Need Help Installing Win 7 HPE

[BobH]

I have read the words above the gate: "Abandon hope all ye who enter here!"

I have given up the ghost of trying to recover the functioning Win 7 system partition that I had before the aborted Win 10 upgrade on my desktop. I am now properly chastised and resolve to format that partition and do a clean install of Windows 7. Toward that end I have an image backup running that is taking the entire contents of the drive to an external drive for safekeeping (actually, in case I discover down the road that there are bits there that I still need). I am anticipating difficulty because the DVD that I have for Win 7 HPE is actually an upgrade version.

As (I think) I've posted elsewhere on Eileen's Lounge, I tried to create a Windows 7 system on a different internal HDD and failed because the installation procedure wants to see an old copy of Windows on the system to validate that the system qualifies for the upgrade. I do not have a functioning Windows on the SSD where I want to reinstall Win 7.

I DO have a crippled Windows 7 running from the HDD. By that I mean that Win 7 will boot but I have only a bare bones system without recognition of many of the system's components. This came about (I think) because, in order to to get around the previously installed Windows check, I had to choose the Custom (advanced) installation option. The user is warned not to do this because all will be lost and drivers et al must be dug up and fed to the Microsoft gods as tribute.

If - after formatting the SSD - I load the DVD and hard boot and come to the same test for a qualifying version of Windows to validate the upgrade, how do I get around that Catch-22 (Thank you, Mr. Heller!)?

If anyone can point me to an article or source of help for defeating this bug, I shall be forever in his/her debt.

TIA

[BobArch2]

If anyone can point me to an article or source of help for defeating this bug, I shall be forever in his/her debt...

Perhaps a telephone call to Microsoft explaining the situation might fall on sympathetic ears and provide you with a solution for installing a Win7 upgrade DVD without a previous version of Windows being present.

And I am assuming that you do not have an older version of a Windows DVD like XP or Vista tucked away.

Good luck in your endeavours.

[stuck]

...the DVD that I have for Win 7 HPE is actually an upgrade version...

If you have a legitimate Win 7 product key then go here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/softwar ... d/windows7
and follow the instructions to download a full Win 7 iso file that you can use to to a clean install.

After you have installed Win 7 you will be able to install any hardware specific drivers and then go round the install updates loop until Windows Update no longer offers you any updates. You can then reinstall your applications.

If you have a full retail Win 7 product key then you shouldn't hit the glitch that I did when I did a clean reinstall from a Win 7 iso on to a SSD I'd fitted to my youngest son's laptop. The OEM product key wasn't recognised by the on-line activation system. However I was offered the option of phone activation. It was a tedious process but not difficult. I forget the details but it boiled down to me having to key in a challenge code on my phone pad and then type in the (robo-voiced) response code into the laptop.

Ken

[BobH]

Thank you, Gentlemen!

I shall have one more go at it with the resources on hand (having slept overnight). If that doesn't yield results, I shall follow your good advice.

Thanks, again!

[bobh3]

Despite the new name, it's just bobh . . . or as my Hispanic friends call me, "el bobo" (fool or clown)

I'm coming to you courtesy of my wife's iPad because I have a BSOD on my desktop from trying to install Win 7. A storm blew up in the middle of the process and glitched our power, ergo BSOD.

Not to worry, there is the laptop running Win 10, only IT is now totally confused. I was using it earlier today to read mail and to post when I got a panel in the lower right corner of the screen that is blank. It covers almost half the width of the screen and is perhaps 2" high. To add insult to injury, I cannot get rid of the blank and now the active tasks and system tray have disappeared. I can load no apps. I've tried - unsuccessfully - to start in SAFE MODE.

I need suggestions about how to get the laptop going again as I shall need it to download an ISO.

Thanks for listening.

[stuck]

I can't help feeling you are trying too hard on this. When I did a clean install of Win 7 on to a SSD it took about 2 hours and that included installing all the drivers & updates (there were about 170 important updates if I remember correctly) and Office 2013 and Sibelius and other stuff. Oh, and the tedious task of a robocall to MS to validate it.

Ken

[Rudi]

Despite the new name, it's just bobh . . . or as my Hispanic friends call me, "el bobo" (fool or clown)

Bob (from Texas)..................
.............sheesh; you gave me a fright!!!
I thought the lounge was being taken over by Bobs'.

[stuck]

Despite the new name, it's just bobh

Umm, you didn't need to create a new id. You could have logged in from the iPad using BobH and your password.

Ken

[Rudi]

BobH3 is probably more mobile

[viking33]

Despite the new name, it's just bobh . . . or as my Hispanic friends call me, "el bobo" (fool or clown)

Bob (from Texas)..................
.............sheesh; you gave me a fright!!!
I thought the lounge was being taken over by Bobs'.

So what do you have against all of us Bobs?
At my P/T workplace, we kid that if you can't recall a guys name, just call him Bob and you will be right most of the time.

[Rudi]

My mother's nickname was Bob....
I have the greatest respect for the name!!

[bobh3]

Despite the new name, it's just bobh

Umm, you didn't need to create a new id. You could have logged in from the iPad using BobH and your password.

Ken

Oh! But you don't understand the tangled webs I weave.

In my attempt to be clever (remember el bobo), I use KeePass. I have all my passwords on a thumb drive. Guess what? an iPad has no USB port. Ergo I created this entity. Why did I not just log in saying I forgot my PW? Well, because I do not have access to my email on this iPad .. . . had to use my wife's.

Did I mention that I now have a BSOD on my desktop? Cannot boot from DVD or withou it.

What follows is a question at the Microsoft Community forum:
"In trying to recover from a failed Win 10 upgrade, I installed Win 7 HPE on a different internal HDD.  I could not get it to load using the regular default option. It would not get past the point of removing the DVD and restarting. I then chose the Custom (advanced) option and proceeded. The installation skipped many steps - the warning not to choose Custom should have been heede3d but was not. I was left with some basic functions which allowed me to format my SSD drive that Win 10 had hosed. I formatted the drive in preparation for installing from my Win 7 upgtade DVD.

I loaded the DVD disk and hard booted the system and the installation started. At the point that it instructs to remove the DVD and restart, I experienced a power glitch and the surge suppressor/backup device dropped power to the system. When I tried to resume the Win 7 installation, I got a BSOD with a screen full of information saying that a thread or process had failed and the installatioin had halted to protect the computer. It suggested I tru again if this was the first occurrence of the error. I did so and got the same result. I tried with and without the DVD being loaded and got the same results. Although the message said to uninstall any recently installed hardware and software, no new components have been installed.

the BSOD gives the following information.
*** STOP: 0x000000F4 (0x0000000000000003,, 0xFFFFFA800D26DB30, 0xFFFFFA800D26DE10, 0xFFFFF800027C5240)

How can I recover from this?"

Just in case, I still have an XP system that is functional - because the laptop with Win 10 is hosed and will not start in any mode. I'm beginning to understand how Typhoid Mary must have felt!