 2014
  Thanks so much, that worked!!

• Anonymous
  November 06, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 06, 2014
  Worked like a charm! Thank you :-)

• Anonymous
  November 07, 2014
  tnx

• Anonymous
  November 07, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 08, 2014
  I tried downloading windows 8.1 and it was all fine until i restarted my computer and i got an error message saying that my pc had been restored to previous version of windows

• Anonymous
  November 08, 2014
  Thanks mate!

• Anonymous
  November 13, 2014
  Did not work for me

• Anonymous
  November 15, 2014
  Worked for me. Thank you very much.

• Anonymous
  November 15, 2014
  It works

• Anonymous
  November 15, 2014
  I tried the above steps, and it did download till 40% complete then this error "Something happened and the Windows 8.1 couldn't be installed. Error code: 0x80070652". I tried multiple times and it stopped at the same 40% point.

• Anonymous
  November 16, 2014
  After working on this issue for over a day, and having 2 Microsoft techs remote access my system trying to get it working with no luck... this solution did the trick!!!! thanks so much!

• Anonymous
  November 16, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 22, 2014
  you are boss

• Anonymous
  November 23, 2014
  Worked for me

• Anonymous
  November 25, 2014
  Dude..you're a rock star!

• Anonymous
  November 25, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 25, 2014
  Thank you! I appreciate your having this available to help all of us! What a blessing!
  

• Anonymous
  November 26, 2014
  Thanks, that worked like a charm. Took for ever to delete that stuff though. 4.5 GB is a lot to delete

• Anonymous
  December 01, 2014
  Hi.. Tried the same thing in my system but after entering the first command it is showing the net service is not yet started pl help me how to solve the issue to install 8.1

• Anonymous
  December 03, 2014
  That worked...thanks!!!

• Anonymous
  December 09, 2014
  Worked!!! thanks alottt

• Anonymous
  December 09, 2014
  I reinstalled Win 8 with clean install. Still the upgrade 8.1 shows the same message. Gone mad!

• Anonymous
  December 16, 2014
  Omg thank you so much

• Anonymous
  December 18, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 23, 2014
  Thankyou!! That did the trick. Merry Christmas to you :)

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2015
  Thank you !!!!

• Anonymous
  January 03, 2015
  Thanks it works!

• Anonymous
  January 03, 2015
  Thank you so much. I found something on this before but you had an extra step that everyone was missing. Great job!

• Anonymous
  January 08, 2015
  Why would the error message not suggest what you just did?

• Anonymous
  January 16, 2015
  this helped me and i thank you

• Anonymous
  January 17, 2015
  It says " 'net' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file" :(

• Anonymous
  January 18, 2015
  thank! you! so! much!

• Anonymous
  January 19, 2015
  Acess denied

• Anonymous
  January 19, 2015
  Acess denied

• Anonymous
  January 23, 2015
  Please help me when I install window 8.1 they prepere but not install they showoiout of range what can I do now

• Anonymous
  January 25, 2015
  Thanks but did not work for me

• Anonymous
  January 29, 2015
  Its finally downloading, this kind of sloppy work shows the incompetence and lack of detail of the dudes who create these updates. Its as if they already know its going to be wonky, and they depend on us to figure to figure out how to get it to work. Anyways, thanks man for your tutorial.

• Anonymous
  January 29, 2015
  thank boss.... it worked

• Anonymous
  January 31, 2015
  Awsum Man!! it worked.. Thank You!

• Anonymous
  February 01, 2015
  You are awesome man...
  

• Anonymous
  February 02, 2015
  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

• Anonymous
  February 03, 2015
  Thank you very much

• Anonymous
  February 06, 2015
  The first option helped me a lot and it worked!! thanks!!

• Anonymous
  February 08, 2015
  Worked perfectly!

• Anonymous
  February 11, 2015
  Thank you!

• Anonymous
  February 13, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 20, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 20, 2015
  not offending any 1

• Anonymous
  February 23, 2015
  Thank you and thank you again

• Anonymous
  February 23, 2015
  Thank's so much for this fix, it's just a shame that Microsoft can't get this right. (And yes, I am using the latest windows 8.0 version to download it from)

• Anonymous
  February 24, 2015
  Your a genius Thanks !!!!

