Setup Installation :: How To Remove Partial Install
Aug 9, 2013
I bought a new laptop which came with Windows 8 pre-installed. The standard version - not the PRO and therefore not downgradable :-( I bought a Windows 7 CD and tried to install it, but the installation failed. Frozen screen - don't ask me the details: I am useless. Now when I power up the laptop, just after the boot begins, I get a screen asking me to chose between "Setup" and Windows 8, with "Setup" being highlighted and which launches automatically if I don't manually change to Windows 8, which systematically leads to the frozen screen and I have to power off manually. If I choose Windows 8, then it finishes the boot and launches normally. Since, I have discovered Start8 and it works for me, so I am happy to keep Windows 8, but I'd like to get rid of the partial Windows 7 installation and the boot problem it causes.
View 1 Replies
ADVERTISEMENT
Aug 14, 2014
My PC started off on Win 8 and I upgraded to Win 8.1 .
I want to do a completely fresh installation. I do not mind going back to Win 8 and redownloading Win 8.1 afterwards.
My problem is that when I go to PC Settings > "Remove everything and reinstall Windows", I get the error: "Insert media. Some files are missing. Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files."
I have a partition on my computer "HP_RECOVERY (F:)". It states 1.24 GB free of 10.6 GB. When I open it, it contains a folder called "Recovery" and "HP_WSD.dat" -- the .dat file is 1 KB. When I open the folder, it says that it is empty (hidden folders and files are set to be shown). If I look at the folder properties, it states that it contains 1 file, 2 folders. The size is 69 bytes.
I have not touched this recovery partition ever since I got this PC. I have, however, run a partition software before because I split my (C:) into (C: and D:). I do not know if this may have somehow corrupted my recovery partition.
What is the best way for me to quickly and cleanly format my PC without losing my registration key? I do not have a copy of Win 8 or Win 8.1 on a CD or USB.
I opened up cmd as admin and typed in "reagentc /info" and it output this:
Code: C:WINDOWSsystem32>reagentc /info Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configurationInformation: Windows RE status: Enabled Windows RE location: ?GLOBALROOTdeviceharddisk0partition3RecoveryWindowsRE Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 8fc8db37-7d80-11e3-91ec-faa553f3f5b4 Recovery image location: Recovery image index: 0 Custom image location: Custom image index: 0REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Jan 20, 2013
I just got a new laptop, a Lenovo X230, for which I paid extra to have the OS on it as Windows 8 Pro.
So--now I have it, and Win 8 Pro 64 is installed and activated on it. I am a legal owner of Win 8 Pro.
However, I would like to do a clean install of Win 8 on the computer, to have it free of bloatware, etc. (In fact, I would like to set up a multi-boot with Win 7, and perhaps even triple boot with Xp as well. (I have installation media and my product keys for XP and 7 though, so those are not really a problem.)
The computer came with no discs at all. There is a procedure to make recovery disks. I may do that, but I think those will be to restore the computer to how it came from the factory, and therefore not usable for a clean install.
I don't see my product key for Win 8 anywhere. Not on the computer, not on any kind of card that came with it, etc.
I looked at the tutorial here for clean install of Windows 8, but it requires an install disc and product key. I have neither, although I am a legal owner of Windows 8.
Is there a way I can create (from my installed Windows 8) a win 8 install disk, that can be used for a clean install? Or a link to download one? Is there a way I can get my product key?
View 9 Replies
View Related
Jun 25, 2014
I installed Ubuntu 14.04 a few weeks ago and I was happy about it, but I need to sell this PC and I need to install Windows in it. The problem here is that I erased the recovery partition by accident and I can't install Windows with a CD because my computer doesn't have a disk case, the model of my PC is Lenovo Yoga 11s.
I tried to make a booteable Windows 7 USB with Unetbootin, but the BIOS doesn't let me boot from the USB slot. My BIOS configuration was in Legacy Support and my USB was the priority to boot. My USB was formatted in NTFS. When I open the boot menu it take me to the Grub of Ubuntu.
I don't know what else to do... I just need to install Windows, it doesn't matter if is 7 or 8.
View 3 Replies
View Related
Feb 2, 2013
I had ubuntu within my windows 7 earlier. Later when i installed windows 8, i formatted the partition ( E: ) in which ubuntu was installed, since the wubi uninstaller was not working. Still when i start my system, it shows ubuntu listed in the boot list. I tried to load it once. It gave an error. There is no error when i select the default windows 8.
Now i checked the boot option in the msconfig as per the thread, but only windows 8 is listed there, no ubuntu. But still it is listed in the boot menu. I tried the disk manager, the only partition without NTFS file system is the one with status "healthy (OEM partition)". I dont know whether its a ubuntu partition. And there is no option to delete it also. No other ubuntu partition. I want to remove the ubuntu boot option from my os list. How to do it?
