Windows 7: Windows 7 Custom Install Issue-No Device Drivers

Hello,

I downloaded the student edition of windows 7 Home Premium, I am currently running Vista Ultimate so cannot do an upgrade and have to do a custom install.

I downloaded it fine, ran it, it opens up fine with the blue windows 7 opening screen, I select install, then select custom install. In the next window I have an empty white box which I presume is supposed to list my HD's allowing me to select where I want to install Windows 7. None of my HD's are showing up, I'm given the option to browse or scan, when I select this it gives me the message-

No device drivers were found. Make sure that the installation media contains the correct drivers, and then click OK

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Please complete your system specs if you can. Especially hard drives and whether or not they are SATA and/or in a RAID configuration.

There was an article on the net that showed how to upgrade from Win 7 Ultimate to Win 7 Home Premium. It might work in Vista's case as well. (I would give you the link but I was warned not to post it)

Maybe someone else knows the link to a guide on this site.

Your Vista is 32bit, is the Windows 7 32bit also?

Do you have the Storage Controller drivers?
You need to add them during the install.
Do you have an OEM or Custom build computer?

Check steps 7&8 in the Clean Install Windows 7 tutorial for where to install drivers from.

Is your internet connected during the install?

You can check the Tutorial quick reference list for Installing Windows 7 for more tutorials, and programs to get the info for the system specs. Please fill them out with as much detail as possible, this will help us to give suggestions.

They are SATA hard drives (Western Digital), not sure if they are part of a RAID Configuration, how do I find this out? Its only one hard drive, just in two partitions.

Yes I am going 32 bit ultimate vista too 32 bit windows 7 home premium.

It is a custom built machine.

I do not know what the storage controller drivers are.

Yes I am connected to the internet during install.

Ill have a look at the links you pointed me at now.

Thanks

Slight development, I plugged in a second SATA hard drive that I use for storing music and films on and it recognises this at the install screen, but when I select this HD to install it on( I dont actually want it installed here but just thought Id try anyways) it gave me the error message "setup was unable to create a new system partition"

Also, not sure if this is related, but when I go onto computer management, under disk management, where my HD's should be listed, I only have the second HD I plugged in listed. However under device manager they both appear? Could this be related to my HD not showin up on the install screen on Windows 7?

Regards

UNAWAVE - Downgrade Ultimate to Home Premium or Professional

This would allow you to do an in-place Upgrade which reinstalls your programs, files and settings exactly as they are but in the new Windows 7 OS.

Later, if you feel it is not as snappy as it should be and want to to try a clean install, you would probably not face the error you have.

Be sure to back up your files as some Upgrades fail.

I've tried the below but it doesnt seem to work, it doesnt fail the compatability test it just keeps checking it over and over and over then eventually it just closes itself down an restarts installation

As Dave advised above, you need to load your SATA drivers according to the tutorial he linked.

You can find their location for copying to a USB stick by clicking on Storage Controller in the Device Manager and looking at Driver tab>Details.