Solved Install windows stuck on "setup is starting", cmd won't use commands

windowsn00b

New member
Local time
5:05 PM
Messages
6
Install windows stuck on "setup is starting", cmd won't use commands

After following the tutorials on the site to get windows on a flash drive or dvd, i used that to run the installer. sadly, after you hit "start to install" it goes into a seemingly infinite setup is starting cycle where ultimately nothing happens.
any solutions would be appreciated
also, i read somewhere that i can fix this with cmd by using this
At first installer screen Press Shift + F10 to open a Command Box, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 0 (after confirming Windows 7 target HD #)
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=102400 (for 100gb partition, adjust as desired)
FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="WINDOWS 7"
ACTIVE
EXIT
EXIT
however, after typing diskpart my cmd does not let me type anything else, effectively rendering this useless.. also regarding the infinite loop startup repair guide here it didnt let me issue any commands after typing D:

thanks in advance, help is much appreciated!
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium x64

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Cha...EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Don't think this is the problem, I got my links fro there, burned one to a USB and one to a DVD(different editions) and both had the same problem
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Did you really enter exit twice? If so that may be the problem.

First exit ends diskpart. 2nd one ends Command Prompt I think.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro X64Intel Quad Core i7-4770 @ 3.4Ghz16.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHzIntel Integrated HD Graphics
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Lenovo IdeaCenter 450
OS
Windows 10 Pro X64
CPU
Intel Quad Core i7-4770 @ 3.4Ghz
Memory
16.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
Graphics Card(s)
Intel Integrated HD Graphics
Sound Card
Realtek HD Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
HP 22" LCD
Screen Resolution
1680 x 1050
Hard Drives
250GB Samsung EVO SATA-3 SSD
2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 SATA-2
1.5TB Seagate ST3150041AS SATA
Keyboard
Dell USB
Mouse
Lenovo USB
Internet Speed
Cable via Road Runner 3MB Upload, 30MB Download
Antivirus
Windows Defender, MBAM Pro, MBAE
Browser
Seamonkey
Other Info
UEFI/GPT
PLDS DVD-RW DH16AERSH
No, I wasn't able to type anything after typing diskpart, Cmd wouldn't let me type anything else.
something similar happened when I initially tried repairing startup repair infinite loop problem using Cmd, but it didn't let me type anything after typing D:
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Anyone know if installing a linux installer might work?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Back up your files, unplug all other HD's and peripherals,

Boot into BIOS setup, reset to defaults, save changes. If an EFI BIOS you'll need to decide if you want UEFI BIOS vs. Legacy BIOS. If UEFI follow these special steps for Install, otherwise enable Legacy BIOS or Compatibility Support Module to proceed with normal install:

Set DVD drive first to boot, HD second, set SATA controller to AHCI, Save changes and Exit.

Then boot into Windows 7 installer DVD or flash stick burned or written using tool and latest ISO for your licensed OS version here. I would use a fresh ISO written with tool in Step 2 as yours is in question.

At first installer screen Press Shift + F10, or enter System Recovery Options to open a Command Box, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 0 (after confirming Windows 7 target HD #)
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="WINDOWS 7"
ACTIVE
EXIT
EXIT

Next click Install Now, then Custom install to Clean Install Windows 7 to the partition you created. If it fails then report back at which step and the verbatim error message.

In addition read over these steps to understand the tools and methods which work best to get and maintain a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. The steps are the same for retail.

After install you can adjust partition size or Create new partitions for data, etc. in Disk Mgmt. You are creating the partition here for the purpose of wiping the HD and marking Active which overcomes certain install failures.
 
I installed linux to get rid of old windows on my hdd, and now when running the windows installer again it is not stalling on "setup is starting"... instead it is not letting me create a new partition or edit any existing ones. regarding the post above mine, all is good until i type "create partition primary" which cmd then says "Virtual Disk Service Error: There is not enough usable space for this operation."
either way, thanks for the help everyone!
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Fixed this by first installing linux and wiping my previous windows partition. After that i tried using my windows installer disk again and it worked but I could not create a new partition so i needed to delete the linux partition.. thanks for your attempts at help guys but i ultimately got this working :D
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Back up your files, unplug all other HD's and peripherals,

Boot into BIOS setup, reset to defaults, save changes. If an EFI BIOS you'll need to decide if you want UEFI BIOS vs. Legacy BIOS. If UEFI follow these special steps for Install, otherwise enable Legacy BIOS or Compatibility Support Module to proceed with normal install:

Set DVD drive first to boot, HD second, set SATA controller to AHCI, Save changes and Exit.

Then boot into Windows 7 installer DVD or flash stick burned or written using tool and latest ISO for your licensed OS version here. I would use a fresh ISO written with tool in Step 2 as yours is in question.

At first installer screen Press Shift + F10, or enter System Recovery Options to open a Command Box, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 0 (after confirming Windows 7 target HD #)
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="WINDOWS 7"
ACTIVE
EXIT
EXIT

Next click Install Now, then Custom install to Clean Install Windows 7 to the partition you created. If it fails then report back at which step and the verbatim error message.

In addition read over these steps to understand the tools and methods which work best to get and maintain a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. The steps are the same for retail.

After install you can adjust partition size or Create new partitions for data, etc. in Disk Mgmt. You are creating the partition here for the purpose of wiping the HD and marking Active which overcomes certain install failures.

I'm trying to DISKPART> and the SELECT DISK 0 and then CLEAN
but it doesn't let me do it, so I tried the next step, but if I type: FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="WINDOWS 7"
It says I didn't select a volume. What does this mean?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

windows 7 home premium 64 bit
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
packard bell
OS
windows 7 home premium 64 bit
Fix for windows installation freezing/hanging on 'setup is starting'

Hello all, I encountered the same issue with re-installing windows as my original OS had corrupted. I had the same issue with hanging on 'setup is starting' for more than an hour with no result.

I fixed the issue by deleting the partition where the corrupted windows was installed, re-created a new partition with all available remaining space***, formatted with ntfs, using gparted live booted from a usb (however I am sure any other live partition manager would do the trick).
The suggested fix of wiping and reformatting in cmd would not work for the same reason, hanged every time "diskpart" was entered into cmd. This issue I believe was to do with the corrupted partition affecting functionality of both windows install and cmd prompt. Right after the 'setup is starting page', the installation attempts to load all partitions on available drives. As the partition is corrupted in some way, this literally freezes the installation. No matter what I did, the installation would not continue past that point until the corrupted partition was deleted and reformatted.

*** I have had this issue before with a different system, where a section of the hard-drive itself was faulty. If this is the case, you would have to follow troubleshooting & repair steps for a damaged HDD (re-partitioning HDD with small increments to partiton size, until you find the damaged sector OR simply replace the HDD).

Sorry if there are any errors in formatting and how I replied to the original thread, this is my first post. Hope this helps others :D
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 8.1 Pro 64bitIntel i5
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Samsung
OS
Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
CPU
Intel i5
Back
Top