Solved Repair/fix a really really really old win7 ultimate

[idoru]

Hi,

I have, as says the title, a really really really old win7 ultimate more than 10 years old which got customised, with 3 tons of installed/uninstalled software.

Everything worked great until I discovered recently that the network adapter (realtek on motherboard) is 100Mb rather than gigabit and I'm not able anymore to install my soundcard.
The adapter isn't faulty as I checked it in a W10 dual boot.

So I thought to repair it... Unfortunately when I launch setup from the desktop it opens and closes immediately or if it opens it lets me choose country and language but there isn't any next button available or arrow to go on thru the process.

Does somebody know of a work around ?


Thanks in advance for any hep/tip.

 

[Snick]

Hi idoru.

Are you using DVD or ISO?
Are you sure your Win7 media is not corrupt?
Have you run SFC /SCANNOW from Administrative CMD or SFCFix by Niemiro?
Click Here to Download SFCFix v3.0.2.1 - Latest Version

I have a clean Win7x64 ISO SP1 from Microsoft's now defunct Digital River if you would like to borrow a copy.

 

[Megahertz07]

Let's do the basic.

Open a CMD window as administrator and type:
chkdsk c: /f
It will say your disk is in use and ask if you want to schedule to next start = yes
Restart
Pay attention on the results, specially bad blocks, bad clusters, bad sectors etc

Back to Windows, open a CMD window as administrator and type:
sfc /scannow

If it finds any corrupted files, fixing or not, reboot and run again

 

[idoru]

First of all, Thank you for you time.

About my system disk, I use hard disk sentinel (S.M.A.R.T data) and it's fine, nothing here.
About my windows copy (thanks a lot for the offer), I use a .iso file mounted in daemon tools. I've come to a windows related issue as my gigabit network adapter was limited (shown) as 100Mbs and having uninstalled my whole sound environment due to issues, I couldn't succeed re instaling it.

Oddly, I've restored a 3 days before sound uninstall backup and my network adapter is now a gigabit and my sound card ok.

I've also tried to begin windows intallation like a fresh install, outside the system from startup and the process went well.


The problem is that my windows is at least 10 years old, customized, tweaked, with tons of software installed and uninstalled, unstable from a point of view but very stable from day to day use.

 

[Snick]

First of all, Thank you for you time.

About my system disk, I use hard disk sentinel (S.M.A.R.T data) and it's fine, nothing here.
About my windows copy (thanks a lot for the offer), I use a .iso file mounted in daemon tools. I've come to a windows related issue as my gigabit network adapter was limited (shown) as 100Mbs and having uninstalled my whole sound environment due to issues, I couldn't succeed re instaling it.

Oddly, I've restored a 3 days before sound uninstall backup and my network adapter is now a gigabit and my sound card ok.

I've also tried to begin windows intallation like a fresh install, outside the system from startup and the process went well.


The problem is that my windows is at least 10 years old, customized, tweaked, with tons of software installed and uninstalled, unstable from a point of view but very stable from day to day use.

You don't mount the iso for a repair install (video on subject-matter), you unzip it with 7-zip to a folder at a location like Desktop, you click on setup.exe and follow the prompts. Then run UpdatePack7R2 to download an up to date Simplix file & run it. Then run Windows update if you wish. Done many, goes without a hitch.
Repair Install - Windows 7 Forums

Happy Holidays!

 

[idoru]

a big thanks but what is that updatepack7R2 qsimplix file ?

 

[Snick]

idoru,

Simplix UpdatePack enables you to update your live Windows 7 system and integrate hotfixes into a Windows 7 distribution. This update pack allows you to update Windows 7 SP1 (x86 x64) and Server 2008 R2 SP1 live operating systems and integrate the updates in the distribution (Install. wim).
It can be installed in any language. Includes all critical, recommended, and security updates and updates for all versions of Internet Explorer.

 

[idoru]

Well.. I don't know what to think as I've tried different things and none of them worked.

