XPS 8940, Windows 11 24H2 not updating

Question

Same problem with a DELL XPS 8940 desktop. My Lenovo laptop updated just find to Windows 11 24H2. I've tried several different ways to update the Dell desktop, but all failed on reboot and rolled back. Luckily, I do a full C:\ drive image backup before I attempt to do any significant update, so I just restore that image and don't have any of the failed upgrade trash remaining.

I'm very familiar with doing a clean install of Windows 11 from MS's ISO image but refuse to do that as I have multiple partitions that I'm not willing to rebuild on my primary C:/ drive.

Dell just updated my BIOS yesterday and I thought that might do the trick. No joy, same roll-back on reboot. Waiting for Dell or MS to correct this issue.

zaqxsw · Answer

I have a DELL XPS 8940 desktop running Windows 11. Over the last two months I have imaged my C:\ Operating System, attempted to install 24H2, failed and it automatically rolled me back, and I restored my image to get rid of the junk the attempt at 24H2 had left. Per previous posts it looked like I had to do a clean install from Window's .iso file. I postponed doing that as the drive than contains C:\ also has three other partitions that I would have had to rebuild.

While on the desktop Thurs., 2/13, I got a notification asking for a restart. It surprised me as it wasn't an update Tuesday. When I clicked on Windows Update it showed that 24H2 had been installed and was waiting for a restart!!!

I had a fit! While I had imaged the day before, but all of my work on Thurs. was going to be lost if I had to restore that image because of another 24H2 install failure. I saved what work I could to another partition and hit restart. Long story and it took about 30-40 minutes to complete even with 24H2 already downloaded. The system restarted a least three times as it updated. This was new vs. my manual attempts before,

Bottom line is it worked. Microsoft must have gained enough confidence in the update to automatically install it. Boy, was I relieved when the system booted to my desktop. Several minor changes were made to various settings but nothing major.

Steve South UK · Answer

After a couple of failed attempts to update, I ran the Microsoft Windows troubleshooter. This removed the update history and now tells me that 23H2 is up to date. Have also reported to Microsoft support but awaiting a reply.

ispalten · Answer

@Steve South UK​  You jumped into a 2 month old subject, and I assume you wanted to tell the original poster how you solved it. All well and good. However, you do NOT have the latest version installed, which is 24H2. Is this your problem. you can't install that? If that is your case, I suggest Googling 'can not install Windows 24h2' and check the links, many have/had this problem. First thing I would suggest, how much space do you have on the boot drive that Windows is installed on. Probably need at least 10GB's of free space or the update can't take place.

Bugaboos · Answer

Same problem on my XPS 8950 desktop with 24H2 not installing for last 4-5 months. Always seems to work, but when it reboots & goes through it's updating cycle, it gets to 75% & then goes back to the old 23H2. Can't be a space problem since I have over 300GB free on the boot SSD C partition & another 250+ on another partition on the same SSD. I seem to recall having similar problem when 23 first came out, but can't remember what "fixed" it. But I know I didn't do a clean install & don't intend to now. Already tried making sure drivers & bios were up to date, doing Windows Update troubleshooter, & unplugging external drives & installation failed every time.

Sure would be nice if Microsoft would fix this before 25 comes out soon.

XPS Desktops

XPS 8940, Windows 11 24H2 not updating

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