Upgrade blocked due to incompatible PC settings

Jul 6, 2020 15:31 GMT  ·  By

If you’re running Windows 10 version 1903 or 1909, you should technically be able to download and install the newly-released May 2020 Update, or version 2004, by simply checking for updates in Windows 10.

This is because Microsoft is rolling out the new feature update in stages, and the first to get it are users running the most recent Windows 10 versions.

But in some cases, upgrade blocks prevent even these users from getting the new update, and one such safeguard hold seems to concern incompatible PC settings.

While this is a rather vague problem, an error message that is displayed when trying to upgrade to Windows 10 version 2004 on the affected devices indicates that there’s a problem with some of the settings on the computer. In other words, should the upgrade proceed, one of the settings that you enabled on the device could end up causing problems on the computer.

“This PC can’t be upgraded to Windows 10. Your PC settings aren’t supported yet on this version of Windows 10. Microsoft is working to support your settings soon. No action is needed. Windows Update will offer this version of Windows 10 automatically when these settings are supported,” the error message reads.

As TechDows noticed, a Microsoft engineer confirmed the problem and provided a workaround that users could turn to in order to upgrade to the May 2020 Update: it all comes down to core isolation in Windows Defender – it’s a well-known fact that security software sometimes causes issues when trying to install new feature updates, but given Windows Defender is the native solution, the experience with it is generally more seamless.

So what the engineer suggests is update the hardware drivers and then disable Core Isolation from the following path:

Settings > Windows Security > Open Security Center > Device Security > Core Isolation While this works for some, it doesn’t for others, but the good news is that in many cases, the workaround is actually much simpler. All you may have to do is disconnect the computer from the Internet, as for some reason, the upgrade can be performed offline jus fine. Users on Microsoft’s TechNet forums confirm that the whole thing works correctly if an Internet connection is not available.

“I can hardly believe it, but it seems to do the trick. I let the windows update assistant finish the download, and when it started updating, I unplugged the ethernet cable. Update completed, windows restarting to finish the update now. So I guess the updater does some kind of query in an online database right before it starts, and this responds with a no go,” someone says on the forums.

Others explain that this trick didn’t work for them, and a simple scan for errors actually solved the whole thing.

Windows 10 May 2020 Update is rolling out in stages, and Microsoft typically puts upgrade blocks in place on devices where certain issues might be experienced. There’s a chance this is one of those upgrade blocks, so when a fix is available, the update to version 2004 should proceed correctly.

It goes without saying that Microsoft doesn’t recommend bypassing these blocks using other methods to install the May 2020 Update, such as the standalone ISO images, as users could end up hitting various problems on their computers. So yes, if you’re a beginner experiencing this error, it’s better not to force the update to Windows 10 version 2004 until you are allowed to complete the installation seamlessly with no error message whatsoever.