Windows 10 install stuck on "What Needs Your Attention".

The easiest way to run Compatibility Check is to click on the Get Windows 10 app icon in task bar. Click on the 3-lined hamburger menu in the top left corner.

Under Getting the upgrade, click on Check your PC link. The scan hardly takes any time and will inform you if any apps or devices are not fully compatible with Windows 10.

To manually run the Check type CMD in Search box, right click result to Run as Admin, copy and paste the following and press Enter:

schtasks.exe /Run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser"

After about 15 minutes if you click on System Tray GWX icon you should get the full Compatibility Report. 

If confident your hardware is modern enough to meet  the Windows 10 Specifications  including unsupported feature deprecation, then you can bypass Get Windows 10 app in the System Tray to Install  Windows 10 using the media creation tool - Windows Help.  This is working to overcome almost all issues with GWX app in the System Tray.  

Install the tool, tick the checkbox in first option to automate the process, or select "For another PC" to create bootable flash media or download an ISO to burn to DVD with Windows Image Burner.  Now you have media for reinstalls or needed repairs.  But to run the Upgrade the media must be opened in Windows 7/8.1, then right click Setup file to Run as Administrator. 

 If asked do not insert a Product Key at any time, just click Skip or Next. 

If you want to really maximize chances for a successful Upgrade, then choose to Save Nothing so the Upgrade has much less to choke on.  Make sure your files are backed up separately and you have your program installers and any Product Keys for programs like Office

To improve the Upgrade's chances turn off everything at Startup:

In Windows 7, type msconfig in Start Search Box, uncheck everything on Startup and Services tabs, but only after ticking the box in Services to after “Hide all MS Services”. Then click Apply, restart PC when prompted.

In Windows 8.1, right click Task Bar to open Task Manager, disable everything in Startup Tab, Apply, Reboot.

Uninstall any anti-virus except Defender.  Bloated AV's like Norton, MacAfee, AVG and Avast need to have special Uninstallers (removal tools) for common antivirus software - ESET Knowledgebase.

Stick with built-in Defender in Windows 10 for best performance and adequate protection.  If you get infected add the inexpensive Real Time protection from the best-in-class free malware scanner Malwarebytes. No one I’ve had do this has ever been infected again.  I'd also periodically scan with Malwarebytes,  SUPERAntiSpyware or the more powerful AdwCleanerscanners, also best-in-class and free.

It’s highly recommended to Create a backup System Imageof your existing OS before upgrading, which can be recovered using the booted Windows installation media, Repair CDor Recovery flash drivein 20 minutes.   Type Backup in Start Search box, in Backup and Recovery Center choose Create a System Image.  You can also use a more flexible imaging program like free Macrium Imagingwhich allows recovery to any partition position on the hard drive.

Immediately after install, type Update in Start Search box to Check for Updates, expedite these through requested restart, then check again until no more are offered. 

Next right click Start button to open Device Manager, import any drivers still missing from the PC or Device's Support Downloads webpage.  How to: Install and Update drivers in Windows 10 - Microsoft Community

Feel free to ask back any questions and keep us posted on how it goes.

I don't need to run compatibility check.  Windows 10 wants to update and can't update until a new version is installed. However, the new version thinks I have Trendmicro Antivirus 2009 installed, and I don't.  It won't proceed until the software is manually uninstalled.  How do I uninstall software that isn't on the computer?

This is Stupid!

I have the same issue except my software is "Nero Burning ROM" and "DriveIMage7".  I have tried finding their files on my hard drive,,,tried looking for them in Windows and 3rd party uninstaller programs...tried refreshing the "What Needs Your Attention" windows....I have installed updated versions of both and uninstalled them... tried finding their names in the registry,,,but as far as I can tell these two pieces of software do not exist on my computer.  Only Windows Update thinks they are there.  Windows update does not offer to uninstall the programs and does not let me accept the risk of the (Non-existent) programs ceasing to work.  It just sits there stuck. Anyone have any ideas on what next to do?

I have the same issue except my software is "Nero Burning ROM" and "DriveIMage7".  I have tried finding their files on my hard drive,,,tried looking for them in Windows and 3rd party uninstaller programs...tried refreshing the "What Needs Your Attention" windows....I have installed updated versions of both and uninstalled them... tried finding their names in the registry,,,but as far as I can tell these two pieces of software do not exist on my computer.  Only Windows Update thinks they are there.  Windows update does not offer to uninstall the programs and does not let me accept the risk of the (Non-existent) programs ceasing to work.  It just sits there stuck. Anyone have any ideas on what next to do?

I have the same issue.  Nero Burning ROM needs to be manually installed, but isn't installed on the machine.  My helpdesk is inundated with computers having issues with Windows Updates, most of which render the machine completely unusable.  It's nuts! 

Hi all,

Apparently GWX checks for any instance of blacklisted files/programs, even if not installed, and logs the location of each offending file. You can find the log here:

• I checked the invisible folder: C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther
• In here, sort by date, and the file named along the lines of <RandomSymbols>_APPRAISER_HumanReadable.xml with the latest date/time will be a log file created for the upgrade.
• Right click, and edit to read. Do a search in here (ctrl+f) for: <Property Name="DT_ANY_FMC_BlockingApplication" Value="TRUE".
• If you cannot find that exact string, cycle through the search results for DT_ANY_FMC_BlockingApplication until you find one with the Value of "TRUE". This should be in the property list "Decision Maker".
• When you've found the TRUE value, just under this property list should be another section called "Property-List Type Inventory". In here should contain the file blocking your upgrade. In this case it should contain multiple references to WINZIP32.exe. Included in this inventory list should be a program path (In my case it was linked to a shared drive location, within which I could not remove winzip).

I found this solution by [louiscrawley] here.

This worked for me (and apparently a lot of other people). GWX found (uninstalled) 20 instances of Norton, Spyware Doctor, and DVD-RAM in my 11 year old backups. I deleted them, and GWX progressed fine... until it stalled on "Making sure you're ready to install... Please Wait" for 37 hours. I'm still waiting.

[edit: I found a workaround. I disabled all non-MS services and startup programs in msconfig. And then, instead of downloading the Win10 files directly to my computer, I downloaded them to a USB using the media creation tool and installed from the USB. I don't know why this worked.]

Good luck everyone.

P.S. If you get stuck on "checking for updates," you can try stopping windows update and renaming/deleting the Software Distribution folder. I also ran diskcleanup and deleted 12 GB(?!) of old update files, which sped it up.

P.P.S. And, yes, realtime protection is off, I/O=0, CPU=2%, so I'm not sure what's it's doing that could take so long.