Create a system repair disc

System recovery options can help you repair Windows if a serious error occurs. To use system recovery options, you’ll need a Windows installation disc or access to the recovery options provided by your computer manufacturer. If you don’t have either of those choices, you can create a system repair disc to access system recovery options.

Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

In the left pane, click Create a system repair disc, and then follow the steps. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Note: If you’re prompted to insert a Windows installation disc, it means that the files needed to create the system repair disc can’t be found on your computer. Insert a Windows 7 installation disc.

Insert the system repair disc into your CD or DVD drive.

Restart your computer using the computer’s power button.

If prompted, press any key to start the computer from the system repair disc.

If your computer isn’t configured to start from a CD or DVD, check the information that came with your computer. You might need to change your computer’s BIOS settings.

Choose your language settings, and then click Next.

Select a recovery option, and then click Next.

Tip: Print these instructions and keep them in a safe location with your system repair disc.

Start your computer from a Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive

You might need to start, or boot, your computer using the Windows 7 installation disc or a USB flash drive if you want to:

Install or reinstall Windows 7.

Recover Windows 7 from a serious error. If your computer won’t start Windows at all, you can access Startup Repair and other tools in the System Recovery Options menu from the Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive. These tools can help you get Windows 7 running again.

Note: If you use a Tablet PC or other computer with a touchscreen, you might need to attach a keyboard and mouse in order to use Startup Repair and other tools in the System Recovery Options menu.

Turn on your computer, insert the Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive, and then turn off your computer.

Restart your computer.

Press any key when prompted to do so, and then follow any instructions that appear.

When the Install Windows page appears, click Install now to begin the installation process or click Repair your computer to access system recovery options.

Follow the instructions.

If the Install Windows page doesn’t appear, and you aren’t asked to press any key, you might have to specify that your computer uses its DVD drive or a USB flash drive as the first startup device. To do this, you need to change settings in the computer’s basic input/output system (BIOS).

Note: Most newer computers can start from a USB device, but some older computers might not have this capability. For more information, check the documentation that came with your computer or go to the manufacturer’s website.

Before you change BIOS settings, check the information that came with your computer or go to the computer manufacturer’s website. Specific procedures for accessing the BIOS and changing settings can differ depending on your computer’s manufacturer, or you might be able to choose which startup device your computer uses without changing BIOS settings.

Warning: Be careful when changing BIOS settings. The BIOS interface is designed for advanced users, and it’s possible to change a setting that could prevent your computer from starting correctly.

Turn on your computer, insert the Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive, and then restart your computer.

Newer computers often display a startup (or boot) menu. On the startup menu, choose «BIOS setup,» or «BIOS settings,» or something similar.

Procedures vary depending on the BIOS manufacturer. Usually, you must press a key (such as F2, F12, Delete, Esc) or a key combination immediately after you turn on your computer but before Windows starts. If the Windows logo appears, you need to try again by waiting until the Windows logon prompt appears, and then shutting down and restarting your computer again.

The BIOS setup screen appears. On the BIOS setup screen, choose the option called «Boot order,» or something similar. Boot order settings might also be listed under «Advanced settings» or something similar.

Select your DVD drive or USB flash drive as the first startup device. (The USB flash drive might be listed under «Removable devices» or something similar.)

Save the setting changes, and then exit the BIOS.

Restart your computer, and then start Windows 7 from the installation disc or USB flash drive as previously described.

Windows 7 install hangs on the «Starting Windows» screen and does not proceed.

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Are you sure that your hardware is compatible with Windows 7 64 bit? Do you experience the same problem when you attempt to install the 32 bit version?

Give that a try and report if you get the same problem:

Download the appropriate edition you have a license for and see if it works.

Also try the following:

Disconnect any non-essential devices you might have attached to the machine, they might be interfering with setup.

If you have more than one hard disk installed, disconnect all except the target hard disk where you will be installing Windows 7.

Try reducing the amount of installed RAM to 1 GB or a single stick and see if the installation completes, they you can reattach both the hard disks and memory.

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Sorry to hear, try with the 2 GB and see if it makes a difference.

Question, what are you attempting, a complete copy of Windows 7 with SP1 or just the Service Pack itself?

If its just the Service Pack, I recommend you do this instead and use your product key located on your COA sticker to do a repair upgrade:

Download a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium with Service Pack 1 already integrated:

ImgBurn — In addtion to supporting the creation of CD’s from .ISO files,
it supports a wide range of other image file formats, and it’s free.
(BIN, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, MDS, NRG, PDI and ISO)
http://www.imgburn.com/

Note: Always use the slowest burn speed (4x or 2x) if offered a choice.

