Reinstalling Windows 7 - Making SDD Boot Drive Instead Of HDD?
Mar 29, 2012
I have an HP desktop computer that I just bought an SSD for. I made the "recovery media" disks, I'm assuming that's the OS backed up? I want to make the SSD my boot drive. I put in the disks and unplugged the HDD and plugged in the SSD and I'm at a screen called "Recovery Manager". Do I do the "factory reset" to install the OS on this SSD?
I have a Toshiba laptop that came with a preinstalled copy of Windows-7 (64 bit) version purchased in July 2010. No setup disk came with the laptop, but there is a "Toshiba recovery media creator" utility. Now, I want to format my laptop, and here I have few queries regarding this:
[1] What is the better option for formatting my drive? Should I use the Toshiba media-creator or install a clean version of Windows-7 from an ISO download (am I allowed to do that? If so, what is a good site to download?) There is a "sticker-certificate" on the bottom of my laptop with a product-key. Will it work with the new install?
[2] Do I have the option of installing a 32-bit version of Windows-7 instead of 64-bit with the above license? The reason is that most applications I use are 32-bit and hence a 32-bit OS is better suited for me. But does the license allow me to do that?
[3] (The tricky part) - Since I have a good 320GB HDD, I want to dual-boot by creating two partitions - with a linux distribution (Ubuntu/openSuse) running on the second partition? Assuming I don't have the option of clean-install, will I be able to create the extra partition for linux using the Toshiba utility?
I want to make dual boot because of battlefield 3 does not support XP. So, I have the disc with partitions C and D. There is Windows XP installed on D. I dont want to lose my data from D so my question is if i can format the C partition and install Windows 7 there without losing the data on D.
I did a fresh install of windows 7 ultimate I was really just uping it to the 64bit beause I accidentally installed the 32 bit. So after doing all of this Windows 7 is working fine however upon boot up where normally I would have the option to choose which OS I wanted to start up, it just goes straight to windows instead of giving me an option. I had the latest version of Ubuntu, and I know that when I installed widows I put it on the right partition of my C: drive. Do I need to know reinstall Ubuntu as well or is there some kind of setting I have to change to get it to show me the OS selecting screen.
Now the laptop wont boot into Windows. How do I fix this? I went to "repair my computer" then went to "reinstall windows while keeping my old files". Little did I know that this laptop had a broken power jack and was running off of battery. The computer shut down on stage 4/5. I have no CDs and used the option within the partition to reinstall. How do I reinstall windows now and keep my files after this... ? Did I lose all my files?
When I press f8 now to go to "Repair my Computer" it goes to Windows Boot Manager and says that windows has failed to start... Insert windows installation disk... Boot failed - required disk is inaccessible.
I recently build a new system with win7 64bit. Everything went well untill I exchanged a blue ray drive with a dvdwriter (1 day later). Win7 recognized the drive in device manager but did not assign a drive letter nor would the drive open (function). After trying everything I can think of I decided to reinstall the sata drivers from the asus websitebecause I wasn't able to use the motherboard disk with the DVD drive for installation) the system restarted and never booted back up. The bios recognize the ssd as 1st boot but win7 does not boot back up. As a matter of fact the hd LED doesnt flash anymore like it did when the system was working. I also could not use 5 USB ports (i was going to reinstall the drivers after the sata drivers) from the beginning of win7 install and Bluetooth comport not available. Did I screw up the bios? (bios flash with USB?)
Win7 Asus rampage iv extreme x79 2x2gb corsair dominator gt 1600 Intel i7 3820 Sandisk extreme ssd 120gb (the only storage media) Corsair h100 cooling
To understand my problem, you need to know a little about the history of my PC. i bought my PC last September and about a month later, everything failed for no particular reason, and my hard drives were wiped clean. Originally, my windows, (windows 7 64 bit), was installed on a hard drive with over 1 TB worth of space.when the problem was fixed, my windows was installed onto my SSD, which only has 20GB worth of space. This means that space was incredibly limited, meaning that i could barely do anything that i wanted to.After trying to reinstall windows onto my 1TB hard drive, it failed at the last possible minute, saying something like, windows cannot configure itself to run on your system. Which bring me here.