• Anonymous
  February 26, 2015
  Great! I have been struggling with this Windows 8.1 update issue for a very long time and decided to browse for a solution and it worked! You are amazing, thank you!

• Anonymous
  February 26, 2015
  What a fantastic, and easy, fix! Thank you for such clear and concise help!

• Anonymous
  March 02, 2015
  It appears that it's working! Thank you for posting!!!

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2015
  DOES NOT FCKING WORK GODDMMIT! Stupid windows fcks earning money for sht that does not even fcking work. thanks microsoft fcks

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2015
  Danka its working so far loading..
  

• Anonymous
  March 07, 2015
  Out of the frying pan and into the fire. With your instructions, I got past the downloading part but after the download comes installation. After my laptop restarted and halfway through installation, it got an error and reverted back to windows 8. Now I'm back to square 1.

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2015
  Brill thanks, you are now in my favourites :)

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2015
  It worked flawlessly! Thanks!

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2015
  Thank you so very much, it worked as followed by your instructions. Made me a happy young man.

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2015
  OMGSH THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM I am so happy right now

• Anonymous
  March 14, 2015
  Seems to be working well so far!

• Anonymous
  March 18, 2015
  Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are a genius! I was being driven demented and, as ever, Microsoft were worse than useless in terms of providing a solution. I raise a glass of red to your health.
  

• Anonymous
  March 21, 2015
  the command prompt is saying that the access is denied .....i dont know why ?
  

• Anonymous
  March 23, 2015
  Microsoft is getting lazy with its error messages. "Something went wrong...." Yeah..... we figured that. Now WHAT was it that went wrong?' At least give us some kind of online link with a code we have to look up anyway.

• Anonymous
  March 23, 2015
  @Kira -- it does that if you aren't in an administrator prompt. You can also go into Task Manager and turn off these services also. The description in the CMD shells from those images tell you the names of them.

• Anonymous
  March 26, 2015
  Thank you! It worked flawlessly..

• Anonymous
  March 26, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 27, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 28, 2015
  Thanks, perfect

• Anonymous
  March 30, 2015
  Worked like a charm but instead of deleting the folder I renamed it from the command prompt, as it was way quicker than deleting 2GB of files

• Anonymous
  March 30, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 01, 2015
  Yay! 2014 (had to rebuild my tablet) and this worked like a charm! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Anonymous
  April 07, 2015
  It worked, thanks.

• Anonymous
  April 07, 2015
  Thanks. You are amazing. I had no idea why this didn't work. You are now my goto tech guy. Ur AMAZING

• Anonymous
  April 14, 2015
  This seems to have done the trick - the download has now started, so fingers crossed!!
  

• Anonymous
  April 16, 2015
  Worked perfect. Thanks for the information. You've saved me countless hours worth of downloading non sense updates.

• Anonymous
  April 18, 2015
  Thanks a lot, even in 2015 it still works. Thank you thank you thanks a lot !!

• Anonymous
  April 22, 2015
  thank you

• Anonymous
  April 23, 2015
  you are awesome now any one know how to get sound from a hdmi cable with windows 8.1?

• Anonymous
  April 26, 2015
  Thank you! Worked like a charm

• Anonymous
  April 26, 2015
  I hope Santa brings you everything you asked for and then some. Thank You so much!

• Anonymous
  May 02, 2015
  Wow. It worked... Thanks for the wonderful documentation.

• Anonymous
  May 05, 2015
  Thank you for keeping this posted. Saved me much aggravation.

• Anonymous
  May 15, 2015
  Thank's Dude, it's work flawlessly

• Anonymous
  May 15, 2015
  It Worked! thanks...
  

• Anonymous
  May 21, 2015
  It Worked for me. Thank you for the instructions.

• Anonymous
  May 25, 2015
  This did not work for me. I tried a variety of "solutions" including reviewing the cbs.log file for clues why my ATIV500 tablet wouldn't upgrade. What finally worked for me was to uninstall the Samsung "helper" applications for upgrades and solutions.

• Anonymous
  May 27, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 01, 2015
  superb fix ...worked for me thanks

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2015
  Thanks it worked grt

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2015
  Thank you, that worked, much appreciated!

