Repair Install

fredde1985 · Jan 16, 2014

Repair worked like magic but now my windows key does not work

Hi,

Downloaded the Windows 7 Professional (swedish) SP1 iso as my disc said my system was newer than disc. Repair solved my issues in windows like a charm (windows installer crashing on both install and uinstall).

Afterwards however my Windows is unactivated. Since I only have a disc from Dell with Windows 7 x64 professional I don't (as I am aware of) have a product key printed. I used a key recovery software to find the key but the activation says its for the standard version.

I can not confirm if this key that is found is the one I was previously using or not.

I did make a Windows recovery point to my external hard drive before runing the repair install. Is there a way I could use that to find out what key I was using before?

Thank you in advance.

Fredrik

Kaktussoft · Jan 16, 2014

fredde1985 said:
Hi,

Downloaded the Windows 7 Professional (swedish) SP1 iso as my disc said my system was newer than disc. Repair solved my issues in windows like a charm (windows installer crashing on both install and uinstall).

Afterwards however my Windows is unactivated. Since I only have a disc from Dell with Windows 7 x64 professional I don't (as I am aware of) have a product key printed. I used a key recovery software to find the key but the activation says its for the standard version.

I can not confirm if this key that is found is the one I was previously using or not.

I did make a Windows recovery point to my external hard drive before runing the repair install. Is there a way I could use that to find out what key I was using before?

Thank you in advance.

Fredrik

Sure no COA sticker is on computer? Check the back of laptop, check under battery, check battery compartment.

"I did make a Windows recovery point to my external hard drive " how did you make that?

fredde1985 · Jan 16, 2014

Kaktussoft said:
fredde1985 said:

Hi,

Downloaded the Windows 7 Professional (swedish) SP1 iso as my disc said my system was newer than disc. Repair solved my issues in windows like a charm (windows installer crashing on both install and uinstall).

Afterwards however my Windows is unactivated. Since I only have a disc from Dell with Windows 7 x64 professional I don't (as I am aware of) have a product key printed. I used a key recovery software to find the key but the activation says its for the standard version.

I can not confirm if this key that is found is the one I was previously using or not.

I did make a Windows recovery point to my external hard drive before runing the repair install. Is there a way I could use that to find out what key I was using before?

Thank you in advance.

Fredrik

Click to expand...

sure no COA sticker is on computer? check the back of laptop, check under battery, check battery compartment.

"I did make a Windows recovery point to my external hard drive " how did you make that?

Nice! Now I feel stupid, didn't think to check underneath battery. There was a key different to what I found before and it worked! Thank you!

Not sure if I translated properly from Swedish. From control panel -> back up -> "create a system image" (translated)

Fredrik

Kaktussoft · Jan 16, 2014

@Fredrik.... no need to feel stupid. Underneath battery is not a place you think of. The key you found before was the OEM-registration key. A general licence key

OldYogi · Jan 19, 2014

Notes on Successful Repair

Worked like a charm, thank you. The greatest difficulty, and the most time, was in freeing up the needed 26+Gb of free space in the 65Gb Win7 partition on my 128 Gb SSD. This is a dual boot machine, and the rest of the SSD is MintLinux, swap, and shared data. i had to move or delete over 12 Gb of files and programs. Adobe is the worst offender, in saving huge caches, and EULA notices in 26 languages, for each of 12 Abobe Suite programs.

the actual install is slow, and rebooted about 4 times .

What needed repair afterwards?

Most importantly, boot defaulted to a windows MBR, rather than the Linux Grub, so i had to change the boot drive to restore the dual boot.

Trying to preserve SSD space I turn off hiberfil, and have a minimal pagefile on the SSD. The install replaced the 1Gb pagefile with 16Gb (equal to my RAM). Easy to fix

Two utilities, related to a) the motherboard, and b) the soundcard, needed to be reinstalled.

No other problems so far.

thanks much.

mangoh · Jan 22, 2014

Ex_Brit said:
Can you boot into Safe Mode and while there, initiate System Restore?

Lesson #1: Never interrupt Windows Updates, or any update for that matter.

Kaktussoft said:
Do a "system restore" ... eventually from "win7 recovery environment"

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

ubose said:
Try booting up in safe mode and restoring to a previous restore point.

Unfortunately there is no system restore points.

Also I'm aware about never interrupting window updates but it appears someone has

Further symptoms:

Every time it boots it says "do not turn off, configuring updates, 35%, welcome, it then says windows explorer crashed" I then can't open any programs and the taskbar doesn't show. However in safe mode the taskbar shows but it still doesn't allow me to open a program/file.

It's running Windows 7 SP1, can I reverse the update?

