Often, when installing a clean Windows 7, users are faced with a missing media driver. Without fulfilling this requirement, the installation process cannot be continued. This may be due to certain errors or the actual need to install software. In this article we will look at ways to solve this issue.
The situation under consideration is very non-standard and its possible sources can be software and hardware. Let's look at the main faults and methods for eliminating them. It should be noted right away that “crooked” operating system builds are usually to blame, and in rare cases, a notification that appears may indicate non-obvious problems such as malfunctioning RAM that damages files when copied.
Reason 1: Low-quality Windows distribution
Custom builds of Windows, which can be found on any torrent tracker, often have a lot of shortcomings and errors due to the unprofessionalism of their authors. Old builds may also be incompatible with new hardware from NVIDIA, so the easiest solution is to choose a different OS distribution.
Sometimes media drivers are deliberately removed from the system image. If a message appears about a missing driver, simply connect the media with the factory drivers of your computer. Actually, this is exactly what is written in the text of the notification itself. Since the installation process will be in RAM, you can easily take out a disk/flash drive with Windows and install the software using the button "Review" from another CD/USB, and then reinsert the media with the OS distribution.
If the problem is not resolved, try the following options.
Reason 2: Incorrectly working media
It is possible that one of these points negatively affected the installation:
In addition to everything, we can advise you to choose a program for recording a system image that is different from the one you used for the first time.
Reason 3: Problematic hard drive
Due to the HDD, you may also be asked to install drivers. There are at least 3 options for what to do:
Reason 4: Iron incompatibility
Less commonly described symptoms occur due to the combination of old and new components. A similar picture arises when using components from different manufacturers, for example, AMD and NVIDIA. The only solution is the competent selection of compatible hardware.
Reason 5: Problems with the drive or USB connector
There are several points here that can become a stumbling point when trying to install Windows 7. Let's go from simple to complex:
USB connection via interface 2.0 instead of 3.0
If your PC or laptop has USB 3.0 through which the operating system is installed, it may be this connection that causes the message that prevents further completion of the procedure. In this case, the installer actually asks for a driver that is not included by default. Reconnecting the flash drive to port 2.0 solves the problem. It's easy to distinguish them - the 3.0 connector is half blue.
Downloading a driver for USB 3.0 to a flash drive with a Windows 7 image
If there is no 2.0 connector, you will need to download a driver for USB 3.0 from the website of the motherboard or laptop manufacturer. This can be done according to the instructions for downloading the SATA driver described above, in "Reason 3". The difference is that you don't need to download "SATA", A "Chipset".
As a last resort, you can search for a driver for the chipset on the Intel or AMD website, depending on the component installed on your board.
PC component failure
The most unpleasant thing is the complete or partial failure of the CD/DVD drive or USB interface. The situation can only be saved by replacing faulty devices.
Reinstalling the operating system is a familiar and routine task for many. If no problems arise, then OS installation will not cause any difficulties and will be completed fairly quickly. However, in some cases, during the installation of Windows 7, the system displays an error.
Main causes of problems
Often, problems when installing an operating system arise due to the user's incompetence, because he forgot to format the disk, used a scratched DVD, or incorrectly recorded the installation distribution. But in some cases, the human factor does not play a role in their occurrence.
The main reasons why Windows 7 installation is interrupted are:
- The occurrence of equipment conflicts;
- Incompatibility of computer devices;
- Damaged storage media (from which or on which the installation is being performed);
- Problems with built-in drivers and hardware support;
- Incorrectly embedded license code or activator into the distribution;
- Using old software that does not support modern devices.
Almost all conflicts result in a blue screen appearing on the monitor screen during OS installation, indicating an error code.
How to understand what the problem is?
Depending on at what point during the installation from a flash drive an unexpected error occurred, you can use an elimination method to determine the problem that caused it. You can also find out the cause of the error when installing Windows 7 from a flash drive using the code displayed on the blue screen.
If a failure occurs while copying files or before selecting a hard drive partition for installation, the problem most often lies in damaged media. Then you need to use a program to test the hard drive for bad sectors. In this case, errors may not be displayed on the screen, and copying and reading information will be very slow, which may lead to the process being interrupted altogether.
Often the reason lies in the recording of the distribution or the media on which it is recorded. This mainly applies to CDs, as they are often scratched and damaged. As a result, problems with installing Windows 7 can arise at any moment, both at the stage of copying files, and during their unpacking and installation.
Often, a failure can occur due to the use of an incorrectly formatted flash drive, for example, if the wrong file system format is selected. Errors also occur due to the use of USB 3.0 ports, support for which is most often not available in the distribution due to driver mismatches. That is, the BIOS will see the device and allow it to be launched from it, but the installer itself will not start or will fail while determining the system configuration. If USB ports can operate in two modes, this also leads to a hardware conflict and blue screen display with error codes.
