Proposed solutions for fixing Reserve Windows 10 problems

I’ve been bombarded in real life with reserve Windows 10 app problems and found out it’s not always as simple as looking for the icon on the right side of the taskbar. Some people with compatible PCs running genuine copies of Windows have run Windows Update only to have nothing new offered. Yet they still haven’t been notified by the Get Windows 10 app. So here are a few examples of what it took to get them that app.

Maybe you shouldn’t be in a wild hurry to be among the first to download and install the officially released Windows 10, just in case there’s still “several bugs” that need fixing. Nevertheless, if you are chomping at the bit and you don’t have the Windows icon to reserve Windows 10, here are some tips.

See also: Microsoft’s new privacy policy and Windows 10 troubleshooter to stop automatic updates

In the Windows 10 FAQs, Microsoft said for Windows 7 and 8.1 users to check your Windows Update history for KB3035583, as that update is required before you will get the option to “reserve.” If you don’t have it, then you can supposedly run Windows Update to obtain it. That’s not true, at least on several PCs that I saw in the last week. Microsoft did note that if that doesn’t work, or the “problem persists,” then to see the other solutions proposed on the Microsoft Community forum.

The first proposed solution is to copy code into Notepad and Save As (all file types) ReserveWin10.cmd. Then right-click on the Start button, select Command Prompt (Admin) and then type the exact path to the file you just saved. For example, if your default save path is Documents on C, then you would type in:

C:UsersYourUserNameDocumentsReserveWin10.cmd

Hit Enter.

That worked for one new laptop; the reserve Windows 10 option wasn’t showing, ran the code, ran check now for Windows Update, one appeared, she ran it and then the reserve option was there.

If you get stuck in an infinite loop after running ReserveWin10.cmd, then you don’t have the necessary prerequisite Windows Updates. “Besides requiring Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 Update,” you must also have installed: KB3035583 and KB2952664 for Windows 7 SP1; KB3035583 and KB2976978 for Windows 8.1. There are more suggested commands to be entered into Command Prompt that you can use to manually check if you have the required updates, but what I found to be true was that they don’t show as installed, yet Windows Update says there are no available updates…as in you are up to date with all patches.

That was the case for a different new PC running Windows 8.1, and three other laptops that weren’t brand new but were running Windows 8.1 and another running Windows 7. Although I would normally not recommend downloading a batch file on a shared site and just running it with elevated privileges, that is what worked for all of those, as well as a PC that had been running Windows 8 and was upgraded to 8.1 via the Update available in Microsoft’s store.

Regarding the batch file, according to Windows Community moderator Susan Bradley, who does not work for Microsoft, “Please note this tool is not officially from Microsoft [sic] is not sanctioned by them but it has been reviewed by me, is not malicious and certainly makes it easier to get the process done.”

If that is what you choose to do, then I suggest not trying to help someone over the phone if they can’t grasp how to right-click on a file and select “Run as Administrator.” If that’s true, then go in person, remote in, or duck to avoid people seeking you to act as their 24/7 tech support.

The fix is in a zipped file located on Dropbox; download, unzip (.exe) and extract “win10fix_full.bat” to your Desktop. Right-click and run as administrator; if you don’t, you will see this:

When running it with administrative privileges, you will see several screens such as:

Selecting 1 shows:

Although there are three “fixes,” two quick and one long, in every instance for which I tried this to “help” someone, it was option 2 for the win! For the many that I didn’t physically fix, I didn’t hear back that the problems persisted so one of the options worked for everyone that contacted me.

Another option is to manually search for a missing Update in the Microsoft Update Catalog. It requires using Internet Explorer and allowing ActiveX to install and run. The example given on Microsoft Community forum was regarding KB2976978, which Update was not offering. You can see that someone on Microsoft’s side last updated that file on June 4.

It’s odd that Microsoft points users to the answers in the Community forum instead of putting the how-to in the Windows 10 FAQs.

Since the Windows Update process, formerly Patch Tuesday, is anything BUT transparent – you don’t have advance notice of what security updates are coming down the tubes – there’s no telling what Microsoft will push through on Patch Tuesday to correct the “reserve” Windows 10 problem that so many people are having; in May 2014, the company had to reissue the botched patch, the patch that is vital if you want to upgrade, KB29119355. With updates to Windows 10, you won’t have a clue what is coming as the OS receives security and regular updates.