Windows 11 24H2 Failed to install on Optiplex 5000

I chatted with Dell Support on this.  There was no simple solution and the consensus was that if 23H2 was working fine, then just continue to use it.  The 24H2 update is an optional update as of this date and just to ignore the update failures.  In the next few years when 24H2 becomes a required update, Dell and MS will have the bugs worked out and the OS will update.  

Another PC I have (Dell Optiplex 7010) updated to 24H2 without any problems.  During this update,  the option to "update and shutdown" was picked instead of "Restart".  When the 7010 was turned back on it finished the update fine.  I'm not sure if the "update and shutdown" had anything to do with it or if it was the difference in the Optiplex models that made the 7010 update to 24H2.   

I watched another PC (Optiplex 7010) update to 24H2.  It updated perfectly without any problems.  I tried the "update and shutdown" option again, but I don't think that has any effect on the update process since the PC did several restarts on it's own before finally shutting down.  After turning the PC back on the update concludes very quickly.  So it has to be the difference between the Optiplex models and/or the software setup one each that caused the 24H2 fails on the Optiplex 5000 models.  So far the Optiplex 5000 PC's have not re-tried the 24H2 update - it's not even an option when I look at the Windows Update page.

One of my OptiPlex 5000 PC's made another attempt to update to 24H2 today but unfortunately it failed again.  The update process got to 75% complete and then a blue screen popped up saying "Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart.  We're just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you".  It showed a QR Code and the message said "Stop Code : CRITICAL PROCESS DIED".  The system then restored 23H2 which was successful. 

Stick to 23H2 as suggested.  There is a table of useful links in the link below reporting on known issues with 23H2 to 24H2.

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/windows-general/windows-11-24h2-upgrade-killed-pin-login-entra-id-mess-anyone-else/67d14a7eb041596ebbfcd124 

@Harry STein​ I'm not sure how to stop the 24H2 updates.  I can pause Windows Update from running for a maximum of 5 weeks.  But that will stop all periodic updates, not just 24H2 so that's not good.   Based on what I've seen, it looks like Windows will keep trying the 24H2 update each month and will keep doing the rollback to 23H2 if it fails.  At least the rollback works.  

It would sure be nice for Dell and MS would get this figured out! 

Have you tried  https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm  ?

Another one of my OptiPlex 5000 PC's made a 2nd attempt to update to 24H2 today but it also failed again.  Stopped in almost the same place - 76% complete and then a blue screen popped up saying "Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart.  We're just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you".  Message on Blue Screen said "Stop Code : CRITICAL PROCESS DIED".  The system then restored 23H2 which was successful. 

BTW, I have not tried the incontrol link suggested above.   

Chasing down root causes of a major update failing is a lot of work.  I personally go through a long and exhaustive list of things to try doing static analysis and forensics to see who the culprit might be: Microsoft, Dell, 3rd-party app, file system or registry corruption, a driver, network issues, memory errors, etc., etc.  Along the way, I look for clues.  The CRITICAL PROCESS DIED is itself a clue.  You have to use forensics to see what process it was as a further clue.  The good news for you is you are able to regress to 23H2.  The bad news is you have a lot of work ahead of you to chase it down to a root cause.  Dell will ultimately tell you or point you to web pages to run diagnostics, etc. -- but if all attempts to root-cause fail, they will tell you to reset and start all over.  I am available to help, but unfortunately for a fee as I am a sole proprietor already losing a lot of time chasing down other company's problems.

@Harry STein​ Thanks for the feedback and offer to assist.   I'm just going to wait and see on this.  I noticed that the 2nd try on both PC's got much farther along the update process, but still failed.  Let's see what happens next month when it try's again.

One thing that I found helpful is to video the update.  The Blue Screen occurs pretty fast, so the only way to see what's on the screen is to watch the video. 

My 2nd Optiplex 5000 PC's tried the 24H2 update but failed at the 75% progress with a blue screen and message "CRITICAL PROCESS DIED".   Windows reverted back to 23H2.  

During the update attempt, the PC restarted and progressed up to 30% complete and rebooted. It also stayed off for about 10 minutes without any disk light activity.  I was already prepared for that to happen.  When the PC started the revert back to 23H2, there was also another 10 minute wait without disk activity in the revert process too.  I just waiting until the PC completed its reversal back to 23H2, which it finally did.  

So I didn't get as lucky on this PC's update and I'll just wait to see what happens the next month when the Dell Optiplex 5000 tries the 24H2 update.   

The 4th try on my 2nd Optiplex 5000 PC successfully updated to 24H2.! It took about 17 minutes for the update to complete and the update went through without any complications.  So all my PC's have updated to 24H2... finally!