Install guide to avoid Windows 7 install freezes at "starting windows"

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  1. Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Pro N 64 bit
       #1

    Install guide to avoid Windows 7 install freezes at "starting windows"


    Hi Friends of the internet


    I have been reading several forums regarding the issue of installing windows 7 (64 bit) to a computer that have had windows 8 installed previously or just a GPT formatted disk. I found some kind of solution, hope it can help you.



    My Case:
    Windows version installed: Windows 7 Professional N with Service Pack 1 (x64) or Windows 7 Professional (x64)
    Computer to install windows 7 on: Samsung laptop
    Model Code: NP53U4C-A02SE
    See the specks here:
    14" 5-serien NP535U4C - SPECIFIKATIONER | SAMSUNG


    Create a USB install disk that not freezes at ”starting windows” screen:


    First I followed this great guide (Thanks Daniel), See copy below:
    Creating a UEFI/BIOS Windows 7 USB and installing to GPT partitions ? Hodgin.ca
    STOP Daniels Guide after step 13!


    1. Open a command line in administrator mode
    2. run DISKPART
    3. type LIST DISK
    4. Look for the disk number that represents your USB drive
    5. type SELECT DISK # where # represents the number of your USB drive. Get this right or you will wipe a different drive out.
    6. type CLEAN
    7. type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
    8. type SELECT PARTITION 1
    9. type ACTIVE
    10. type FORMAT fs=fat32 quick
    11. type assign
    11a. type EXIT
    11b. type EXIT
    12. The drive should now be formatted and marked as active and fat32. Do not format the drive as NTFS or you will only be able to boot into the installer in BIOS mode.
    13. Now you will need to copy the contents of the windows 7 install dvd to the USB with a regular copy paste from windows explorer.

    Here comes a very weird hack... I do not know why it works, but I think it is all about flash drive data structure. I did these steps on a win 7 prof. computer.

    ( Let’s assume the USB is assigned drive E: )

    1) Make a copy of your e:\efi\microsoft folder to e.g. your desktop.
    2) Delete the e:\efi folder
    3) Copy the \efi folder from a windows 8 installation disk (I used Windows 8 (x64) Professional) to the e:\efi folder. See attached RAR.
    4) Here comes the weird part. Then delete e:\efi\microsoft you just copied from the win 8 installation disk.
    5) Copy the \microsoft folder form the desktop to e:\efi\microsoft

    Resume the guide from step 18.:
    Creating a UEFI/BIOS Windows 7 USB and installing to GPT partitions ? Hodgin.ca

    18. Insert the USB in the machine and turn it on and boot into the UEFI/BIOS loader and check for boot options. On the ASUS Zenbook it detected two boot options on the USB drive. One was UEFI and one was regular BIOS. I made the UEFI option the first choice and restarted the machine.

    · My bios setup was:


    • Secure Boot = Disable
    • OS Mode Selection = CSM and UEFI OS
    • Boot Device Priority = I made the UEFI option the first choice and restarted the machine.

    The installation should start normal.


    E.g. See this guide:
    UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with


    What I did was:


    1. Select custom installation (Advanced).
    2. Click Drive options (Advanced).
    3. Delete all partitions (this might not be needed). When I did not delete all partitions I was asked every time after the install, during start up by the windows boot manager to select ether win 8 or win 7.
    4. Click new (DO NOT make Changes in the size of the disk), apply, see NOTE!
    5. Edit the Primary partition as you want it e.g. divide it to more partitions.
    6. Select the one you will install windows on and do a normal install.
    7. I did not make changes in the Bios after install. The Boot priority is automatic set to “Windows boot manager”. If I change the boot mode back to OS Mode Selection = UEFI OS, the computer will freeze at the “starting windows” screen again.


    All this worked for me, good luck. There might be more to it, but this is a start.
    By the way, the start up time for a MBR install was 37 s. And for the GPT it was 49 s.


    Remember if we stand on each other’s shoulders we will reach higher :-).


    NOTE:

    Here the installation program should create three partitions automatically!
    - Partition 1 - System - The EFI System partition that contains the NTLDR, HAL, Boot.txt, and other files that are needed to boot the system, such as drivers.
    - Partition 2 - MSR - The Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition that reserves space on each disk drive for subsequent use by operating system software.
    - Partition 3 - Primary - Where Windows is to be installed to.


