✔Fix: "What needs your attention" Error When Upgrading to Windows 11

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to fix the "What needs your attention" error when upgrading to Windows 11. After following all steps in this tutorial carefully, you'll be able to upgrade your current Windows to Windows 11 like me 👍

Brief Introduction

There are 2 different solutions in this tutorial. Thus, it might seem too long to you. Don't worry! Most users could solve their errors by just following the first method. I think you'll be able to fix yours thanks to it. So you probably won't need to read the rest of the content. 😉

Symptoms

When upgrade installation is at 35 percent or 85 percent, an error with a blank page and the description below occurs like. You can see the full error window above.

The following things need your attention to continue the installation and keep your Windows settings, personal files, and apps.

Windows 11 Installation Stuck at 35%.

Windows 11 Installation Stuck at 85%.

The fixing method for all the errors I have shown above is the same: to follow the solution steps in this tutorial.

Causes

The causes of this error might be incompatible devices, drivers, games, programs, or waste files that need to be deleted when programs are uninstalling.

Normally, Windows 11 Update tool needs to list all these causes in this error window, but it doesn't do that.🤣

Don't worry! Fortunately, I'm here. 😊

When upgrading my Windows 10 to Windows 11 Insider Preview, I've encountered the same error, too. By following the solution steps I've shared here, I've been able to solve this error. So, I promise you will solve your error. 🤞

Known Incompatible Programs and Devices

Here I will share all known programs and devices that are incompatible with Windows 11. Please share your program with us using the discussion form below to contribute to the development of this list. I've added the first program by my experience 😊

Programs

• TeamViewer
• VirtualBox
• VMware Player
• LDPlayer
• dnplayerext2 (A folder coming up with LDPlayer, but not deleted with it)
• BlueStacks
• NOX Player
• LinuxLive USB creator
• UxStyle

Solution

Before starting, disconnect any non-essential external hardware like Bluetooth receivers of Mouse and Keyboards, external hard drives, printers, scanners, etc. connected to your computer.

Then, if you have one of the programs, such as VirtualBox, VMware Player, BlueStacks, LDPlayer, Nox Player, or TeamViewer, listed under the Known Incompatible Programs and Devices title, uninstall them.

Now, try to install again by clicking the Refresh button on Windows 11 Update window.

If the error persists, you need to manually find the incompatible programs and files with Windows 11 in your current Windows.

I'll provide you 2 different methods to fix the error. Actually, they both do the same thing; however, according to our users' feedback, the most common problematic file is virtualbox.exe; we'll focus on this file first. Even if you don't have VirtualBox on your PC, most emulators like LDPlayer or different kinds of programs might use this file in the background.

Firstly, search for virtualbox.exe on your computer. If you could find it, you could determine the program name based on the parent directory. Then, uninstall the program and try to continue Windows 11 installation again.

METHOD 1: Removing Virtualbox.exe

1. Open This PC via File Explorer, type virtualbox.exe in the search box, then Enter to start searching. It might take five to ten minutes. Wait.
   

2. You might see some .png icons containing virtualbox.exe in their names. We're not interested in them. Just focus on the .exe file that I've marked in the image. I've also underlined the parent directory (dnplayerext2) of VirtualBox.exe with two red lines.
   

3. Right-click on VirtualBox.exe, then click Open file location.
   

4. You'll see the original VirtualBox.exe in the first mark. The second mark shows the parent directory of it. Click the up arrow icon that I've marked as 3rd, and go up to the container directory. In our case, it is Program Files.

1. In your case, the parent directory and the program may differ. For example, it might be BlueStacks instead of dnplayerext. If it is installed on your PC, you need to uninstall it first. If you don't know how to remove a program jump here.

2. Although you've uninstalled it, or it is not in the list of installed programs, like our case, this directory may still exist. That means this parent directory is a waste. Delete it manually.
   

3. Now, click the Refresh button on Windows 11 Update window and wait

4. If everything is OK, congratulations! 👏 Otherwise, you need to find the incompatible file or program manually by following the steps in the next method. Continue.

