Dell Latitude 5400 refuses to install monthly win11 updates since june 2025

Question

as in thread's title, since june this year the laptop fails to complete the updates..

it goes like this:

start windows update=fine

downloading updates=fine

installing progress = fine

requesting reboot...

reaches 30% and boots

upon reaching 100% it says "oops something went wrong reverting back changes"

i belive this is Dell specific issue, i have two old rigs with win23h2 and they updae just fine

i also have HP Pavilion with 24h2 and no issues at all.. yet dell latitude 5400 fails every single monthly update since june..

So far I've tried updating UEFI, and now is up to date. updating firmware, now up to date..

also tried both fresh win 11 install and performing an in-place upgrade to te same version, yet nothing helped..

if it does matter the laptop underwent some modifications.. i replaced the original 512GB SATA SSD with Lexar NM620 NVMe plus purchased an jSATA to SATA+Powerplug adapter and mounted an SATA+powerplug adapter to m.2 SATA SSD. in order for the adapters to fit inside i had ordered he battery replaced with a smaller form factor one ( still a genuine one and compatible with my model straight from dell replacement parts).. finally there's a NVMe x2 lane 2242 form factor drive in the WWAN port, not really an official solution but it works.. the said system is installed on Lexar NM620 NVMe connected to the main m.2 2280 port on the motherboard..

I'm beginning to belive it all started to happen after 1.36 UEFI update or perhaps even 1.34

windows updates failed even before all the shenanigans explained above.. back before then i only had 1x SATA m.2 drive connected to the onboard m.2 2280 port

i had the changes made by a professional service it was they who purchased the correct battery, and it was me who gave them all the adapters and giuded them how to connect all this mess to make it work, as they seemed to had problems figuring which drive goes where ( they tried connecting NVMe m.2 to jSATA via the two adapters,and SATA m.2 to the onboard m.2 port :p ) despite the professionals i know they are they sometimes goof off on the simple things. Though replacing all capacitors on my Desktop's motherboard from electrolytinc to polymer ones was easy peasy for those guys..

any ideas on what to do with the stubborn Latitude 5400 to force it to chew through the monthly updates? so that i don't have to download new iso each month and do an in-place upgrade?

ejn63 · Accepted Answer

You can try clearing the Windows update cache/catalog files (see below), but a clean install of Windows may be the ultimate solution.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/troubleshoot-problems-updating-windows-188c2b0f-10a7-d72f-65b8-32d177eb136c

gustarballs1983 · Accepted Answer

<Prohibited word or character substitution used. See the Forum Code of Conduct. DELL-Admin> Nah.. all good.. solved it.. Turns out that any tampering with win11 iso turns it to. tiny11 modification not only breaks the updates but also prevents any in place upgrades due to the fact that it's retarded creator decided that windows shuld format the drive with only 100MB EFI partition, which isn't enaugh anymore..  any tampering with rufus messes updates as well in the end i went with clean install usb made by the M$ win11 creation tool.. it turns out that it creates 200MB EFI partition by default now.. and a miracle happened. it installed those updates out of the box. this is the last time i touched any of that modder's windows installer. though i now have issues with installing the latest iGPU drivers.. M$ forces 2127 and the 2135 installer from techpowerup just fails, cmd window flashes with the word error in it, and after few minutes the main intel update window just closes and nothing happens. i'm going to try and install other stuff first, obviously i was missing all the VC++ libraries, though now that i have them all, the gpu driver package still doesn't want to run.Anyways i think the case is solved, I'm leaving this solution for reference if anyone else has similar problems: modder's windows installations mess up the installation process, not only updates won't work correctly but also in place upgrade installation will not work, since modders set too small EFI partition, and changing it manually doesn't seem to solve the issue. the solution is a fresh install with removing all the partitions and creating the partitions from scratch, so that EFI has a minimum size of 200MB pre installation. it also creates the EFI partition prior to windows partition so the UEFI seek time for the EFI partition is much shorter, now the boot is smooth as butter, on the contrary to tiny 11 where it seeked through all the other drives before starting to look for boot partition further down the line on disk0. this is hilarious but it's the truth.

Maxd1 · Answer

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000178461/windows-update-general-issue-fixes

Also, Did you attempt to install failing updates from MS Catalog sequentially ?

If you're 8th or 9th generation is there a chance MS won't allow you to go any further ?

All I got.

Maxd1 · Answer

Sorry about the 8th gen comment - red herring.

You've made some fairly significant changes to your system but you say this issue started occurring before them. The UEFI updates may be the culprit you surmise. Possibly but I don't think so. There are many potential solutions online but I would try this first. Perhaps TPM is not being detected.

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/latitude-14-5400-laptop/Latitude_5400_ServiceManual/m-bist?guid=guid-f469bc97-a2a3-4314-9699-094f5e44f880&lang=en-us

NB Note the "Note:"

Maxd1 · Answer

Do you not block MS drivers with GP editor ?

and UEFI updates in Setup ?

You updated firmware on new drive ?

