Intel RST Stymies 1903 Upgrade
Sometimes, the Windows 10 upgrade installer blocks 1903 upgrade attempts. As reported in the Windows 10 Known Issues list on August 1, users running Intel RST version 15.1.0.1002 through 15.5.2.1053 will get a message from the Installer (see following graphic) that tells them to upgrade to version 15.5.2.1054 or newer (today’s current version is 17.5.1.1021, dated July 10, 2019 as I write this blog post). According to the MS remediation info, version 15.9.6.1044 is recommended for affected devices. But in certain cases, Intel RST stymies 1903 upgrade once the new driver is installed! Fortunately, there’s an easy fix should that happen.
Sometimes, this error recurs after an IRST driver update.
[Click image for full-sized view.]
If Intel RST Stymies 1903 Upgrade After Current Driver Installed, Do This!
Thanks to alert and savvy users on TenForums, I learned about this problem and its fix at the same time. As documented in the thread entitled “I updated RST drivers, still get the 1903 error,” user Rafaboss explains that deleting or renaming the old driver version named iastora.sys (he suggests iastora-old.sys) will let users take advantage of the “fix” button that the upgrade installer now presents for 1903 when something goes wrong on a previous install attempt. The target directory for this operation is the default Drivers directory (C:\Windows\System32\drivers). Other users correctly observe that you can use the Open Source DriverStore Explorer (RAPR.exe) tool to do the same thing. Either approach will do the trick, and allow the 1903 Upgrade Installer to proceed to a successful completion.
Thus, there’s no need to stay stymied, if Intel RST stymies 1903 upgrade on any of your PCs. ‘Nuff said!