Updating to Win10 64-bit build 1803 on a 32gb emmc

[ninaholic37]

After about 4 days of messing around I finally managed to succeed updating from 1604 to 1803!

And still 16GB free after installing Palemoon and some Store apps (Facebook, Messenger and Instagram):

There was no way to acquire enough space to update to 1803 normally so I had to download the media center tool from here (18.2MB): https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10 (it's the 2nd option) and select the "Upgrade" option, which only needs 8GB free to work instead of ~25-30GB free
BUT
the tool takes up about 4GB before it actually downloads and sets everything up, so you pretty much need 12GB free before running it. I found doing these 3 things got me there:

- Run Disk Cleanup twice, the 2nd time selecting "System" (both times checkmarking everything)
- Go to Settings -> System -> Storage and click on the top bar that measures your space then scroll down to Temporary Files and make sure to delete Previous Windows Versions (it might not delete everything due to permission errors, but some is better than nothing and you can delete the rest after you're in 1803)
- Right-click on the Start Menu and select Command Prompt (Admin), then type powercfg -h off to get rid of the hibernation.sys file (this got me about 1.5GB more)

Good luck other 32gb emmc-ers that have an older build of Windows 10 64-bit on the laptop they purchased! This method took me the entire day from start to finish (maybe 11 hours?)

 

[VirtualLarry]

I had to factory-reset my Lenovo IdeaPad 110S, after installing Chrome, Firefox, and a few others, then after it reset to factory, I had to un-install McAfee, and some of the Lenovo stuff, and OneDrive, just to make enough room on C: for the upgrade. I also had to install a 32GB USB drive for extra room.

It took me overnight to get mine fixed up.

But it worked out pretty well. Now when I reset to factory, 1803 stays. I have around 10GB free on the eMMC. (Though, I should investigate if "Previous Windows" is still on there.)

 

[JackMDS]

If any "thingies" has a mini/micro USB.

One of these can be used - https://www.amazon.com/s?k=micro+us...+2+female,electronics,192&ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_25 (what is needed is Micro USB to Female USB-2)

To plug in a 32GB flash drive through the adapter. The Win 10 finds it and ask for permission to Temp use it for the upgrade.

 

[VirtualLarry]

To plug in a 32GB flash drive through the adapter. The Win 10 finds it and ask for permission to Temp use it for the upgrade.

And you would think that would be all you need, but the method I used required so many GB free on C colon besides the temp drive area too, which is why I had to factory reset and delete OEM pre-installed apps too, before it would go.

 

[mxnerd]

To plug in a 32GB flash drive through the adapter. The Win 10 finds it and ask for permission to Temp use it for the upgrade.

You have to do this before Windows 10 downloaded the upgrade files, I guess.

Last time I did this it has no effect, since upgraded files had been downloaded but still not enough space to install 1803 update.

I have to install 1803 upgrade from USB drive which was created by Windows 10 Media Creation Tools..

 

[balloonshark]

It should be against the law to install Windows 10 on a 32GB emcc drive. Especially a machine that has only 2GB RAM

Thanks for posting though. I may dig out my POS Dell laptop and give it another go.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It should be against the law to install Windows 10 on a 32GB emcc drive. Especially a machine that has only 2GB RAM

LOL, semi-agreed. At least in Europe, they have to be "fit for purpose", and if the pre-installed OS is a "service", that requires "upgrading" every six months, and it doesn't come with enough storage included to allow for those upgrades, I would think that the consumers could see a refund claim..

 

[vailr]

Another option: boot the machine from an external USB drive, such as a 2.5" SATA SSD connected via this SATA-USB adapter cable:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HJZJI84
A "Win-to-Go" bootable USB drive can be something very useful for general trouble-shooting multiple different machine configurations, as well as for "fresh" installing Windows on such a small 32Gb internal drive. For creating "Win-to-Go", use free software such as "AOMEI Partition Assistant 7.1" or "Rufus" + a Windows installation .iso file.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If my experiences, attempting to upgrade a Chinese "Compute Stick" with a Bay Trail Atom is any indication, you DO NOT want to "fresh" install Windows 10, using the installation media, on an Atom-based / SoC system. They require drivers, that are not easily / automatically / publically available, to function properly with all features (sound, wifi, etc.).

If you want to do a fresh install, PLEASE, copy the DriverStore directory under Windows to a USB flash drive FIRST. (That was one of the important steps to upgrading those Win8.1 tablets from Microcenter to Win10.)