Apparently it's a fairly common problem; sorry I couldn't give you something definitive.

https://allthings.how/fix-windows-11-updates-that-keep-reverting-and-prevent-successful-installation/

Maxd1 · Answer

@gustarballs1983​  You're quite a modder and that may be the issue. In any case I would run the full diagnostics (at boot) and maybe Memtest86+. Check out the Event Viewer for WU-related errors > event viewer\Windows Logs\Setup and look specifically for (Source) WUSA errors and associated error numbers.  AND review the CBS.log (@C:\Windows\Logs\CBS.

Maxd1 · Answer

Heed the caveats.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000087834/graphics.html

btw, If you are using the Pro version GP Editor refers to Group Policy Editor >

Run: gpedit.msc

(If you're running Pro then) the path to 'prevent WU from installing drivers' is:

Local...\Comp Config\Admin Templates\Win Components\Windows Update\Do not include drivers with Windows Updates > set this to "Enable".

PS I would do this part first.

gustarballs1983 · Answer

@ejn63​  well I stated i've tried a fresh install haven't I? yet it didn't change a thing clearing cache won't help me one bit since it's not this phase it's failing.. as i said it fails post reboot where it reaches 100% installation and spends an hour or so reverting chages back to from what it was before the update. The sole 'Windows Update' window operations all go fine they reach the state when they say pending reboot. and wen i click rebot they first reach 30% then reboot, next they go up to 100% and when they reach 100% they say 'oops something went wrong, reverting changes' clearing cache wolud give nothing, snce they always redownload themselves each time i press windws update 'update' button

gustarballs1983 · Answer

heh what do You mean 8th or 9th gen M$ won't allow further?!

the win11 min req *is* 8th gen right? that's why i actually bought 8th gen, to comply with M$ hilarious requirements in the first place.. rather than the cheaper stuff based on 7th gen where sellers just install hacked win 11 image with requirement checks removed..

actually i'll try one more time to reinstall win 11 this time the clean stuff without any debloats applied to it and see how it goes.. Yesterday evening, I tested a different machine with tiny11 version.. since i tried to trim the system down, and to my suprise it caused update issues as well, before it ran a clean win 11 iso and everything worked just fine..

If that doesn't help I'll try your suggestions with removing the update folders..

though as i said the update fails post-reboot, during update apply, not fresh after download via windows update..

gustarballs1983 · Answer

@Maxd1​  I don't exactly get  what you have in mind by TPM not being detected, you send me a link on how to perform a POST evaluation check.. while i nearly ment update fails post boot==> a.k.a Update fails *after* i reboot and windows proceeds with the update before launching te system it is then where it reaches 100% and error message pops up: 'something went wrong, do not worry- revrting the changes, this may take a while', and it just reverts the system to the state before the monthly updates. otherwise the system POST is fine i used the term post-boot to mean after-the-reboot rather than boot's POST check... yet M$ is definetly up doing someting, just this morning they overwritten my 2135 UHD 620 drivers with their own version, that was unavailable yesterday, it's also named 2135 yet the intel graphic center displays the old 2127, so an older version.. and yet agin i had to block a m$ gpu driver that was being forced by m$. seriously such m$ tricks to brick the system are too silly for me to fall for them.. i'll possibly try a fresh instal with a clean image straigh from M$, perhaps that's the issue, since i've foud out the hard way modified images like the one I currently have in the latitude 5400 do tend to mess up the update system.. as for the gpu driver replacement by M$ causing unintended beavour i can write a whole essay about it, though i've found a couple of solutions for that, some of which M$ already deleted from the internet, yet i still have them backed up, and they still do work.

gustarballs1983 · Answer

@Maxd1​  Nah dunno even what GP editor is.. i use a script written by M$ dev from M$ help forums, that was deleted due to M$ spring cleanups on the forums. i have it backed up, and all it does is detects drivers that are pending to be installed from windows update, the script gives the ability to hide the driver updates one by one, in a selective manner.. though it has to be ran on every update you make on your side to the coresponding drivers.. as for UEFI updates they are all installed, dunno what You mean by blocking UEFI updates in setup.. as for the NVMe drive's firmware ibelive it's up to date, since i've downloaded the Lexar SSD app and it claimed  'firmware is up to date' so guess i can't argue with that.. ok i'll check the link you provided.. anyways have a nice weekend.. i usually say I'm having shabes despite not being Jewish, so that ppl don't pester me in te weekends.

gustarballs1983 · Answer

hold your horses.. currently I'm half trough the tps from the link You provided in Your Previous post the "sfc /scannow" took like 18 hours to complete, after which i went to rey the updates agin, they agin failed.. it ws 11pm when this ended, so i decided to call it a day, and conitnue in the moring, so that's what i'm going to attempt now.

as for memtest i don't think i need to do this from within UEFI as i did that already in the past and it didn't detect any issues,

don't know why i should diagnose POST, since laptop boots fine, it's the windows updaes that fail.

i'll check event viewer..

though CBS log is so big i've lost patience to check it. I quited after 30 minutes of scrolling. and i wasn't even roughly at 1/10 of the file..

anyways I'll procede with further instructions from the link you provided previously now..

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Dell Latitude 5400 refuses to install monthly win11 updates since june 2025

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