Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 help

[ianhaney]

Hi

I am trying to install Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 onto a laptop using a bootable USB and I created it using rufus but it keeps getting stuck. It loads the windows files and then it gets stuck when the balls join together and it says underneath starting windows

I thought it might be the hdd or the ram so changed both and still does it

I am out of ideas? could it be a bad iso file? or is the laptop no good altogether

Thank you in advance

 

[ianhaney]

Can anyone help please as I am totally out of ideas, I tried installing Windows 7 when I got to the desktop of Windows 8.1 but that got stuck when it reboots and tries to carry on the Windows 7 install


Would it work if I format the hard drive from the laptop using my desktop pc and then put the hard drive back into the laptop so there is no operating system and then try to install from the USB again?

 

[mrjimphelps]

I would suggest that you create a Windows 7 install DVD, and do the install from that rather than from the bootable USB.

Formatting your hard drive first may not be necessary, but it wouldn't be any harm. I would try that, to see if it gets the job done. Before you format the drive, you could re-partition it - if there are multiple partitions, delete all but the main one, and make that one partition use all of the drive space. Then after doing that, format the drive.

Make sure that you are partitioning and formatting your laptop's drive, not your Windows drive!

If you are using a legitimate Windows 7 install disk, you shouldn't have to partition and format the drive ahead of time, because both of those functions are available when you first start the Windows install. But it won't hurt to do the partition and format when the drive is installed in your desktop computer.

While you have the hard drive in the desktop PC, do a chkdsk on it, to make sure that there are no errors.
Run chkdsk x: /F ('x' is the drive letter of the drive, and /F tells it to fix any errors it finds on the disk).

 

[ianhaney]

yeah there are about 5 partitions including the main one that has Windows 8.1 on it

I can't do the dvd method as the laptop does not have a dvd drive

 

[mrjimphelps]

In that case, I would definitely install the drive into your desktop computer, delete all partitions, create one big partition for the entire drive, then format that one new partition. Then run chkdsk on it.

Once you have done all of that, I believe you will have success with the Windows 7 install.

Question: How big is the laptop's hard drive? If it is 2 TB or less, then you will have no problem with one big partition for the entire drive. If it is more than 2 TB, then it gets a bit more complicated.

 

[ianhaney]

OK will try that

it's a 3TB HDD

 

[mrjimphelps]

With a drive that is over 2TB, you will need to have UEFI firmware (not BIOS firmware) in order to be able to have one big partition for the whole drive. Additionally, in order to be able to boot from that big partition, you will need to have 64-bit Windows 7 (not 32-bit).

I am quite sure that your laptop has UEFI firmware; it would have to be pretty old to have BIOS rather than UEFI. UEFI allows you to format the drive using GPT; BIOS requires that you format the drive using MBR, and MBR doesn't allow for partitions which are bigger than 2TB.

But I'm not sure if you are installing 64-bit or 32-bit Windows. If you are installing 64-bit Windows, then you are good to go. However, if you are installing 32-bit Windows, although you couldn't make the one big partition bootable, you could go with two partitions: a small partition (say 200GB) as your boot partition, and a big partition (all remaining space on the drive).

Here is some very helpful information on this topic:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...port-for-hard-disks-that-are-larger-than-2-tb

 

[ianhaney]

Sorry my mistake, I thought it was a 3TB hdd but it's a 500GB HDD

 

[ianhaney]

I now got a new issue

I have deleted the partitions and formatted the HDD and changed the boot order to USB first and at first it was coming up as reboot and select the proper boot device so changed it from UEFI to CSM and it still comes up with the same message

I did convert the HDD from GBT to MPR

did I not need to convert it? if so can I change it back to GPT?