Then do a repair upgrade over your current installation:

Where to find your product key?

You can find the product key for Windows 7 Home Premium at the bottom of your laptop or within the Battery Compartment.

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With so much having gone wrong perhaps you could start with a clean sheet by activating the Dell Factory Restore function.

Dell Factory Image Restore [extract from manual for Dell Inspiron 1545 — not the same model but probably the same procedure]
1. Turn on the computer.
2. When the Dell logo appears, press several times to access the Advanced Boot Options Window.
Note: If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft Windows desktop; then, shut down your computer and try again.
3. Select Repair Your Computer. The System Recovery Options window appears.
4. Select a keyboard layout and click Next.
5. To access the recovery options, log on as a local user. To access the command prompt, type administrator in the User name field, then click OK.
6. Click Dell Factory Image Restore. The Dell Factory Image Restore welcome screen appears.
Note: Depending upon your configuration, you may need to select Dell Factory Tools, then Dell Factory Image Restore.
7. Click Next. The Confirm Data Deletion screen appears.
Note: If you do not want to proceed with Factory Image Restore, click Cancel.
8. Click the checkbox to confirm that you want to continue reformatting the hard drive and restoring the system software to the factory condition, then click Next. The restore process begins and may take five or more minutes to complete. A message appears when the operating system and factory-installed applications have been restored to factory condition.
9. Click Finish to reboot the system.

Incidentally, are the failures you have referred to associated with using a System repair disk made using that function of Windows 7? I have found many references to such failures & have experienced them myself. Apparently, the existence of the Dell Factory Restore partition corrupts the Windows System Repair Disk creation process [without telling you at the time]. Once you are back up & running you can apparently make a successful System repair disk using Dell DataSafe Backup although I never got the chance to try this. You can also test a System repair disk safely — just boot from it & eventually it asks for language & keyboard info then looks for images to work from and you can safely cancel & tell it to reboot at that point. I seem to have lost my note of the error code but the faulty repair disks gave the same error as everyone else reporting it in the Dell forums & it was before it reached the stage of asking for language & keyboard info.

[found it — repair disk error 0x4001100200001012]

Проблема с установкой Windows 7 x64

Здравствуйте, у меня такая проблема: хотел установить Windows 7 x64; вставил установочный диск и вышло сообщение: This installation isn’t compatible with your version of Windows. To upgrade, you need the correct installation disc. For more information, check your computer’s system information. To install a new copy of Windows, restart (boot) your computer using the installation disc, and then select Custom (advanced).

плата Asus P5Q PRO

видеокарта ATI Radeon RX 3870.

Здравствуйте, у меня такая проблема: хотел установить Windows 7 x64; вставил установочный диск и вышло сообщение: This installation isn’t compatible with your version of Windows. To upgrade, you need the correct installation disc. For more information, check your computer’s system information. To install a new copy of Windows, restart (boot) your computer using the installation disc, and then select Custom (advanced).

плата Asus P5Q PRO

видеокарта ATI Radeon RX 3870.

Дословный перевод сообщения, которое выдал Вам установщик, примерно такой: «Эта установка не совместима с данной версией Windows. Для обновления, нужен правильный установочный диск. Для получения дополнительных сведений проверьте системную информацию вашего компьютера. Чтобы установить новую копию Windows, перезагрузите компьютер с установочного диска (загрузки) и выберите команду Настройка (дополнительно).» Иными словами, установщик говорит Вам, что Windows XP нельзя обновить до Windows 7. Вам необходима новая установка Windows 7, а свои данные Вы можете перенести в новую систему с помощбю средства переноса данных Windows, предварительно скопировав их на внешний носитель.

How to: Perform a Clean Install or Reinstall of Windows 10

Please be sure to follow me on Twitter @adacosta for the latest tips, tricks and updates in the world of Windows 10. —

Technical Level : Intermediate

Summary
If you have installed a recent release of Windows in the past 5 years, you pretty much know what it will be like to install Windows 10. In this article, we take a look at performing a clean install. This includes starting a clean install from within a running version of Windows or a hard disk/SSD with no previous Windows installations.

Details

• Perform a clean install by booting from install media (DVD or USB thumb drive)
• Perform a clean install using Reset in Windows 10 orWindows 10 Refresh Tools (Start Fresh)
  
• Perform a clean install from within a running version of Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1 or Windows 10
  

Previously, Windows 7, Windows 8.0 and Windows 8.1 users needed to have either of those versions of Windows installed and activated in order to qualify for the free upgrade offer. For users who needed to perform a clean install of Windows 10 from the outset, it was a two step process of first validating the machine through the upgrade routine, ensure the Windows 10 Upgrade was activated, then proceed to perform a Reset.

