Windows 7: Reinstallation issues.

Hi, hopefully someone can help because I am stuck. I've been running 7 for a couple of months with no issue. Last night I got the win 7 antivirus virus and edited my registry to remove it. I must have deleted something critical because this morning no programs will run. I kept getting an error saying windows was missing a file. I try to repair windows from the disc, nothing. I go to reinstall and it gets through to the windows starting screen and then black. I format the partition and do it again with the same results. Right now I cannot get past the startig screen. Any ideas? (posting from phone)

Hi.

Can't say I've heard about the win 7 anti-virus virus. So you've reformatted your H.D, and still having issues?

It's a virus that pretends to be a windows program expecing you to click and buy. I used the windows cd to choose format and then reinstalled. After boot, nothing.


I must add, now when I try to boot from the cd, it tries o have windows start normally and then black screen.

Welcome to the Windows 7 Forums! newnoiseimage

And unfortunately the world of "drive wipes"! since you will likely need a 3rd party drive tool to nuke the infected primary right off of the drive unless you find a way to nuke the virus instead! Apparently it left something on the drive to prevent a reformat or you haven't taken quite the right steps.

Your best move now providing there are hardware issues like worn heads or bad sectors on the drive not knowing how old the system is would be to use a security tool in order to see a complete drive wipe. This would mean creating a totally new primary afterwards for the clean install to go onto.

Eraser is one free open source tool used for cleaning drives on systems you plan to sell or donate to remove all traces of personal data. Browse Eraser Files on SourceForge.net Other secuirity tools are also available as well.

Another open source program which will remove the present primary as well as see a new one replace it all in one session is a boot live from cd Linux drive tool GParted. GPARTED DOCUMENTATION - GENERALITIES

The latest stable 0.5.1-3 release is available at Browse GParted Files on SourceForge.net

Once booted live from cd or even when writing the iso image to a usb flash drive you can opt to simply right click on the existing primary and select the format option there as well. An entire drive wipe also means losing any data on it as well as insuring no trace of the virus remains.

These are the options where GParted or another drive tool is used. The initial reformat with the 7 drive tools still should have done the job however. The 3rd party tool would see if the disk or optical drive is having a problem.

As far as a bogus av program a few of those have surfaced recently with a few articles published on them. If you don't see an av program listed on a comparison page between programs it's either one many are not familiar with like VIPRE not seen in evaluations between Norton, McAfee, etc. or "Bogus".

Try a full clean & full format.

1) Boot DVD.
2) Press Shift+F10 (for command prompt)

Type in command line
DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK # (win 7 HD)
CLEAN ALL
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
FORMAT=NTFS
ASSIGN
EXIT
EXIT

If you have not actually formatted your HD yet, you can try to repair by booting the Windows 7 DVD, selecting Repair My Computer on second screen, clicking through to Recovery Tools list to run System Restore to before the registry delete you did.

If you have already deleted or formatted over OS, then use theog's steps above to zero the HD (deepest clean) to prepare it for reinstall.

Thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for. I have another question though. My drive has two partitions, one windows one storage, is there anyway to save the second partition? Diskpart will wipe the whole drive but there a few files I need that I didn't get the chance to backup. Any ideas?

If you want to save the data partition (which you should back up anyway) then use the Windows 7 DVd to format only the Windows partition before installing there.

You might need to wait longer for installer to load.

Immediately upon install, download Malwarebytes and Spybot to disinfect data partition.

I did this yesterday, that is what didn't work. I'll give it another shot.

Alright, did the DVD format and install. Get the starting windows screen, then a black screen with a mouse cursor. That's all.