[Bug]:Windows 10 to Windows 11 in-place upgrade fails during SAFE_OS boot with error `0xC1900101-0x20017`

[ejgutierrez74]

Version

7.2.14

Host OS Type

Linux

Host OS name + version

Ubuntu 26.04

Host Architecture

x86

Guest OS Type

Windows

Guest Architecture

ARM

Guest OS name + version

Windows 10 Pro 22H2, Build 19045

Component

Other

What happened?

A Windows 10 Pro 22H2 guest fails during an in-place upgrade to Windows 11.

The existing Windows 10 installation is stable and boots normally before starting the upgrade. The virtual machine meets the main Windows 11 requirements.

Host configuration

• Host OS: Ubuntu 26.04
• Host CPU: Intel Core i5-14600K
• Host architecture: x86_64
• Intel VT-x enabled
• Nested Paging enabled

Guest configuration

• Guest OS: Windows 10 Pro 22H2, Build 19045
• Guest architecture: x86_64
• 16 GB RAM
• 8 virtual CPUs
• UEFI enabled
• Secure Boot enabled
• Virtual TPM 2.0 enabled
• Graphics controller: VBoxSVGA
• Video memory: 128 MB
• 3D acceleration disabled
• VirtualBox paravirtualization provider: Hyper-V
• VirtualBox Guest Additions installed

Windows reports the following inside the guest:

• msinfo32: BIOS Mode = UEFI
• msinfo32: Secure Boot State = On
• tpm.msc: TPM 2.0 is ready for use

The Windows 11 installation starts normally from inside Windows 10.

The installer completes the initial preparation phase and reboots the virtual machine. During the first reboot into the temporary/new Windows installation, the new operating system fails to complete boot.

Windows Setup then automatically rolls back to Windows 10 and reports:

0xC1900101 - 0x20017

The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during the BOOT operation.

The rollback log confirms a post-reboot installation failure:

SetupHost: Reporting post reboot event -> [0xC1900101, 0x20017]

It also contains:

PostRebootInstall ... [Failed] ... [0xc1900101][0x20017]

The temporary Windows installation appears to be created correctly, but its first boot is unsuccessful.

The boot statistics indicate that the new operating system boot was attempted, but did not complete successfully:

LastBootSucceeded: 0

No useful bugcheck or crash dump was generated. The rollback logs contain messages such as:

No crash detected.

Valid Dump/Signature not found.

No crash dump files found.

The SetupDiag process later times out with:

0x800705B4

The corresponding log entry is:

CSetupHost::ExecuteDiagnosticAnalysis(1911): Result = 0x800705B4

This appears to be a secondary diagnostic timeout after the actual SAFE_OS boot failure, rather than the original cause.

The rollback completes successfully, restores the original Windows 10 installation, and Windows 10 continues to boot normally.

Expected behavior

The Windows 10 to Windows 11 in-place upgrade should complete successfully on a virtual machine that meets the Windows 11 requirements for:

• UEFI
• Secure Boot
• TPM 2.0
• RAM
• CPU
• Storage

If a VirtualBox device, driver, EFI implementation, virtual TPM component, or Guest Additions driver is incompatible with the Windows 11 SAFE_OS boot phase, the installer or VirtualBox should ideally provide a more specific error identifying the affected component.

How can we reproduce this?

1. Create or use a Windows 10 Pro 22H2 x64 VirtualBox guest.

2. Configure the virtual machine with:

   • EFI enabled
   • Secure Boot enabled
   • Virtual TPM 2.0 enabled
   • 16 GB RAM
   • 8 virtual CPUs
   • VBoxSVGA graphics controller
   • 128 MB video memory
   • 3D acceleration disabled
   • Nested Paging enabled
   • VirtualBox paravirtualization provider set to Hyper-V

3. Install the matching VirtualBox Guest Additions.

4. Boot Windows 10 and confirm:

   msinfo32:
   BIOS Mode: UEFI
   Secure Boot State: On
   

5. Open tpm.msc and confirm:

   TPM is ready for use
   Specification Version: 2.0
   

6. Mount an official Windows 11 ISO inside the Windows 10 guest.

7. Run:

   setup.exe

8. Select:

   Keep personal files and apps
   

9. Continue with the in-place upgrade.

10. Allow Windows Setup to prepare the installation and restart the virtual machine.

11. During the first reboot into the temporary/new Windows installation, the new operating system fails to complete startup.

12. Windows Setup automatically rolls back to Windows 10.

13. After rollback, Windows Setup reports:

0xC1900101 - 0x20017

The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during the BOOT operation.

14. The rollback logs contain:

SetupHost: Reporting post reboot event -> [0xC1900101, 0x20017]

and:

PostRebootInstall ... [Failed] ... [0xc1900101][0x20017]

15. Windows 10 is restored and boots normally again.

Troubleshooting already performed

The following checks and changes were already tested:

• Confirmed TPM 2.0 is enabled and ready

• Confirmed UEFI mode

• Confirmed Secure Boot is enabled

• Confirmed Windows 10 boots normally before the upgrade

• Confirmed sufficient RAM and virtual CPUs

• Disabled 3D acceleration

• Used VBoxSVGA

• Set video memory to 128 MB

• Ran:

  DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

• Ran:

  sfc /scannow

• Removed unnecessary USB devices and filters

• Disabled unnecessary virtual hardware

• Performed a clean boot

• Retried from an official Windows 11 ISO

• Retried without downloading Dynamic Updates during Setup

• Confirmed that rollback restores Windows 10 successfully

The rollback logs do not identify a specific .sys driver, bugcheck, or crash dump as the cause.

---

Additional observations

The problem occurs specifically during the first boot of the temporary/new Windows installation.

Windows Setup creates a temporary boot entry for the new operating system and later removes it during rollback.

The logs show that the new operating system boot was attempted but did not complete successfully:

BootLogInitCount: 1
BootLogOsLaunchCount: 1
LastBootSucceeded: 0

The rollback process reports that no crash dump is available:

No crash dump files found.

The SAFE_OS environment appears to load, but the new Windows installation does not complete its first startup.

Possible areas involved may include:

• VirtualBox virtual device drivers
• Guest Additions migration
• VBoxSVGA display driver migration
• EFI or Secure Boot interaction
• Virtual TPM interaction
• Temporary Windows Setup boot configuration
• VBS or Windows hypervisor settings enabled during the temporary Windows 11 boot

No specific VirtualBox driver is identified in the Windows Setup rollback logs.

Did you upload all of your necessary log files, screenshots, etc.?

• Yes, I've uploaded all pertinent files to this issue.

[AlexanderEichner]

How old is the VM? Maybe your VM doesn't has the new 2023 secure boot certificates installed. You can follow https://blogs.oracle.com/scoter/updating-secure-boot-keys-for-virtualbox-tpm-backed-virtual-machines to check and update the certificates.

[AlexanderEichner]

And a VBox.log of the VM during such a run could include more information.

[ejgutierrez74]

Its the same i got problems #790
The final reason was that hyper-v enabled in Guest Windows Machine, crashed with Internal or Hyper-V virtualized in virtualbox....
( i got the problem because i installed docker desktop with own hyper-v).

Im investigating this line