This week, a client brought me a Windows 7 PC which refused to upgrade to Windows 10, despite their having reserved a license long ago for the OS and attempting to install it repeatedly. The error message they were receiving was:
0x8007001F – 0x20006
The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during REPLICATE_OC operation
My usual remedial measures, after poring through setup error logs and all that fun stuff, were completely unsuccessful in this instance. Myriad internet searches also turned up lots of other people with the same problem, but no actual solution. Everyone simply wiped/reinstalled Windows.
Some of these attempts included:
- sfc /scannow
- BCD rebuild
- Boot parameters rebuild
- System (boot) partition rebuild
- Filesystem checks, etc
- Permissions repairs
Nothing at all worked. Eventually, however, I stumbled across a solution almost too simple to seem likely to work: an in-place upgrade of Windows 7. In other words, in colloquial terms, a conventional “repair install”.
All this involves is to grab Windows 7 install media matching the version installed and perform an “upgrade” process right from within Windows. Once complete, I had to reenter the Product Key and reactivate – so make sure the sticker is legible on the particular machine you’re working with. If it isn’t, specialized activation backup/restore methods will be required to continue with the process and eventually the Windows 10 upgrade.
After this, everything worked perfectly. The W10 upgrade process was smooth, and the client is now happy as a clam!
I did what you did. I also reinstalled Windows 7 and I got the Windows 10 Update Assistant Button but when I continued every time it tries to install windows 10 it ends up with windows 10 install failed error 0x8007001f. Until now I cannot upgrade to Windows 10 again. It sucks.
Woohoo! Thank you so much for this. I have been stuck with this issue a couple of times before and hit it again. I have had to do a clean installation in the past. I can confirm that doing a repair install of Windows 7 with the original media disk (Service Pack 1 version), retyping the product key on the case, activating Windows, reboot and try the Windows 10 media (currently 1903) again actually works. Windows 10 has installed trouble free and activated automatically.
Thank you once again for this 🙂
I’m glad to confirm that this works!!!
Greetings from South Florida.
I’m glad to confirm that this works!!!
Greetings from South Florida.
Thank you!
Hello,
Reinstalling Windows 7 SP1 as an upgrade worked for me too. Thank you as 20 other PC’s of same type upgraded fine. Great trick.
I was recently trying to get win 7 pro to upgraded to win 10 1909..I tried everything under the sun and kept on getting the safe_os replicate_oc errors. i tried the windows 7 in place upgrade you suggested and it did not go through.
How I finally got it to work was,
Downloaded the 1607 (from 2015) version of the Windows 10 ISO and that went through.
THEN i grabbed the 1809 Version of the Win 10 ISO so I could preserve my applications and files.. that options was greyed out trying to go from 1607 to 1909.. directly but when i tried to go from 1809 to 1909 it was successful.
I used rufus to download each iso.
The “upgrade” to current version of windows 7 worked for me as well. I was able to then go to 10 without issues. Thanks!
I’ve been to so many tech websites looking for a solution for this problem all to no avail and and was about to gove up upgrading and sticking with Win 7 and then the gods shined on me and i clicked on your site and hey presto, it works!!! so simple yet brilliant…
Your awesome, thank you thank you thank you 😀
I don’t have a Windows 7 disk. The computer came with the repair / reinstall on a partition… What does one do then
Hi, where would I get the installation media for windows 7 home premium (mine came pre-loaded into my computer) and how would I begin the upgrade process?
Hola, excelente ayuda amigo, me resolviste el problema que tenÃa, ya actualicé sin necesidad de reinstalar todo. También habÃa probado todas las opciones que mencionas sin poder resolver el problema.
Un saludo desde Santiago de Chile.
Hey there,
Thanks to all for the replies! Glad this has been helpful.
To those of you needing Windows 7 installation media, check this out:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7
I’m glad to confirm that this works!!!
Many Greetings from Germany.
The one and only solution. 🙂
I have had the same problem everyone posting here has had in getting Windows 10 to upgrade to my Windows 7 pc. After spending a couple of days Googling various fixes that were supposed to work but didn’t…I was about to give up and do a clean install when I stumbled quite fortuitously on this site.
I followed you instructions to the letter and the upgrade was SUCCESSFUL!!
Thank you so much!!!!
I had the same “0x8007001F – 0x20006” upgrade error on an HP laptop I was trying to upgrade from Win 7 to 10. Unfortunately Windows 7 was pre-installed and I had no Windows 7 disk. So without a 25 character activation key I was unable to download an iso image for Windows 10 from Microsoft.
But there was a recovery partition in the hard drive. I had to use that with HP’s Recovery Manager tool to restore the laptop to factory settings, losing all the user’s data and installed programs in the process. Then the upgrade to Windows 10 worked via Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool. Finally I had to reinstall all the programs, printers, etc. So it took a long time but the laptop was upgraded to Win 10 in the end!
Have just started this process and am firmly believing it will fix my issue.