    If this isn’t the cast you are not installing in UEIF mode. To check for this (thanks again Daniel):


    If you need to find out if you have booted into BIOS mode or UEFI mode when the installer starts you can press SHIFT+F10 when the welcome installer shows up to open a cmd prompt. from here you will likely be at X:\Sources. Type cd .. to go back a dir and move into \Windows\Panther\


    Then type notepad setupact.log


    Within this file do a ctrl+f and search for
    Callback_BootEnvironmentDetect: Detected boot environment:
    It should either say BIOS or UEFI.

    To check if your disk is in the GPT format.
    Open the command prompt.
    Type: DISKPART
    Type: List Disk
    See for the star (*) in the GPT column
    Install guide to avoid Windows 7 install freezes at "starting windows" Attached Files
      My Computer

  2.   My Computer

  3.    #3

    In addition if you were indeed getting a Dual Boot menu after deleting all partitions it can be old boot code interfering so wipe the HD first with Diskpart Clean Command.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 1,449
    Windows 7 ultimate 64-bit
       #4

    Netnissen said:
    Hi Friends of the internet


    I have been reading several forums regarding the issue of installing windows 7 (64 bit) to a computer that have had windows 8 installed previously or just a GPT formatted disk. I found some kind of solution, hope it can help you.



    My Case:
    Windows version installed: Windows 7 Professional N with Service Pack 1 (x64) or Windows 7 Professional (x64)
    Computer to install windows 7 on: Samsung laptop
    Model Code: NP53U4C-A02SE
    See the specks here:
    14" 5-serien NP535U4C - SPECIFIKATIONER | SAMSUNG


    Create a USB install disk that not freezes at ”starting windows” screen:


    First I followed this great guide (Thanks Daniel), See copy below:
    Creating a UEFI/BIOS Windows 7 USB and installing to GPT partitions ? Hodgin.ca
    STOP Daniels Guide after step 13!


    1. Open a command line in administrator mode
    2. run DISKPART
    3. type LIST DISK
    4. Look for the disk number that represents your USB drive
    5. type SELECT DISK # where # represents the number of your USB drive. Get this right or you will wipe a different drive out.
    6. type CLEAN
    7. type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
    8. type SELECT PARTITION 1
    9. type ACTIVE
    10. type FORMAT fs=fat32 quick
    11. type assign
    11a. type EXIT
    11b. type EXIT
    12. The drive should now be formatted and marked as active and fat32. Do not format the drive as NTFS or you will only be able to boot into the installer in BIOS mode.
    13. Now you will need to copy the contents of the windows 7 install dvd to the USB with a regular copy paste from windows explorer.

    Here comes a very weird hack... I do not know why it works, but I think it is all about flash drive data structure. I did these steps on a win 7 prof. computer.

    ( Let’s assume the USB is assigned drive E: )

    1) Make a copy of your e:\efi\microsoft folder to e.g. your desktop.
    2) Delete the e:\efi folder
    3) Copy the \efi folder from a windows 8 installation disk (I used Windows 8 (x64) Professional) to the e:\efi folder. See attached RAR.
    4) Here comes the weird part. Then delete e:\efi\microsoft you just copied from the win 8 installation disk.
    5) Copy the \microsoft folder form the desktop to e:\efi\microsoft

    Resume the guide from step 18.:
    Creating a UEFI/BIOS Windows 7 USB and installing to GPT partitions ? Hodgin.ca

    18. Insert the USB in the machine and turn it on and boot into the UEFI/BIOS loader and check for boot options. On the ASUS Zenbook it detected two boot options on the USB drive. One was UEFI and one was regular BIOS. I made the UEFI option the first choice and restarted the machine.

    · My bios setup was:


    • Secure Boot = Disable
    • OS Mode Selection = CSM and UEFI OS
    • Boot Device Priority = I made the UEFI option the first choice and restarted the machine.

    The installation should start normal.