Problem solving methods
If an unexpected error occurs while installing Windows 7 from a flash drive, do not rush to panic. To get started, try one or more of the following:
- If the installation was started from a disk, try wiping it with a dry cloth or napkin and repeat the operation;
- If the installation process is interrupted and the system displays a blue screen error, do not rush to restart the computer, write down the message code. This will help you find out the details of its origin;
- If you are using a USB flash drive as installation equipment and cannot boot from it, try using a different USB port (black);
- If you encounter problems while copying files, when the system generates an unexpected error, test your hard drive for errors;
- If a blue screen appears after completing the first stage of installation and rebooting the system, then the problem is due to driver incompatibility. To fix the problem, you need to disable all equipment that is possible, or use a different distribution;
- If you receive a message indicating that an unexpected error occurred, we recommend that you restart your computer and try again;
- It happens that a black screen or a window with a flickering cursor appears in front of the user, then you need to wait 5-10 minutes. If the situation does not change, then the system cannot read the settings or video card drivers.
If none of the above helped, try resetting the Bios program settings or use a different distribution and another flash drive to install Windows 7.
Result:
If the operating system gives an error when installing from a flash drive, this is not a reason to panic. Consistently repeat the operation and follow the advice. In most cases, when there is no physical damage to the equipment, problems can be avoided or a solution can be found.
At times, when installing Windows 7, users think that the system froze during installation. However, this is often not the case and you need to wait a certain amount of time for it to continue. Freezes and crashes mainly occur due to problems with the hard drive, but there are other reasons for slow installations. This article will talk about such reasons and how to eliminate them.
The main reasons for freezes or slow installations
The first reason for a long download or slow installation process can be considered incorrectly recorded image or its damage. To check, you need to change the boot media, and you can also replace the image.
In the second case, the cause of the failure may be damaged hard drive. In this case, the installation may take a long time, or at normal speed, but be interrupted at the very end. You can write a special utility to check disks and test the hard drive.
Problems with RAM or other computer hardware components. In this case, various oddities and failures should have accompanied the PC even before the installation process began.
Incorrect BIOS settings. This item is the most common cause of crashes and freezes and should be checked first, before testing the rest of the equipment.
How to troubleshoot
You need to change several settings in the BIOS itself. These are the hard disk interface settings you need put inAHCI. This item is not suitable for those users who still use hard drives with an IDE interface. You will also need disable floppy drive. Next, several types of BIOS and the names of the corresponding items in the menu will be shown.
Settings for floppy disks
Bios Phoenix
For hard drives
BIOS Award
UEFI BIOS
Although changing these points is not obvious in this situation, it helps. If the user has set all the settings as recommended, but the problem does not go away, then it’s worth addressing checking other options. It's best to start with the boot drive and system image, as they are the fastest to check. If everything is fine with them, then it’s worth doing checking the hard drive on problems and reading speed. To do this, it is best to use one of the hardware testing assemblies, which may include programs for testing all hardware.
In this article I will talk about how to independently install the Windows 7 operating system from a disk onto your computer or laptop.
I offer detailed and step-by-step instructions with a visual demonstration of screenshots of installing the Windows operating system.
If you think that installing an operating system is something complicated and incomprehensible that only a specialist can handle, then I will disappoint you: this is not true. Now you can see for yourself.
All you need to install Windows 7 (or Windows 8) is a computer or laptop, a disk with the operating system (since in this article we will install Windows from a disk), detailed instructions, which I will now provide you with, and, perhaps, attentiveness! Hopefully after installation you won't look like . 🙂
After installation, I recommend installing it immediately. You understand that in our time of electronic payments this is very important. Also now (yet) nowhere without Adobe Flash Player. What's his name Right install read . You may also be very interested in not bad. If you store it on your computer private information, create a .
Important: The majority of all possible problems that arise when installing Windows 7 are associated with an incorrectly prepared installation disk and (or) the quality of the “OS build” recorded on it. You can read the article on how to correctly burn an operating system image to disk.
Remember: if this disc is not out of the box, that is, purchased in a store, then you need to use only original images from Microsoft MSDN. It is the original image, which is just as accessible on the Internet as various assemblies, that is the key to the successful installation of Windows and its normal functioning.
Do not use assemblies of unknown origin. You install all third-party fixes, corrections, and homemade assemblies at your own peril and risk. The consequences may be irreversible.
Before installing Windows 7:
Remember two basic things to do before installing Windows.