View 2 Replies
View Related
Sep 13, 2013
If I remove the boot drive from my old Windows 7 computer and put it into my new Windows 8 computer, how can I set up the new computer to allow dual boot at start-up?
View 1 Replies
View Related
Sep 25, 2013
If you select a keyboard layout and there's no language pack available you cannot remove that keyboard again.
I made a mistake and got this (Igbo whatever that is)
Now I've got a redundant keyboard entry that I can't get rid of.
(Running Windows 8.1 Enterprise RTM - TechNet x-64). Note you can only add language packs etc for PRO and above versions.
View 1 Replies
View Related
Aug 31, 2013
I had a computer with windows 7 home premium x64. A while ago I decided that I wanted to up grade to windows 8 and so I partitioned my os drive and installed (OEM) windows 8 Pro on the new partition. During the set up I was able to set up a duel boot system with windows 8 and windows 7. When I look at the drive structure I noticed that there isn't a system recovery partition for windows 7 or windows 8.
I would like to generate a system recovery partition for windows 8 and remove windows 7 but I am not sure how to go about doing this.
View 4 Replies
View Related
Oct 31, 2013
not sure if this has been posted but download this update from the Ms site if your watermark with this message doesn't disappear after you've activated your Windows 8.1 installation.
Download Update for Windows 8.1 for x64-based Systems (KB2902864) from Official Microsoft Download Center
I got the message after updating an HP sleekbook 4 laptop to Windows 8.1 enterprise (TechNet version from ISO) from the Windows 8 pro that was pre-installed with the laptop (plus all the other zillion bits of bloat /ad / crapware).-- I disabled protected boot -- more trouble than it's worth - especially if you are testing OS'es -- but KEPT the UEFI .
View 1 Replies
View Related
Jun 26, 2014
After conducting several tests on my Windows 8.1 Basic edition, it's clear that my search function is unable to search for partial words in a file name. A Microsoft support rep told me that all editions of Windows 8 are supposed to have a search option called "partial match", which solves that problem (You can find it using Windows Explorer, select your search box, and it should be listed under Advanced Options), but that option is not listed for me.
Is this a bug, or is this feature not offered in Windows 8 Basic edition?
View 4 Replies
View Related
Feb 17, 2013
My PC is a dual boot system which had Win XP on disk1 and Win 7 on disk2.
When I installed Windows 8 several months ago, I chose to install it on disk1 and completely remove Win XP.
Everything works fine but my log-in screen now contains 4 start-up tabs instead of just 2 (see below):
Windows 8
Windows XP
Windows 7 (volume 1)
Windows 7
The only tabs which are valid are Windows 8 and Windows 7 (volume 1), the other 2 are non functional. How can I edit this screen and remove these tabs?
View 5 Replies
View Related
Oct 18, 2013
I am trying to upgrade from windows 8 pro to windows 8.1 on a samsung laptop. The download completes and installation starts.
After a while the following message appears "you cant install windows on a usb flash drive with setup"
I am not actually trying to install to a flash drive. I contacted Microsoft and after 5 hours they said that I should connect to the internet with a cable and not by wireless in order to solve the problem (this didn't work of course and I had told them that it was an install problem and not a download problem).
View 2 Replies
View Related
Jan 27, 2014
Until very recently i was running Windows 8 with a 240 GB Sandisk SSD as a primary and a 2 TB Western Digital Green HDD as a storage. I decided to set up a RAID 1 setup so i purchased a second 2 TB HDD and installed it.
My intent was to run windows 8 off the 240 SSD as a primary and have a RAID 1 setup for my 2TB HDDs.
I learnt that my data configuration was set to AHCI. I decided to do a complete clean install and change the sata configuration in BIOS to RAID.
After successfully creating a RAID volume using my 2TB HDDs i proceeded to install Windows off my primary. I am however having difficulties in that it will not allow me to install windows on either drive.
View 3 Replies
View Related
Aug 21, 2013
First, some context: I have a Dell Inspiron 15R SE that came with Windows 8.
I've managed to get a working dual-boot system with Ubuntu 12.10. I can't remember exactly how I done that, but I remember that I had to disable secure boot. I think that the boot configuration those days was:
Secure boot: DisabledLoad legacy option rom: EnabledBoot list option: Legacy
This "configuration" worked perfectly for 6-7 months.
Then, one day (last week, can't remember the exact day), when I was using Windows 8 the computer crashed. I hard-rebooted and got this screen:
After executed boot-repair from a Ubuntu LiveCD dozens of times I've decided to eliminate Ubuntu temporarily and focus to get a system with Windows 8 working nice.
