SOLVED Windows Fall Creator Upgrade Broke Junction C:\Users to D:\Users

[MDSBigPaPa]

PART I

I've been having problems with the Creator Upgrades completing successfully. I downloaded the Fall Creators ISO file and expanded it on my Recovery partition.

Given: Drive C: is a 150GB partition on physical disk 0 (not a SSD)
Given: Drive D: is a 1.8TB partition on physical disk 1
Given: I had moved my Users from C: to D: many moons ago using the procedure similar to:
http://docs-windows.readthedocs.io/en/latest/move-users-to-another-drive.html

To see if I could get a complete install...I

• Ran Setup on my Recovery Partition
• Update failed with: "0xC1900101-0x30018 Installation failed in the FIRST_BOOT phase with error during SYSPREP operation
• Did a boot-time chkdsk which corrected a problem with the MFT
• Updated any out of date drivers
• Ran Setup on my Recovery Partition
• Update failed with: "0xC1900101-0x30018 Installation failed in the FIRST_BOOT phase with error during SYSPREP operation
• In Device Manager I "View hidden files" and uninstalled ALL grayed out devices
• Ran Setup on my Recovery Partition
• Update failed with: "0xC1900101-0x30018 Installation failed in the FIRST_BOOT phase with error during SYSPREP operation
• Removed AVG with all of it's components
  
• Removed any software package that I rarely used
  • Uniblue Powersuite
  • Driver Update
  • Diskeeper
  • Intel Driver Update
  • and others
• Paused Carbonite
• Moved my trackball from my powered USB3 hub to my PC
• Ran sfc /scannow which ran clean (I had errors that could not be corrected prior to chkdsk fix)
• Shutdown
• Powered off USB hub
• Rebooted
• Ran Device Manager again to check for grayed out devices or the PS2 KB and Mouse errors. Was clean.
• Ran Setup on my Recovery Partition
  
• After many, many hours the upgrade completed successfully

OK, phew, that's done HOWEVER, I found the upgrade broke the junction and created a new Users directory in C:\. So herein lies my dilemma...I need to maintain the SID of the newly created users, keep all the data on my D:\Users With NovaBackup I created a FULL backup of both C:\Users and D:\Users (Just in case)

PART II

I'm trying to figure out how I can merge the two Users directories such that all datum on D is maintained. I know I'll have to update Ownership on ALL files once the two directories are merged. After merge is complete C:\Users must be deleted see link above.

$ Set Frustration /Level=High (Throwback to my OpenVMS days)

So, I started a chat session with MS Support and initially the support person was very helpful. I was doing the Full backup of D:\Users so s/he (India support and it's hard to tell male and female names) gave me a link to reconnect with support once the backup finished. WOW! Nice.

Today I executed that link and I received the support agent from HELL. I think I knew more about MS than s/he did. I never treated my clients that rudely when I was on-call or on the helpdesk.

Here is today's chat session...
[Begin Chat Session]
To re-connect to MS Support...
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...05&rejoin=true&flowId=smc-contactus&PID=17336

Case #: 1403161162

Reconnected on 11/4/2017 and was connected to Mehra R. We had, well, here is our chat session...

1:05 PM Connecting...
1:05 PM Connected. A support representative will be with you shortly.
1:05 PM Support session established with Mehra.
1:05 PM Mehra restarting application as Windows system service
1:05 PM Connecting...
1:05 PM Connected. A support representative will be with you shortly.
1:05 PM Application running as Windows system service
1:05 PM Support session established with Mehra.
1:05 PM You have granted Mehra permission to control your desktop. To revoke, click the red X on the toolbar or press Pause/Break on the keyboard.
1:05 PM Remote Control started by Mehra.

1:09 PM Mehra: i have checked the files
1:10 PM MS: MDSBigPaPa is my primary login.
1:10 PM Mehra: Windows got installed on C drive we cant move the o/s files from C to d drives
1:11 PM Mehra: As its a base files
1:11 PM MS: Negative. I want the Users moved not the OS,
1:11 PM Mehra: let me check what i can do for you
1:12 PM Mehra: Sorry user will be by default in C drives only
1:13 PM Mehra: We cant move that too
1:13 PM Mehra: You can perform clean installation and then can exchange the drives
1:14 PM MS: Yes we can. I did it with robocopy while booted from DVD however the /mir switch deletes all data on the target.
1:15 PM MS: Can we Merge the appdata from c to d?
1:15 PM Mehra: which data you want me to merge
1:15 PM Mehra: could you show me please
1:15 PM MS: Any data that is revelent to the new upgrade.
1:16 PM Mehra: let me chcek

S/He started a copy of several files on root C:\ to root D:\ Not what I wanted; to which I said...

1:17 PM MS: All I want is USERS...
1:18 PM Mehra: As i mentioned earlier we cant move the users as its base file
1:18 PM Mehra: im moving the files which i could move
1:19 PM MS: But I've done that many, many times
1:19 PM Mehra: Could you please try
1:20 PM MS: I need to know which switches Robocopy uses sush that the security is maintained from the new upgrade and such that it will not delete data on the target.
1:21 PM Mehra: im sorry we dont use any Robocopy to transfer the file
1:21 PM MS: can you undo the copy you just did?
1:28 PM MS: Are we still connected?

1:29 PM Mehra has ended the session.
1:29 PM Remote Control by Mehra stopped.

S/He simply disconnected our session and failed to undo the copy s/he performed.
[End Chat Session]

Microsoft if this is how your support folks treat your clients then you have a MAJOR problem on your hands. Not only is there a communications issue but you also have poor personnel training. After all how do you configure a boot SSD with Users on another volume?

