Can't do repair installation of Win7 Pro

JohnDohe · 17 Mar 2018

Hi,

I've got a Win7PRO Acer pc with an "ASUS UEFI BIOS number B85M-E BIOS VERSION 3505" that was upgraded last year with a new MotherBoard.

I'm trying to do a repair install of Wn7PRO (because Task Scheduler stopped working and I've tried for days doing various online advice's to no avail) but I keep getting this message after I click to do the repair installation:
"This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disc that is compatible with this version of windows."

The disk I'm using is the one you sent me just recently.

An advice I got online was to change not only the boot order to make the DVD the first, but to also change the DVD's "channel" to make it the lowest channel number.

I don't know what a device's channel is, or where to set the channel for a device.

In the initial "EZ Mode" UEFI BIOS Utility screen, where I'm able to drag the drives into my preferred order, there are six (6) drive icons with these labels when I hover the mouse over them in this order from left to right: (the "DVD icon" and "HDD icon" are added by me to indicate what the icon looks like):

(DVD icon) P5: HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH22NS50 (3167MB)
(DVD icon) UEFI: HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH22NS50 (3167MB)
(HDD icon) Windows Boot Manager (P3 ST1000DM003-1CH162)
(HDD icon) P1: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB )238475MB)
(HDD icon) Windows Boot Manager (P1: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB)
(HDD icon) Windows Boot Manager (P1: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB)

I've gone into the BIOS/UEFI, dragged the boot order to make the it the first, gone into advanced options (and pressing F7 doesn't work; I have to mouse and doubleclick "Advanced"), and looked at every option I can see to find SOMEthing that relates to either the boot order, the channel, or both and found nothing

that I can change. So far the only place I can change the boot order is the initial screen.

Another advice was to disable other drives except the C drive. Short of actually unplugging the HDD D-drive I can't see how, in the UEFI/BIOS settings, to disable a drive.

My goal is to do a repair install of Win7PRO.

How do I get this done?

Any advice is much appreciated!

SIW2 · 17 Mar 2018

My goal is to do a repair install of Win7PRO

Repair install is the same as upgrade install. Has to be done from within your running windows installation - can't be done by booting the installation media.

Boot into your existing windows, put the dvd in the drive, run setup.exe from the dvd. Select "upgrade".

NOTE: If you are running 7x64 Pro, you must use the 7x64 media ( dvd in your case)

SIW2 · 17 Mar 2018

The disk I'm using is the one you sent me just recently.

Who is this "you" ?

JohnDohe · 17 Mar 2018

@ SIW2

Re: "you": typo

Megahertz07 · 19 Mar 2018

Repair Install - Windows 7 Help Forums

johnk1va · 30 Sep 2019

I have a similar problem (the reason I joined the forum!). My 64-bit Win 7 Pro motherboard lost the ability to stay on the LAN network last year. I disabled it in bios and installed a new LAN card--worked fine. Recently, I decided to get a new MB (DX58S0) because I wanted to add USB 3.0 ports, which needed the LAN slot (the dual video cards blocked the spare open slot). When I tried to boot the new MB (after setting new bios options and time/date) with my Recovery CD, it said my "System Recovery Options not compatible with the version of windows you are trying to repair"! It looks like the 64-bit processor is not being recognized. It has RAID 0/1 drives for which I selected RAID in bios. Another weird symptom is that the four memory slots cause a "Memory Error" beep code unless I use only three. The old DX58S0 MB used them fine. I am at a loss for how to fix this. Any ideas?

TechnoMage2016 · 02 Oct 2019

On my Home Made desktop PC, a problem developed, where the PC would take a minute or more to just go On-Line, when I'd boot it up. Troubleshooting the problem pointed to something gone amiss inside of Windows 7. So....what to do?

The install of Win-7 is several years old, , , I don't remember exactly how old. But for some time, I've wanted to do a "Clean Install of Win 7".
So with my Win-7 Install disk in hand, here's how I did it:

My main HD is a Sandisk,120GB SSD and I didn't want to mess with it, since it has several years accumulation of programs and data files on it. OH, it's all backed up, but that's a different story.

I began my new Win-7 install using a new "Crucial, 120GB SSD". And it was the only HD connected to the Motherboard. With the Install disk in the DVD drive, I booted up to it and started the install. It went as smooth as silk, but as usual with Win-7, there were several drivers needed, like, for the Sound, LAN, Video and USB 3.0 ports on the mobo. And, my Epson printer. Yes, I have all the driver disks, so that was just a small diversion and not a real road block.

With the new Win-7 up and running, I connected my old SSD to the mobo, and began copying files and folders from the old drive to the new drive. Copy and paste, or just Drag N Drop.

Two days later, my new install of Win-7 is running like a champ! As soon as my desktop comes up, the PC goes on-line. That's what I wanted!!!
And it's FAST!!!

This Clean Install gives me the opportunity to carefully decide on what I want to install and what I don't.

After several years of operation, my old Win-7 was really getting cluttered, with a lot of programs I tested but never used.

Yes, a Clean Install on a running PC, is not for the faint of heart, but having a second HD to use sure makes things go a lot easier.

Good Luck y'all ,
TM

RolandJS · 03 Oct 2019

TechnoSuperDude, the only thing left were a few 3rd party software quick re-installs/repair installs and a few software to data re-associations, correct? :)

torchwood · 04 Oct 2019

hi

your error message

with my Recovery CD -System Recovery Options not compatible with the version of windows you are trying to repair

the most likely scenerios
CD version of windows is NOT - either Pro, W7 Service pack 1 or the wrong bit version, 32/64.

Roy