Starting with versions Windows 10 1511 or later, users no longer have to go through this process.

What is the Digital Entitlement or Digital License?

When you upgrade from a previous version of Windows, what happens is the hardware, (your PC), will get a digital license. This is a unique signature of the computer which is stored on Microsoft Activation Servers. The Windows 7 or Windows 8 genuine license you were previously running will be exchanged for a diagnostics product key.

Anytime you need to reinstall Windows 10 on that machine, just proceed to reinstall Windows 10. It will automatically reactivate. The only exception where this applies is dependent on the license you upgraded from. If you change your motherboard and originally you upgraded from a Windows 7 OEM or Windows 8 OEM license, then your Digital Entitlement will be invalidated. You will need to purchase a new full version license.

So, there is no need to know or get a product key, if you need to reinstall Windows 10, you can use your Windows 7 or Windows 8 product key or use the reset function in Windows 10.

Perform a Clean Install on an Empty Hard Disk/SSD or Reinstall by Booting from Install Media (DVD or USB Thumb Drive)

Once you have your Windows 10 installation media ready, all you need to do is boot from the disc or USB thumb drive to begin setup. If you don’t have install media, see instructions: How to download official Windows 10 ISO files

Review the following guide for instructions and details about configuring your BIOS or UEFI boot settings for DVD, CD, USB or SD Card.

Once your computer is set to boot from the DVD, you should see this option. If you are installing from a retail Windows 10 USB thumb drive, you will be asked to select either 32 or 64 bit Windows 10. Learn more here

The Windows logo will appear on screen, this might be here for a while, as long as you see the animating dots, everything should be ok.

Select your Language, Time and Keyboard method then click Next.

Click Install now

Windows 10 setup will prompt you for a product key during installation a couple times. If you originally upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 click the option ‘I don’t have a key’ and ‘Do this later’ . If you have a Windows 10 product key, you can proceed to enter it.

Setup will also prompt you to select the edition you have a license for — Home or Pro. Please make sure you choose the right edition. If you choose the wrong edition, your only option will be to perform a clean install again.

The copy of Windows 10 you download and upgrade from will correspond with the edition of Windows you have installed, if it does not, this is why you might be experiencing problems activating:

• Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Windows 8.0 Core, Windows 8.1 Core should install Windows 10 Home

• Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8.0 Pro, Windows 8.1 Pro should install Windows 10 Pro

Wait while setup prepares to copy files

Accept the license terms then click Next

Click Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)

NOTE : Sometimes Windows 10 setup can become confused if it see’s a thumb drive. You might get a driver missing error or something to that effect. If you do, restart setup, but this time, when you arrive at the following screen, disconnect your thumb drive then go through Custom options. When setup is ready copy files, it will prompt you to reconnect the installation source (your USB).

Select the drive then click New

NOTE : If you have multiple partitions listed, select each one (starting at the bottom), then click delete until there is only a single (one) unallocated drive displayed in the window.

Select the unallocated drive listed, click New, click Apply then OK

This will split the drive into multiple partitions, select the Primary partition then click Next.

NOTE: The System Reserved partition is where recovery files are kept for diagnostics and repairing damaged Windows 10 files; or even reinstall Windows 10.

Wait while Windows installs

When this phase of setup is complete, Windows will automatically restart then reboot into setup again.

Windows is detecting and installing your hardware. After this is complete, Windows will restart one last time.

Out of Box Experience

The Out of Box Experience page is where you get to configure detailed settings in Windows, which includes creating a user account, configure privacy, sync PC settings and install modern applications.

Learn more about setting up your Windows 10 Installation:

There you go, Windows 10 has successfully installed!

Install the Latest Windows Updates immediately

Start > Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update then click Check for Updates

Perform a Clean Install Using Reset, Recovery Drive or Refresh Tools (Start Fresh) in Windows 10

If you already have Windows 10 installed, you can use the built in Reset function, Recovery Drive or Refresh Tools (Start Fresh) in Windows 10 do so. Learn how in the following article:

How to Perform a Clean Install by Starting Setup from Within a Running Version of Windows 10

If you are running Windows 7 or Windows 8.0, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, launch Windows 10 setup using ISO Media:

During setup, at the Ready to install screen, click Change what to keep link

Select Nothing

Click Next to being the installation

How do I check my activation status?

Click Start > Settings (press Windows key + i) > Update & security > Activation

Depending on the version of Windows 7 installed, 1507, 1511, 1607, you will see different wording beside the activation status:

Windows 10 1507 (build 10240)

Windows 10 1511 (build 10586)

Windows 10 1607 (build 14393) or later.

If you experience problems with product activation, please review: