Win 7 downgrade gone wrong

[dagsky]

Hi guys, i hope that you can help me. I have windows 7 Ultimate N x64, it is a bootleg version, i just bought genuine windows 7 ultimate which is NOT N version. I tried to activate my win 7 ultimate N but activation said key was valid for Ultimate only & not N. It then said run the setup file.

I then tried to run the setup from my USB and before doing so i found a tutorial online that said to delete a file i think called Ef.cfg or something like that, it was contained in the sources folder, the reason for deleting this file was so that upon going to setup page i would be presented with a list of versions of win 7 that i could choose from. I did the above, got to the install page, picked win 7 ultimate, clicked next, it started installing, i went for a shower and came back and i had a message about an error, i did not pay full attention to the error but it failed to install. The pc tried to reboot but now i get presented with a screen that says repair or something along those lines. I tried to repair it but it failed.

I know i'm doing a bad job of all the messages, but i will shortly post a video of what happens.

I do NOT have an installation disk or usb, i am still using the bootlegged usb to try and fix this. If i need to download a different install iso please let me know.

I have or rather did have my win 7 installed on an ssd if that is of any help.

 

[Britton30]

Welcome to Seven Forums and good to know you bought a Genuine w7 key. I'd throw away the bootleg version, but save the USB stick to use this.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html#post16008
There are links to download the version you need and to make the USB installer.

The N version is for Europe and has no Media player included. The EU thought is was a monopoly or something.

Related:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/85813-windows-7-universal-installation-disc-create.html

The key you have will only validate for the version, Home, Pro, Ultimate, it is for.

 

[whs]

Here are the non-bootleg downloads:

Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life

 

[dagsky]

Hi, thanks for the quick response! Yes i know N version excludes wmp & i think a few other extras. Ok so i will delete the bootlog and d/l the one you have mentioned.

I have attached a few pics of screens i get.

Am i going to have to reinstall all my progs/drivers/etc etc again or will they still work?

 

[Britton30]

Unfortunately you will lose you installed stuff, but you will have a nice fresh install to enjoy.

Back up what you want to keep and disconnect all other drives except the one you install too.

 

[dagsky]

more pics

 

[Britton30]

I suspect all the "more pics" are due to a bad installer you have.
You should try to fond and download all drivers and put on a stick or disk to have ready too, especially the network adapter one, Ethernet and wireless if you have it.

 

[dagsky]

man this is gonna suck! I'm not going to lose all my personal files/folders though am I? I'm just writing over windows again right?

 

[dagsky]

sorry, before i make another mistake, on the page to d/l win 7 i see there are 2 i can pick from, i don't want to go through all the hassle agin, so could you please tell me which is the correct win 7 ultimate i want to d/l Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 (old) X17-24395.iso or Windows 7 Ultimate x86 RTM X15-65921.iso i think one of them is supposed to be usb bootable already, i think!

 

[derekimo]

sorry, before i make another mistake, on the page to d/l win 7 i see there are 2 i can pick from, i don't want to go through all the hassle agin, so could you please tell me which is the correct win 7 ultimate i want to d/l Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 (old) X17-24395.iso or Windows 7 Ultimate x86 RTM X15-65921.iso i think one of them is supposed to be usb bootable already, i think!

You don't want either one of those, you want the one labeled X17-59465 from this link,

Windows 7 Direct Download Links, Official Disk Images from Digital River

For creating a USB the tutorial Britton posted will show you how,

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

 

[whs]

man this is gonna suck! I'm not going to lose all my personal files/folders though am I? I'm just writing over windows again right?

You have to backup all your stuff that is in the C partition because that will be erased. Copy your files to a stick or external disk. The programs you have to reinstall and the settings too.

 

[dagsky]

OMG!!! I did a clone of my ssd to my external hdd which is 1tb, the clone size was 41gb, it now seems to have wiped my entire external hdd!!! I was using Macrium Reflec, please tell me i've not gone and also lost all my data on my external hdd!!

 

[whs]

If you did not have a designated folder for the Macrium image, the image should have went into the root of the 1TB drive without wiping any data that was there. Look for files with this icon.

 

[dagsky]

ok, i didn't do an image, i did a clone of the ssd. Also i don't see anything like what you have shown me above, what i see is below, also my external hdd now shows as 238GB??? Its meant to be 1tb. Also in the 1st image it shows 693.04gb but i can't click on it.

 

[whs]

That is indeed strange. In 5 years using Macrium on a dozen machines that has never happened to me. You must have made some user error. You can try this program to recover your stuff:

 

[dagsky]

hi all, appreciate the help i got yesterdy. Managed to reinstall win 7 fine, now just having issues trying to recover/sort out what has happened to my external hdd. I have installed the recovery pointed out above, but after 8hrs it still hasn't finished scanning the drive, is this normal? It is at 37% and the percentages are going up so it hasn't crashed. The drive is 1tb

 

[whs]

I guess it is normal. A 1TB external drive can be a drag. It's slow if on USB2.

 

[dagsky]

Hi, i'm back again for help! The recovery software has finished it's scan and before i do anything i want advice on what i do next. Just a reminder, this is my 1tb ext hdd which was somehow overwritten by Macrium when i was backing up my ssd. The recovery software shows many partitions on my ext hdd, however i never created any partitions on it ever, i used it as storage without doing anything to it since i bought it. Also i have clicked SHOW files on some of the partitions shown in the image below, non of the file names or folders actually resemble any of the orginal stuff i had on this drive.....will it bring back my folder names again or am i just going to have a mess of data to go through?