Then I used my recovery DVDs to recover the system. Yup, Windows has booted. But when I restarted first time I got the same error. Then I, digging a solution, pressed F12 after a reboot and got here:
The highlighted option allows me to boot into Windows 8. So I went to boot options (F2) and changed the following configuration:
Load legacy option rom: DisabledBoot list option: UEFI
Now I can boot directly to Windows without need to press F12.
But my objective isn't complete. I want to erase all Ubuntu entries from the seconds image and restore the legacy boot from the first imagem (because they worked before).
I did two things:
I erased all partitions related to Ubuntu (root partition and home partition).I created a Windows recovery disk (not a system recovery disk).
I used the recovery disk to run the automatic recovery procedure (I forgot the exactly name). I've runned it at least 10 times with no success. Then I went to command prompt to try the famous triad: bootrec /fixmbr, bootrec /fixboot and bootrec /rebuildbcd. Still, no solution.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Mar 4, 2013
I'm installed Windows 8 on my desktop. The Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant indicates that this software will install OK. It was NOT flagged as a problem.
However, when I went to install it, there were warnings that it wasn't supported and when I try it, I get errors about the registry.
How to use VB.NET, I don't understand it, and I'm used to VB 6.0. Is there a way to use VB 6 in Windows 8?
View 6 Replies
View Related
Sep 19, 2013
My laptop originally had Windows 8 installed on it on an SSD and an HDD. I have since wiped the drive clean. But now, I need to get Windows 8 back for work. How can I replicate the original layout with Windows 8 being put on both a SSD and a HDD. The nature of my work involves a lot of CAD software usage for projects as well as research and the like. As such, I would like for such software to be located on my SSD for faster speeds.
View 9 Replies
View Related
Nov 4, 2013
I've recently purchased a new laptop with a genuine windows 8, and then I upgraded to 8.1.
Is it possible to install with the same DVD using the same product key?
View 2 Replies
View Related
Jan 1, 2014
I have a Kingston SSDNow V200 128 GB SATA III 6 GB/s 2.5-Inch SSD I was using on my old Dell Precision 370. I now have a new Lenovo IdeaCenter K450 running Windows 8 X64 and I want to install the SSD in it.
This is what the drives look like now:
I want to clone the 1st 4 partitions plus the C: partition. I can reduce the size of my existing C: so everything will fit on the 128GB SSD. Anything I need to watch out for? I would think that cloning the existing setup should work. I will connect the SSD to the lowest SATA port, where the 2TB drive is now and move the other two drives up by one SATA port.
View 9 Replies
View Related
Dec 29, 2013
I am using bootcamp to run windows 7 on my mac. I recently used the windows 8 upgrade assistant to purchase windows 8. I received a product key and an .iso file but I decided to wait until a upgraded. Today my windows 7 crashed and I am unable to boot windows 7 anymore and i have a 'Missing Operating System' error. I have tried to recover windows 7 without success. So my question is: Can I install windows 8 on my mac through bootcamp by using a purchased upgrade key and if so how would i do it? I only have the windows 8 pro upgrade key which I had a backup of before the crash and i do not have the .iso file. Also would I still be able to use the upgrade key even though I am unable to access windows 7?
View 1 Replies
View Related
Nov 29, 2013
I'm running Windows 8.1 on an UEFI system, clean installed from my USB-key created with Rufus. But when I try to boot with this USB-key on my older PC (which does not have UEFI), then before installing Windows it says that there is no HDD or partition Windows can be installed in? I can then boot again with USB-key select rep. PC, start cmd, change the HDD to GPT, then Windows can be installed, but then it can't boot from the HDD!!
How do I make a bootable USBkey with Windows 7 or Windows 8 that can be installed on an ordinary MBR HDD? I need to make it on my system running GPT SSD.
I have tried this:
CMD (elevated)
diskpart
list disk
select disk (selected my USB)
clean
create partition primary
active
assign
exit
and then copied my windows 8 dvd onto it.
It will boot, but Windows will only install on a GPT HDD.
What to do?
View 3 Replies
View Related
Jul 1, 2013
I was able to start the install of 8.1 Preview directly from the downloaded .iso file. Just double clicked on it to open in Windows Explorer then double clicked on setup.exe and off it went. This only works from a booted Windows 8 system (not sure about Windows 7).
[URL] .....
Didn't need to create a bootable flash drive or DVD.
View 1 Replies
View Related
Dec 5, 2013
I have recently purchased Windows 8 Pro Upgrade and for Christmas I will be getting my first SSD.
I want to do a clean install of 8.1 via USB, is this possible with the Windows 8 Pro Upgrade key? I have read through numerous tutorials and think I've got it right but just want some to clarify this will work.