How can I run an elevated CMD when my taskbar doesn't work?

How can I enable VSS Copy in Service using CMD?

Ex_Brit · Jan 22, 2014

...I've experienced it getting stuck (seemingly) at 35%, but if I wait long enough it finally completes. Maybe wait longer?

mangoh · Jan 22, 2014

Ex_Brit said:
...I've experienced it getting stuck (seemingly) at 35%, but if I wait long enough it finally completes. Maybe wait longer?

I wait longer but when it loads it says explorer.exe crashed.

File New Task - Type explorer.exe before it lets me finish typing it crashes again.

Ex_Brit · Jan 22, 2014

That's too bad. A complete format and reinstall is about all that can be done. But hopefully someone else will have an idea.

mangoh · Jan 22, 2014

Ex_Brit said:
That's too bad. A complete format and reinstall is about all that can be done. But hopefully someone else will have an idea.

Hopefully because that is the last thing I would want to do

carrot muncher · Jan 23, 2014

Would just like to say a big thank you to the OP, followed this tut yesterday after my install went a bit hay wire, and I couldn't install any programs without some error coming up.

All seems fine now, and didn't know you repaired it in this manor, so learned something new and windows is working correctly, so happy days.

Is it possible to add to the original post, that if you have a laptop with a broken screen this repair can still be done.

I started doing, and after it rebooted I could see on the laptop screen, well about 25% of the screen that the repair was doing something, but I knew that I was going to have to type in the product key and without being able to see anything that would have been... fun.
But luckily after another reboot it displayed on the monitor, which was a relief and I was able to carry on no problems.

GutiarGuy · Jan 30, 2014

Repair install

Hello there,

I cant seem to install SP1 multiple fails, I've tried my best to look through the earlier posts so I'm sorry if someone has said the same things but I'm not sure they have exactly.

I have got an win 7 ultimate sp1 x64 ISO and have found out my BD-Rom drive is broken (i know but i don't use it so it went unnoticed for awhile)
i have no flash drives only external Hard drives, i have read that you can do a repair install from simply extracting the ISO to desktop, in a virtual drive (daemon tools lite) even the External HD and just run setup so i tried these and they all seems to load up so i can press on update or custom install, my problem though is that the SP1 ISO is saying i need it to be installed already?? this being the reason i want to do this in the first place i was annoyed, i read you can get the PRE SP1 ISO but i came across this -

How to Repair a Corrupt Windows 7 Installation | PCWorld

"you can still perform a repair by using a simple workaround: Right-click the Setup file before you run it, and select the Properties menu. From there, navigate to the Compatibility tab, and check Run this program in compatibility mode for:. Then select Windows Vista (Service Pack 2) from the drop-down menu. Be sure to also check the box at the bottom labeled Run this program as an administrator; then click OK. Run the Setup utility again"

tried this and it then seems to get past the problem with not having SP1 already on, i wont go any further though because i don't have enough space to create a system image and I'm waiting on another drive to do this with.

Basicly what are your thoughts on this, do you think it will get through 100% with no problems?

Thanks

Kaktussoft · Jan 30, 2014

GutiarGuy said:
Hello there,

I cant seem to install SP1 multiple fails, I've tried my best to look through the earlier posts so I'm sorry if someone has said the same things but I'm not sure they have exactly.

I have got an win 7 ultimate sp1 x64 ISO and have found out my BD-Rom drive is broken (i know but i don't use it so it went unnoticed for awhile)
i have no flash drives only external Hard drives, i have read that you can do a repair install from simply extracting the ISO to desktop, in a virtual drive (daemon tools lite) even the External HD and just run setup so i tried these and they all seems to load up so i can press on update or custom install, my problem though is that the SP1 ISO is saying i need it to be installed already?? this being the reason i want to do this in the first place i was annoyed, i read you can get the PRE SP1 ISO but i came across this -

How to Repair a Corrupt Windows 7 Installation | PCWorld

"you can still perform a repair by using a simple workaround: Right-click the Setup file before you run it, and select the Properties menu. From there, navigate to the Compatibility tab, and check Run this program in compatibility mode for:. Then select Windows Vista (Service Pack 2) from the drop-down menu. Be sure to also check the box at the bottom labeled Run this program as an administrator; then click OK. Run the Setup utility again"

tried this and it then seems to get past the problem with not having SP1 already on, i wont go any further though because i don't have enough space to create a system image and I'm waiting on another drive to do this with.

Basicly what are your thoughts on this, do you think it will get through 100% with no problems?

Thanks

Did you mount the ISO in daemon tools? Or did you extract the files to some empty folder?
Did you run the setup.exe ? What error message?