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2015
  Thanx very much it really did the thing

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2015
  Thanx very much it really did the thing

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2015
  Thank you it worked. Took just 5 minutes to do it

• Anonymous
  June 06, 2015
  Thank you! This resolved the problem on my fresh install + updates on Dell Vostro 2420. I really appreciate your article!

• Anonymous
  June 10, 2015
  THANK YOU

• Anonymous
  June 17, 2015
  thanks :)

• Anonymous
  June 17, 2015
  Thank You!!!

• Anonymous
  June 27, 2015
  Thanks
  

• Anonymous
  June 27, 2015
  You're a genius, get yourself a beer :-D

• Anonymous
  June 27, 2015
  didnt work for me, so sad windows has ended up like this
  "somethin happened" oh! doh!

• Anonymous
  June 27, 2015
  I think the "Something Happened" is actually quite telling on MSFT somewhat ambivalent and perhaps derogatory attitude towards its customers.
  
  I'm not very impressed. Its an operating system, i'm would expect to be shown more than "something happened"
  
  Or perhaps i'm wrong and they don't actually know what happened.
  
  Oh well guess it's OS X (for all its faults )
  
  At least you get an error and and possibility of delving in with reasonable bash shell to find the problem, unlike windows power wash, er.. i mean power shell, whats the power all about? its just a shell.
  
  and then it grumbles about certificates and just about everything
  
  oh well keeps us all in paid work i guess.
  
  "nonsense that's what makes the world go round!" (Sid James, Carry on Loving 1970)
  
  nothing's changed. still 1970, just with internet and computers instead of paperclips and typewriter.
  

• Anonymous
  June 28, 2015
  It's not worked for me
  After installing all updates from Windows I tried it again then also it's not worked.

• Anonymous
  July 04, 2015
  system 5 error
  access is denied
  this is the error coming in command prompt

• Anonymous
  July 04, 2015
  Worked!!!! Thank you :-)

• Anonymous
  July 07, 2015
  That error because you there is 2 services disable:
  
  1. Windows firewall
  2. Windows update
  
  To enable it, open Run with press windows + r, and then type services.msc, look for windows firewall and windows update, set start up type: automatic, apply and start services.
  
  Problem solved

• Anonymous
  July 07, 2015
  Nice

• Anonymous
  July 09, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  July 10, 2015
  I had this issue with my mothers laptop and I truly thank you sir for this guide, it really saved me from alot of frustration. Once again, thank you!

• Anonymous
  July 11, 2015
  Just awesome....ton of thanks

• Anonymous
  July 11, 2015
  Nice!

• Anonymous
  July 12, 2015
  thank you really appreciated

• Anonymous
  July 13, 2015
  +1 for this solution. Works well.

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2015
  Thanks it worked :) have a nice day

• Anonymous
  July 24, 2015
  I've been looking for solution for weeks. Thankyou!

• Anonymous
  July 24, 2015
  Thank you...I'd been helping customer with this issue, and so far it's really working..Now I am trying to update my very own computer to win 8.1 and still it works..thanks
  

• Anonymous
  July 24, 2015
  when i put in net stop wuauserv and net stop bits it says system error 5 has occurred access is denied.

• Anonymous
  July 24, 2015
  I had lost all hope, then I found this article...... you are simply awesome man
  BroFist

• Anonymous
  July 24, 2015
  To Cameron,
  This is just a guess, but I think it's because of the directory...are you sure you gave administrator rights?

• Anonymous
  July 28, 2015
  Thanks, worked like a charm . . !

• Anonymous
  July 30, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  July 31, 2015
  Thanks it did the trick for me as well!

• Anonymous
  August 01, 2015
  YES!!! I've been trying to remedy this forever and this is the only thing that worked. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

• Anonymous
  August 02, 2015
  sir i have cancelled download of windows 8.1 update once. now i want to download update to windows 8.1 now. but the store is not showing update.if i tried to download, it is showing update is not applicable for your windows version.
  please help me sir my mail id is vinaye60@gmail.com

• Anonymous
  August 02, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2015
  DUUUDDEEEE!!!!! You are a magician, Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Anonymous
  August 04, 2015
  Thank you.Its really worked.
  

• Anonymous
  August 06, 2015
  Awesome thanks!

