Repair Install

How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to do a repair install (aka: in-place upgrade install) to fix your currently installed Windows 7 and preserve your user accounts, data, programs, and system drivers.

   Note

Do a Repair installation if:

• A System Restore did not help fix your Windows 7.
• There is no other easier option left that can fix your Windows 7.
• You DO NOT want to do a Clean reinstall of Windows 7.
• You DO want to preserve your user accounts, data, programs, and system drivers.

   Tip

ITEMS THAT WILL BE RESET TO DEFAULT OR AFFECTED:

• Sounds
• Services
• Visual Effects Settings
• Device Drivers - Be sure to have these handy to reinstall. They do not always remain after the repair (upgrade) install.
• You may lose the ability to sign on to MSN Messenger, to solve this problem have a look at this thread Unable to sign in to WLM.
• You may lose your custom themes due to not having permisions set on the old themes. Go to the hidden themes folder at C:/Users/(User-Name)/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Themes, then Take Ownership of the themes folder and you will now have all your themes back.
• It has been reported that you may also lose your Media Center gadget after doing the repair install.
• Windows Updates will need to be checked and reinstalled again.

   Warning

• You can only do a repair install with the same edition Windows 7 installation disc for the same edition of Windows 7 that you have installed.
• You cannot use a OEM Windows 7 "Factory" Restore/Recovery type of installation disc that came with or created from a store bought computer to do a repair install with. These can only be used do a clean install instead.
• You can do a repair install on a factory OEM installation with the latest official Windows 7 with SP1 ISO file here: Microsoft: Windows 7 Direct Download Links, and use Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool to create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive with the ISO to do the repair install from within Windows 7.
• You can use a retail OEM Windows 7 installation disc to do a repair install with.
• You can use a retail (full or upgrade) Windows 7 installation disc to do a repair install with.
• You cannot do a repair install with a System Repair Disc. A System Repair Disc is not a installation disc, and will only boot to the System Recovery Options screen.
• If you have a 32-bit (x86) Windows 7 currently installed, then you must use a 32-bit Windows 7 installation disc to be able to do a repair install with.
• If you have a 64-bit (x64) Windows 7 currently installed, then you must use a 64-bit Windows 7 installation disc to be able to do a repair install with.
• You can use a retail Windows 7 SP1 installation disc (ex: Technet (available), MSDN (available), or retail (when available)) to do a repair install with on a currently installed Windows 7 SP1.
• You can use a Windows 7 SP1 installation disc (ex: Technet (available), MSDN (available), or retail (when available)) to do a repair install with on a currently installed slipstream Windows 7 SP1.
• You cannot use a slipstream Windows 7 installation disc to do a repair install with on a currently installed Windows 7 SP1.
• You cannot use a slipstream Windows 7 installation disc to do a repair install with on a currently installed slipstream Windows 7 SP1.
• You can only do a repair install from within Windows 7.
• You cannot do a repair install at boot or in Safe Mode.
• You must be logged into Windows 7 in a administrator account to be able to do a repair install.
• You must have at least 8.87 GB + what is currently being used of free space (more if you have a larger installation) on the hard drive/partition Windows 7 is installed on to do a repair install.
• If you changed the default location of a user account's profile folder, then you will need to change it back to the default C:\Users location first.
• If you moved the default location of a user folder, then you will need to change it back to the default C:\Users\(user-name) location first.

Here's How:
NOTE: Be sure to back up anything that you do not want to lose first to be extra safe.1. Start Windows 7, and log on to an administrator account.

2. Disable any 3rd party firewall, antivirus, or other security program to avoid it from possibly preventing the repair in-place upgrade installation of Windows 7.

3. Do either step 4, step 5, or step 6 below depending if your retail Windows 7 installation ISO/DVD/USB has SP1 or not, and if your currently installed Windows 7 has SP1 installed or not.

4. Repair Installed Windows 7 SP1 using Windows 7 with SP1 ISO

   Note

If you do not have a Windows 7 with SP1 ISO, then you can download an official ISO with your retail product key from Microsoft at the link below.

:ar: Microsoft Software Recovery

You can also download the latest official Windows 7 SP1 Media Refresh (SP1 U) ISO file at the link below, but this link is not always available for download.