I am attempting to reinstall windows with files burned from an .iso onto a blank disc but when I press f12 then go into CD-ROM it goes to the next screen and says: 'Loading Operating System... Boot from CD/DVD..' Then it will boot normally.
I have a Sony Viao which does not have a disc drive and came with Windows 7 ready installed (installation was done automatically along side the process of starting computer up for first time after purchase). I cannot remember my administrator password which in itself has caused many problems; to get around this, I think I need to re-install windows - but to do this as a function on the computer (i.e. through the 'recovery' option on 'Assist' button/function) I must access it as an administrator. I think I need to reinstall manually through command prompt, can anyone tell me how to do this? Or do they have any additional advice?
I don't have a Windows 7 disc (I've seen the 'creating a bootable USB installer' videos etc, but these seem to require a disc with windows on from which the USB is made, which I don't have!) Hence I think I need to go through command prompt...
My computer literacy is not very good and I am, to be honest, at a loss of how else to get around this problem(and I would rather not spend a massive amount of money I don't have sending it to a PC shop, if i can help it)...the computer itself is not old (it was brought in August 2011) and already once or twice there had been an issue with Windows were an error occured and it appeared to 'forget' windows existed (box appears saying "operating system not found..."), I switched it to 'safe mode' and restarted it and the problem appeared to correct itself but...
Please help! The problem is fairly urgent! I am also worried that it has a virus as I haven't been able to install new anti-virus software (requires admin password for installs etc) and hence I would like to correct the underlying problem of having no administrative authority to correct other problems asap!
I keep all my data on a separate drive. The last time I re-installed windows 7 I had to take ownership of all my data even though the user name on the old install and then new install was the same. After reading the forums I understood that the SID for my user name was different between the old and new installations.
So my questions are
1) Is there anyway to assign the old user SID to the user created in the newly reinstalled OS so that I don't have to take ownership for a huge number of files/folders recursively?
2) If there is no way to assign the SID how do people store their data to allow for easy reinstall of the OS/Migration to a different computer?
My system is Dell Inspiron 17R SE (7720), 1 TB Hard Disk 5400 rpm + 32 GB mSATA, 8 GB RAM, 3rd Gen i7. I was trying to make a bootable USB flash drive for windows 7 from Windows 7 Home Premium Reinstall disk that came with my Dell laptop, using the WinToFlash utility. But in starting the process, the PC froze, all applications (even explorer.exe) stopped, and Alt+Ctrl+Del refused to work. I turned the laptop off and back on, where it refused to even show the OS list and showed a DRMK message instead with a command prompt C:> as:
Loading DRMK V8.00... DRMK Version 8.00 COMMAND.COM Build 37 - Jul 28, 2008 DRMK KERNEL Build 15 - Aug 8, 2008 Copyright (c) 2006-2008 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. C:>
I tried booting from Windows 7 reinstall DVD but none of the repair options worked. I tried reinstall and repair options but my Hard Drive did not show up. It rather asked to Load Drivers for the Hard Disk. However, it did show any of the USB drives I connected to it, along with an X: drive, which must be the recovery drive for Dell's factory restore. I tried looking for Hard Disk drivers in that but no luck.
Then I downloaded from another PC a USB utility for Seagate Hard Drives from Dell website that makes a bootable USB. I ran that utility and it showed all the test passed (But there was no firmware update during the tests). Another thing I tried was using list disk command on command prompt in Windows Repair, but It did not show any drives, not even the X: drive. It only showed the USB drives I attached to it, or the DVD drive in list volume command.
I cannot boot to windows, I cannot install new windows, I cannot repair the windows and I cannot even factory restore my laptop. The hard drive shows up in BIOS, but not in Windows Boot or Windows Installation. Is there any way I can get my Hard Disk back without losing data? I have two partitions of that drive. I don't care about formatting C: Drive (Windows) but I wanna preserve E: Drive (the one filled with personal data but no programs).
I need to flash some roms on a graphics card and a disk controller card, but both require the use of a 'boot floppy' (i'm adding that in quotes as this is totally alien to me!
I suppose this means some sort of ancient dos thing!
