Windows 7: Corrupted Windows 7 Reinstall

Ok so I have a corrupted Windows 7, and I'm trying to reinstall by formatting my hard drive. But in the command prompt all it shows is X:\Sources> and I can't use any commands, and I've tried changing the directory by typing cd C:\ but it just keeps saying X:\Sources> Can anyone help me. I'm using the command prompt because I can't make it through the regular installation without going to a blue screen of death.

Hi Anpippin,

Do you have a USB stick still plugged in?
X:\sources\ is the default location of the virtual drive for installing win 7 and contains the install.wim image. (X:\sources\install.wim)

Take out any usb sticks and DVD's and reboot. Let me know what happens and we'll take it from there.

Cheers

Tim

EDIT: I should have added that this can occur (although it is not too common) when the bios is set to boot from the usb. i.e. Windows 7 can get caught in an install loop. IF your bios supports it, try booting as a one-off from the usb drive for the install only. If this is not your issue then disregard.

If this doesn't fix your issue. Please let me know what the status was before you began and what you are trying to acheive.

Is it just a reinstall of Windows 7 on a blank HDD, or are you trying to format the drive during the isntall process?

What happens before it fails, how far along the install process do you get?

This will help... Good luck!

Anpippin,
All is in order. the X: is the drive letter that the Windows PE used by Windows Setup has assigned to the ram drive where there is an abbreviated version of Windows 7.

By creating a ram drive and putting the WinPE there, then the DVD drive is free to be used.

Now more to your problem. I'm assuming you want to format a drive before installing/reinstalling Windows 7.
At the X:> prompt, type DiskPart (stands for disk partitioning) and hit Enter.
type List Disk and hit Enter.
Most probably your "c" is disk 0 but to be sure, then
type Select Disk 0 and hit Enter
type Detail Disk and hit Enter
From what is shown you should be able to positively identify the disk you want to format.
I don't know whether you've used the disk before, so we will keep going.
type list partition and hit Enter.
If the partition you need is already listed, then:

1. type select partition 1 (assuming that's the one you want)
2. type Format fs=ntfs and hit Enter (this will format the partition)
3. type ACTIVE and hit Enter (this will make the partition the "system" partition)
4. type Assign and hit Enter (a drive letter will be assigned to your partition)
5. type Detail Partition and hit Enter (this will show you the drive letter assigned)
6. type EXIT and hit Enter (this will exit you from DiskPart)
7. type EXIT and hit Enter (this will exit you from the command prompt)

If no partitions are listed, then

1. type Create Partition Primary and hit Enter
2. type Format fs=ntfs and hit Enter (this will format the partition)
3. type ACTIVE and hit Enter (this will make the partition the "system" partition)
4. type Assign and hit Enter (a drive letter will be assigned to your partition)
5. type Detail Partition and hit Enter (this will show you the drive letter assigned)
6. type EXIT and hit Enter (this will exit you from DiskPart)
7. type EXIT and hit Enter (this will exit you from the command prompt)

Hope this helps,

Once you confirm your Disk # using commands given by Tim, I would CLEAN ALL to zero the HD, giving you the cleanest possible slate to install. You mention you had some corruption.

How long does it take to clean all? I have 1 250GB hard drive and 1 300GB hard drive.

At least an hour each.

What kind of corruption do you have? Possible virus?

You can use just CLEAN for shorter version.

No virus, I burned a Windows 7 iso that didn't burn right or whatever and when installing it, it said windows could not find installation media or something like that. After I exited that my Windows wouldn't start up, and then I tried startup repair, and the chkdsk would freeze at starting in 1 second everytime, so I couldn't run chkdsk. Then I tried system restore, and that blue screen of death'd on me, and then when I would start up my comp, it would just restart each time before it booted to my hard drive.

I tried using clean and clean all and it said Clean is not allowed on the current boot, system, pagefile, crashdump, or hibernation volume.

Is your installation media ok now? Have you re-burnt it or downloaded a new copy?
TIP: If creating a DVD version burn at the slowest possible speed.
If the media is ok, you can delete the partition and reformat it during the windows 7 install.

Where exactly is it failing for you?

RE: Your error on CLEAN, it looks as if you have not selected the correct disk or partition. i.e. as if you are trying to write the DVD clean, not the HDD. Hope this helps