BSOD 0x7B while updating Windows 10 Education "Inaccessible Boot Device"

[hrbuchanan]

I'm running VirtualBox 5.1.14 on Ubuntu 16.10 host. I originally had a working VM running Windows 10 Education (64-bit). It was on the Slow Track of Microsoft Insider, so it was updating to pre-release builds periodically. After one of these updates, the main program I use it for stopped working. I tried a bunch of things, but nothing I did could get the program to work again.

I decided to start fresh, with a brand new VM. I installed Windows 10 Education (64-bit), from our original media, Version 10.0, Build 10240.

However, now it BSODs every time I try to install the Feature Update to Windows 10, Version 1607. The Stop Code is 0x7b "Inaccessible boot device." I can't figure out for the life of me what might be causing this.

Any ideas where I should start looking? My previous VM updated past 1607 just fine, and I'm sure my VirtualBox settings are very similar if not identical to the ones I was using before.

[mpack]

As far as I know, stop code 0x7B can't happen with a fresh Windows install, so your description cannot be complete. 0x7B means that the Windows can't find the disk it was installed on, which can only happen if the disk "address" has been changed in some way after Windows was installed. A change of "address" would mean a move to different disk controller type, replacement of the hard drive or VM with a clone, etc.

[hrbuchanan]

The original installation went fine, Windows 10 Education 64-bit, build 10240. The problem I'm having is during the upgrade to Version 1607, which as you know acts like a full OS upgrade when you restart the computer. Once it gets to about 30% and has to restart, it comes back up with a BSOD and Stop Code 0x7B. Then it restarts again, rolls back the update, restarts again, and comes back up with the original Build 10240. I can go to Windows Update and have it try restarting and installing again, but the same thing happens every time.

I hope that clarifies things for you. I have no idea why the disk would stop being recognized halfway through an OS update like that, unless it was a driver issue, which I wouldn't exactly understand either, since this worked fine before.

It looks like we've obtained an ISO of Windows 10 Education that's from a more recent build, so I may just start again with that one and see if it helps. Until then, I'd love to know what might be causing this problem.

[socratis]

Windows 10 Anniversary Update (Win10 AU) has not been the smoothest of updates. Even in real computers. Just because a problem manifests itself in a Virtual Machine does not necessarily mean that is a virtualization problem. Here's a link with common Win10 AU problems. Warning, a lot of pages: http://www.windowscentral.com/windows10 ... ms-how-fix

[hrbuchanan]

Wow, good call, thanks for that! I totally forgot that 1607 was the Anniversary Update. I've been avoiding Windows ever since I took a Linux-centric sysadmin job last year. That link looks like it'll be really helpful, though I'll probably just end up installing the slipstreamed version and calling it a day.

Thanks!

[socratis]

I had the hardest of times updating my Win10 to Win10 AU. Thankfully I made a snapshot before hand. I had to revert several times throughout the fall/winter. Never worked. Finally, (and honestly I changed nothing, remember I was working from a snapshot) one day it simply worked. Why? No clue, but I do believe that MS addressed several of the glitches of the update.

[mhaelsig]

I had the same issue when upgrading my Windows 10 on VirtualBox to the 'Creators Update'. During this update, the Standard IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller will be replaced by some Intel IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller. After reboot, I then get the BSOD 0x7B. Therefore, before reboot, in the Device Manager, I have to revert this: replace the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller driver by the previous version, which is the 'Standard IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller'.