The Microsoft Answers forum is abuzz with a problem that seems to affect many people trying to update from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. It's a show-stopper that throws up two Blue Screens when the Win 8.1 installer reboots. Microsoft has a couple of suggestions for recovering from the problem, but at this point it doesn't look like the solutions fix the problem. Further confounding the situation, the problem existed back in June, with the Windows 8.1 Preview Milestone, and apparently hasn't been fixed.

Martin Dixon posted the seminal question shortly after Microsoft released the Windows 8.1 bits. Here's how he describes his update:

I have downloaded the Windows 8.1 update from the store but cannot get it to install. Each time I try, I get to the point where it is "getting my devices ready", then the PC restarts to a blue screen with error message. It then tries to recover the installation, fails, then restores Windows 8. When the system boots up after this, I get a message saying: "Couldn't update to Windows 8.1 Sorry, we couldn't complete the update to Windows 8.1. We've restored your previous version of Windows to this PC. 0xC1900101 - 0x40017" There is no explanation as to why the update could be completed.

Microsoft Support Engineer Ravish Govind posted two different methods for trying to work around the problem: Unplug external devices and try again; and update all drivers. Neither approach worked, for any of the people posting on the Answers forum.

Suspicions have turned to graphics drivers, but nobody's figured out the source of the problem, much less its cure. Parris at EpicReviewsTech posted a video explaining how to recover from the problem in Windows 8.1 Preview Milestone -- but he didn't find a fix, and the bug manifests itself differently with the Windows 8.1 RTM online update.

If you're encountering BSODs with 0xC1900101 - 0x40017, it would be a very good idea to hop over to the Answers forum and post details about your hardware configuration. Maybe Microsoft can find a solution.

This story, "Users hit by Blue Screen, 0xC1900101 - 0x40017 error with Windows 8.1 update," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.