Solved Running a custom W7 install disc over a existing W7 install

[videobruce]

You can do that ????

 

[Volume Z]

Sure, and then select custom install.

 

[videobruce]

Running the setup off the Thumb Drive within the O/S that would be written over?

 

[Volume Z]

Sure.

 

[videobruce]

Ok, I'll try anything at this point. Never heard of this in 25+ years, I hope I'm not misunderstanding you. :shock:
(I corrected my previous post)

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FWIW, attached are screen shot of related BIOS screens. Note that each device only has one type as a choice;

 

[SIW2]

It recognizes the samsung 870 qvo as efi bootable but not the adata flash drive or the WD.

Volume Z is referring to what is called a repair install or in place upgrade install :ar: Repair Install

 

[Volume Z]

Basically, but running setup.exe isn't about upgrade only. You will get to choose between upgrade and custom install, and custom install is actually a clean install minus the partitioning/deleting/formatting options. Windows 7 will be installed clean, but the old installation will be saved under Windows.old and needs to be cleaned up later.

 

[videobruce]

The WD is a storage drive, no O/S.
The Flash Drive is the custom W7 installer that I get the GPT error from after I already entered setup.

Where are you see this Volume "Z" ??

I don't want to do a "upgrade" or a Repair, I want a full install, wiping the existing original W7 install (which I have a backup). I have no program getting to that point until I get to the screen that shows the available drives withe text below that that won't happen due to the GPT issue.

My question was/is , of those specific settings, are they correct? There are no "GPT" choices, just UEFI.

 

[Volume Z]

Sure. You will have a clean installation with the old Windows files saved in a folder. It will be on the same partition (drive C) as the current one. The Windows.old folder can be cleaned up later in Disk cleanup.

 

[SIW2]

The Flash Drive is the custom W7 installer that I get the GPT error from after I already entered setup.

You must be booting it in bios mode. That is why you get the message.
To boot from the flash drive in efi mode it needs the EFI folder on the root with this file \efi\Boot\bootx64.efi

:ar: View attachment efi.zip

most bios will only search fat32 partitions . If it is found it will show up as efi bootable



You havent shown us screenshots of the flash drive . So we dont know if you have the rest of the EFI folder and contents on there.

 

[videobruce]

Sorry, I didn't see the request, here it is;
Since there already is a EFI folder, do I delete that and replace it with the new one?? Within that folder is another "Boot' folder & a 'Microsoft' folder.



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Sure. You will have a clean installation with the old Windows files saved in a folder. It will be on the same partition (drive C) as the current one. The Windows.old folder can be cleaned up later in Disk cleanup.

Is that folder in the root of 'C' and can that folder be deleted? I surely don't need 2 W7's in one drive.

 

[Volume Z]

Sure. It's going to be C:\Windows.old and Setup even notifies you. Deleting the folder will require running Disk Cleanup.

 

[videobruce]

I'll see what SIW2 has to say about this efi folder and the duplicate Boot folder.

But, there isn't a way just to have the existing 'Windows' deleted during the re-install? Except for a few 'installed' programs 90% of the programs I use are Portables placed in a separate partition in the same drive.

 

[SIW2]

Since there already is a EFI folder, do I delete that and replace it with the new one?

just overwrite it

 

[videobruce]

Ok, but how about the 2 Boot folders, the original one and the new one within the new efi folder?

 

[SIW2]

just overwrite it

 

[videobruce]

One Boot folder is in the EFI folder, the other is not.

Ok, I deleted the existing Boot and EFI folders and added the new EFI folder. It didn't work!

I got;
Failed to start,
Boot selection failed-Device is inaccessible.

I did get 2 instances of the USB drive, I chooseUEFI which I didn't have before.

 

[SIW2]

Do you ant me to delete the stand alone Boot folder?

no leave that as is

 

[videobruce]

What was changed between the 2 efi folders??

 

[SIW2]

\efi\Boot\bootx64.efi