Windows 7: Cannot Install Win 7 over XP Home~ERROR Code: 0x80070490

Greetings Friends.


I have an unfortunate problem with Windows 7. I purchased it for installation on a PC on which I've long been happily running XP; it was time to update. The new Win 7 installed beautifully on my lapotp with Vista on-board.

Here is what occurs: the first language I get is "Setup is copying temporary files"; that persists for about 30-60 seconds, after which the installation program reports, "Windows Setup cannot find a location to store temporary installation files. To install Windows, make sure that a partition in your boot disk has at least 686MB of free space. ERROR Code: 0x80070490".

Win 7 Advisor had said no problem on my Dell PC. I have 70+GB of free space on the C: drive; the only other partition is that of a 32MB space of which I can identify nothing. My Disk Management does not show Unallocated Space; nor will it bring up a Partition Wizard.

I tried DOS commands for partitioning; bur after the CMD prompt, I cannot enter a new drive letter and proceed to the setup.exe commands; DOS consistently says no such command. Perhaps I'm formatting the command punctuations incorrectly. Nor have I been able to otherwise figure how to partition the C: drive, including via partition software (it doesn't have a "create partition" command).

It's a major disappointment not being to use Win 7 on my main computer, so any fix instruction would be immensely appreciated.
Respectfully, Russell

Are you booting the installer? If not do so and follow these steps: Clean Install Windows 7 Unplug all other HD's and peripherals.

If this doesn't solve the problem check on the computer model's Support Downloads webpage for a new BIOS version update to install. If none, reset the CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

While in BIOS setup set SATA controller to AHCI to try install.

Next try wiping the HD: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Thank you very much for taking the time to help with this. As it happens I found too late that my Dimension 4600i is a very poor candidate for Win 7. However, I've installed it on my laptop, over Vista, and it is running beautifully.

Thank you again,

Russ