Windows 7: Install Windows 7 in safe mode

Originally posted in Build 7068 won't Install i thought i'd re-post details on how to install Windows 7 in safe mode.



Here's How:

Step 1, With the Windows 7 DVD in your DVD drive, press any key when promped @ 'Press any key to boot from CD / DVD...', as soon as the message is gone, quickly press F8 to show the boot options list. Select Safe Mode and install 7. It will allow the initial stages & file copying.

Step 2, When 7 restarts for the first time, press F8 and select 'safe mode'. A dialog box will appear stating that windows cannot continue in safe mode 'ok' to restart.

Step 3, press SHIFT+F10 to open the command prompt and direct youself to x:\windows\system32
then type CompMgmtLauncher (it takes a few seconds to load) you can then access device manager from this console.

Step 4, Select the offending hardware & choose to disable it. Close command window and click ok on the dialog box. Windows will use a standard driver (with less funtionality) when it restarts.

Once installation has finished & you actually have a screen up & running you should be able to install your original drivers.


Help this helps towards some of your installation issues


As soon as I have images, i'll post a complete tutorial

Jeff

That's exactly what happened to me yesterday, but the weird thing , I had windows7 beta 7000 on my PC before and it didn't show any incompatibility problems.Why would Windows7 RC does ??? and how can I know which hardware is causing this problem ( blue screen) ???
Thanks a lot

I am at x:\Windows\System32>

I can not load CompMgmtLauncher

I took a dir comp*.* and no such file was listed. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks!

Ira

x:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-c..utermanagerlauncher_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_8debc8b755a5bae3\CompMgmtLauncher.exe

Thanks.

(UPDATED Sunday 21 March)

I am trying to REPAIR my Windows 7 Home Premium 64 by reinstalling Windows 7 from the original UPGRADE disc provided by HP. (Computer was originally Vista 64 Home Premium)

I just tried AGAIN to install from SAFE MODE. Went to SAFE MODE fine (F8).

Clicked on RUN - e:\setup.exe

1. Upgrade DVD loads, and reports "SETUP IS COPYING FILES";
2. "SETUP IS STARTING";
3. The license statement appears (ACCEPT);
4. Select UPGRADE (to repair my Windows 7 and save all of my files);
5. "Checking compatibility" runs;
6. This time "Checking Compatibility" completed in about 10 minutes and reports
"Windows cannot be upgraded while running in safe mode. To upgrade, Windows needs to be restarted and running normally." (Last night, Checking Compatibility ran all night, and I rebooted). The ONLY choice is to CLOSE which returns to the SAFE MODE DESKTOP.

Where do I go from here?

THANKS!

------------------

I was able to disable my video driver (Nvidia 9100), and the "Install Windows - Checking Compatibility" window has now been running for almost 6 hours.

I am doing an upgrade re-install of my Windows 7 Home Premium 64 after I was unable to recover from the "white icons" problem, where explorer.exe kept crashing and restarting.

PRIOR to re-running the upgrade, I downloaded the latest Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from MS, and it found no problems with my system that needed fixing. All of my hardware and software were 7 compatible.

I uninstalled my security software, disabled my video drivers (running in generic VGA now), and unplugged all of my USB devices.

My computer is an 8 month old HP with a quad core AMD chipset, and 8 gigs of RAM. It originally had Vista Home Premium 64, and in October I received the free upgrade discs to 7. The original upgrade from Vista to 7 failed, and I had to do a clean install of 7. Windows 7 only ran OK for a short period of time, and then I started getting the white icons and the explorer.exe failures. I have repeatedly run both Malwarebytes and a-squared, and both reported a clean system. Immunet, ClamAV, and Trend Micro (all run separately, of course) found no malware.

I ran the system file checker SFC /SCANNOW several times, and it found no errors.

Despite all of these precautions, the "Install Windows - Checking Compatibility" window has now been running for almost 6 hours.

Other than doing another clean install (I did backup my critical data files), do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Ira

What do you mean on step 4: disable offending hardware? What do I disable?

Hi, Welcome to the forums

If you know what hardware is causing an issue with the install you can disable it to allow installation to complete. Then download & install the latest from Windows Update or off the Manufacturer website.

When you boot to SAFE MODE and after waiting for a few minutes at the "SETUP IS STARTING WINDOWS FOR THE FIRST TIME" screen, then you'll get the popup that states "WINDOWS CANNOT CONTINUE SETUP IN SAFE MODE, CLICK OK TO RESTART"

--> but, DO NOT restart, AND DO NOT click on the 'X' (close button) in the upper-right of the pop-up

--> instead, simply press SHIFT+F10 as Orbital Shark wrote -- that will bring up a COMMAND PROMPT after a few seconds.

--> From there you can enter COMPMGMTLAUNCHER

--> If you DO NOT know which driver is causing the problem AND you CANNOT see an obvious driver with a YELLOW TRIANGLE or EXCLAMATION POINT in Device Manager then try disabling any drivers and changing any services from automatic to disabled for any that you don't recognize or that seem VENDOR (software or hardware) specific. For instance, I disable my "LogMeIn Mirror Driver" and all my "Acronis True Image" drivers, in addition to setting any services related to them to disabled.

--> Also keep in mind that Video is always a huge culprit... I found some "unknown video device" under "other devices" in device manager. I disabled that as well. Be sure to disable any devices that show up as "unknown" or "other devices" either in a the OTHER DEVICES category in Device Manager or in some other category.

You will be able to re-enable these drivers and devices once Windows boots normally again and after you install all Windows Updates

i really need help! After we click "ok" and it restart do we need to go back into safe mode to start the computer?