• Anonymous
  August 07, 2015
  Great tip. It worked for me.
  Thanks

• Anonymous
  August 09, 2015
  sir while installing windows8.1 i deleted local disc c drive ....now its unable to install windows 8.1

• Anonymous
  August 10, 2015
  Thank you so much!

• Anonymous
  August 10, 2015
  i type the command and it says access denied
  

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2015
  Works 100%, just make sure you follow all the steps and run as ADMINISTRATOR (quite easy to miss)

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2015
  Hurrah!!! Success, at last! Thanks for clear directions that actually worked. I did have to google how to "open the command prompt as Administrator": press window+x, select Command Prompt (Admin). And I did pick the wrong Command Prompt initially. But other than that, this was the golden ticket to 8.1!

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2015
  Thank You man ... thats works for me ..
  just stopped the service and re-started it again by CMD :)
  again and again thank you :) (Y)

• Anonymous
  August 24, 2015
  Try this link, it really helps you
  http://allinonestudentscorner.blogspot.in/2015/08/windows-10-couldnt-be-installed-80004005.html

• Anonymous
  August 25, 2015
  Thank you so much...ur awesome

• Anonymous
  September 03, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 09, 2015
  Legend, thanks!

• Anonymous
  September 10, 2015
  had same problem when I was using 8.1, I fixed from this way. one month ago I upgraded it on windows 10. again the same problem I can't updates and download
  from store.

• Anonymous
  September 11, 2015
  http://bit.ly/1D9oiOo merupakan produk herbal berbentuk teh pertama di dunia yang memadukan dua herbal alami yaitu, daun sirsak dan keladi tikus.
  Pada daun sirsak terdapat zat ajaib yang disebut Acetogenin yang mampu membunuh sel kanker 10.000 kali lebih kuat dibanding Adriamycin (obat kemoterapi).
  Sedangkan Keladi Tikus mengandung superantioksidan bernama Ribosom Inactivating Protein yang berkhasiat untuk menekan pertumbuhan sel kanker, menghancurkan sel kanker, serta untuk mengatasi timbulnya sel kanker baru.
  

• Anonymous
  September 11, 2015
  Jual Obat Kanker Payudara http://bit.ly/1BHhul9
  Apakah Anda tahu arti dari dengan Penyakit Kanker Payudara? Penyakit Kanker Payudara merupakan jenis penyakit yang terdapat pada bagian payudara wanita, atau kebahayaan yang diawali dari sel pada payudara wanita. Kanker payudara kerapkali dirasakan oleh kaum wanita, namun demikian bisa jugajenis penyakit payudara terjadi pada kaum laki-laki. Hanya saja survey mengatakan jika 80 persenpenyakit payudara dialami lebih kebanyakan pada para wanita. sakit kanker payudara menjadi ancaman tersendiri untuk kesehatan kaum perempuan. kebanyakan penyakit kanker payudara dikasi tanda dengan adanya gumpalan di bagian payudara.

• Anonymous
  September 11, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 13, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 23, 2015
  Thx very much

• Anonymous
  September 30, 2015
  thank you sooooo very much i hope it works
  
  

• Anonymous
  September 30, 2015
  it is working................
  thank you.........
  

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2015
  Superb instructions David. Many thanks this has been a long and tedious process. i had 165 updates that had to be applied to win 8 before I could get close and most of those had to be done in small groups as there were 3 in total that would fail the whole lot and put me back to square one.
  
  After getting all those updates in I was let with that stupid message Windows 8 installation BLAH BLAH BLah
  
  it was great to find such a simple fix that was laid out so clearly any dummy could follow it.
  
  Many Thanks

• Anonymous
  October 10, 2015
  Thanx a lotttttttt sir.. It worked like a charm...finally after trying each and every thing this worked..
  Huraaaayyyyyy

• Anonymous
  November 02, 2015
  Worked like a charm! Thanks a lot!

• Anonymous
  November 20, 2015
  Thats worked for me as well...Thank you so much

• Anonymous
  November 26, 2015
  Works like a charm !!
  Thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!

• Anonymous
  November 26, 2015
  Works like a charm !!
  Thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!

• Anonymous
  December 11, 2015
  Works for me, thank you

• Anonymous
  December 12, 2015
  THANK YOU SIR!!! YOU JUST SAVED ME MANY MANY HOURS!!!

• Anonymous
  January 21, 2016
  It worked thanks a lot. :D