Trying to install Win 7 to an old system.

yeah, it's a pain that the USB boot option is too modern for the mobo :/
I had similar problems with a 2003 Compaq work machine as just a CD drive and no USb support. I gave up on that machine, as my installation disc was too scratched to work when I swapped optical drives and couldn't be asked to upgrade to SP2. hardly the best exemplary motivator though
Do try swapping the optical drives if you have the time, and check the disc is completely unscratched (but the error you got doesn't look like a problem with the disc)

Hello mate.


Just for information sake; once you get it booting you can use Windows 7 diskpart to create / format partitions before the install, have a look at Step Two of this tutorial at the link below for some ideas.


SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation


Here's another you may be interested in.

Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

ooh, that is handy. I think I remember some featureless disk partitioning in the XP setup, but I didn't know they'd carried it forwards to Windows 7. Nice tip :)

biggles1000 said:

ooh, that is handy. I think I remember some featureless disk partitioning in the XP setup, but I didn't know they'd carried it forwards to Windows 7. Nice tip :)

Thanks mate! :)

Bad luck :/

If you can't boot the DVD then run the Win7 DVD from XP to install to a second partition you've created.

Best tool to shrink XP to make a new partition for Win7 install is free Partition Wizard bootable CD.

Create a new NTFS Primary partition.

Run the DVD from XP, select the newly created Partition for install. It should configure the DUal Boot for you - if not, use EasyBCD 2.02 to Win7 to Add XP.

You can also install Acronis to XP to apply an image of a Win7 installation to the partition you've created. A free version of Acronis is available if you have WD or Seagate HD's on their Support Downloads webpage.