 

[torchwood]

Hi Ian,

As this lappy came with W8 then the Bios would have been UEFI.
When you created the Rufus installer which method, UEFI or BIOS
(you need Bios, also known as legacy)

No need to change your HDD format again, leave as MBR
Where did you get your W7 install media, it might be corrupt
you also need a W7 product key

You MUST have the lappy set to boot from USB first.
make sure its in a USB2 port, (not blue inside) W7 has no drivers for USB3

have a look at this tutorial
USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create - Windows 7 Help Forums


Roy

 

[ianhaney]

Hi

I am hoping I am winning now as it's currently installing devices (what looks like to be the windows 7 installation process/setup) and is on 41%

it says setup is currently installing devices 41%

I created a new bootable using wintousb program

Am hoping it will install all ok with no issues now as does look like I am getting somewhere

 

[mrjimphelps]

I agree with Torchwood - keep it MBR.

With a 500 GB hard drive, formatted MBR, and with one clean, new, formatted partition covering all of the drive space, you won't have any problem with the install of Windows 7.

You'll need to do Windows updates after finishing the install. So here's what I would suggest you do:

1. After getting Windows 7 completely installed and running, do a backup to an external drive.
2. Install all Windows 7 updates. It may take a long time, and a lot of reboots to do all of them. You should first install Service Pack 1, and then "Service Pack 2" (It isn't called Service Pack 2, but that's what it is.)
Microsoft releases ‘service pack 2’ for Windows 7 | Network World
Then keep installing updates till they are all installed.
3. You should then do another backup to an external drive.

There is some debate on whether you should do totally automatic updates, or if you should manually decide which ones to install. I have Windows 7 set to download all updates, but then let me decide which ones to install. I always install all of them unless I have heard of a problem with one of them. And I do a backup about once a month, so that I can recover if an update causes an issue. As a home user, you likely won't have any problem caused by an update, although it is possible.

Also, install the "important" updates, but not the "optional" updates. The only reason you should ever install an "optional" update is if you have no other choice. An example of this would be if you can't get your onboard Ethernet working, after trying EVERYTHING. You may find an Ethernet driver in the optional updates which will fix the problem.

 

[ianhaney]

I thought I was winning but discovered it was running Windows off the usb stick and did not actually install it to the HDD so checked my computer and the HDD was not showing but it does show in the bios so creating another usb windows 7 home premium sp1 stick and hope it works this time

 

[ianhaney]

I am winning now I think at last, I created a windows 7 usb bootable disc using the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool and was now able to select the hdd in the setup process when clicked on custom install

Sorry for all the posts etc. but thank you so much to everyone for all the replies, info and help, really appreciate it

 

[ianhaney]

Sorry another update: it rebooted but for some reason it started all again and had to select the language and the install location all again, when I got to the hdd location screen, I could see the first time created 100MB partition and the remaining space on the hdd so deleted the 100mb partition and selected formatted the hdd again and selected that, now it's expanding windows files and is on 40%. I thought normally when it reboots during the install process it should just carry on from where it left off?

 

[ianhaney]

Don't understand it, everytime it reboots it goes straight to the install windows screen again and asking me to choose the language again and where I want to install Windows

could that be a sign that the hdd is failing or could it be a bad win 7 iso file I used to create the bootable usb stick thorough the win 7 tool

 

[ianhaney]

I did a bit of looking on Google and found a answer that I am going to try now on another forum

The answer the user posted is below so will try it

Gandalf Dec 16, 2009, 3:51 PM
You are installing Windows from a flash drive. When Windows starts to reboot, suggest you remove the flash drive. I thing it's seeing the flash drive and starting the install process from scratch.

 

[ianhaney]

UPDATE: It worked taking the USB stick out when windows was about to reboot

 

[Megahertz07]

You fist have to set BIOS properly
- Disable Secure boot (may be as OS=other and or CSM) and Fast boot.
- To install as UEFI you must boot the Win 7 installation USB flash disk as UEFI. UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Help Forums
To do so, the Win 7 installation USB flash disk has to be created properly. UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows
- Go to Install- advanced - delete all partitions - create new. It will create:
- In Legacy - MBR : A MS reserved partition (120M - RAW) and a big NTFS partition.
- In UEFI - GPT : A UEFI partition (100M - Fat32), A MS reserved partition (120M - RAW) and a big NTFS partition.

Install on the NTFS partition.