Windows 7 - To slipstream my upcoming Repair Install (or not to slipstream . . .)

Hi,

I have experienced the SP1 install failure because not only had I been using Driver Sweeper, and Driver Cleaner.net before that. Even worse, I have switched between NVidia and ATI graphics cards two or three times, back and forth. Currently have an Nvidia card, so no ATI needed, other than chipset, etc. (AMD). I have known for a while that I had a bunch of ATI drivers I didn't need, cuz SFC always shrieked about certain of the ati & nv drivers/manifests.

Anyway, I have been getting ready to do a repair install, hoping that'll do the trick and lay down the files properly, but now since SP1 is out, is there any reason I should wait to install it after the upgrade, rather than what I'd like to do, i.e. run a slipstreamed version.

Anyway, any advice, welcomed.

PS: I don't worry about wanting to uninstall SP1 -- after having read the nonexistent RelNotes. (There are NO issues experienced apparently. That is so solid. Never happened when I was a tester at Redmond, so they must have set the bar quite high on admitting fixes, early in the release stage, and locked down the code. Good for them!

Hello cyclometric, welcome to Seven Forums!


It sounds as though you'd save yourself a bunch of issues if you did a clean install with a slipstream version; I would suggest, after you have copied out or made back-ups of the data you need to save to external media, use Step One of this tutorial at the link below to do a wipe (secure erase) to the entire Hard Disk Drive, running this "clean all" then using the outline in Step Two #2 to create/format and mark Active a single 100GB partition using diskpart will get you the best possible space to do a clean install of Windows 7 to; you can always extend the Windows partition to include the remaining unallocated space on the HDD / SSD or create additional partitions after the installation completes if you choose.


SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

Slipstream Windows 7 SP1 into a Installation DVD or ISO File


Be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

Thanks for that, and I will keep this post in mind when I finally go SSD, probably within the next couple of months. Actually, I could probably hold off on even doing the repair install, since nothing is really wrong, and short term, I can live without SP1. The geek in me did just want to run an in place repair install, to see how well it worked, and what settings it wipes, and how well it leaves other settings intact.

I actually imaged my C drive, and created a new partition at the end of the drive (it's a 1GB, which I previously had short-stroked to just 140GB for the system), but I couldn't for the life of me get the dual boot working properly -- in fact the boot was always complaining about one of the ATI files (I think it was ahcix64s.dll) not being signed. I figured I would run a repair install on that 'fake' copy of my system, and see how well it worked, good theory, but got too complicated. . .

So to wrap up my run-on post, I'm looking forward to getting a pair of 40-60GB SSD's and putting them in RAID0. Meanwhile, I'll make sure to image my system drive before any repair, thanks for the help!

Hello again Willy Bob, you're welcome and be sure to post back here to keep us informed.

It will be interesting to learn how an installation without SP1 reacts to a Repair Install with slipstreamed SP1. Please keep us posted.

I would uninstall the 3rd party driver programs as they are not useful with Windows 7, which is the ultimate authority on it's drivers. Use the drivers given by the installer and quickly updated via optional Windows Update. This is not XP - MS spent a fortune getting the drivers into the installer or via optional Updates.

I would also uninstall the ATI software package using Revo Uninstaller in Advanced mode as it is not needed unless you're running special settings for overclocking. Likewise Nvidia's smaller less intrusive software package - turn it off in Startup and disable in services.msc. http://www.guidingtech.com/457/revo-uninstaller/

It's possible with this cleaning that a Repair Install will be helpful, but many settings and drivers already unnecessarily installed can also be reimported by Repair, so it may be best in the long run to clean reinstall as suggested and this time don't change out any drivers unless performance dictates doing so.

Tips for getting a purrfect clean reinstall - use the ones which apply: re-install windows 7

What was the fail code when you tried to install? I upgraded from Vista and could not install SP1 because of file mismatches. I slipstreamed SP1 into my original Windows 7 Ultimate DVD obtained at a launch event and did a repair install. Here is my experience:

Windows 7 SP1 Install Fail 0x8007000e

However, my experience is not typical. Another person in the same thread did a repair install with a slipstreamed disc that only took 2 hours. Thread is located here:

Windows 7 SP1 Install Fail 0x8007000e

Hi,

Have a look at this (#24):
Windows 7 SP1 Install Fail 0x8007000e

I followed the instructions given in the link, the only way I successfully installed SP1.

Hope it helps.

Fascinating testing breakthrough. Rep to you both.

I ran into error 0x800f0826, which had to do with having used driver sweeper and/or drive cleaner.net. The workarounds (i.e. putting the file manifests in place directly from install media) did not work for me.

So I ran the reinstall overnight, and the system seems good this morning. I had to run the Nvidia driver install (though I could have just extracted the drivers and updated drivers only in Device Manager) but I do folding@home, with an overclocked GPU, so it's nice to have access to the Nvidia CP & then I use EVGA Precision, too.

Also, I do overclock my CPU (Phenom II x4 940BE) with a custom Cool 'N Quiet tool called PhenomMSRTweaker, which does a great job of it, but I always thought I needed at the very least from AMD, the South Bridge drivers, and since my storage drives are in RAID0 on the AMD controller, I also thought the AMD RAID drivers were good to have -- but no, you guys say? I haven't put back anything AMD/ATI yet (but as you said, it's too late, that stuff is already laid down in the system and won't go away completely, but I'll use that Revo Uninstaller, thanks!) but will remember for my upcoming clean install.

I did run into a strange problem though, that I no longer need help with. : the setup said my product key was invalid, and now that I am in Windows, it is still not taking it. I am certain I am entering it correctly, and this key is the same that I installed Windows 7 with originally, a full retail English Pro RTM version. Any clues how I can fix that?

Oh, and running winver showed that I am now on SP1, so that's good.

EDIT: Silly me, I had switched two digits, working fine now.

How did you do that?