Windows Upgrade Help and more

I'm trying to upgrade my Windows 10 PC to Windows 11, but I'm really nervous about my files. The upgrade assistant says my drive is compatible, but I keep getting error code 0xC1900101 right before it starts. My main worry is losing years of family photos and documents. What's the absolute safest way to do a full backup before I try this again? I don't trust just the built-in tool.

For absolute safety, I'd grab a big external hard drive and manually copy your entire Users folder over, especially the Documents and Pictures folders. That way you have a direct copy you can see and restore from if anything goes sideways.

Just tried this - works great!

Yeah, that method is definitely the safest route. One extra tip: before you start, temporarily disconnect any external drives to avoid potential confusion during the upgrade.

Can confirm. This happened to me. I ended up using the Media Creation Tool to make a fresh install USB, and that finally pushed the upgrade through without a hitch.

Yeah, You could also try running the Windows Update Troubleshooter first, as it can sometimes clear up that specific error. Hope that helps.

I had the same problem with that error. I backed everything up to an external drive first, which let me try the upgrade without that sick feeling about losing photos.

Thanks! I copied everything over, but now my external drive is saying it's full and I'm not sure if it got all my photos.

Following these steps fixed my issue as well.

Agreed. Yeah, that's the way to go. One extra tip: if you have a spare external drive, a quick manual backup of that photos folder right before starting adds a nice peace of mind.