In real trouble - Stuck in mid-install

[brendanhughe]

Hi folks. I'm installing Windows 7 on top of Vista. My laptop powered off very close to the end of the install and now I cannot roll back or complete the installation of 7.

When I boot up i get a command prompt window with the following:

Microsoft Windows [version 6.1.7600]

X:\$windows.~BT\windows\system32>

What should I do???

 

[TheSchaft]

Try going into the BIOS and setting it to boot from the DVD drive, load in the Windows 7 DVD and boot up that way.

You may be able to repair the installation from there, depending on where it was in the install when it shut down.

P.S - Welcome to Seven Forums, sorry it was under such trying circumstances.

 

[Ryan2320]

I would reinstall (CLEAN INSTALL) and make sure your labtop is plugged in when you are installing Windows 7

Hope this Helps..

 

[brendanhughe]

Thanks guys. I've tried to boot from the Windows7 disc but that doesn't seem to work. If I do a clean install I guess I'd lose all my files/documents etc?? Of course I didin't do a backup :-( Can I do a backup now using command prompt?? Thanks

 

[Ryan2320]

I don't think you can do a backup in command because your drive letter is X: (meaning it is most likely (I could be worng) not your hard drive were your files are stored)

It is usually C:

see if you can change it to C: but i don't know the backup command in Windows 7 I know XP Pro has one called ntbackup.exe but I don't think that would work in Windows 7

Sorry..

Now can you boot from the disk and reinstall Windows 7??
or do you get in error message??

 

[DocBrown]

If you can boot the DVD, see if the Repair install is available .

 

[TheSchaft]

See if "robocopy" is in there and working. (It is installed with Windows 7 and Vista.)

You'll need someplace to put your stuff, like another HD or partition, of course.

If its been a while since you used command line stuff, here's a link to Vista commands - Windows Vista Command Line List and Reference

 

[brendanhughe]

when i try to boot from dvd, it loads files and gives me a dialogue to Install Windows. I click on install now, accept t&c's and click Install. I then get a compatibility report telling me to remove disc and restrt windows normally. So I'm back where I started :-(

 

[brendanhughe]

See if "robocopy" is in there and working. (It is installed with Windows 7 and Vista.)

Yep, robocopy.exe is there. Should I run it? What does it do?

 

[TheSchaft]

Sorry for the delay in responding - real life got in the way.

Robust Copy, or robocopy, can copy your files to another disk or network drive. I came across this in the Vista forums - how to use robocopy - Vista Forums - and it gives some advice on using it.

You can get a full list of its options by typing the following:

robocopy /? | more

If you have another hard drive, this might allow you to back up all your stuff there.

Now, what you need to do is determine what drives your system thinks it has, and what it has access to so you can find your Vista stuff and then try to back it up - I imagine robocopy will copy to a DVD as well as another HD or network drive.

 

[pparks1]

Robocopy is just like the regular xcopy...except it is great for subsequent backups as it only does files which have changed or are different.

the syntax is robocopy /src /destination
So, robocopy C:\users\profile E:\backups\users

 

[brendanhughe]

Thanks for that. Real life can get in the way sometimes alright

I'll try that backup and see how I get on.

ta

 

[TheSchaft]

Hope it works.