Windows 7 not starting at all

SIW2, when I boot the installation USB stick, it takes me to the Install now screen.

None of those options (that I can see) take me to the screen you have shown. Choosing "Repair your computer" brings up the compatibility error message and then back to the screen shown. If I close the window (with the upper-right X), the system reboots.

How do I get to the options you posted from the installation USB? They look like the options from teh Startup Repair menu. Can I create a startup repair disk that incorporates the drivers that are now on the Installation USB stick? Or, is there some way to boot the installation USB stick into startup repair mode?

SIW2 said:

On your usb stick, rename sources\boot.wim to something else, e.g. boot-original.wim.

Then copy boot.wim from the 17514x64-v6.iso sources into your usb sources folder.

When you boot your usb stick, explorer should launch as the shell. Try using command prompt from the explorer interface.

It also contains Aomei partition manager,Partition Guru ( now called DiskGenius) and windows disk management.

You can take screenshots using the little camera icon on the taskbar.

Thank you, SIW2. Where is 17514x64-v6.iso? I have Win7_HomePrem_SP1_English_x64.iso from Megahertz07's link in post #7. The boot.wim file in there looks like

(Should I be worried about those 2011 dates?)

And, I notice that your tool creates an ISO called 7601_24168_en-US_x64.iso.

Are either of those the correct one?

Thank you!

Thank you Paul and SIW2. I was able to boot the USB stick to a usable Windows environment.

I did the simplest thing I could to determine whether my PC's drive is legacy - MBR or UEFI - GPT. I opened Windows' Disk Management tool and looked at the properties for Disk 0 (the Samsung 960 Pro SSD). Below is a screenshot of what I was seeing.


I am probably misinterpreting this somehow. But, that is why I was thinking that the drive was GPT. Does it not mean that? Does this change how I should be creating the installation USB stick so that I can successfully run "Repair my computer"?

As it has a EFI partition it's EFI - GPT
Open disk management - View tab - Top - List disk

With the disk list looking like the following

So, the disk is GPT. Since, I think I have been creating the USB installation stick for MBR, that seems like one reason the "Repair my computer" option has been giving a compatibility error. Does that sound correct?

I am going to re-read this thread, as I think there were notes on making the installation USB stick for a GPT drive. Hopefully, this is getting closer to having a bootable Windows 7 on that SSD.

Yes it is UEFI.
You must boot the win 7 installation disk (with the added drivers) as UEFI.
To boot as UEFI the USB flash must be Fat32
read the post Windows 7 not starting at all

I think the problem is how you select the UEFI Flash disk.
Do you use the boot menu (F8) during POST?