    E.g. See this guide:
    UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with


    What I did was:


    1. Select custom installation (Advanced).
    2. Click Drive options (Advanced).
    3. Delete all partitions (this might not be needed). When I did not delete all partitions I was asked every time after the install, during start up by the windows boot manager to select ether win 8 or win 7.
    4. Click new (DO NOT make Changes in the size of the disk), apply, see NOTE!
    5. Edit the Primary partition as you want it e.g. divide it to more partitions.
    6. Select the one you will install windows on and do a normal install.
    7. I did not make changes in the Bios after install. The Boot priority is automatic set to “Windows boot manager”. If I change the boot mode back to OS Mode Selection = UEFI OS, the computer will freeze at the “starting windows” screen again.


    All this worked for me, good luck. There might be more to it, but this is a start.
    By the way, the start up time for a MBR install was 37 s. And for the GPT it was 49 s.


    Remember if we stand on each other’s shoulders we will reach higher .


    NOTE:

    Here the installation program should create three partitions automatically!
    - Partition 1 - System - The EFI System partition that contains the NTLDR, HAL, Boot.txt, and other files that are needed to boot the system, such as drivers.
    - Partition 2 - MSR - The Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition that reserves space on each disk drive for subsequent use by operating system software.
    - Partition 3 - Primary - Where Windows is to be installed to.


    If this isn’t the cast you are not installing in UEIF mode. To check for this (thanks again Daniel):


    If you need to find out if you have booted into BIOS mode or UEFI mode when the installer starts you can press SHIFT+F10 when the welcome installer shows up to open a cmd prompt. from here you will likely be at X:\Sources. Type cd .. to go back a dir and move into \Windows\Panther\


    Then type notepad setupact.log


    Within this file do a ctrl+f and search for
    Callback_BootEnvironmentDetect: Detected boot environment:
    It should either say BIOS or UEFI.

    To check if your disk is in the GPT format.
    Open the command prompt.
    Type: DISKPART
    Type: List Disk
    See for the star (*) in the GPT column
    Just a fyi for ya; those 2 files you posted cant be opened as it says they are password protected.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       #5

    matts6887 said:
    Just a fyi for ya; those 2 files you posted cant be opened as it says they are password protected.
    No they aren't....they are fine.

    Install guide to avoid Windows 7 install freezes at "starting windows"-1.png
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1,449
    Windows 7 ultimate 64-bit
       #6

    This is the message i keep getting when trying to open the file:

    "Enter the password to open the file".
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       #7

    They open fine for me. What unzipping tool are you using?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
       #8

    Netnissen:

    Thanks for your sharing! I've searched all over the net for numerous Win7 UEFI USB boot install guides, but all those steps & tricks result in Starting Windows splash animation freeze problem for me. Yours is the only one I get to that describes how to work around the problem. Unfortunately, this still doesn't work for me.

    My HW is Acer E1-572G laptop preloaded with Win8. I'd like to preserve the original GPT partitioned disk esp. those system & recovery partitions so I want to install a fresh Win7 via UEFI USB boot. No luck!

    Any further advise or pointer to anything that might solve this issue. I swear I've read & tried like 10 different step-by-step guides around the net but still get Start Windows splash freezes.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Pro N 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Pat7 said:
    Netnissen:

    Thanks for your sharing! I've searched all over the net for numerous Win7 UEFI USB boot install guides, but all those steps & tricks result in Starting Windows splash animation freeze problem for me. Yours is the only one I get to that describes how to work around the problem. Unfortunately, this still doesn't work for me.

    My HW is Acer E1-572G laptop preloaded with Win8. I'd like to preserve the original GPT partitioned disk esp. those system & recovery partitions so I want to install a fresh Win7 via UEFI USB boot. No luck!

    Any further advise or pointer to anything that might solve this issue. I swear I've read & tried like 10 different step-by-step guides around the net but still get Start Windows splash freezes.
    Hi Pat7
    Sorry I cant help you further. But I can say that I also had to try different guides. I do not know why, but it might be because of different BIOS configurations/versions/types?
    Good luck.
      My Computer

  10.    #10

    Work through the steps for Overcoming Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums


    If the problem persists post back a picture of the BIOS settings choices for UEFI, Legacy Mode, CSM and Boot Priority order.
      My Computer


 
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