First- this is to decide in advance on which partition of the hard drive the system will be installed. Typically, in most cases this is the C:\ drive. You should remember (or create) the volume label and size.
Remember, your desktop is entirely located on the C:\ drive, or rather, here: C:\Documents and Settings\ Username\Desktop. Think in advance about the integrity and safety of files that are important to you, copy them from your desktop, that is, from drive C, to another drive or flash drive.
All programs installed on the C:\ drive will also be deleted, but this is not a reason to drag the entire folder with programs to other drives. It is much easier to reinstall these programs on a clean system. Don't be lazy, it's not every day that you reinstall Windows.
Second moment - these are drivers for your computer or laptop. They need to be taken care of in advance. Most laptops come with them included, but if they are not available (or need to be updated), look for them on the manufacturer’s official website and download them in advance.
I recommend reading everything you need to know about installing drivers in the article “Installing Drivers or Five Iron Rules,” which is located.
If you skip this important point, then after installing Windows, you may be left without the Internet, because it is not a fact that the Windows distribution will initially contain drivers for your network card.
Installing Windows 7 from disk:
Insert the disk with the Windows operating system into the drive and restart the computer. By the way, if you don’t have a disk drive, you can install the Windows operating system using a regular one.
Let's continue. Our task is to configure the computer to boot from a DVD. This can be done in 2 ways:
- 1. select the device (DVD) in the special boot menu;
- 2. change the boot priority in the BIOS (from HDD to DVD).
The first method, selecting a device in the boot menu, is simpler and more convenient. After installing Windows, there is no need to return booting from the HDD (hard drive). However, on older computers this function is not available and in this case you will have to go into the BIOS and change the boot priority.
Start - reboot, wait until the screen goes dark and at the first sign of the system waking up (the logo appears), press and hold the Delete key on the keyboard. Why the Delete key? These can be the keys F1, F2, F3 + F2, F10, Ctrl + Alt + Esc, Ctrl + Alt + S, Esc.
There is no universal button for entering the boot menu or entering the BIOS, and it all depends on the computer manufacturer (motherboard). The surest way is to read the instructions from the computer or motherboard. The table below shows a clear example of such keys.
The boot menu looks something like this:
Press F10, agree and confirm the exit with saving (Save and Exit) by selecting “Ok”.
Phoenix Award
Let's consider the second interface option. To boot from disk, you need to change the priorities so that the first device is the DVD drive. Find the item “Advanced BIOS Features” and use the arrows to switch to the first device (First Boot Device), change to CDROM.
Press F10 and confirm Save and Exit.
If you have problems at this stage, I recommend watching this video.
Let's continue. If everything was done correctly, we will see the following window with the inscription: “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD.”
Here you need to press any key, for example, spacebar. This is only done 1 time and only at this stage of installation. We see the following window with the inscription “Windows is loading files”.
The files are being extracted, after which we will see the message "Starting Windows" and the Windows 7 installation window itself. Windows installation has begun!!
Select the desired language and click “Install”.
Next, we need to select the edition of Windows 7. Select the one for which you have a key or which you are going to activate. On laptops, it is usually indicated on a piece of paper with a key located on the bottom of the laptop. Entering the serial number itself will be a little later; it has been moved to the end of the installation.
A few words about the possibility of installing a 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit version of Windows. If you have more than 4 GB of RAM (also known as RAM, Memory), then install 64-bit, if not, then 32-bit (x86).
Let's read and agree to the license terms. Next, we need to select the installation type - select “Full installation”.
Now you need to select the partition on which Windows will be installed.
If you have this partition reserved by the system (note, it is still in megabytes (MB), not gigabytes), for example, as in the following screenshot, then select Disk 0 Partition 2.
To avoid such excruciating pain when choosing a partition, before installing Windows, look at how many gigabytes your C drive occupies.
If you have one partition on your hard drive and it is larger than 250 GB, then it would be more correct to create two local disks. One section is specifically for Windows (usually about 50-100 GB), and the other is for storing your personal information (how much will remain, XXX GB).
Note: The partitions you create should be named Disk 0 Partition 1, 2, 3..., not “Unallocated Disk Space”. Otherwise, the operating system simply will not see sections with such names.
If necessary, create a section or sections and click “Apply”:
Attention: At this stage, problems may arise - when Windows 7 asks for a driver for further installation or when the system does not see your hard drive to continue installation.
Or install (if prepared) hard disk controller drivers. If you already have two or more partitions on your hard drive, then you can skip the above point. So, we have selected the “System” section, and now we need to start formatting.
The installer warns that all our data will be deleted. This is what we need, because we are interested in a clean installation of Windows. We agree and wait. Usually the whole process takes a matter of seconds. After formatting, we see that there is more free space, calmly click “Next”.