Brink · Jan 30, 2014

Hello GutiarGuy, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It may or may not work, but it should go fine if you use step 6 in the tutorial on the first page here using an ISO file without SP1.

GutiarGuy · Jan 30, 2014

thanks for quick reply

i tried all ways to see if the setup would run and it did. i would just like to know if these are tried and tested ways to complete the repair without any problems.

1. Daemon tools method, does it work 100% when using virtual drive being used to repair?
2. External hard drive method, is there any known problems this way?
3. Extracted to desktop or anywhere on C: for example C:\windows 7, is there any known probs with this way?

when i run setup with compatibility mode not on i get this message - To upgrade, you need to be running Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 installed. Close the installation, open Windows Update, and then check updates for Service Pack 1.

When i put it in compatibility mode it gets past this but this is where i then cancel due to not having anything backed up yet just in case.

Kaktussoft · Jan 30, 2014

GutiarGuy said:
thanks for quick replay

i tried all ways to see if the setup would run and it did. i would just like to know if these are tried and tested ways to complete the repair without any problems.

1. Daemon tools method, does it work 100% when using virtual drive being used to repair?
2. External hard drive method, is there any known problems this way?
3. Extracted to desktop or anywhere on C: for example C:\windows 7, is there any known probs with this way?

when i run setup with compatibility mode not on i get this message - To upgrade, you need to be running Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 installed. Close the installation, open Windows Update, and then check updates for Service Pack 1.

When i put it in compatibility mode it gets past this but this is where i then cancel due to not having anything backed up yet just in case.

1. Daemon tools method, does it work 100% when using virtual drive being used to repair?=>windows thinks it's a real CD.
2. External hard drive method, is there any known problems this way?=>just another drive.
3. Extracted to desktop or anywhere on C: for example C:\windows 7, is there any known probs with this way?=>another drive but also in a folder. In folder doesn't better.

It works 100%.

GutiarGuy · Jan 30, 2014

Kaktussoft said:
1. Daemon tools method, does it work 100% when using virtual drive being used to repair?=>windows thinks it's a real CD.
2. External hard drive method, is there any known problems this way?=>just another drive.
3. Extracted to desktop or anywhere on C: for example C:\windows 7, is there any known probs with this way?=>another drive but also in a folder. In folder doesn't better.

It works 100%.

Great so that clears up that part thank you

what about running the SP1 ISO in compatibility mode though, it seems to get past the previous error i stated and i would prefer to just do it that way rather than using the older ISO without SP1

Kaktussoft · Jan 30, 2014

Kaktussoft said:
GutiarGuy said:

1. Daemon tools method, does it work 100% when using virtual drive being used to repair?=>windows thinks it's a real CD.
2. External hard drive method, is there any known problems this way?=>just another drive.
3. Extracted to desktop or anywhere on C: for example C:\windows 7, is there any known probs with this way?=>another drive but also in a folder. In folder doesn't better.

It works 100%.

Click to expand...

Great so that clears up that part thank you

what about running the SP1 ISO in compatibility mode though, it seems to get past the previous error i stated and i would prefer to just do it that way rather than using the older ISO without SP1

use SP1 ISO and fool setup.exe by configuring it in compatibility mode

GutiarGuy · Jan 30, 2014

Kaktussoft said:
GutiarGuy said:

Kaktussoft said:

1. Daemon tools method, does it work 100% when using virtual drive being used to repair?=>windows thinks it's a real CD.
2. External hard drive method, is there any known problems this way?=>just another drive.
3. Extracted to desktop or anywhere on C: for example C:\windows 7, is there any known probs with this way?=>another drive but also in a folder. In folder doesn't better.

It works 100%.

Click to expand...

Great so that clears up that part thank you

what about running the SP1 ISO in compatibility mode though, it seems to get past the previous error i stated and i would prefer to just do it that way rather than using the older ISO without SP1

Click to expand...

use SP1 ISO and fool setup.exe by configuring it in compatibility mode

Okay i will fool setup.exe using compatibility mode when i get my other drive first to backup just in case anything goes wrong

I don't recall seeing anyone talk about fooling the setup so this might be good for others in the same position

i just wanted to be sure it would fully work!
Thanks Brink for the welcome by the way

nictjb · Jan 31, 2014

Hi,

This is my computer system, may I know which Windows 7 SP1 using Windows 7 with SP1 ISO to download?

OS version: Windows 7 Service Pack 1, 6.1, build: 7601 (x64)
Hardware: LIFEBOOK SH771, FUJITSU, FJNB235
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2640M CPU @ 2.80GHz

Repair Install

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