:ar: Microsoft: Windows 7 Direct Download Links

A) If you have not already, you will need to install a program like 7-Zip that supports extracting a ISO to a folder.

B) Using the program (ex: 7-Zip) from step 1, extract the Windows 7 SP1 ISO file to a folder on a partition or HDD other than the current Windows 7 partition. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: For example with 7-Zip, right click on ISO, click on 7-Zip, Extract files, browse button, select where you want to extract to, and click on OK twice.
C) While in Windows 7 SP1, open the folder that you extracted the ISO into, and run the setup.exe file.

D) Go to step 7 below.
5. Repair Installed Windows 7 SP1 using Windows 7 with SP1 DVD/USB

   Note

If you do not have a Windows 7 with SP1 ISO, then you can download an official ISO with your retail product key from Microsoft at the link below.

:ar: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

You can also download the latest official Windows 7 SP1 Media Refresh (SP1 U) ISO file at the link below, but this link is not always available for download.

:ar: Microsoft: Windows 7 Direct Download Links

Afterwards, you can use Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool to create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive with the ISO to do the repair install from within Windows 7 using this step.

A) While in Windows 7 SP1, insert your retail Windows 7 SP1 installation DVD into the DVD drive, or connect your Windows 7 with SP1 installation USB thumb drive, and click on the Run setup.exe option in AutoPlay. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If the AutoPlay window does not open, then open the drive folder in Computer and run the setup.exe file.
B) Go to Go to step 7 below.
6. Repair Installed Windows 7 without SP1 using Windows 7 without SP1 DVD/USB

   Note

If you do not have a Windows 7 without SP1 installation DVD/USB, then you can download the latest official Windows 7 Professional or Home Premium without SP1 ISO file here: Microsoft: Windows 7 Direct Download Links, and use Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool to create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive with the ISO to do the repair install from within Windows 7 using this step.

It is preferred to have SP1 installed on your PC and to use step 4 or step 5 above to do a repair install with instead though.

A) While in Windows 7 SP1 installed, insert your retail Windows 7 installation DVD into the DVD drive, or connect your Windows 7 installation USB thumb drive, and click on the Run setup.exe option in AutoPlay. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If the AutoPlay window does not open, then open the drive folder in Computer and run the setup.exe file.
B) Go to Go to step 7 below.
7. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

8. Click on the Install Now button to start the installation. (see screenshot below)
9. If prompted, uncheck the I want to help make Windows installation better box (unless you would like to ), and click on the Go online to get the latest updates for installation option. (see screenshot below)
A) Windows 7 will now check online for and install any available installation updates. (see screenshots below)



10. Check the I accept the license terms box, and click on Next. (see screenshot below)
11. Click on the Upgrade option. (see screenshot below)
12. Windows will now check for any compatibility issues. If any are found like in the example below, click on the red X to cancel the repair install and close this "Install Windows" window, take care of any found issues (ex: uninstall any incompatible program), then restart the repair install process over again.
13. The installation of Windows 7 will now begin. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: During the installation process, your screen may flash and computer will restart a few times.
14. After the final restart, you will see this screen for a moment. (see screenshot below)
15. Type in your Windows 7 product key number. (see screenshot below step 16)

16. Uncheck the Automatically activate Windows when I'm online box unchecked, then click on the Next button. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You can activate Windows 7 later after you make sure it is running properly. (see step 23 below)
If you chose to automatically activate Windows online when you set up your computer, automatic activation begins trying to activate your copy of Windows three days after you log on for the first time.
17. Click on Use recommended settings. (see screenshot below)

:note: You will always be able to change your Windows Update settings at anytime in Windows 7.


18. Select your time zone and set your time and date settings, then click on the Next button. (see screenshot below)
19. Click on the option for your computer's location to select the correct network location type settings to be applied for that location. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: It is best to select Public location for the best security.
20. Windows 7 will now prepare your desktop to startup. (see screenshots below)



21. If you used a DVD or USB to do the repair install with, then you can remove the DVD or USB when the repair install has successfully completed and you are logged in to Windows 7.

