[SOLVED] How do I re-install Win 7 pro x64 over reformatted NT partition?

[JojoCrowe]

I've done this many times. Can't do it this time, though. My main drive was infected with a bit coin miner. I removed it with Malwarebites mbar program. Windows loaded subsequently but graphics went black after boot up. I tried to replace Windows from an Acronis disk image . Acronis installed image, but said I had to reboot or install wouldn't complete. I did this from a backup drive I keep with Windows 7 installed. Problem is that rebooting made the computer blue screen because it sees two partions with Windows installed, I think. Can't reinstall Windows from disk either...partition is now corrupt. So I quick format bad partition and try Win install again, but it only give me repair options, not normal install. I have another partition on the drive with data I'm absolutely not willing to have deleted using repair. I tried that another time...it wipes the whole drive. So how do I either:

A) Install Win from Acronis image without it rebooting and blue screening to finalize.

B) Get my Win 7 install disk to give me the normal install windows option instead of repair dialogue?

I have a HP Envy desktop 750-175se

 

[ss202sl]

Do you have a backup of the data?

 

[jojesa]

I've done this many times. Can't do it this time, though. My main drive was infected with a bit coin miner. I removed it with Malwarebites mbar program. Windows loaded subsequently but graphics went black after boot up. I tried to replace Windows from an Acronis disk image . Acronis installed image, but said I had to reboot or install wouldn't complete. I did this from a backup drive I keep with Windows 7 installed. Problem is that rebooting made the computer blue screen because it sees two partions with Windows installed, I think. Can't reinstall Windows from disk either...partition is now corrupt. So I quick format bad partition and try Win install again, but it only give me repair options, not normal install. I have another partition on the drive with data I'm absolutely not willing to have deleted using repair. I tried that another time...it wipes the whole drive. So how do I either:

A) Install Win from Acronis image without it rebooting and blue screening to finalize.

B) Get my Win 7 install disk to give me the normal install windows option instead repair dialogue?

I have a HP Envy desktop 750-175se

I suggest you backup the data on the other partition first. You might not want to loose your data.
Use the Windows 7 installation disk to perform a repair.
If that does not fix the issue, then perform a clean Windows 7 installation.

 

[JojoCrowe]

I suggest you backup the data on the other partition first. You might not want to loose your data.
Use the Windows 7 installation disk to perform a repair.
If that does not fix the issue, then perform a clean Windows 7 installation.

Can't repair...I formatted the OS partition. Can't perform clean install as I can't get that option to come up.

I t does give me an option for factory reset under repair. I tried that once...it will install windows, but it will remove my other partition. That isn't something I will do without a backup. I just want to do a normal Win install to the OS partition or get Acronis to work correctly.

 

[JojoCrowe]

Do you have a backup of the data?

I pulled everything off the OS partition that I wanted before formating it, but have over 2 terabytes of files on the other partition on the same drive that I don't want to lose. I could maybe transfer it to other partitions, but that would take a lot of time and overfill my available drives.

I just want to put Windows 7 pro back on the same partition it was on before with no chance of damaging my files on the other partition on the same hard drive.

No backup of the files exists.

 

[jojesa]

Do you have a Windows 7 installation disk (DVD or USB)?

 

[JojoCrowe]

Do you have a Windows 7 installation disk (DVD or USB)?

Yes. I tried that. It only boots to repair options. HP gives you a one time download of an Install which I did, and it exists as 3 DVD-R's. I'm wondering if those are a problem as I never had these problems with any other computer with a supplied install disk during re-install...this is my first HP computer.

 

[jojesa]

A Windows 7 installation disk should be contain in one DVD disk, what you appear to have is a HP restore to factory DVD set.

I suggest you install Windows 10.
After installing Windows 10, activate it using your Windows 7 code.
If any drivers are required, get them from HP support website.

 

[JojoCrowe]

A Windows 7 installation disk should be contain in one DVD disk, what you appear to have is a HP restore to factory DVD set.

I suggest you install Windows 10.
After installing Windows 10, activate it using your Windows 7 code.
If any drivers are required, get them from HP support website.

Ah, that explains the install problems...Thanks
I want to stay with Win 7 pro, though. So I either need an install disk or perhaps an update to my old Acronis. Better to have both...

 

[onespeedbiker]

I see several options. Obtain a windows install disc/usb (via ebay) and use it to reinstall Windows 7 in the original partition or obtain another drive and install the acronis image (or HP discs) on the new drive and use the old drive for the stored data.

