Windows Setup could not configure Windows to run on computers hardware

Some users when installing a Feature Update or full install/re-install of Windows 11 or Windows 10 may receive the error Windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer’s hardware right after or during the “Completing installation” stage of the process. The installation process will not continue past the error. If you restart the computer, the install process will return at the same error with no further progress. In this post, we will provide the solution for both cases of when performing a feature update or installing Windows 11/10 and you encounter this error.

This error can be triggered by a number of reasons, such as corrupted update installation files (especially during a major update such as the Windows 11/10 Feature Updates), an unseen problem with the Windows Update services, a Windows activation error (if you’re installing Windows 11/10), an OS system file error, or even conflicts between existing software.

Windows Setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer’s hardware

If you were installing Windows 11/10 and the error occurred, you can try the following steps to resolve this issue:

Manually run msoobe.exe to finish the install
Change some BIOS settings
Stop overclocking your CPU
Check for and manually install problematic drivers

Let’s check out these steps in detail.

1] Manually run msoobe.exe to finish the install

A possible resolution to this issue is to manually run the msoobe.exe program (which ensures the Microsoft Windows version is activated and registered properly) to allow the install to complete.

Here’s how to manually run the msoobe.exe program:

While on the screen where the error appears, press Shift+F10 to bring up the command prompt.
Type or copy and paste the command below (replace the x place-holder with the actual drive letter where Windows is installed and hit Enter.

CD x:\windows\system32\oobe

Next, type the command below in succession and hit Enter.

msoobe

You may then be prompted to create an account name and password and set the time and date.

Click Finish when done

If this is a retail version of Windows 11/10, you may also be prompted to enter a product key for Windows 11/10. Enter the product key and click Finish.

The installation process should then be complete and allow the computer to boot into Windows.

2] Change some BIOS settings

There are certain settings in BIOS which work great for older versions of the Windows operating system but they display poor execution on Windows 11/10 and it can often cause this error to occur. In this case, do the following:

Restart your computer and press a specific key to boot into BIOS.
Locate the SATA option in BIOS. This item can be located under different tabs depending on different manufacturers, and usually, they can be the Advanced tab, Integrated Peripherals, etc.
When you locate it, change it to IDE, RAID, ATA or AHCI and save the change. Note that even if it’s not SATA that is originally there, you can still change it to something else.

Pro tip: ATA is the most reasonable option for the process of installing new updates or upgrading.

Remember to restore the settings to their original state after you have finished the process and successfully installed Windows 11/10 on your computer.

3] Stop overclocking your CPU

Overclocking is a process where you change the frequency and speed of your processor to a greater value and above the recommended factory settings. This can give your PC a significant speed advantage.

In this case, returning your CPU’s rate and frequency to its original state depends on which software you used to overclock in the first place.

4] Check for and manually install problematic drivers

You can check this by disconnecting or disabling various devices on your computer via Device Manager. After which you can restart the installation process and check to see when the error does not appear. If so, that device is causing problems.

Pro tip: It has been known that the hard disk drivers is usually the culprit here. So check that first.

You should see the following message when you choose the install option if you are really having problems with your drivers in the first place:

To continue installation, use the Load Driver option to install 32-bit and signed 64-bit drivers. Installing an unsigned 64-bit device driver is not supported and might result in an unusable windows installation.

This usually means that the driver for that specific device is not installing properly and you may need to load it manually. Here’s how:

Download the driver for the problematic device from the manufacturer’s website.
Save the driver to a USB flash drive or external hard drive.
Connect the device to the computer which you are installing Windows on.
Start the system installation, watch for Load Driver and click this option.
Once the driver is loaded, proceed with the installation of Windows.

The process should be completed successfully.

Now the solutions outlined above is for when you encounter ‘Windows Setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer’s hardware’ error during installation of Windows 11/10. If however, you encounter this error during a feature update, you can try the following solution.

Restart your PC and re-run the Windows Update
Run Windows Update Troubleshooter
Run the SFC/DISM scan
Install the Windows Update via Windows 10 Update Assistant or Media Creation Tool

Let’s delve into these steps.

1] Restart your PC and re-run the Windows Update

It could be some of the installation files that were downloaded earlier were corrupted or missing. Before you re-run Windows Update, go to this folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and move all the files to another folder or you can simply delete the Software Distribution folder.

Generally, after removing the files in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution, Windows will re-download whatever it must when you run Windows Update again. So, try this and if the issue isn’t resolved you can try the next solution.

2] Run Windows Update Troubleshooter

For whatever Windows 11/10 related problem you encounter, the very first thing you should do is to run the in-built Windows 11/10 Troubleshooter for that particular area the problem occurred. In this case, you should try to run the Windows Update troubleshooter and see if the issue is resolved.

3] Run the SFC/DISM scan

The SFC & DISM are tools to automatically scan and repair missing files or corrupted system files in the Windows 11/10 OS – and in some cases rebuild the system image. The procedure does not affect your personal files.

For the purposes of ease and convenience, you can run the scan using the procedure below.

Open Notepad – copy and paste the command below into the text editor.

@echo off
date /t & time /t
echo Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
echo ...
date /t & time /t
echo Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
echo ...
date /t & time /t
echo SFC /scannow
SFC /scannow
date /t & time /t
pause

Save the file with a name and append the .bat file extension – eg; SFC-DISM-scan.bat.

Repeatedly run the batch file with admin privilege (right-click the saved file and select Run as Administrator from the context menu) until it reports no errors – at which point you can now restart your PC and see if the ‘Windows Setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer’s hardware’ issue has been resolved when you try updating Windows 11/10.

4] Install the Windows Update via Windows 10 Update Assistant or Media Creation Tool

Windows Update can be installed via several other methods such as using the Update Assistant or Media Creation Tool. For major updates like the Windows 11/10 Feature Update, you can manually update to it using the two mentioned tools.

How do you fix Windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer’s hardware?

To fix Windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer’s hardware error; you need to check when you are getting this issue. If you get this error while installing Windows 11/10, you need to run msoobe.exe to finish the installation manually. You can also change the BIOS settings, stop overclocking your CPU, etc. However, if you get this error during a feature update, you need to restart the Windows Update process, run the Windows Update Troubleshooter, etc.

Why could Windows not complete the installation?

It entirely depends on which error you are getting. Different errors require different solutions, and you need to follow them one after one to get rid of this problem. However, you can try restarting the Windows Update service from the Services panel, use the Windows Update Troubleshooter, clear the Software Distribution folder, check your internet connection, etc.

Depending on how you encountered the ‘Windows Setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer’s hardware’ error, any of the above solution(s) should fix the issue.