Windows 7 Starter

[zomboromano]

So my fiancee's laptop was getting blue screens and huge problems. It wasn't even booting up fully without restarting.

We supposed it was the hard drive.

We replaced the hard drive. The only thing is that we needed from the hard drive was:

Windows 7 Starter.

It was a dell inspiron mini 1018 so it doesn't have a cd drive, so the only solution is installing it through the usb drive.

I want to re-install windows 7 starter (with the key we have), use the windows dvd tool and get Windows 7 Starter installed fresh onto the laptop.

Now from what I understand, Windows 7 Starter is included in some of the other iso's. You just have to find a way to allow windows to let you choose which windows to install.

I downloaded the .eicfg removal utility. I removed it from the iso and then used windows dvd tool to move it to the usb drive.

But when I booted from windows and started the install it never gave any option of which windows to install.

(I downloaded the Windows 7 Ultimate Premium x86).


So. What did I do wrong? What should I change to get this laptop up and running with the new hard drive???

I would appreciate any steps and help you could give me!

 

[derekimo]

I'm not sure why that didn't work for you.

I just tried it with the home premium ISO X17-58996 towards the bottom here,

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

Did you get the confirmation window that it was removed?

Ei.cfg removal tool

After doing the above I was given the option of Starter through Ultimate.

 

[zomboromano]

I downloaded from that site, and also used the ei.cfg removal tool.

When I used the tool on the .iso it said it successfully removed it.

I did it a second time, not remembering if I "restored it" (first time you use it, it removes it, use it again, it restores it, etc. etc.).

So I did it twice. Then I did it on Windows Home Premium because I read that it worked on Premium.

It also didn't work.

So after using my brain, I solved it.

After I installed the .iso to my flash drive, I then searched for the file myself, and of course, the ei was still on there. So I deleted it, and it worked!!!

Windows is successfully installed, and now I'm just updating.

I appreciate the forums, tutorials, and people here a lot. Restored two computers from basic destruction through the tutorials and help. So I appreciate the response derekimo and also the rest of the community.

 

[derekimo]

That works too, glad you got it working.