Win 7 sp1 installation issue

Hi Spikey020, welcome to Seven Forums,

Spikey020 said:

I just reinstalled windows 7 home after installing a new hdd, I installed sp1 via windows update but now have a rather strange issue, if I go to windows update and look at updates it shows that it is installed, but if I then go to uninstall an update it is not shown in that list, also it is not shown if I look at computer properties, so I also cannot uninstall it to try reinstalling it again,

From your post I assume that you have a Windows 7 installation disk without SP1?

If this is the case, then there is a lot of work to do in order to get SP1 installed and the 200+ updates that are needed to bring your system up to date.

There is an easier way to achieve this, just follow my instructions below!

Clean Install

You will need your Product Key for the version of Windows that you are re-installing. This is the ONLY version that you will be able to activate. On a laptop, it will either be on a sticker on the bottom, or in the battery compartment. If the sticker it is too worn to read, or there isn't one, then you can retrieve it by either using Belarc Advisor or Magic Jelly Bean. Write this Product Key down and keep it in a safe place.

You will need either a Win 7 SP1 installation disk or a Win 7 SP1 ISO. If you don't have either of these, you can download the latest and last Windows [Final] > Windows 7 SP1 [build 7601] > Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 ISO [build 6.1.7601 - July 2009] file from TechBench [make sure you select the correct language and bit type]. It is recommended that you download the Win 7 Ultimate SP1 ISO because all versions of Win 7 can be made available from it. This is achieved by creating a folder on the desktop and then unzipping the ISO into it using 7-Zip, and then delete the ei.cfg file in the sources folder. Alternatively, you could run the eicfg_removal_utility against the downloaded ISO. If the version of Windows you are installing is Windows 7 SP1 Ultimate, then there is NO need to remove the ei.cfg file as instructed above.

To get the ISO up to date, there are at present, over 240 updates. Now rather than letting MS Windows Update update your OS, which involves many hours of downloading, installing and re-booting, you can integrate all the updates into the ISO, then all you need to do is to create a new ISO for installation. There are two options available to do this, one is a utility called 7UPDATER [see below], written and created by SIW2, and the other is DISM++ [see below]. Both these options are discussed and explained here => Update your Win 7 installation media.

7UPDATER: 7UPDATER
DISM++ Direct download [zip]: DISM++
DISM++ Website [you will need to translate the page]: DISM++ | New Windows Utility

Another option is to burn the ISO [see below] that you have downloaded and use it for the clean install. Then use DISM++ [see below] to get the OS up to date.

DISM++ [Deployment Image Servicing and Management]

DISM++ is a FREE implementation tool that has the ability to perform Windows Updates [WU]. Some of the advantages [but not all] are:

[1] The GUI is very easy to understand and use.
[2] It is much faster than Microsofts WU because it uses a different engine.
[3] It gives you the option of what you want to install.
[4] It doesn’t install superseded updates like Microsoft does.
[5] It warns you of any suspect and Telemetry updates, and any updates that have known issues.
[6] It doesn’t require re-booting between updates.
[7] It can be used to either update an install.wim image offline, or to update the live OS.

If you decide to use DISM++, then it is best to run the DISM++ Windows updates a couple of times to make sure you get ALL the updates that are needed. DON’T install the ORANGE ones though [you could just install the ones that DISM++ recommends]. It can also install the required .NETFramework updates. Then just run WU to see what other updates are available, if any.

Burn an ISO to DVD or USB

Whichever of the above options you use, you will need to burn the ISO [you can't just copy and paste it because it won't work] to a DVD or USB. If you have integrated [pre-installed] the updates into the ISO, then it will be too big to fit onto a DVD. Therefore you will need to burn it to a USB.

To burn the ISO to a DVD [please see above], you can use the Windows 7 built in ISO burner.
To burn the ISO to a USB, you can either use: Rufus 3.3 or Rufus 3.3 Portable.

IMPORTANT: Make sure that you backup ALL your essential files to an external HDD or USB BEFORE you start the clean install. This is because during the clean install process, ALL your User Accounts, Folders, Files, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Data Files, Icons, and any installed programs will be erased and become irretrievable. It is also still strongly advised that you make a system image as a secondary precaution. This way, if things go wrong in the future, you will be able to restore your OS back to the exact same state that it is now in a very short time. There are two imaging programs which are very popular among members here, the first is AOMEI Backupper Standard [FREE], and the second is Macrium Reflect [FREE].

IMPORTANT: REMOVE any connected drives BEFORE you start the clean install.

SUGGESTION: Once you have your OS updated and running the way you like it, make a system image. This way, if things go wrong in the future, you will be able to restore your OS back to the exact same state that it is now in a very short time. There are two imaging programs which are very popular among members here, the first is AOMEI Backupper Standard [FREE], and the second is Macrium Reflect [FREE].

I hope this helps!

Hi Spikey020,

Spikey020 said:

First of all thanks for your reply, I do have a windows 7 installation disk without sp1, since the failed update I checked updates again and sp1 was shown again so I ran it again and now it is installed properly. I am just wondering why it showed that it was installed when it wasn't, whether this is an indication of other problems with the computer.

I really can't give you a definitive answer to that. Sometimes updates do take a little while to show up, it's the nature of the beast, so to speak!

As far as this being an indication of other problems with the computer, I wouldn't like to say. I must admit that we don't get many members that are clean installing that are starting with a pre-SP1 installation disk or ISO!

