New
#20
Couldn't TheRepearWaits simply select the upgrade option while booted from the 7 dvd rather then waiting until booted in Windows first?
Instead of clicking on the custom install option the upgrade option would start up while booting from the dvd without Windows loaded to accomplished the same results of preserving all programs already installed as well as the files and folders.
When simply choosing the custom option to proceed from there the Windows, Program Files, and users directories will automatically be rolled up into the Windows.old folder so the only way you would actually worry about files being lost would be if the primary 7 was going onto was reformatted or needed to be for some reason.
It does sound like you saw a bad install to begin with. You can try the upgrade option for a repair install to see how that goes first. If that runs into further problems a partition wipe in order to see a new clean install would be the last option once your files are first backed up.