Windows 10 (1511) Not Updating

Braldar · January 27

Hi all,

I was given a gaming rig that had gigs of stuff I didn’t need or couldn’t use (Adobe requires sign in that I don’t have to delete the 50 gigs of apps). I had an old Win 10 boot drive which had an option to wipe the HD when I booted it so I installed a fresh copy of Win 10 that wouldn’t update past 1511.

I decided to reformat again with a newer copy so I wiped the boot drive and made a new one. Problem is the new one doesn’t give the option to wipe the C drive and just “resets” to the 1511 with the same update issue. I even made a Win 11 boot drive that did the exact same thing.

I wouldn’t worry about it except I can’t install the latest .NET Framework which is required for my wireless card.

Any idea how to solve the update issue?

Or how can I wipe the drive and do a fresh install with the newer version of Win 10?

Thanks for any help!

BlueChinchillaEatingDorito · January 27

1 hour ago, Braldar said:

Hi all,

I was given a gaming rig that had gigs of stuff I didn’t need or couldn’t use (Adobe requires sign in that I don’t have to delete the 50 gigs of apps). I had an old Win 10 boot drive which had an option to wipe the HD when I booted it so I installed a fresh copy of Win 10 that wouldn’t update past 1511.

I decided to reformat again with a newer copy so I wiped the boot drive and made a new one. Problem is the new one doesn’t give the option to wipe the C drive and just “resets” to the 1511 with the same update issue. I even made a Win 11 boot drive that did the exact same thing.

I wouldn’t worry about it except I can’t install the latest .NET Framework which is required for my wireless card.

Any idea how to solve the update issue?

Or how can I wipe the drive and do a fresh install with the newer version of Win 10?

Thanks for any help!

It'll be easier to do a fresh install. Since version 1511 reached end of support back in 2018, it's so outdated the update server probably doesn't know how to proceed anymore. You're missing tons of key and major updates.

You can follow https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/all/how-to-perform-a-clean-install-or-reinstall-of/aef0ae63-2117-41ee-a8ea-4a3181625b08 for a detailed explanation.

For a quick rundown provided all the BIOS settings, etc are correct.

Create a bootable USB or DVD using the Media Creation Tool: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d. Even if you have an installer, I would recommend you recreate it to make sure you have the latest major release of Windows.

Hit the Boot Menu key for your motherboard and boot into the USB. Click Install Now to begin the installation. If you do not have the product key on hand, click "I Don't have a product key". It'll continue with the installation and you can activate using one or with a Digital License tied to your Microsoft account later.

Proceed with the wizard by selecting your edition of Windows 10 and accepting the license terms. When you encounter this screen, select Custom Option. This will give you the ability to delete all partitions and do a fresh install.

You'll then be asked where to install Windows. Assuming the desktop only has one drive, select each partition and hit Delete until you have one drive of fully unallocated space. Select that drive and click Next. There's no need to create any partitions manually as Windows will create what it needs automatically.

Allow for the installer to finish and you'll be dumped at the Out of Box Experience screen where you can set up your account.

If you are trying to install Windows 11 on supported hardware, the process is the same as above. The installer has not changed since Windows Vista apart from theming (hence why aero is still around despite being dropped back in Windows 8).