22. Check to see if you are missing any user files. If you are, then you can copy them from the C:\Windows.old or the hidden protected operating system C:\$INPLACE.~TR and C:\WINDOWS.~Q backup folders. (see screenshot below)
23. If everything checks out in step 21, then you can run Disk Cleanup (step 5 at this link). You will need to click on the Clean up system files button first, and then could check the Files discarded by Windows upgrade, Previous Windows installations, and Windows upgrade log files boxes. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This will delete the C:\Windows.old, C:\$INPLACE.~TR and C:\WINDOWS.~Q folders from step 21 above.
24. Refresh your Windows Experience Index (WEI) score.

25. When finished, activate Windows 7, and make sure that your 3rd party security programs (if applicable) are enabled again.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Do an Upgrade Installation with Windows 7
• How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7
• How to Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version
• How to Activate Windows 7 Online
• How to Run a Startup Repair in Windows 7
• How to Do a System Restore in Windows 7
• How to Repair Windows 7 System Files with System File Checker
• How to Extract Files from the Windows 7 Installation DVD
• How to Boot to the Advanced Boot Options in Windows 7
• How to Boot to the System Recovery Options in Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc
• How to Run Disk Check in Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 Installation USB Key
• How to Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB Device
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Windows 7
• How to Create a System Recovery Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Slipstream Windows 7 SP1 to Create a Installation DVD or ISO File
• Fix "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded." Error in Windows 7

 

[Brink]

Hello, this tutorial is really helpful, but I'm stuck at one thing.
See, I checked all the warnings of the tutorial, made sure everything was as it should be, but when I get past step 9 I get a message saying something like this (I've translated it from Dutch to English, so it might not be completely accurate):

"You cannot perform an upgrade from Windows 7 Professional to Windows 7 Professional. You can install a new copy of Windows 7 Professional, but that is not an upgrade and with this all the files, settings and programs won't be kept. You must reinstall all programs with the original disks or files. Make a back-up on an external location, like a cd, dvd or external hard disk if you want to save the files before you install Windows. Click on the button Previous at the top left corner and select 'Custom installation (advanced)' if you want to install a new copy of Windows 7 Professional."

But off course, I don't want to install a new copy. I want to keep my settings and definitely my installed programs. I first had the error message saying I couldn't upgrade because I had a newer version installed already, but that was because I still had the Service Pack 1 installed (which is now uninstalled, as was required like mentioned at the beginning of your tutorial).
So here I am, asking this question, hoping you might know what to do.

I can't afford doing a clean install, really. I'm a student, soon to start my third year in bachelor IT, and I have so many programs required for classes that I just can't reinstall them all...


So please, perhaps you know what I must do in order to get rid of this error message I get? I must absolutely do an in-place upgrade, because my system has some corrupt/damaged files. I've done all the possible solutions already to fix the system, but nothing helped, so doing an in-place upgrade is my last chance of hope.


I really do hope you might be able to help, I have all my hopes on your tutorial, and I eager to finish it.

Hello MisaMii, and welcome to Seven Forums.

What type (student, retail, OEM, etc...) of Windows 7 installation disc do you have?

 

[fibola]

hi,
nice tutorial .
i have a question regarding the sp1.
when i right click on my computer and click on properties ,
i see that my windows ultimate 64bit has service pack 1 .
i also notice in the tutorial that in order to repair installation i need to remove the sp1 for be as my installation disc.
so :
1. how to i remove the sp1 ?
2. how can i be 100% that my cd installation isnt a sp1 ?

thx

 

[Brink]

Hello Fibola,

Q1) Unless you have a "retail" Windows 7 w/SP1 installation disc, you would indeed need to uninstall SP1 before being able to do a repair install.

Q2) If it's a "retail" Windows 7 w/SP1 installation disc, it would have SP1 written somewhere on the DVD itself.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Docfxit]

This is a great tutorial. Unfortunately there is an error that comes up that is not included in this tutorial. The error is:
The following issues are preventing windows from upgrading.

Your current version of Windows is more recent than the version you are trying to upgrade to. Windows cannot complete the upgrade.

There is instructions on how to resolve this issue at:
Non-destructive reinstall of Windows 7 | help.artaro.eu

With these instructions you don't have to uninstall sp1

Thank you for the tutorial.

