How to Fix the "Windows Cannot Complete the Installation" Error

Setup cannot continue. To install Windows on this computer, restart the setup process.

"Windows couldn't complete the installation."

If you're getting constant “Windows cannot be installed” errors and your system is stuck in a reboot loop, you might be trying to install the Windows 7/Windows 10 x64 operating system, or you interrupted a fresh Windows installation before creating user accounts. Don't worry, you're not alone. On this page, we provide you with three simple solutions that have been effectively tested by real users.

1. Automatic Repair

If that doesn't fix the installation, let Windows' automated troubleshooting handle it intelligently.

Step 1: Turn your computer on and off three times. Step 2: On the third boot, you should see a message saying “Preparing Automatic Repair” and be taken to the “Advanced Recovery” environment. Step 3: Click “Advanced options.” Step 4: Click “Troubleshoot.”

Step 5: Click on "Reset this PC" Step 6: Click on "Keep my files" and then click "Cancel," since you don't actually want to reset your computer Step 7: Choose your account, enter your password, and finally click "Continue" Step 8: Click on "Reset"

More than 60% of the victims managed to fix the “Windows couldn't complete the installation” error and successfully finished the setup by running Automatic Repair. Some got stuck in another issue, the Windows Automatic Repair loop, but this linked post eventually helped them troubleshoot the problem.

How to Fix Windows 11 Update Stuck at 100% | Full Guide

When upgrading to Windows 11, the Windows 11 update download process might get stuck at 100%. Luckily, in this guide, you'll find efficient and quick ways to resolve the Windows 11 update stuck at 100% error.

Fix 2. Shift + F10 Fix

As we explained in the second paragraph, an incomplete Windows installation can be the result of interrupting the Windows setup before creating user accounts. Therefore, you need to run the User Account Wizard to resolve this issue.

Step 1: On the error screen, press Shift + F10 to open the Command Prompt. Step 2: Type the command "cd %windir%\system32\oobe\" (without quotes) and press Enter. Step 3: Next, type "msoobe" and press Enter. Step 4: Follow the User Account Wizard that appears to create an account and set a secure password. Step 5: Restart your computer.

Figure 2: Cannot complete the installation when using the Account Creation Wizard

If there are files on the disk you are trying to recover, they might get lost after changing the user account. Download free data recovery software and try to recover them immediately.

Fix 3. System Transfer

If you have system backups, this is much easier – you can try restoring to a previous version of Windows without going through a full new install. Unfortunately, most people don't have backups. In that case, you have two options.

1. Go to a working computer, download the official Windows 10 ISO, create bootable installation media, and do a clean install from scratch.

2. Create a system image on a working computer, and transfer it to the one that won't install.

Now, we recommend you to choose an easier way – download a Todo Backup tool to transfer the system to different hardware.

Step 1: Create the emergency disk on a working computer

To save your time and efforts, we recommend using the Todo Backup tool to create an Emergency Disk on a healthy computer to USB or external HDD.

<b>1</b>. Connect a blank USB flash drive or external hard drive with over 100 GB of space to your computer.<br> <b>2</b>. Launch Todo Backup, and click “Tools” > “Create Emergency Disk.”

3. Choose USB as the location to create the emergency disk. You can use this disk to boot your computer when it won't start up or to restore the system on a new computer with different hardware.
4. Click "Create."

Step 2: Create a Windows system image backup that can be used for a restore on another machine

< b > 1 < / b > . Run the Todo Backup tool on a healthy computer and click "OS" on the home screen to back up your system. < br > < b > 2 < / b > . Choose the Windows operating system and set the USB flash drive with the rescue disk as the destination disk to save the system image. < br > If you're worried about losing data by saving the system image to the rescue disk, you can also save the system backup to an external hard drive with more than 100 GB of free space.

This will help you create a complete backup of your entire Windows system, along with all programs and apps installed on the C drive, to the device of your choice.

3. Click Backup Now to start creating the system backup image to the target device.

Step 3: Boot from the Todo Backup Emergency Disk on incompatible hardware/computer

1. Connect the USB flash drive or external hard drive with the emergency boot disk and system backup image to the new computer.
2. Restart the computer and press F2/F8 to enter BIOS settings. 3. Modify the boot device settings to start the computer from the Todo Backup emergency boot disk. After that, you will see the main interface of the Todo Backup tool.

Step 4: Move the system to different hardware or a new computer and recover it

In the Todo Backup main interface, click Tools > System Migration.

2. Select the system image on your hard drive, then click “OK” to proceed.

3. Click “Start Transfer” to migrate the system and programs installed on the C drive to the new computer.

Step 5: Boot the computer using the transferred system
1. In the BIOS, change the boot order to start the computer from the drive containing the migrated system.
2. Save the changes and restart the computer.
3. Update all drivers and programs to ensure that everything functions properly on the new computer.

With the System Transfer, you shouldn't get the “Windows Setup was unable to complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the installation” error after restarting your PC. You might be asked to enter your own product key to activate Windows.