Windows re-install gone wrong; can't boot from Hard drive - Help

I installed a new HD and cloned my old drive onto it. MS then kept reporting that the windows installation was not genuine, but that is another story on another thread, and is given here only to provide a 'background'.

I have therefore been trying to do a clean re-install windows 7 Home premium upgrade including reformat.
When the installation got to about 21% through, it terminated, and produced the message saying that the installation had been cancelled 'Windows cannot find the required files, they may be wrong or missing. Restart the installation. Error Code 0x0070017'.

Upon restarting it was in the boot process when the message came 'BOOTMGR is missing' Press Ctrl, Alt plus Delete to restart.

Then, whatever I do I am getting the same message. The computer will not boot from the CD ROM drive - not even a start up disk.

Does the HD need reformatting (and how do I do that), or what please?

Where did you get Win7? If you burned it yourself, confirm the ISO exact size and integrity or download another, burn to DVD using ImgBurn at 4x speed.

Then make sure you have set DVD drive to boot first this way: How to Boot your Computer from a Bootable CD or DVD

Next try booting using one-time BIOS Boot Menu key given on first screen.

If these fail boot free Partition Wizard bootable CD which will autostart on its own, highlight HD by clicking on it, then from Disk tab Wipe HD.

This will in turn cause the installer to autostart. Be sure to confirm it's integrity first or it may fail again.

Hi gregrocker

The Win7 upgrade is a retail version.
I've made a Partition Wizard CD - which works OK on my laptop - but it will not operate on my 'problem' desktop. I've checked the boot order in the BIOS and that's OK, but the internal DVD/CD drive doesn't seem to spin with it in, and neither does an external drive?

Try another OD or burn the Win7 ISO (extracted with ImgBurn) to flash stick using Universal USB Installer with Win7 in dropdown menu. Boot under USB, Removable or HD's.

Sorry to be ignorant, but could you please elaborate on the above as I really don't understand any of it?

If you have a spare optical drive you could swap in I might try that. At the very least I would check and or replace the data cable attached to it. Check your install media for scratches, smudges, finger prints etc and maybe consider using one of those optical drive head cleaning disks. While you have the case open double check your power and data cables to the hard drive too.

Does the HD need reformatting (and how do I do that), or what please?

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Hi Guys

After some time, I have managed to get this sorted. I finished up re-formatting the HD, re-installing Vista and then upgrading to Windows 7. As I was 'starting from scratch' I decided to re-install both systems as 64-bit, so getting some benefit for the hassle!

Thanks for all of your assistance and advice.