Docfxit

 

[Brink]

Hello Docfxit,

Thank you very much for this. The repair install tutorial has been updated for how to a repair install on a Windows 7 with SP1 installation with a "retail" Windows 7 without SP1 installation disc.

 

[mi963605]

Compatibility

When I get to step 5b, there is no option to check compatobility. ! am using the original installation disc which is without SP1, however the running version is WITH SP1.

 

[Brink]

Hello Mike, and welcome to Seven Forums.

At step 5B, you would need to right click on the setup.exe file and click on Properties first. Afterwards, you should see a Compatibility tab in the properties page.

If you are, then please post a screenshot of what you are seeing instead.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[mi963605]

Shawn:

Don't find a compatability tab.

Mike

 

[Brink]

Mike,

You missed step 5A. You will need to right click on the DVD drive listed there, click on Open, then right click on the setup.exe file in the opened DVD window and click on Properties. Afterwards, you should see a Compatibility tab in the properties page.

 

[mi963605]

Compatibility

You are right.
Now I selected "Windows Vista(Service Pack 2)"
Click OK
Run setup.exe
UAC yes
Install now
Go online to get latest updates (and it does download a small update and restarts installation.)
I accept the license terms
Click Upgrade
Then I get this screen. "Windows 7 Professional cannot be upgraded to Windows 7 Professional etc."

Mike

 

[Brink]

Mike,

What type of Windows 7 installation disc do you have? For example: retail OEM, factory OEM (came with computer), student, retail (full or upgrade), etc....

 

[mi963605]

Here is a picture of the disk and box for Windows 7 Pro ("Designed for Windows Vista" it says on the box). upgrade purchased at one of the big electronics retailers. This was installed on this machine which I bought with one of the better versions of Vista.

I am trying to reinstall the registry because I cannot install any printers, and at one point one of the installation programs for one of the printers said it cannot install because some registry entries are missing.

Mike

 

[Brink]

It doesn't look like you are going to be able to do a a repair install using this option with a anytime updrade installation disc.

You could uninstall SP1, and see if it will let you do a repair install afterwards using step 4 instead. See the note under step 5 for more details on this.

 

[mi963605]

compatability

Uninstalling SP1 didn't work either. May have to do clean install. Thank you for all of your help.

Mike

 

[Brink]

I'm afraid so. It looks like you will not be able to with that installation disk then.

 

[Aimi]

Need confirmation

First of all, I have gaming desktop with Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit installed. 3 days ago, I started to get some weird, random windows hang (completely hang, I need to push the reset button or force shutdown ), frequently happen, it's starting to annoy me. I suspect it's caused by wrong/corrupted registry key inserted into my system (I'm pretty sure). So, what I'm gonna do is to reinstall my OS back to default.

The questions are:

1. Am I going to lose all my games installed if I apply this method? You know, I have around 50 games installed, (most of game default directory is C:\Program Files\ [Game's title]).

2. Then, am I losing registry key too?. Because some of the games need a specific registry key in order to operate next time after I have reinstall the OS.

 

[Brink]

Hello Aimi, and welcome to Seven Forums.

No. You will not lose any of your installed program by doing a repair install.

However, since this has just started, you might consider doing a system restore instead for now using a restore point dated just before this started happening to see if it may be able to fix this without having to go through the more drastic long and slow process of a repair install.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Aimi]

There my problem was before I posted this. I'd no system restore point . The latest system restore point is on September 4th (which is today, in my country). The only way I gonna fix this by using Repair Install. So, yeah, I know my games not gonna lose, so how about the registry key? Are they gonna be reset too?

 

[Brink]

Aimi,

Well, at least you have this option. The only thing affected in the registry will generally be the items listed in the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial.

 

[HeatoftheNight]

Hi, Im new here, and I was directed to do this Repair Install. Now I have a stupid question.

The tutorial explains 2 ways of doing this repair: with having the SP1 installation, or not having the SP1 installation.

> How do I check this? in order which way to follow?

I have followed the 2nd way (without SP1) but I did get not get this pop-up screen:

But I got this one:

So what do I do now?

thanks a bunch for your efforts and keep up the good work!

Heat