I've really tried against all odds to eliminate floppy and serial / PS2 devices from my life, and now I've achieved this, and my loft is far too dusty to be crawling around in trying to find such things again!
Could I create this dinosaur relic on a USB stick, and if so, how does one go about it?
I tried making my usb stick bootable as I did in the wonderful thread on this forum to install RC1 and it worked a dream, but i'm guessing this isn't the same thing is it .
I recently purchased a Dell Xps 1340 laptop that came with windows 7 32 bit professional. After a few months, I needed to wipe the hard disk, and so I did. Before I did, I extracted my product key with a program that I downloaded off the internet. I got the following information:
Windows 7 Professional Product Part No.: X15-37377 Installed from 'OEM' media. Product ID: ******* match to CD Key data CD Key: ********* Computer Name: ***-PC Registered Owner: *** Registered Organization:
Anyway, I had a RETAIL windows 7 professional disc, and I installed this onto my dell laptop. However, it keeps telling me that my product key is wrong when I try to activate. I have tried both 32bit and 64bit? is it because I'm using a RETAIL windows 7 disc? If I try a dell oem disc, will that work with my product key?
Would formating my hardrive and reinstalling Windows 7 speed up my laptop?Which way will be the best to do it? Do i create a partition not to lose all graphix and sounds software?
I was trying to make a dual boot system and came across this problem. I have two HDDs, one with Win XP in it and other in which I am trying to load Win 7. I made a primary partition (NTFS) through Win XP in the second HDD (labelled it I) and started loading Win 7 through a bootable pendrive. Things went fine till the installation was complete. Then, when I restarted the system, there was no Boot manager screen, Win 7 just started booting the system ! When I looked into the file system, the partition in which Win7 was installed (I: ) was labelled to C (whereas C was the name of the partition in which Win XP is installed !).
I have two queries:
1. Is it possible to install Win 7 in drive labelled I only (I understand that physically it is the same drive in which I had intended to install it). That's because a small sys. reserved folder is getting created which (most probably) is storing the swap data.
2. How to get the boot manager screen option ie. get the selection screen in the beginning to select b/w XP and 7.
in my PC there are some drives with RAID0 arrays and from little time I have bought a SSD for Operative System (Windows 7).in your opinion (on the BIOS) is it better making the Boot with SSD or with another drive with RAID0?
I decided to use DigitalRiver to download my copy of Windows 7 and I will NEVER use them again. They have no phone or tech support; the only way to contact them is by email, in which a response can take many days.
It took me over 10 hours to download their download manager. While the DM seems to work OK, I keep getting the same error message near/at the end of the unpacking:
"We are unable to create or save new files in the folder in which this application was downloaded. Please check the folder properties to make sure that you have security permission on the folder to write files and that the folder is not read-only"
So while I wait for some intelligent response from them, I'm trying to create a bootable DVD but I'm not having any luck. I've tried using BurnAware and UltraISO yet every time I reboot, the DVD never boots...any ideas on exact steps to take?
I'm using an HP laptop and made a bootable flash key with the Microsoft utility (which I downloaded from Microsoft) to make a Windows 7 installation. I (supposedly) changed the boot order in the bIOS to look first at the key. Didn't work - booted directly into Windows 7 (seemingly bypassed the bootable key).
1. How do I tell if the USB key is bootable?
2. What might be the reason(s) why my laptop won't boot from the USB key?
. I have 2 of them, one is a Western Digital Caviar Blue, about 2 years old I think. The second is a Western Digital as well, but I'm unsure of the type and age, it's a 150GB drive. One of these drives are making an odd noise, I suspect it's the main drive, the 500GB Caviar Blue. Reason being is because after starting up my system and selecting either Windows 7 or Windows XP it does a Disk Check before going to the Welcome screen, it does not do the Disk Check every time, but it happens quite often. Disk Check of course displays no issues upon completing. The thing I notice that happens, but not very often, it's about a 1 second kind of low screech noise coming from my computer tower. It is making me worried of my computer health and how much longer is might live.
I just got a new hard drive after the old one failed. I have made a bootable USB Drive and put Windows 7 On there. Im looking though my Boot options and i cannot find USB in it. My motherboard is an Asus P5Q-SE2.Is there anyway i can Install the OS from the USB as my DVD Drive is Dead.
