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Thanks for a useful, informative, well-composed article!
My major gripes with Windows 10 are …

[*]Windows Update can hang totally … YES! … I will continue my story in the Thread “Thirty-day Win10 experiment lasts only a week” once a Misrosoft level 2 technician contacts me (I was away in the meantime)
[*]Windows 10 has no concept of separate SYSTEM and DATA partitions! Why Microsoft pack everything into one partition that just bloats until the drive is full and the operating system no longer works makes no sense to me. A clean concept would be to place your personal DATA in a totally separate partitiom that’s easy to backup, protect, move, expand, control growth, etc.
[*]Privacy issues – which you already highlighted. I’d be interested to hear what other users think of the tool “ShutUp10” from O&O (http://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10). I think their initiative is brave and bold and a dammned good idea. But it may have some issues … ?

Microsoft claims that Windows 10 is “the last version of Windows”. Too true! My last version was in August 2015 and there will never be another version, update or hotfix … because I’m caught in the rut that no one ever wants to land in: when Windows Update is rendered ***** and although it desperately tries every day to download and install the next updates, it fails with Error 0x8000ffff on each update hotfix as if this were an infinite loop. I’m not sure what caused it: yes, I did install the latest NVIDIA 355.82 driver with a download direct from NVIDIA when the friendly toast pop-up (err.. pop sideways) told me there’s a new driver available. This might have confused WU indefinitely … ad infinitum. I noticed that the last (ever) update proceeded unusually – it didn’t just restart my notebook, it restarted several times! That was probably a warning signal. OMG, what have I been through in the past 9 months with Windows 10 Insider Preview… months ago I thought I’d never recover when I needed about 16 restart attempts to get a newer Build installed – yet it came up, and I was positively impressed with the recoverability of Windows 10. This time I’m stumped. I don’t see a way to go back to a previous saved Windows state as Settings -> Recovery only suggests reinstalling Windows 10 with the choice of keeping my files or not. I’m saying to you – you don’t want (ever) to be caught in the rut I’ve landed in. Helpful suggestions welcome! (I may try contacting Microsoft Support, but I’d rather someone analyse what bit(s) in the Registry are blocking WU from working.)

UPDATE #1: Well, a keen and kind Microsoft Support technician is working on my notebook remotely since an hour or so. With reboots, retests, clean boot etc. This problem persists and he’s just as baffled as I am. The standard tools to “Fix Microsoft Update Service Issues” only cover Windows 8.1, 8, 7, Vista and XP. There is no tool for Windows 10 issues as yet! Next step: escalation to a level 2 service technician.

UPDATE #2: In the meantime I ran the dotnetfx_cleanup_tool: now all WU errors have flipped to Error 0x8024a206. (Previously I had also seen 0x80070643 and 0x8007007e.) 20 minutes past the appointed meeting time no one had contacted me… I called Microsoft Answer Desk and a kind person on the other end said he’d contact the supervisor of the level 2 technicians. That’s my karma for the meetings I turned up to late. Now it’s 65 minutes past the appointed time, and guess what … I’m going to bed. G’nite!

I was in the same situation with my old ASUS G73JW notebook. I chose:

1) replace the hard drive – delete all partitions in case it has been used – use the Windows 10 ISO to create new partitions (you’ll find that the System Reserved partition is slightly larger – 500 MB – but this is obviously what Windows 10 requires and you can’t change the size of the System Reserved partition afterwards).

2) clean install Windows 7 – install all official Win 7 drivers (this may be of advantage to the Win 10 upgrade … it might check the installed drivers and upgrade intelligently) – install all Windows Update hotfixes – upgrade to Win 7 SP1 – install all Windows/Microsoft Update hotfixes – activate Windows – optionally install Office – activate Office – use a tool, like AOMEI Backup, to backup the entire system to an external drive.

3) upgrade to Windows 10 – install all hotfixes – use a tool, like AOMEI Backup, to backup the entire system to an external drive

It takes ages, but in my opinion it’s worthwhile.

I think I also tried the route to perform a new installation direct from the Windows 10 Build 10240 ISO that was available at the end of the Windows Insider Preview test period that came with a valid license key. I suspect there’s no difference to the official Windows 10 Pro (also Build 10240) ISO, except being an upgrade there’s no key. I can’t say now what issues, if any, I had going this path – I stumbled on something and chose to go back to a Windows 7 clean install. Good luck!

