Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant: Internal Error: Error retrieving the scan report

[German version]Currently many users are trying to upgrade an existing System to Windows 8 Pro – using the upgrade advisor. The advisor checks compatibility and downloads Windows 8 Pro update. A little odd: Some users are receiving an error message shortly after invoking the wizard, reporting "Internal Error: Error retrieving the scan report". I wrote this article to give some clue, how to fix probably this issue.

As mentioned above, the upgrade wizard reports an error "Internal Error: Error retrieving the scan report" after invoking (below is a German version of the window).

Because I haven't an upgrade version of Windows 8 Pro, I can't simulate this error. But I did some research and came to some hints – how to diagnose and fix the issue.

My first idea was, to ask people to publish log files. Some people already did it. First I searched in German websites, later I tried to do a search for English websites. After several attempt to translate the German error message, I found this thread [5]. One guy has published some logs.

2012-10-28 08:04:42, Error CONX [ConX::Compatibility::Wica::RunScanner] application scan returned an error – 1.[gle=0x00000715]
2012-10-28 08:04:42, Error CONX [ConX::Compatibility::Wica::StartScanInternal] [0x80070001] Failed at 859[gle=0x00000715]
2012-10-28 08:04:42, Error CONX ConX::Compatibility::CCompatibilityHost::SetScanResult: Compat scan from provider wsc:wica: failed. HRESULT = 0x80070001[gle=0x00000490]
2012-10-28 08:04:42, Error CONX An error occurred during the scan. HRESULT = 0x80070001.
2012-10-28 08:04:42, Error CONX ConX::Setup::Web::CWebSetupApp::ShowErrorMessage: Funci�n incorrecta.
[Error: 0x80070001.][gle=0x00000490]

And the error marked above in bold gle=0x00000715 brought me a bit further. It's possible, to inspect the log files setupact.log and setuperr.log. Here are parts of this logs from another user:

setupact.log:
…
2012-10-27 19:37:12, Info                  CONX   ConX::Setup::Web::COnlineStore::WaitForWebCallToComplete: Waiting …
2012-10-27 19:37:12, Info       [0x090009] PANTHR CBlackboard::Close: c:\users\greg\appdata\local\microsoft\websetup\panther\installinfo.
2012-10-27 19:37:12, Info                  CONX   Uninitializing compatibility provider wsc:setup:…
2012-10-27 19:37:12, Info                  CONX   Uninitializing

Although the lines are a bit cryptic, there was a hint (see log at [2]). I've used the information obtained to do a further search and came to the following hints to fix the issue.

• Remove all external devices from your system.
• If installed, remove Microsoft Office 2013 (Preview).
• Also remove software like
  – Tuning tools (Tuneup),
  – Internet security suites and anti virus software/firewalls,
  – Daemon tools
  etc. – in general my hints given at [b] (only in German) to prepare your old Windows system should be used.

If that doesn't fix the issue, there is another "tabula rasa" trick – if the log files mention panther: Just navigate to folder \Windows\Panther and delete or rename this folder (requires administrator rights). Windows stores some setup-data and results within this folder.

After restarting you can check, whether the compatibility wizard runs successful. If setup wizard fails with the same error, you should try a clean install (burn the iso install file to a DVD, boot from DVD and install – if activation will be refused afterward, you can use this trick – should work also for Windows 8). Maybe you need to use another computer, to successfully download the upgrade files and burn it to a DVD.

Similar articles (only in German):
a: Installations-FAQ & Diagnose … Part 1
b: Windows 8 Installations-FAQ & Setup-Troubleshooting … Part 2
c: Windows 8 Pro-Upgrade: Black Screen-Troubleshooter

Links:
1: Microsoft Forendiskussion (German)
2: Microsoft Forendiskussion (Englisch)
3: WinFuture-Forendiskussion
4: Windows 7 Ugrade trick
5: Microsoft forum discussion (Englisch)
6: Microsoft forum discussion (Englisch)