Hi
I am trying to install Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 onto a laptop using a bootable USB and I created it using rufus but it keeps getting stuck. It loads the windows files and then it gets stuck when the balls join together and it says underneath starting windows
I thought it might be the hdd or the ram so changed both and still does it
I am out of ideas? could it be a bad iso file? or is the laptop no good altogether
Thank you in advance
Can anyone help please as I am totally out of ideas, I tried installing Windows 7 when I got to the desktop of Windows 8.1 but that got stuck when it reboots and tries to carry on the Windows 7 install
Would it work if I format the hard drive from the laptop using my desktop pc and then put the hard drive back into the laptop so there is no operating system and then try to install from the USB again?
I would suggest that you create a Windows 7 install DVD, and do the install from that rather than from the bootable USB.
Formatting your hard drive first may not be necessary, but it wouldn't be any harm. I would try that, to see if it gets the job done. Before you format the drive, you could re-partition it - if there are multiple partitions, delete all but the main one, and make that one partition use all of the drive space. Then after doing that, format the drive.
Make sure that you are partitioning and formatting your laptop's drive, not your Windows drive!
If you are using a legitimate Windows 7 install disk, you shouldn't have to partition and format the drive ahead of time, because both of those functions are available when you first start the Windows install. But it won't hurt to do the partition and format when the drive is installed in your desktop computer.
While you have the hard drive in the desktop PC, do a chkdsk on it, to make sure that there are no errors.
Run chkdsk x: /F ('x' is the drive letter of the drive, and /F tells it to fix any errors it finds on the disk).
yeah there are about 5 partitions including the main one that has Windows 8.1 on it
I can't do the dvd method as the laptop does not have a dvd drive
In that case, I would definitely install the drive into your desktop computer, delete all partitions, create one big partition for the entire drive, then format that one new partition. Then run chkdsk on it.
Once you have done all of that, I believe you will have success with the Windows 7 install.
Question: How big is the laptop's hard drive? If it is 2 TB or less, then you will have no problem with one big partition for the entire drive. If it is more than 2 TB, then it gets a bit more complicated.
With a drive that is over 2TB, you will need to have UEFI firmware (not BIOS firmware) in order to be able to have one big partition for the whole drive. Additionally, in order to be able to boot from that big partition, you will need to have 64-bit Windows 7 (not 32-bit).
I am quite sure that your laptop has UEFI firmware; it would have to be pretty old to have BIOS rather than UEFI. UEFI allows you to format the drive using GPT; BIOS requires that you format the drive using MBR, and MBR doesn't allow for partitions which are bigger than 2TB.
But I'm not sure if you are installing 64-bit or 32-bit Windows. If you are installing 64-bit Windows, then you are good to go. However, if you are installing 32-bit Windows, although you couldn't make the one big partition bootable, you could go with two partitions: a small partition (say 200GB) as your boot partition, and a big partition (all remaining space on the drive).
Here is some very helpful information on this topic:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...rger-than-2-tb
Sorry my mistake, I thought it was a 3TB hdd but it's a 500GB HDD
I now got a new issue
I have deleted the partitions and formatted the HDD and changed the boot order to USB first and at first it was coming up as reboot and select the proper boot device so changed it from UEFI to CSM and it still comes up with the same message
I did convert the HDD from GBT to MPR
did I not need to convert it? if so can I change it back to GPT?
Hi Ian,
As this lappy came with W8 then the Bios would have been UEFI.
When you created the Rufus installer which method, UEFI or BIOS
(you need Bios, also known as legacy)
No need to change your HDD format again, leave as MBR
Where did you get your W7 install media, it might be corrupt
you also need a W7 product key
You MUST have the lappy set to boot from USB first.
make sure its in a USB2 port, (not blue inside) W7 has no drivers for USB3
have a look at this tutorial
USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create - Windows 7 Help Forums
Roy
Quote