Common Installation Problems and Their Solutions

How is your HD set up now?

Boot to command prompt ( press shift+F10 as soon as you get to the Install Now screen ). Type

diskpart

then press enter

lis vol

then press enter - make a note of what it says

exi

'should'.
But the auto/default function of the install DVD is to pick the Partition 2 to install-to. If it is installing the whole ball of yarn, then its erring ['cause its installing 1 to 2].

the only diff I see between removing/dumbing-down everything that can be removed & dumbed down, is that the install process stalled for a longer time precisely at the same point it had stalled-out in umpteen previous attempts. Gets to "22%" of expanding Windows files, stays there a few, then bails out with same error as always.

at the same time at the top u said take out all the unnecessary hardware but one stick of ram what if there is not enough ram to install windows seven if u have a older computer

Validation failures using Image for Windows is a system problem - typically hardware but could be a RAID issue too. that is probably what is causing your problem. You can always use Image for Windows or Image for DOS/Linux to test the reliablity of your system even if you don't need it for imaging.

See TeraByte Unlimited Knowledge Base

don't have a big memory stick.

The install DVD does not overwrite that system partition apparently. its also odd about booting [the DVD, that is]. Tried it in a different system with different SATA DVD/RW and it won't boot at all. other discs will boot fine from the unit.
Since the system partition is left as a stump on the drive, I'm guessing maybe the DVD boots some code that looks to see if it has a Win7 partition on the HD, and if Yes, defaults to the HD instead, cause that is what happens. meaning I'll need to put the drive on another sys and wipe it, then try again.

I also tried 'Recover' of the system Image Backup [which passed validation by 'Image For Windows' validate routine] on a different system, using the Image linux boot CD [so it basically just uses the system as a copy device]. Same error as I got on system 1.
That tells me to abandon Image for Windows despite its very good reputation. in this case, something is corrupting.... I dunno how but it is.
I plan to go back to Paragon or 'Reflect' to try to backup an image a diff way.

bottom line is I have on 80gb drive with win7 Pro that is activated and validated.
80gb is too small. So I have a 500gb drive to put something on. In addition to the Win7 Pro, I have this DVD of Win7 Ultimate and a fresh product key for it, if I could just get it to work....

thanks man

Hi folks ... I just registered with this forum to say "thank you" ... my son tried to install Seven by a clean installation and failed several times ... by reading this thread and following your hints we fixed all problems and Seven is up and running now smoothly.
Great job, this forum ... and great people!

Thank you!
Dagmar and Christian