I will however suggest that in order to get your system completely updated without too much fuss and time, that you use...

Paul Black said:

Then use DISM++ to get the system up to date. DISM++ uses a different search engine to Microsoft. It gives you the option of what you do and don’t want to install. It warns you of suspect and Telemetry updates, it doesn’t [unlike Microsoft] install superseded updates, and it doesn’t take hours. Most importantly, this update process can be performed from within the live Windows system.

This option is discussed and explained here >>> Update your Win 7 installation media.

If you do go along this route and require any further guidence then please let me know!

I hope this helps!

Hi Spikey020,

Breelander said:

I can cut that 200+ figure down to just SP1 and two updates*. The first one is KB3125574.

Convenience rollup update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

The significance of the April 2016 date is that it was when Microsoft switched over to the Monthly Quality Rollup format, so the next update you need is the latest 'Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7' which windows update will find for you in the normal way.

* Well, actually there will be a few more than two updates needed, as there will be others for .NET framework, IE11 and so on. But the Convenience Rollup covers the vast majority of the ones for Windows itself.

I have covered this approach several times in other threads. Here is a post from a previous thread that I hope will help you further:

Paul Black said:

After a clean install of Windows you need to download [.msu files] and install the following updates in the order stated below:

[1] - KB3020369 - Servicing Stack Update - April 2015.
[2] - KB3125574 - Convenience Rollup Package - May 2016.
[3] - KB3172605 - Functional Update Rollup [THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT] - July 2016.
[4] - KB3179573 - Functional Update Rollup - August 2016.

Then either:

[1] Download and install KB4054518, the Security Monthly Quality Rollup Update for December 2017.
Now if you are wondering why I am saying the December 2017 update as opposed to the June 2018 update, the reason for this is because of the problems people have had with the security monthly quality rollup updates since the end of last year. It is up to you obviously what you want to install.

[2] Download and install ALL the Security Only Updates [.msu files], of which there are 14 from October 2016 to December 2017, again the reason for this is as stated in number [1] above.

After you have done either of the above you can then run Windows Update normally. This will vastly reduce the number of updates needed [somewhere in the region of 200+ after a clean install] and the amount of time needed to download and install them, along with the numerous restarts needed.

Alternatively, after the clean install, you could just try running Windows Updates. This will however, take quite a few hours because you will need to keep running Windows Updates until there are none left [as I said above there are 200+ updates]. This could work OK might there might be problems because of this years updates which I have mentioned above.

There is an opinion that although the KB3020369 [Servicing Stack Update - April 2015] update has been superseded/replaced by the KB3177467 [Servicing Stack Update - Oct 2016] update, that it should be used instead of KB3020369!

It appears that this is only the case if you are not installing KB3125574 [The Convenience Rollup Package - May 2016]. If you are installing KB3125574 then you must install the KB3020369 first.

For the explanation of why I have only included updates upto and including December 2017, please see explanation [1] in my post.

I hope this helps!

EDIT:
Once you have updated the OS as per the above, and run Windows Update, you need to make sure that you have KB3177467 installed. If you haven't, then there are two ways to do this. You can either download the .msu for it and install it, or run Windows Update which should give you the new updated version which Microsoft has just released. You can read more about this in this post by @Brink: Windows 7 servicing stack updates: manage change & cumulative updates

ALTERNATIVE:
Now rather than letting Windows update update your system, which involves many hours of downloading, installing and rebooting, you could use DISM++. It is an implementation tool that can be used to update your OS with regard to Windows Update. It is much faster than Microsofts because it uses a different engine. It gives you the option of what to install. It doesn’t install superseded updates [unlike Microsoft], and it doesn’t require rebooting between updates. It warns you of any suspect and Telemetry updates, and any updates that have known issues. The advantage of using DISM++ is the fact that it can be used to either update an install.wim image [offline], or it can be used to update the live OS.

Hi Breelander,

Breelander said:

Some of us have an OEM factory reset partition that pre-dates SP1, so if we want to do a factory reset we have no option but to use that as the starting point.

You do have an option, you can download the latest and last Windows [Final] > Windows 7 SP1 [build 7601] ISO.

Breelander said:

However, I can cut that 200+ figure down to just SP1 and two updates*. The first one is KB3125574.

The significance of the April 2016 date is that it was when Microsoft switched over to the Monthly Quality Rollup format, so the next update you need is the latest 'Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7' which windows update will find for you in the normal way.

* Well, actually there will be a few more than two updates needed, as there will be others for .NET framework, IE11 and so on. But the Convenience Rollup covers the vast majority of the ones for Windows itself.

Even installing the Convenience Rollup [the old method of doing it now days] will still leave quite a number of updates still available. The quickest and easiest way to do this is to update the live OS using DISM++.

I hope this helps!

Some of us have an OEM factory reset partition that pre-dates SP1, so if we want to do a factory reset we have no option but to use that as the starting point. However, I can cut that 200+ figure down to just SP1 and two updates*. The first one is KB3125574.

It might be a good idea to create your own updated reset media.

A listing and a screenshot of your recovery partition contents would be useful

Hi Spikey020,

winnie87 said:

Go to C\Windows\SoftwareDistrubution\Download and remove any file or folders that are present.

If you decide to do this, rather than remove or delete the file, I recommend that you just rename [add a 1 at the end or something] it!