Just wanted to note that if the Windows COA sticker has been scuffed or torn and made illegible, you have the alternative of looking up the activation key in the registry itself. I use “produkey” from nirsoft (www.nirsoft.net) to extract it but there are others – Magic Jellybean is another 3rd party tool, and Microsoft published one called (imaginatively, I thought) Product Key Finder although the copy I have is more than 10 years old and they have a habit of withdrawing some of their downloadable software.
And as a side note, if you have a box from one of the big OEMs like HP, Dell, Asus etc, then the key that you extract probably doesn’t match the one on the box. Don’t be concerned – manufacturers use a universal key so they can replicate thousands of identical disk images without having to type individual keys in.
? Sadly, this ain’t working for me after all. The Win7 upgrade completes step 1 (Copying Windows files) within a few minutes, but then gets stuck at step 2 (Gathering files, settings, and programs) (0%) and the “dot dot dot” pulses back and forth while Windows Task Manager says “Setup” is running at 49% CPU. I’ve left it for hours and hours and restarted it in various configurations (MSCONFIG clean boot, turned off Avast core shields) but nothing ever transpires.
Done a Seagate Seatools long disk test and chkdsk c: /f /r and all results are clear. sfc /scannow comes back no fault found. DISM gave a long complicated result I don’t understand so there might be something there but how to fix that? Work through hundreds of lines of an error report and fix each Registry error individually?
Looks like it’s a complete reinstall. Dammit.
Hey Christopher,
The only times I’ve seen those symptoms are when some sort of low-level problem exists on the software side, such as a problematic driver or possibly even malware, or when the client has been using registry cleaning utilities on a regular basis (which caused sustained damage to the system that usually can’t be completely fixed).
Regardless of the cause, it would be interesting to dig through resource monitor to see what particular storage related items are being accessed at the time of the hang. That may provide the clues necessary to fix the problem.
Hope this helps.
Steve
I’d also absolutely uninstall Avast before starting the process by the way.
Thank you so much for this solution.
I have worked my way through many suggestions from other supposed fixes and none worked.
I was about to give up and do a fresh install when I came across this site.
I followed the instructions, including re-activating windows 7 after the upgrade install and then the upgrade to windows 10 worked!
Just a couple of tips that may help others:
your windows key can be retrieved before you proceed with anything from free software: https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html
The windows disc files can be downloaded using another free software:
https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/67-microsoft-windows-and-office-iso-download-tool?showall=1
The ISO file can be used to create a Bootable USB disc with:
https://rufus.ie/
All the above are free, legal software and have been invaluable in maintaining and upgrading computers for me.
Thank you so much !! I tried many things until I found your post and it worked just fine !
Just so you know: I am a professional IT guy and I have been trying to upgrade my PC for several years. I tried everything, including all things MS and other parties advise. Nothing worked, every time different errors occurred. I had alreay given it all up. Until I found this page.
I did everything as instructed and it almost worked out of the box. After the upgrade to Win10 my PC kept on running into Blue Screens of Death with a restart after that. I once interrupted it and had it start in safe mode with network. After I had done that it booted right up into Win10. Zero problems after that.
Kudos to you guys!
Unfortunately I don’t have original windows 7 media. I tried to download ISO using one of the links given above, entered my product key, to be told that version I have was installed by manufacturer and I should contact them…. Agh…..
Even i have the getting same error when i am trying to upgrade windows10. After a long search found this blog to upgrade to Window10 and when i tried to download the image copy of windows 7 through os recovery tool since windows 7 is pre installed by manufacturer i am getting error “No OS images defined for the product”. i lost the hope of upgrading to windows 10. can someone help me to rectify this problem
Solution https://triplescomputers.com/blog/uncategorized/solution-windows-10-upgrade-failure-0x8007001f-0x20006/#comment-12194 is only one that worked for me.
Thanks!
Hello Steve !
Your solution worked for me. The same error occurred on win server 2016 standard when tried to upgrade to win server 2019 standard 1809.
Booted the OS with win server 2016 to upgrade to the same system and it worked. Then I have used win server 2019 standard 1809 and the upgrade worked.
Thanks
Unfortunately, in my case I am already running Windows 10 — and that error is the result of attempting a repair install (Win10 -> Win10), which until now was my go-to method for fixing problems with Windows 10.
High fives!!!!! Spent some time on another article with suggestions and this one just worked as it states. I had to download Windows 7 from a non M$ company as their product key validator stated I had to talk to manufacturer to be able to download iso from them for Windows 7. I’ll wrap it up, thank you for this post!
I managed to get it to work by upgrading to 1607 first, then went straight to 20H2. I did the first upgrade offline (not connected to the internet), then 20H2 online.
I did run Tweaking.com Windows repair beforehand too, to reset all the permissions and standard windows services etc just in case, as well as uninstalling any drivers it didn’t need to do the update (eg AMD graphics, Realtek audio, Wifi).
I also meet this problem when upgrade Win7->Win10(Use 21H2 iso file). However when I use Win7 SP1 disc do upgrade of Windows 7, the system says cannot upgrade because OS version is newer then Win7 SP1 disc.
Finally, I try Win10 1607 iso to do the same thing, it’s works!! Just want to say thank you, everyone.