Some consumers trying to upgrade their computers to Windows 10 have run into a bug that is rendering their machines inoperative.
Instead of being able to use Microsoft’s new operating system, they get an error that says their computer has a “missing operating system.” Some also said their drives reported having nothing on them after the attempted upgrade.
Among those who experienced the bug was Randall Keith, the managing editor for Digital for Bay Area News Group, which publishes SiliconBeat. He ran into it while trying to upgrade his 3-year-old Asus ZenBook laptop, which was running Windows 7. Keith attempted the upgrade after getting a notification from Microsoft prompting him to do so and after using the company’s installer to see if his computer was compatible with the new software.
Instead of a smooth upgrade, he got what might be called the “black screen of death” with the ominous warning message his computer was now missing its operating system. Keith ended up taking his computer to the Microsoft Store in Palo Alto to try to diagnose and solve the problem. The only solutions offered to him were to send the computer off to try to recover the programs and data off the drive or to do a clean installation of Windows 10.
Since the computer wasn’t his primary one, Keith chose the latter, but then ran into a second problem — Microsoft no longer recognized that he had a license to use Windows, which he discovered while working with OneDrive when a prompt telling him to go to settings to activate Windows appeared on the screen.
Keith isn’t the only one to have the problem. On one Microsoft forum page devoted to the bug, some 25 people reported experiencing the same issue. On Windows 10 Forums, an independent discussion site, a separate thread had attracted more than three dozen posts from users experiencing similar problems.
“Upgrade was going very, very well, and after the installer got to around 89 percent, the computer rebooted,” a consumer identified as “jhuck5? wrote on the Microsoft forum page. “During the reboot, the BIOS screen appears with a black screen and ‘Missing Operating System.’”
A Microsoft representative declined to estimate how many users were affected by the problem or what types of computers it might be affecting. The representative suggested that those who encounter the bug should contact Microsoft’s customer support representatives.
“While the vast majority of our customers will be able to seamlessly upgrade, some app or device incompatibilities may exist and will decrease over time,” the company representative said.
Several of those who experienced the bug reported using Asus computers. Many also reported having laptops that use flash, or solid-state (SSD) drives.
Microsoft released Windows 10 last week. The software has been praised for addressing the shortcomings of Windows 8, but has been criticized for raising privacy and security concerns.
