[howlie99]

I have been getting error 0x8007001f whenever I attempted to install the windows 10 anniversary update. I went through most post suggestions for fixing this error. What I found I have not seen posted before.

I have one of those Dells (XPS 8900) similar to Alienware which has the system on a SSD and a second conventional HHD for data.

This configuration, if unchanged, still places user data (such as Documents) on the smaller SSD. In order to have all user data put on the larger HHD I defined a soft symbolic link from the SSD to the HHD for the Users directory. This worked great until my computer attempted to install the anniversary update of windows 10. I kept getting the 0x800701f error no matter what I tried. That is, until I restored the original Users directory on the SSD. After that the update went through just fine.

After the update I relinked the Users directory and everything came up as before but with the windows update installed.

If you have linked the users directory as I did just unlink (see below) and the update should go through.

Notes:

The mklink command is used to define the symbolic link. It should be run from an administrator command prompt.
(mklink /d Users D:\Users)

Rename the original Users directory on C: before defining the link. If you did not then you will have to copy the Users directory from D: to C: after deleting the link, then delete and relink after the windows update.

To delete the link just do an "rmdir Users" from administrator command prompt while in directory C:\.

As far as I'm concerned this lack of ability to use a symbolic link is a bug in the windows installer. I wouldn't hold my breath until it is fixed, though.

The anniversary update is the only one which seems to choke on a symbolic link. Other updates before it went through ok.

[holdum333]

Very nice @howlie Good stuff! Welcome to the forum! That will be a big help for others! Lets hope Microsoft gets it all together soon! They have caused a lot of grief for users. Microsoft forced this on us and IMHO they weren't ready.
OH well it't free!