 

[JojoCrowe]

I see several options. Obtain a windows install disc/usb (via ebay) and use it to reinstall Windows 7 in the original partition or obtain another drive and install the acronis image (or HP discs) on the new drive and use the old drive for the stored data.

I definitely want to use the same hard drive which is a fairly new Western Digital Blue 4TB.

The Acronis is frustrating. Why does it wan't to reboot and destroy its install. It only used to do that if you were installing to your active operating system partition. Is there any more reliable disk imaging software? I could burn an image of the drive I'm currently using...it's a pretty old drive, but has a nice clean install on it.

 

[jojesa]

I definitely want to use the same hard drive which is a fairly new Western Digital Blue 4TB.

The Acronis is frustrating. Why does it wan't to reboot and destroy its install. It only used to do that if you were installing to your active operating system partition. Is there any more reliable disk imaging software? I could burn an image of the drive I'm currently using...it's a pretty old drive, but has a nice clean install on it.

I have been using Acronis for many years and it works as intended.
When a system is working properly I make a backup image of the OS partition.
I usually create Acronis bootable USB disk, so I can restore the system without relying on the OS.

I do the same with Windows own Backup and restore. I create an image of the OS partition and also create a Windows recovery USB.

In both scenarios I could recover the OS partition from a USB bootable drive.

You could download a Windows 7 ISO from Microsoft website and create a bootable USB Windows 7 installation disk.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

After downloading the Windows 7 ISO, download and run the Windows media Creation tool.
Follow the steps to create a a bootable USB Windows 7 installation disk.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApvooA7VYcjSijjB9GkA-DtBKzF9?e=ICDVWd

 

[JojoCrowe]

I have been using Acronis for many years and it works as intended.
When a system is working properly I make a backup image of the OS partition.
I usually create Acronis bootable USB disk, so I can restore the system without relying on the OS.

I do the same with Windows own Backup and restore. I create an image of the OS partition and also create a Windows recovery USB.

In both scenarios I could recover the OS partition from a USB bootable drive.

You could download a Windows 7 ISO from Microsoft website and create a bootable USB Windows 7 installation disk.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

After downloading the Windows 7 ISO, download and run the Windows media Creation tool.
Follow the steps to create a a bootable USB Windows 7 installation disk.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApvooA7VYcjSijjB9GkA-DtBKzF9?e=ICDVWd

I've used Acronis for many years, too. Never had problems. Now I do. The only thing I can think of is that it's because there are two partitions with the OS label attached to them and that is causing the destructive reboot. I went in to Disk Management and removed that label from the faulty partition. I will retry Acronis on it before I go to bed as it's a 2 or 3 hour process.

I found an old Windows 7 boot disk I slipstreamed up to sp1 years ago and used a few times in the past. While it booted fine, I can't figure out how to interact with it as it won't accept any input from my mouse or keyboard, which are USB. I used to get around this by using the old style plugins on the computer and adapters in these situations. This computer doesn't have those anymore. It gives me a screen informing me that I don't have ethernet drivers installed and displays an OK button I'm supposed to click with my mouse. So how do I do that? I honestly don't know...do I have to change bios settings? Sorry for being a pain, but I'm getting old , can barely see anything a foot in front of me and can't keep up with the corporate insanity that has infested each generation of computer to a greater degree.

Installing windows used to be so simple!


EDIT: I don't think I can download the ISO from MS as my version of windows came with the computer and is excluded...seems I tried that some time ago.

 

[jojesa]

It is simple if you have the right tools.

Try connecting the keyboard and mouse to a different USB port. Do not connect them to USB 3.0 ports.

I suggest you move into Windows 10.
Windows 7 won't receive any security updates and it will become a malware playground.
I don't think it is worth the hassle.

 

[JojoCrowe]

I found a quick and dirty solution...

I ran Acronis again. It still wanted to reboot after installing the image to the partition, which is what causes the computer to blue screen because of having two active operating systems at boot up.

So what I did was: After completion of the image transfer and receiving the reboot notification, I turned off the the newly created partition which was on a separate hard drive mounted in an external hard drive enclosure.

Then I rebooted the active OS and let it load until I got to the Windows logon screen. Then I turned my external hard drive enclosure back on and logged in. After boot up I shut down the computer and mounted my newly created OS drive internally, removing the hard drive that I was using for an OS. I booted into the new OS and it works perfectly. I'm using it now.

For clarity: The reboot notification I received from Acronis said I must reboot in order to complete the image install.

I post this so anyone in a similar bind might google this and avoid some headaches. Thanks out to everyone...