Download the 8.1 ISO
Use the generic key to run the installer
Setup the PC
Open PC Settings
Change Product Key enter Win 8 Pro (upgrade) key and activate
Do I then need to do the reg edit and command prompt changes? Regedit - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE Command prompt - slmgr /rearm Do I have this right or am I missing something?
View 9 Replies
View Related
Oct 18, 2013
Tried numerous times to install the update but keeps hanging when at "Applying PC Settings". It usually stops at around 84%, eventually the screen will go black only showing the cursor then finally it shows the bsod. The bsod says: driver power state failure.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Jul 28, 2014
OEM keys pre-installed in the my laptop as i too want to clean install windows 8.1 also my os was windows 8 Single Language and i have a 8.1 Pro ISO
View 2 Replies
View Related
Apr 26, 2014
I already have a Windows 8 Pro USB installer setup but I don't think it can be used to do a repair install for my Windows 8.1 Pro upgrade. So I'm trying to create a new USB installer setup specifically for Win 8.1 Pro. However, the Windows 8.1 setup window is not accepting the 8.1 Product Key that I extracted from Belarc, ProduKey and WPkey. Is there a way to get around that issue so that I can create the Win 8.1 USB installer?
View 3 Replies
View Related
Jan 13, 2013
I have Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate installed and activated. I am trying to upgrade to Windows 8 and the upgrade assistant tells me it needs at least 2gb when I have 8gb and Windows 7 sees and knows I have 8gb
I am thinking it could be my bios, but it's already at the latest version
Here are some photos from my bios, so you can tell me if there is anything I need to enable.
These are photos from my bios. I need to change to get this to work.
View 7 Replies
View Related
Jun 29, 2014
I'm trying to get back up and running. It's a Toshiba laptop that came with Windows 8 with it, obviously UEFI and an embedded key.The person that was using it said it started to act up a week before it fully crashed. Afterwards, it wouldn't boot up, it would either BSOD with an error code I found pertaining to a graphics driver error, or stay on a blue screen with nothing on it and then restart and go through an endless Automatic Repair loop with no success. I check the logs and Windows checked EVERYTHING but couldn't find the issue why it wasn't booting. Did chkdsk, bootrec repair, offline sfc scan, STD scan, tried refresh/reset but the drive was apparently locked, couldn't do a system restore as there weren't any restore points, tried doing startup repair four times; nothing worked.
So I decided it would have to be wiped and reinstalled with 8.1. Thought it would be an easy process. I used the vbs script to show the OEM key to activate Windows once I was up and running with 8.1. OK, but for some reason the key looked familiar. Keyed in the key, it didn't work. So I wiped that hard drive with Windows 8.0, ran the vbs script, SAME key of Windows 8 Pro as before. Odd. I already tried converting the 8.1 Core OEM I previously installed to 8.1 Pro and tried that key, still nothing.
Then I checked the key on the interwebs, XKY4K-2NRWR-8F6P2-448RF-CRYQH, the reason why it looked so familiar is because it's a generic install key for Windows 8/8.1! This isn't the OEM key at all!
I deploy Windows with a custom 8.1 .wim image and have used this several times already and I THINK I might have that key used originally to install Windows into my virtual machine I have going for it. My thinking was that I might have used sysprep one too many times, but that doesn't explain why even with the plain Windows 8 AND 8.1 Core images why the key that's being detected is a generic install key.
View 9 Replies
View Related
Jun 2, 2014
I bought a HP notebook with windows 8.1 installed , but no installation DVD . In order to create one I downloaded from Microsoft , ( from windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media ) the Windows 8.1 Setup ( file OSGS14-WindowsSetupBox-32bitand64bit-English-4141408.exe ) and ran it but always receiving the message : we can't connect right now . I have tried more than 20 times and failed.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Jan 17, 2014
How I can go about installing 8.1 on a blank hdd using my embedded product key. I hate using the manufacturer recovery because there is a slew of bloatware that I need to get rid of.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Mar 1, 2013
I tried to install Windows 8 Pro on my Dell PC, but I didnt know the clean install was the best way to go and now my computer will not boot to the OS. It boots then goes black.
View 3 Replies
View Related
Jan 14, 2014
using the UEFI install instructions from this forum. I do meet all of the requirements (Windows 8 64-bit iso, ASRock Z87 Extreme4 mobo, blank SSD). When I get to Step 7 in the UEFI guide, I only get 2 partitions instead of the 4 shown(Recovery, System, MSR, Primary). I only get System and Primary. I decided to delete all partitions and just run the setup on the unallocated drive...everything worked fine. I am just wondering what the consequences are of not having those 4 partitions. I still have the UEFI interface when I boot up so it appear that is working.
View 3 Replies
View Related
