Windows 11 is officially available for the general public now. To upgrade to the Windows 10 successor i.e., Windows 11, Microsoft has released Windows 11 Installation Assistant. It enables you to upgrade your PC from Windows 10 to Windows 11 without any hassle. However, some users have experienced error code 0x8007007f along with the “Something went wrong” error message. It prevents you from successfully installing Windows 11. If you are one of those encountering the same error, this post will help you. Here, we are going to discuss multiple fixes that will enable you to resolve this error.
What causes error 0x8007007f when using Windows 11 Installation Assistant?
Before discussing the fixes to resolve this error, let us try to understand the causes and scenarios that may trigger this error. Here are some of the possible causes of this error:
Insufficient administrator permissions to run Windows 11 Installation Assistant may cause this error. In that case, running the installation assistant as an administrator will help you fix the error.If you are using any third-party antivirus, it might be interfering with the upgrade process and hence, causing this error. So, try disabling or uninstalling the non-Microsoft antivirus software to fix the issue.Outdated GPU drivers can be another reason for the error. If the scenario applies to you, update all your graphics drivers to fix the error.Insufficient storage or disk space can also cause the upgrade process to fail with this error code. So, make sure you have enough disk space to perform the upgrade process. If not, free up some space to resolve the error.In case there are corrupted or damaged system files, you might receive this error code. If this scenario is applicable to you, run an SFC scan followed by a DISM scan to counter the error.
Now, let us check out the solutions to fix the error in detail.
Fix Error 0x8007007f when using Windows 11 Installation Assistant
Here are the methods that you can use to fix the error code 0x8007007f encountered when using Windows 11 Installation Assistant:
1] Disable Third-party Antivirus and relaunch Windows 11 Installation Assistant as an Administrator
The first thing you should try to fix this error is to disable your third-party antivirus in case you are using one. It is a known fact that antivirus interferes with the upgrade/ update process and can result in many errors. So, turn off the antivirus protection for some time until the upgrade process is completed. After that, when relaunching Windows 11 Installation Assistant, make sure you run it as an administrator. For that, go to the desktop or location where the Windows 11 Installation Assistant program is located. Then, right-click on the program, and from the context menu, select the Run as administrator option. Click on Yes on the prompted UAC dialog box and then use Windows 11 Installation Assistant. See if this fixes up the issue for you. If not, you will need to try some additional troubleshooting methods. So, move on to the next potential fix.
2] Enable User Account Control
You might need to enable User Account Control (UAC) in case running Windows 11 Installation Assistant as an admin didn’t work for you. UAC is a great security feature. However, you can try enabling it in case the above solution didn’t work and see if the error is fixed. To turn on User Account Control, here are the steps you can try: You can try using Windows 11 Installation Assistant and check if the error is fixed.
3] Free up some Space on System Partition
As we discussed earlier in this post, the error might be a result of insufficient disk space on your system required to perform an upgrade. Windows 11 Installation Assistant will download Windows 11 on your system drive and on the same partition. So, if you are running low on disk space, you might encounter the error 0x8007007f. Therefore, make sure that you have enough disk space to install Windows 11; it is recommended to have at least 100 GB free to ensure that you don’t get this error. You can free up some disk space by using the Disk Cleanup Utility. There are some other ways to clean up or free up disk space. You can also use free software like Comet (Managed Disk Cleanup) or Cleanmgr+ to clean up disk space. Additionally, delete duplicate files from your PC to clean up some needed space. If this scenario doesn’t apply to you, move on to the next fix to resolve the error.
4] Update your Graphics Drivers
If you have out-of-date drivers, you might end up receiving this error code when using Windows 11 Installation Assistant. It is never a good idea to not update your drivers regularly. Faulty and old drivers can cause a lot of issues including errors during the upgrade or update process. So, update all your graphics drivers and then see if the issue is fixed. To update your graphics drivers, you can open the Settings app by pressing the Windows + I hotkey, and then go to Windows Update and click on the Advanced options button. After that, under the Additional options section, tap on the Optional updates option. Next, you need to select all the updates related to your graphics drivers and install them all on your PC. You can also start afresh by uninstalling your graphics driver and then downloading the latest version from the official website of the manufacturer like Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD. Download and then install the most recent version of your graphics drivers. See if updating your GPU drivers fixes up the issue for you. Read: Fix Windows Upgrade Assistant Error 0xC1900200
5] Perform SFC Scan and DISM Scan
This error might be a result of corrupted and faulty system files. In this case, you can counter the error by running an SFC scan on your Windows 10 installation. SFC or System File Checker is a useful Windows utility that verifies and repairs damaged system files as well as restores the missing files. Additionally, you can also perform a DISM or Deployment Image Servicing and Management scan to fix any other corruptions.
6] Use Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) file from Microsoft to upgrade to Windows 11
If you are still unable to install Windows 11 using the installation assistant, an alternative to that is to use Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) file to upgrade to Windows 11. Microsoft now provides an official ISO file that you can download and then use for installing Windows 11 on your system. TIP: You can create Windows 11 bootable installation media using Media Creation Tool.
How do I fix error 0x8007007f?
To fix error 0x8007007f that occurred when installing Windows updates, you can first try restarting your PC and attempting to install the updates again. If that doesn’t fix up the issue, you can try disabling your antivirus or try performing system restore to the point when your PC was in a fine working state. Other than that, you can also attempt to perform an SFC scan to validate and repair corrupted system files and other corruptions on your PC.
How do I fix a Windows installation error?
In order to fix a WIndows installation error, here are some general fixes that will help in most cases:
Remove any non-essential hardware devices like headphones, printers, scanners speakers, USB flash drives, and external hard drives.Try running the updates a few times and see if the error is gone.Disable or uninstall any third-party antivirus software as antiviruses are known to cause problems during the update or upgrade process.Free up some disk space to make sure that you have enough space to carry the upgrade process.Uninstalling old or non-essential software may also help you fix an installation error.
That’s it!