Solved After booting Windows 7 Ultimate - the whole screen turns into red

[harant]

Hey there,

I would like to ask for your support!

I’m trying to install the Windows 7 Ultimate operation system on my Dell N5040 laptop and after choosing in the BIOS to boot from a USB it says “ windows is loading files...” and right after this red screen appears and my laptop shuts down.

I upgraded my system from 3 GB to 8 GB memory two weeks ago.

Currently, I have the Windows 7 Professional 32-bit version running on my laptop and due to this reason, it says that out of the 8 GB memory only 3 GB is usable. So I decided to use a better version of Windows 7 and also to set it to 64 bit not 32 bit to be able to use all the 8 GB memory.

I would really appreciate if you could support me with this issue!

 

[Megahertz07]

Welcome to the Forum

It seams that something is corrupted on your USB flash drive or can be a memory issue.
Where did you get the Win 7 64 installation files?
How did you made the USB flash disk boot able? Is it formatted as Fat32 or NTFS?
After installing the new 4+4 G memory sticks did you do a memory test?


Did the laptop came with Win 7 pro 32bits or did you installed?

 

[harant]

Thank you!

I purchased the product key from http://buy-keys.com/ and they included a link to download the ISO file.

After downloading the ISO file I tried to use the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool to create a bootable USB, but it said: "Unable to run bootsect to make the USB device bootable" - so I checked a video on youtube and they suggested that I should download a file called "bootsect.exe" and copy it to the file where the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool folder is.

It worked perfectly in the end.

The USB stick was properly formatted as NTFS.

I haven't run a memory test yet on the 2 x 4 GB memory. Not sure how to do it tho.

 

[Megahertz07]

Big chances are that your license is pirate. There are no more Win 7 legit keys for sale in recent years.

Why you need Ultimate?

Did the laptop came with Win 7 pro 32bits or did you installed?
If the laptop came with Win 7 pro 32, you can use the license to install Win 7 pro 64.
I can guide you on this legit install.

 

[flavallee]

What's the exact 7-character service tag number on that "Dell N5040" laptop?

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[harant]

Megahertz07 - Thank you! I might do that.

flavallee - the service tag is 5HZQDR1

 

[Megahertz07]

I can send you a link to download Win 7 Pro SP1 64bits from MS servers.
What language do you want?

 

[harant]

Megahertz07 - Dell pre-installed a Windows 7 home premium, not Pro. I would like to have it in English. Do you think the product key on the bottom of my laptop should be usable for reinstalling the home premium version?

Two years ago I installed the 7 Pro - 32 bits.

 

[Megahertz07]

Megahertz07 - Dell pre-installed a Windows 7 home premium, not Pro. I would like to have it in English. Do you think the product key on the bottom of my laptop should be usable for reinstalling the home premium version? Yes, you can use the product key on the bottom of your laptop to install Win 7 HP SP1 64bits.

Two years ago I installed the 7 Pro - 32 bits.

If the 7 Pro - 32 bits is legit, you can also install Win 7 HP Pro 64bits.
Do you have any version of win 7 SP1 64bits legit installation disk?

 

[harant]

No, I don't. Would you mind sending me a link to download?

 

[SIW2]

One course is to download the dell windows 7 pro x64 installation media. You would have 64 bit and no diificulty with activation.

The dell iso files are big, because they are multi language.


Or you can back up the activation from your current installation.
Then use a standard ms iso to install win7 pro x64.
Then restore the activation

SEE HERE

 

[Megahertz07]

Win7_HomePrem_SP1_English_x64.iso

Link valid for 24 hours from time of creation.
Links expire: 5/2/2020 5:00:44 PM UTC

 

[SIW2]

Currently, I have the Windows 7 Professional 32-bit version running

In that case, it makes sense to install Pro 64 bit

Backup the activation with dism++ first. Install 7x64 pro. Restore activation.

 

[Megahertz07]

The link I sent is for Win 7 HP SP1 64 bits.

Any Win 7 installation disk has ALL versions (HB, HP, Pro and ultimate) you just need to rename \sources\ei.cfg to \sources\ei.cfg.org and all versions will show on to you during installation.

Steps to do once you've downloaded the iso file.
- Install 7zip 32bits to use on your 32bits computer or 7zip 64bits to use on a 64bits computer.
- Format a USB drive (4G min) as Fat32
- With 7 zip extract all files and folders to the USB drive (4G min) formatted as Fat32.
- Go to the \sources\ei.cfg on the USB drive and rename to \sources\ei.cfg.org
- Extract the Boot.zip to the efi folder.
boot.zip

- Open a cmd window as administrator and type:
diskpart
list volume (take note of the number of the USB drive)
select volume n (replace n with the number of the USB drive from above)
active
exit (to exit diskpart)
exit (to exit cmd)

Now your USB drive can boot as Legacy or UEFI.
Once you boot from the USB drive, go to install, choose the version you want to install, go advanced, delete ALL partitions on the disk and proceed.

 

[Megahertz07]

Two years ago I installed the 7 Pro - 32 bits.

Where did you get the 7 Pro - 32 bits, from Dell?

 

[flavallee]

According to that service tag number, you have THIS Dell Inspiron 15 N5040 Notebook PC.

It was purchased on January 12, 2012 in the U.K. and came with Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit.

It came with an Intel Pentium P6200 processor and 3 GB of DDR3 RAM.

 

[Megahertz07]

Once you have installed Win 7 64bits, my suggestion is to set Services - Windows Update - Manual and on WU page set it to Never check.
Then run UpdatePack7R2
Simplix is a single file (850MB) that contain all updates since Win 7 released up to date. It has all security and non security updates without the trash (telemetry and tracking). Very good.
Then run WU manually to find updates for Office etc and decide witch one to install.

To uninstall the telemetry, run cmd file to uninstall those KB files.
kb_spy.cmd.txt
Rename it as KB_Spy.cmd and run it.

 

[harant]

Thank you very much for helping guys!
Megahertz07 - do you think its the ISO file you sent me? The USB should be good and it was properly formatted.

 

[Megahertz07]

Thank you very much for helping guys!
Megahertz07 - do you think its the ISO file you sent me? The USB should be good and it was properly formatted.

The Win7_HomePrem_SP1_English_x64.iso link is to download a Win 7 HP SP1 x64.iso
Just click on it and your browser will begin to download.

Follow my instructions on post #14 on how to create a boot able USB drive with it.

 

[harant]

The link I sent is for Win 7 HP SP1 64 bits.

Any Win 7 installation disk has ALL versions (HB, HP, Pro and ultimate) you just need to rename \sources\ei.cfg to \sources\ei.cfg.org and all versions will show on to you during installation.

Steps to do once you've downloaded the iso file.
- Install 7zip 32bits to use on your 32bits computer or 7zip 64bits to use on a 64bits computer.
- Format a USB drive (4G min) as Fat32
- With 7 zip extract all files and folders to the USB drive (4G min) formatted as Fat32.
- Go to the \sources\ei.cfg on the USB drive and rename to \sources\ei.cfg.org
- Extract the Boot.zip to the efi folder.
boot.zip

- Open a cmd window as administrator and type:
diskpart
list volume (take note of the number of the USB drive)
select volume n (replace n with the number of the USB drive from above)
active
exit (to exit diskpart)
exit (to exit cmd)

Now your USB drive can boot as Legacy or UEFI.
Once you boot from the USB drive, go to install, choose the version you want to install, go advanced, delete ALL partitions on the disk and proceed.

Megahertz07 - I followed your instructions and when I tried to boot my USB this screen appeared and there was no change.