I would like to make a copy of my C drive in a hidden drive, like on a bought PC.I know it's easy to reinstall but when you take account of the time involved to get all your software loaded and up and running it takes ages.
Recently my 1tb hard-drive has starting making these low pitched grumbling noises almost like a vibration when its being accessed. I notice it most when I am defragmenting or gaming. It does not happen when I defragment my other hard drive.
don't want to buy an expensive external optical drive so am trying to think of how to make a sata or ide internal optical drive into an external one for emergencies.anyone know if i can get adaptors for the power and data connections?have googled but no luck.oops found some build ideas on Internet - should have looked there first i suppose
I am using a Dell Inspiron 14 laptop. A few days ago, I noticed that my laptop has become incredibly slow (the system will hang sometimes, and continue as per normal after a while), and this coincided with my laptop beginning to make this weird, sharp beeping sound. At first I did not pay much attention to it, but later this was joined by several BSODs, and my laptop became even slower (games that usually did not lag was now hanging halfway through, and continuing as per normal after a lengthy period of 1 minute or so). I tried to find the origin of the noise, and I think it came from my Internal hard drive sector, and thus decided to open the sector up (in hindsight I probably should not have). After I replaced it, without doing much (just doing the usual IT-amateur stuff, wiping it and blowing it a few times), my situation has now worsened to the point that startup takes a much longer time, and finally now it hangs at the "Starting Windows" screen, but without the Windows 7 logo showing, and my screen later turns black.
I have dualboot XP SP3 and Vista Ultimate on my system,,and now i want to install Windows 7 over the XP OS. I wish to keep Vista with Windows 7 without reinstalling Vista.
Can I just install Windows 7 over XP , or should i be careful for MBR,or boot....
2 months ago, I installed windows 7 pro with no problems at all. Fast forward to today, I decided to reformat because the boot would get stuck in the middle of trying to boot into windows, it wouldn't flash the windows logo. I didn't think much of it so I just reformatted. This is where my real troubles began.So I reinstall windows 7 pro with no problems (the boot disk is in there the cd drive the entire time) I install my programs and what not and install my updates. All 100% Fine. Then I take out the boot disk and restart again... and I get this error message saying:
Client Mac Address: 00 30 1B BC1F59 GUID: 12973077-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF DCHP....
Then I press escape, then it says this:
PXE-EA0: Network Boot Canceled PXE-M0F: Exiting Nvidia Boot Agent DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER
So the first time I got this error, I just thought, Oh, something must have happened no big deal, so I reformatted again and again. But I kept on getting the same exact error. It'll load into windows just fine when my install disc is in the cd drive, but when I take it out, that error pops up. *My windows is authentic, each time I have been able to validate my copy.* I have tried installing from my hard drive and from the install disc with same error.*
My HP laptop HD crashed, am trying to replace it with a Kingston HyperX 120GB SSD. I do not have Windows installation disks, only have Windows Recovery Disks. All installation instructions I have found for SSD's is for cloning, which I cannot do since the HD is deadI have installed the SSD, booted into BIOS, this simple BIOS version doesn't allow me to change anything on the HD, but it does recognize it and let me do a HD test, so it does recognize the SSD. I then put the Windows Recovery disk in the CD drive, attempted to boot up, but the CD drive just spins and spins but never boots up. I thought the CD drive might be bad, so I tried an external USB CD drive with the Recovery disk, but it does the same (just spins). I even got a new Windows 7 installation disk (from another PC) to see if it will boot from it, but get nothing but a spinning CD I have not done anything yet to the HyperX SSD, haved not formatted or partitioned it.I thought this would be done by Recovery on the OS installationThe BIOS is set up to first boot from the CD drive, so the boot order is not the issue.
I recently built my computer and installed a ssd and a hdd, the OS is on the ssd which is the c drive but since it is smaller than the hdd I tried to change the letters around and make the hdd the c drive using regedit because the default install location seems to be the c drive and after restarting the computer it boots up and says preparing your desktop then goes to a blue screen with just the cursor. I tried booting in safe mode and all I get there is a black screen also