And here is the beginning of the installation, the process has started. You can already exhale).
We're waiting... It usually takes 15–25 minutes. When our system is installed, it will prompt you to enter your username and computer name. Let's enter.
If you wish, you can enter a password and a hint. Next, Windows will prompt you to enter your serial number. Enter (if available). If not, then skip this step and uncheck the “Automatically activate when connected to the Internet” checkbox.
Or it starts to malfunction and it becomes necessary to install a new one. However, this may come with some difficulties. Due to incorrect parameters, which may be set through no fault of the user, errors appear that interfere with the normal installation of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Unfortunately, such troubles arise quite often. What to do in such a situation? In this article, we will look in detail at how to solve the error “Windows cannot be installed on this disk...”, as well as why such a malfunction occurs and what to do about it. Let's figure it out. Go!
If you get the error “The selected disk has a GPT partition style,” then you should pay attention to some parameters. For new computers with UEFI that support 64-bit operating systems, it is better to install on a GPT disk (even if a regular BIOS instead of UEFI is not scary, it is important that there is support for 64-bit systems). For older PCs with a regular BIOS that only support 23-bit OS, it is better to install it on an MBR disk (this is done by conversion).
Installing Windows on GPT
Most often, Windows 7 users encounter this problem, however, this does not exclude the possibility of this problem appearing in newer versions of the system. To install on a GPT disk, be sure to select the 64-bit version of the OS. It should be loaded in EFI mode. Most likely, the error appears precisely because the last condition is not met.
First of all, open the BIOS. This is done by pressing a certain key on the keyboard, depending on the computer model, at the time the PC starts. Usually these are the Del or F2 keys. Once you are in the BIOS, change the CSM to UEFI boot. You will find this item in the “BIOS Features” or “BIOS Setup” section. The next step is to select “AHCI” in the “Select SATA operating mode” item. In a regular BIOS, go to the “Advanced” tab, in the “AHCI Mode Control” section set “Manual”, and in the “Native AHCI Mode” item that appears below set “Disabled”. Those who have Windows 7 and older need to turn off Secure Boot mode.
There are different interface options, so the names of some items may differ slightly, so do not be alarmed if your names coincide with those indicated in the article. Don't forget to save your changes before exiting. After this, if you installed the OS from a disk, the error should no longer appear.
Those users who install Windows from a USB drive will most likely have to create a bootable USB flash drive again, only now with UEFI support, for the error to disappear. To support UEFI, after you have created a bootable USB flash drive, you need to transfer the ISO image with the system to it. You need to do it like this:
- Mount the image;
- Select all files and folders of the image;
- Right-click and from the list that appears, select “Send” and then “Removable disk”.
After this, installation problems should disappear.
Convert GPT to MBR
Before we move on to analyzing this process, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that it is better to move all data from the HDD, as they may be lost. If you are not worried about lost files, feel free to proceed to the steps below.
To convert a GPT partition table to an MBR partition table, use the key combination Shift+F10 when you are in the Windows Setup Wizard to launch the command line. Next, you need to repeat the following steps exactly. Display a list of all disks on your PC, enter “diskpart” and then “listdisk”. To select the disk with which you are going to work further, write “select disk M”. In place of “M”, indicate the number corresponding to the desired disk. The previous command “list disk” just displayed the numbers on the screen.
Next, clean the disk by typing “clean”. When the cleanup is complete, enter "convert mbr" to convert GPT to MBR. Please note that with this approach all data will be lost. At the end, write the “exit” command. You can now close the Command Prompt or continue working with it to create partitions.
There is an alternative option that will save all data. This method involves using special utilities. One of these is MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable. “Bootable” means that this version can be written to a USB drive (the flash drive must be bootable) and run even if Windows is not working. After downloading, you will see a menu in which you need to select the item corresponding to the name of the utility. Once in the MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable window, select the desired disk and click on the “Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk” item, which is located on the left. Then click the Apply button.
If the system installed on your computer is working properly, then you can download other programs that have similar functionality, for example, Acronis Disk Director or Aomei Partition Assistant. You can also use the built-in Windows tools. To immediately go to the desired utility, use the Win + R “diskmgmt.msc” combination. Going to the Disk Management window, select the disk you want to convert and click Delete Volume. After that, click on it again and click on the “Convert to MBR disk” item. Ready.
After reading the material presented, you will know what to do if, during the installation of Windows OS, an error warning appears that it is impossible to install Windows on this disk. All the methods discussed above will help you solve the problem. Write in the comments whether the article was useful to you and ask if anything was unclear.
