I have a pretty modified image and as often happens with these modified installs I eventually had problems installing CUs. Yes, I also ran cleanup and rebase. My build was locked at 18362.53 and none of the typical fixes had any impact: SCF DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth <- even specifying the original source WIM in place upgrade install Everything would fail with the typical errors that point you right back to the above 'fixes'. On a hunch I decided to build a WIM specific to the 18362.53 which meant integrating KB4495666. Aside from the CU I included the other current updates (accidentally included 1909 enablement but I don't think that matters), I did not use the 'cleanup image' option. I then used the following command to repair my install: Dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /Source:WIM:C:\Install.wim:1 /limitaccess Using the same WIM file I did an in place install and allowed windows to get updates. Well I be damned, it worked. On reboot I am on 18363.356. Sure, a lot of annoying steps but some of us are kind of stubborn and like to fix things as is instead of reinstalling.
Installing over the top / repair install IS reinstalling, with programs and data migration. The non-migrated old OS data is saved to C:\Windows.old.
You are missing my point. Until I tried the above steps for the heck of it, attempting to install over the top would fail and revert, I was frozen at 18362.53 for months. Windows updates was also broken and manual CU installs always failed. The repair worked and now I have BOTH all of my apps and data as well as a working installs that accepts updates once again. Label it whatever you want, a broken install was fixed and I shared the steps (steps that I have never seen mentioned before).
I literally tried everything I managed to find googling...but nothing worked. I wasn't able to upgrade. Got stuck on 1709. Until... I used Microsoft's refreshtool to downgrade to 1607 (Anniversary Update). After that I upgraded to 1903 using a .iso I downloaded from Microsoft.