$ Set Frustration/Level=Normal

I still need to know if it is possible to merge C:\Users onto D:\Users or if my only option is to perform the procedure in the link above and use NovaBackup to restore my Full backup of D: selecting one user at a time.

 

[MDSBigPaPa]

I'm sure someone will ask why I chose to upgrade to Fall Creators. I've been having problems with Carbonite selecting and then backing up many of my files. Working with Carbonite Support we found several problems with the underlying OS. With the work above, I now have a sound base OS with which to get Carbonite running correctly.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi MDSBigPaPa,

I would start with folder options and then sharing myself!:

https://www.howtogeek.com/228076/how-to-configure-folder-options-in-windows-10/

 

[MDSBigPaPa]

Thanks Wolfie but I'm not sure this will help me. My C drive is only 150GB and with the upgrade's Windows.old and the 60GB of data now in my login default directory on C, there are only 3 GB free.

I want all user data off of C to reduce I/O and storage needs. I've moved pagefile.sys off to another physical disk in it's own partition and made it contiguous. This is performance tuning from my old OpenVMS days. BTW - Windows kernel was based on the OpenVMS kernel. In fact, the author of the OpenVMS kernel went to MS to write NT and Digital Equipment Corporation sold the Lock Manager code to MS so they could cluster systems. But, I digress. For your homework... J/K

 

[Wolfie]

Hi MDSBigPaPa,

I'm not really sure what to suggest apart from maybe a complete back-up and wipe of your drives and re-partition everything?. At least you will have the partitions laid out the way you want them?. This will of course involve a lot of work but might be worth the trouble?.

 

[MDSBigPaPa]

Here's my process for recreating the Junction...

• Execute to procedure in my original posting to recreate the Junction. This, unfortunately, will delete all my User data on D:.
• Using the NovaStor Backup I did on D:\Users:
  • Restore each User individually back on D:\Users, keeping the security ACLs (SIDs) intact from the new Upgrade. This will ensure I can access all of the files I just restored.
  • Check Security settings on upper-most directory to ensure I have access to all of the files. Delete old SIDs to have a clean ACL and Migrate Security settings to children if need be.
  • Fall-back would be to create bootable DVD from NovaStore Backup and restore the C:\Users directories from the backup I did.
  • Then start over until I get it right.

This will also eliminate the bogus users that have been created from the many, many upgrade attempts over the past few years.

 

[Wolfie]

Sounds like a plan, a clean-up is certainly going to help although it is time consuming!.

 

[MDSBigPaPa]

Update to my original post:
In troubleshooting my Carbonite Mirror backup, with Level 3 support, he executed the following commands to see the health of my OS prior to the Fall Creators Upgrade.

• Created a Command Prompt with Administrator privs.
  
• C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list shadowstorage
  • To see shadow devices
• C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list writers
  • To see if any of the writers were having problems: One had Failed
    • Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
      Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
      Writer Instance Id: {161961cd-e08a-4b75-b8bc-979b3689f13b}
      State: [11] Failed
      Last error: Not responding
• C:\Windows\system32>Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
  • No component store corruption detected. - The operation completed successfully.
• C:\Windows\system32>Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
  • Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
    Version: 10.0.14393.0
    
    Image Version: 10.0.14393.0
    
    [==========================100.0%==========================] No component store corruption detected.
    The operation completed successfully.
    
    
    
  • Finished at 22:35 However, I hit CR twice just prior to completion.
  • I may have rebooted here???
• With all of this done, I re-executed the command to check shadow writers for errors and none were found
  
  • C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list writers
• All this was done PRIOR to my steps in PART I above.

--------------

Slight change to my process of recreating the Junction above (Reply #6):
I chose to copy Users from C to D using the Robocopy switch /E instead of /Mir to keep my files already on D. I then proceeded to update the Security (Owner and ACLs) on all my files on D:\Users - Deleting old SIDs from upgrades past and add my current SID then propagating the changes to all children. I now have Full Control of all files in my login directory.

Since the upgrade created a new user, I then had to copy all of my data from my old login user to my new user.
After all of this, I re-installed most of the software I had removed in Part I above.

 

[Wolfie]

Is it solved now?.

 

[MDSBigPaPa]

Is it solved now?.

Yes, sometimes I surprise even myself.

Like I said in my original post; I think I know more about Windows than the person who "hung up on me."

 

[Wolfie]

I think I know more about Windows than the person who "hung up on me.

Well if the person you spoke works for MS; that is hardly surprising, it is about time that MS employed people with some common sense!.

 

[MDSBigPaPa]

Well if the person you spoke works for MS; that is hardly surprising, it is about time that MS employed people with some common sense!.

I think the worst part of it is the communication problem with the helpdesk moved to India. Now don't get me wrong but with moving the helpdesk off-shore there is an inherent communication and training issue.

Microsoft, are you listening? Major failure with this issue and YOU need to rectify the training and customer service with your helpdesk. If I acted this way on my helpdesk, I would have been severely reprimanded. Next time, if there IS a next time, I'll request to talk to someone in the States.

 

[Haneef]

Yes, sometimes I surprise even myself.

Like I said in my original post; I think I know more about Windows than the person who "hung up on me."

Aha great! Could you explain how you fixed it please? I have the exact same issue and I'm in the middle of it at the moment!

 

[MDSBigPaPa]

Aha great! Could you explain how you fixed it please? I have the exact same issue and I'm in the middle of it at the moment!

Start with reply #8 and execute the commands there. Then go to my original post and read through the thread.