METHOD 2: Finding the Incompatible Program

1. Open Start Menu and type "File Explorer Options", then click on it in the search results.

2. Go to the View tab and check the Show hidden files, folders, or drives option under the Hidden files and folders settings. Then, click Apply.
   

3. Windows logs the incompatible programs and files in a hidden XML file in different folders in commonly C:** drive. Thus, in order to find and see these files, we've changed the **Hidden files and folders setting.

4. Now, open This PC via File Explorer, type *_APPRAISER_HumanReadable.xml in the search box, then Enter to start searching. It might take five to ten minutes. Wait.
   

5. Windows Search might found multiple files. It's ok. We'll examine all of them. Actually, if we'll find a problematic file or program in a log file, only removing it may fix our error, but I recommend checking all files one by one. Alternatively, after finding a problematic file or program, remove it. Then, try Windows 11 Update again by clicking the Refresh button. If the installation continues, you don't need to check other log files. You can follow this method one by one if you don't want to spend a lot of time on all log files. 😉
   

6. Right-click on the first file, then Open with > Notepad. If you have Notepad++ or VSCode, you also can open these log files via these apps. I prefer VSCode.

7. Press the CTRL + F combination on your keyboard to open the search bar on your editor (Notepad, Notepad++ or VSCode).

8. Type DT_ANY_FMC_BlockingApplication Value="TRUE"` and search. It means there is a problem with this file or program that the Value attribute is TRUE. Well! Where is the program or file?

9. Scroll down a bit and try to find the LowerCaseLongPathUnexpanded property with your eyes. This property is 28 lines below the property we just found, (DT_ANY_FMC_BlockingApplication). You'll see the location of the problematic file or program in the Value attribute of this property something like that: %programfiles%\ldplayerbox\virtualbox.exe
   

10. In my case, the problematic program was LDPlayer, as you can see above. Because there is a %programfiles% indicator at the beginning of the value, I understood that the ldplayerbox directory in the C:\Program Files directory. Moreover, I could see that it is a program.

11. I've uninstalled it by using Add or Remove Programs tool of Windows 10.
    

12. Then I've checked manually whether all files of LDPlayer have been removed to make sure that everything is OK. If your problematic files in Program Files directory like my case, and if the program is not necessary, I suggest you uninstall it for the best solution. Then go to the program's directory in Program Files, check whether it has been removed completely. If not, delete it manually. If you don't know how to uninstall a program, you'll find an uninstallation guide below.
    

13. I assume you have removed the problematic programs and files. Now, return Windows 11 Update window and click Refresh. Wait a minute even if you don't see any change in the window.
    

14. In my case, the error was fixed and I have been able to continue the installation as you can see below. If you see the same window, you can close it without waiting.
    

15. If the error persists, please make sure that you've found and removed all problematic programs in all log files that we've found by Windows Search.

16. The installation will continue on Windows Update tool. You can see the progress by opening the update tool again.
    

17. You don't need to do anything else. Just wait. When Windows 11 installation is finished, you'll see a notification like that:
    

18. Restart your PC. Then, welcome to Windows 11 😍 ✌

How to Uninstall a Program

1. Type "Add or Remove Programs" on Start Menu. Then click on it.

2. Type the program's name in the Search box under Apps & Features section. Then click on the program's name, and Uninstall.
   

3. It might ask for confirmation. Confirm the uninstallation.
   

4. Go to the program's directory in Program Files or Program Files (x86) depending on the architecture of your program.

5. Search for the program's directory. If the directory is there, delete it.
   

6. Done 👏

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we've been able to fix the "What needs your attention" with a blank page error when upgrading our current Windows to Windows 11.

If you've encountered any kind of difficulties or errors performing the solution steps in this tutorial, or upgrading to Windows 11, feel free to ask for help by using the discussion form below or creating a new post with the #questions tag.

Don't forget I'm here for you 👍