I'm trying to upgrade my PC from Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit to Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit.  On each attempt, using both a USB device and DVD, the PC boots to a blue Windows 8 logo and nothing else, and stays there.  I've waited up to one hour on this screen and nothing happens.  I'm forced to power cycle my PC.  When I run the installer .exe from the DVD/USB device within Windows 7, the same thing happens, only when I return to Windows 7, I get a window saying "We couldn't install Windows 8.1." with the option of restoring my desktop, giving me the error codes 0x101 and 0x20017.

My PC specs:

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I've tried doing this after removing all unnecessary hardware such as USB devices.  It doesn't change anything.

• Edited by softchassis 3 hours 2 minutes ago

Hi,

try with the upgrade assistant

REF: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ie/windows-8/upgrade-from-windows-7-tutorial

This only tells me which programs and devices I can hypothetically carry over to an installation of Windows 8.1 and then tells me where to buy Windows 8.1.  I have already purchased Windows 8.1, I would just like to be able to install it.

It should tell you if you have any incompatible device

My devices and programs are all compatible according to the upgrade assistant.

• Edited by softchassis 14 hours 58 minutes ago

Anyone?  I still have not been able to find a solution.  I've looked around and saw that it may have to do with Windows 7's "System Reserved" partition, but after deleting that partition, the Windows 8.1 installation never progresses past the black screen with the blue logo.  I let it sit on that logo for four hours and nothing happened.

Edit: This was on a clean boot, also.

• Edited by softchassis 7 hours 49 minutes ago

I figured it out.  I saw someone mention somewhere to make sure the BIOS for my model of motherboard were up to date, and updating them to the latest version worked.

Still, it would be nice if the error codes had a database entry or at least were more revealing about the underlying issue.

• Marked as answer by softchassis 3 hours 2 minutes ago