Can't install any versions of windows

yus4eel · 14 Jul 2014

Okay so I had removed my windows install completely a while ago and I've been running Ubuntu for a while. I like it a lot but my computer requirments for university this fall require windows operating systems for their software. Anyways I have windows vista, 7 and windows 8 installation media and iso's, and I have tried installing all of these versions either from a bootable cd or from a usb drive and my problems goes as follows

I boot into the installation, do a custom install and clear all of the original partitions on my hard drive so I have a fresh install
I then let the install go and run and the step where it copy's windows files jumps IMMEDIATELY from 0 to 100%
The rest of the installation including expanding files takes about 15 minutes and then upon reboot I have encountered 2 different problems
Either it hangs at the windows startup screen with the orbs OR i get something like "Setup is updating registry settings", but the outcome is basically the same in that windows hangs right there and doesn't actually move on to do anything more

Installing windows vista and 8 yield basically the same issues, where it hangs right after that first reboot from the installation and never moves on, as well as jumping from 0 to 100% in the copying windows files step

I have a Lenovo Y510p laptop with 8gb Ram and a Geforce GT 750M discrete graphics card

EDIT: I also would like to point out I have no problems at all installing any versions of linux

Oh Great One · 14 Jul 2014

How long have you waited when it says "Updating Registry Settings"?

yus4eel · 14 Jul 2014

Oh Great One said:

How long have you waited when it says "Updating Registry Settings"?

I've left it on for almost an entre day once

Oh Great One · 14 Jul 2014

yus4eel said:

Oh Great One said:

How long have you waited when it says "Updating Registry Settings"?

I've left it on for almost an entre day once

Hmmmmm, it is rough to be switching OS's often on a single computer in my opinion. Doing that ensures some sort of problem. I can't help you with this full problem, but I am sure one of the specialists here can.

However, I would recommend keeping your laptop that you need to use for school, for school and purchasing a mess around computer that's cheap. You can even build a decent desktop computer for less than $400, and it will be easy to move if you are living in a dorm or what not. I hope this helps with further decisions.

gregrocker · 14 Jul 2014

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

What settings choices are in BIOS setup for UEFI, Legacy BIOS, Legacy Boot and CSM? Pictures would help.

If all fails then test your hard drive with the maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan
followed by Disk Check on the full-disk partition you created.

Andyrids · 22 Jul 2014

Linux creates partitions that Windows does not recognize and simply doing a standard format at times is not good enough to clear all the left over partition data and when Windows finds it it does not like it, to put it into layman's terms... The solution is to do a low level format of the drive fill the entire drive with either 0's or 1's this can take about 4 hours on a 500GB HDD though... but it will ensure the complete removal of anything on the drive... I have had this problem myself years ago and found that to be the only sure way to overcome the problem.

Of course yes follow gregrocker's advice first, but if not then try what I just said.... Incidentally I use Slacto Puppy and pretty sure that's sat on a FAT32 rather than the usual "strange" Linux type file systems.

gregrocker · 22 Jul 2014

It's in the tutorial.