Task Host is stopping background tasks (\Microsoft\Windows\Plug and Play\Device Install Reboot required)

If you current macOS drive is external, then after a APFS format, install macOS High Sierra, and check if it keeps the APFS format. The Installer is 'hardwired' as Using the macOS High Sierra OS installer’s startosinstall tool to avoid APFS conversion | Der Flounder shows.

Also, Prepare for APFS in macOS High Sierra - Apple Support has

When you install macOS High Sierra on the Mac volume of a solid-state drive (SSD) or other all-flash storage device, that volume is automatically converted to APFS. Fusion Drives, traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), and non-Mac volumes aren't converted. You can't opt out of the transition to APFS.

Formatting an external disk in APFS also disables portability to any other system except High Sierra or later.

If you use TM for a full restore, and the TM backup is JHFS+, such restores erase/reformat the destination so your APFS disk was converted back to JHFS+. But, if you restore specific user accounts and/or files, the disk does not need to be erased/formatted. This is what I had suggested earlier.

I suggest a clean install of HS, instead of a TM system restore. You can restore user accounts and files from the TM backup, if you choose.

From How to use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support,

Restore everything from a Time Machine backup

To completely restore your Mac, use the “Restore from Time Machine Backup” utility in macOS Recovery. The disk you're restoring is erased before receiving the macOS and other contents of your Time Machine backup.

To copy just your files, settings, or user accounts, use Migration Assistant.

Try

1. Boot the Mac into Recovery Mode by holding down the Command and R keys until you see the macOS Utilities screen.
2. Open Disk utility.
3. Choose your boot volume.
4. Click on the Edit menu
5. Click on Convert to APFS
6. When prompted with “Would you like to convert <thenameofyourdrive> to APFS?” click on the Convert button.
7. When the process is finished, click on the Done button.

Two different problems,

• Boot ability from an external APFS disk, vs,
• Converting a non-OS disk from HFS to APFS.

The first is not supported (yet!), but should be later if Apple is pushing APFS across all. All external macOS boots still need HFS+. The other issue is HDDs cannot be APFS, based on the current design, so EFI supports APFS boot only from internal drives.

I installed HS on an external disk, because I did not want APFS on it, neither did I want APFS conversion on my internal Flash storage.

Good to see you, too Dick Richards. 🙂

The USBc standard uses 2.4G band which can cause RF interference issues. For example, see https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/io/universal-serial-bus/usb3-frequency-i nterference-paper.html .

There is anecdotal evidence to support the notion that plugging storage close to wifi cards (coupled with a myriad other unknowns) causes malfunctions.

Having said that, your specific error indicates that a new device was discovered and there is a need for Windows to reboot to support it. Does this happen more frequently if you dynamically plug/remove devices in your OWC hub?

Under About This Mac -> System Report -> Hardware, there is a Hardware UUID and a Model Identifier.

Mount the Time Capsule disk in Finder by clicking on it. You may need to provide a password to connect to the TC disk. Once connected, there should be a folder which is named the same as your 2013 MBP name. Right-click on it and choose 'Show Package Contents'. Look for a file called com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist. Check that com.apple.backupd.HostUUID matches the Hardware UUID and com.apple.backupd.ModelID matches the Model Identifier of your Mac.

If the configuration looks valid, enable Automatic Backups. On the Mac, in Applications -> Utilities -> Console logs, in the top right Search box, type backupd and search. Look for any error messages.

Your TM backup logs are what we should look at. Can you have a Console logs window up with the backupd search running as your back up is running and capture the messages otherwise the the logs can roll over.