If you have recently updated or made some changes to your Windows 10 PC and are now getting the following error message ‘The system registry contains invalid file paths. Installation cannot proceed. This system image was applied without guaranteeing that drive-letter assignments would match across computers.’ Follow along as we take you through several different troubleshooting steps to fix it. 

fix_The_system_registry_contains_invalid_file_paths_upgrade_error

How to check TikTok’s top songs of the week. Check top song on TikTok.

Windows 10 is well known for error messages that seem to pop up at the worst possible times, ruining otherwise seamless computing. Although most of these error messages are only trivial, there are times when an error message can be the absolute worst thing to happen to your day. 

Error message ‘The system registry contains invalid file paths. Installation cannot proceed. This system image was applied without guaranteeing that drive-letter assignments would match across computers.’ isn’t the absolute worst error message you may come across on Windows 10 but it can be horrible as it always wants to restart your PC, causing quite a lot of trouble if you are midway through something. Thankfully, there are a couple of things you can do to troubleshoot and hopefully fix this issue, so follow along as we guide you through the steps. 

Related: How to hide files safely and securely on Android using Google’s Safe Folder option.

How do you fix error ‘The system registry contains invalid file paths. Installation cannot proceed. This system image was applied without guaranteeing that drive-letter assignments would match across computers.’

One of the quickest and easiest ways to fix this error message is to Delete the drive letter of the System Reserved Partition. To do this press Windows key + R to bring up the Run tool, then type or copy and paste diskmgmt.msc into the text box and press Enter. 

This will bring up the Disk Management tool where you will need to right-click on the System Reserved partition in the lower pane and select Change Drive Letter and Paths. Next, in the new area click Remove then close the Disk Management window and Restart your computer. When your system restarts, retry the update and see it finishes properly. If it doesn’t you can try the following. 

How_to_fix_The_system_registry_contains_invalid_file_paths_upgrade_

You may have to delete some entries in System Variables.

If the above steps didn’t help, you can try deleting some entries within System Variables. To do this open the Run tool by pressing Windows Key + R, then type Control System into the text box and press Enter. In the new window that appears click Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables. Now under System Variables click Path and delete every entry except entries with the following path:

C:\Windows\system32
C:\Windows\Powershell

Once you have done this, Restart your computer and you should be good to go. 

How_to_fix_The_system_registry_contains_invalid_file_paths_upgrade_error_fix

On a side note…

If you are also a Facebook account holder and use the service for a variety of different reasons, you’ll probably want to check out the following article which investigates the Facebook Off-Facebook Activity log. A setting within Facebook that allows you to delete or customise the way Facebook shares your information between apps, services, and businesses. 

How to delete your Off-Facebook Activity. (Information shared between Facebook and businesses)