Greetings … that’s a good title for this thread. I’m in a situation since three days that Windows Update continuously fails with “Error 0x8000ffff” and I’m frustrated as this is AN INFINITE LOOP I’m caught in. I did partake in the Windows Insider Preview and with some pain and effort finally got to build 10240 (Windows Pro). WU worked for me since last year. So why’s it failing stubbornly now? (Yes, I have made 3 reports in Windows Feedback under Windows Installation and Setup – Windows update.)

It may be due to my recent activity: I installed 8GadgetPack following a recommendation published in Germany’s leading computer magazine (c’t). I now have a clock displayed and the battery status that also conveniently shows the remaining time to run. Another tip led me to install the freeware O&O ShutUp10 (oo-software.com), an brilliantly thought-out way to block unwanted unsolicited communication back to Microsoft. I started with Version 1.0.1342, now upgraded to 1.0.1344. On sensing problems with WU, I reset all blocked settings to ‘factory-default’, i.e. as Microsoft had them initially. Keep in mind that it only switches settings that are in the API, i.e. any developper has access to these too.

Maybe these actions had nothing to do with the situation I’m in. Help in Internet only relates to Windows Vista and doesn’t apply to Windows 10 (the keys are nowhere in the registry): http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/windows-update-error-8000ffff

Is anybody else permanently stuck with the same Windows Update error 0x8000ffff ?

Thanks for your superb article, Woody. I’d like to add my comments on Windows 10. I think Microsoft is psychic … that comment “Take a break and relax” during installation tells me they know and feel the user’s frustration, but that’s the least of my concerns. I got to Build 10041 eventually. I was really worried at the end when the screen had just one plain colour after a reboot … and I powered off forecefully after some 15 minutes. Restarted … same again. Restarted, and lo and behold Windows Build 10041 came up.

The simplest of things cause me concern. E.g. click on “Search the Web and Windows” (why on earth would I want to do that? I know positively if I want to search the web or the hard drive … or have I misunderstood the meaning of Search Windows?) … and I see “I’m afraid I’m not available to help in your region”. Believe me, the computer I first touched in 1970 (PDP-8/e) didn’t give me such a stupid response. I never asked for help!!! I enter “ReleaseNotes” (knowing it’s on the desktop). It doesn’t find it. Ok, click ‘Learn More’ => up comes a web page ‘Windows Phone 8 Getting Started’? Hey, this is an ASUS notebook, not a Windows Phone. Ok, I click on ‘Close’ => up comes ‘Bing Image of the day’. WTF! I never asked for this! Bottom line: people exist in the world that want a computer to do exactly what they command it to do, and I positively dislike any attempt for Microsoft to try and think for me. In fact I disliked every attempt to make Word or Excel think for me – I am perfectly capable of correcting my own mistakes, thank you, and don’t need automatic anything. (I’ll calm down now

Now this is probably a minor point, but the “NVIDIA driver update for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M” consistently fails with Error 0x80070103. I disabled downloading from sources other than Microsoft.

Now my major complaint. I happen to live in a country where the local language is not English. During the Windows installation, I specified ENGLISH as my system language. Henceforth, I want my PC to speak ENGLISH to me … and no other language. I reside in Germany – why should Windows care? I talk English. So … I click on ‘ReleaseNotes’ on the desktop. That’s English … good! A web page comes up “Vielen Dank, dass Sie die Technical Preview heruntergeladen haben.” Excuse me, sir … didn’t I specify English? How many people do you suppose in Germany don’t use German as their preferred language?

It’s an extremely simple concept to ask “what language do you want a computer to use” and stick to it. I click on the list of Apps: Alarms, Battery level, Contact Support, Documents, Erste Schritte (GERMAN!), Finanzen (GERMAN!), Gesundheit & Fitness (GERMAN!), Insider Hub, Kamera (GERMAN!), Kochen & Genuss (GERMAN!), Leseliste (GERMAN!), Maps, Microsoft Treasure Hunt, Musik (GERMAN!), Nachichten (GERMAN!), OneDrive, OneNote, Optional Features, Photos, Pictures, Reader, Rechner (GERMAN!), Reisen (GERMAN!), Samsung Printer Experience, Scanner, Settings, Skype, Sound Recorder, Spiele (GERMAN!), Sport, Store. This complete jumbled up mess of two languages must be clearded up. I’ve implored Microsoft to send their Windows 10 Development Team (at least virtually) into a country whose language is not English – they need to scratch their heads and wonder what does ‘Kochen & Genuss’ mean. Even better if the foreign language is Chinese or Japanese. This kind of language confusion is unacceptable for me (and, yes, I am fluent in German).

I thank you for be being permitted to post this feedback, and look forward to future articles on Windows 10.