I'm french so I have a W7 ultimate SP1 in french (If my memory doesn't fail me, I did installed a EN-US version and applied a french language). So I tried to repair with a french W7 SP1...And got "wrong version (you won't be able to keep files/app/data).

Then I tried with a EN-us one and got the same result.

So, I'm beginning to think that I might have installed a pre SP1 version, surely in fact, does it mean that I have to install a pre SP1 one (either french or us) ?

I'm furious , faced to install again a fresh 7 (and all things needed/used in my actual configuration) or having to jump to an 11 I'm not found off.

PS : in both cases I used an ultimate W7 SP1 june 2021 updated iso.

 

[SIW2]

Try using iso without added updates ( you can run simplix after completing the repair install )


1. All the official ms iso files contain all editions.

Just delete the little ei.cfg file from the sources folder and all editions will be available to install.






2. For repair install on SP0 using SP1 media change cversion.ini in sources to 7600.0 like this

 

[Snick]

SIW2

That is what I attempted to proved OP with! Win7 x64 SP1 with ei.cfg removed!

Happy Holidays!

 

[idoru]

@SIW2 :
I was (and you were) right : I've found a W7 ultimate 2018 (???) at microsoft and launching it offered me the upgrade option. So nice.

Until it said "tsss... Tsss... having your user profile on another disk is a no go". I do have to make room for 270 Go on my system drive or cheat by creating only the structure, copy only ntuserxx.xxx files and keep the rest on my data disk. I hope this will be ok.

Anyway, I have work to do now.

@Snick :
Thanks for the simplix link, it will come handy !

 

[idoru]

Well, I guess I'm ****ed.

As my sytem drive wasn't big enough to house everything needed, I've replaced the HDD by a bigger one.
Then I proceeded to move my actual profile from my data disk to the system one with error 'insufficient memory' from xcopy due to filenames over 255 characters. I went to robocopy, unable to copy some locked files like 'secure preferences" from chrome/dragon (even with the use of unlocker).
So, I came to teracopy my profile but facing the long process, I ended up copying only NTUserxxx.xxx. I've also edited the key profile location in regedit then restarted.

Launch setup to get "sorry but profile, programs, etc... must be on the same disk/partition".

As I don't have a 1To HDD to house both system+data partitions, as fusing the 2 partitions will be hazardous, as 400Go of software/data are referenced in the registry on the data disk/partition, as going thru holes would be time consuming, painstaking and errors prone, I'm face to the ultimate solution of installing either a fresh copy of 7 on a new disk and installing the whole software I'm using these days or make the jump to 11.

The later should be the better at first hand.

- - - Updated - - -

Thinking about my previous post, I was thinking about simlink.
Do you think that symbolic links could be used to fool the setup ?

 

[Snick]

I would do a full disk backup and then reimage the new drive. I have an external 4tb Seagate HDD that I routinely disk backup to with AOMEI Backupper Standard (Free)

External HDDs are getting cheaper all the time. HDDs are more reliable than SSDs

Read the blue text in my footer.

Best External Hard Drive Deals for January 2022 | Digital Trends

 

[idoru]

I failed to understant what you meant : my concern isn't a disk big enough to backup on but the impossibility to update because of programs installed on a different disk than the system one.
My profile and it's files can be relocated back on the system disk but what about 50 Go of installed sotware/recovery points ?

That's when simlinks came to my mind : can I fool setup simlinking <data_disk\program files (x86)> and the 3 others program files, programdata, programmes to the system disk ? (If I'm not mistaken, it is possible to simlink folders (my readings aren't yet that thorough, thus my being here ;.))

- - - Updated - - -

Upon going down the torrent ;.) I've just realized how simplier it may be...
1. Backup systen and data disks (already done 3 days ago).
2. Do 2 partitions the size of each backup on a big new disk.
3. Restore each backup on each partition.
4. Merge the 2 partitions.
5. Update windows.

But I'm left with one big disk as I don't see how I could split back the 2 partitions as I'd like, for safety and speed reasons, to have one boot/system disk and one data one(my motherboard too old to boot on SSD).

 

[Snick]

idoru

Sorry I misunderstood you!