Windows 7 Re-Install

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I apologize for the lengthof this post, but I wanted to give as much info as possibIe. A majority of the post is actually a cut & past that is pertinent to my problem.

I handle most of the IT issues in out office and have been handed a new challenge.

One of our employees installed a W7 update (not sure which one, but it was last week). The results was that his machine would always lock up as the W7 logo appeared on his screen. I am buy no means an expert, but I have seen and dealt with dozens of breakdowns like this. Normally for me the key is to always get into Smart Mode and try and restore the machine. This usually always works. I then usually run malware and ad-aware scans with the utility du jour.

For the life of me I could not get into Smart Mode no matter what I tried. In the end I decided my only option was to re-install W7. I backed all of the vital data files (Excel, ACAD etc.) and proceeded to re-install. I had no problem. However, I noticed much to my amazement that a folder Windows.old was created that contained all of the data files I had backed up as well as the program files as well. I thought this was great. Now I did not have to re-install all of the software such as Office and Autocad(Autocad settings in our office can be a pain). So, I proceeded to Google a procedure that will show me how to restore the Windows.old folder.

This is what I found:

In certain scenarios you may need to restore your Windows 7 Computer back to the previous installation of Windows. This article walks you through the steps to manually restore your computer back to the previous version of Windows.

Note: To do this, you must use the command prompt, and you must type specific commands at the command prompt to rename and to move folders between the different versions of Windows.

Note: If you currently have Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 installed, the uninstall steps are the same as with Windows 7 without any service packs installed. If you are restoring back to a previous Windows 7 installation, you may need to Install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to that installation.


This article is intended for a beginning to intermediate computer user.

To resolve this issue, follow the steps listed below to restore your computer back to a previous version of Windows using the Windows.OLD folder.

TIP: You may find it easier to follow the steps if you print this article first.
Step 1: Determine whether there is a Windows.old folder and whether there is sufficient free space on the Windows hard disk

  1. Click Start Collapse this imageExpand this image


    , and then click Computer.
  2. On the View menu, click Details.
  3. In the Free Space column, note how much space is available for Local Disk (C:) under the Hard Disk Drives area.
  4. In the Hard Disk Drives area, double-click Local Disk (C:), and then determine whether the Windows.old folder exists.

    Important If the Windows.old folder does not exist, you cannot follow the steps in this article to restore the previous Windows installation to this computer. You must backup and restore or transfer your files to the previous operating system.
  5. Right-click the Windows.old folder.
  6. Windows 7 will determine the size of the folder after several seconds.
Determine whether the Windows.old folder is smaller than the free space that is available for Local Disk (C:) in step 1.2.

Note If the Windows.old folder is two times as large as the free space that is available for the Local Disk (C:) entry, you may be unable to restore the previous Windows installation. Step 2: Start the Windows Recovery Environment

  1. Put the Windows 7 installation disc in the DVD drive, and then restart the computer.
  2. Press a key when you are prompted to restart from the disc.
  3. In the Install Windows window, select a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard input method or other input method, and then click Next.
  4. In the Install Windows window, click Repair your computer.
  5. In the System Recovery Options window, click the version of the Windows 7 operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
  6. In the System Recovery Options window, click Command Prompt.
The Command Prompt window opens, and it displays the command prompt. The command prompt is where you will type the commands that are described in the following steps. Step 3: Move the Windows 7 folders to a new Win7 folder

Note When you type one or more of the commands at the command prompt in the following steps and press ENTER, you may receive the following message: The system cannot find the file specified.


If you receive this message, go to the next step in this section, and then type the command in that next step.

Type the following commands and press ENTER after each command: C:

Md Win7

Move Windows Win7\Windows

Move "Program Files" "Win7\Program Files"

Move Users Win7\Users

Attrib –h –s –r ProgramData

Move ProgramData Win7\ProgramData

Rd "Documents and Settings"
Step 4: Copy the contents or move the contents of the Windows.old folder

Note When you type one or more of the commands at the command prompt in the following steps and press ENTER, you may receive the following message: The system cannot find the file specified.


If you receive this message, go to the next step in this section, and then type the command in the next step.

Type the following commands and press ENTER after each command: move /y c:\Windows.old\Windows c:\

move /y "c:\Windows.old\Program Files" c:\

move /y c:\Windows.old\ProgramData c:\

move /y c:\Windows.old\Users c:\

move /y "c:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings" c:\
Step 5: Restore the boot sector for the previous Windows installation

Type one of the following commands at the command prompt, as appropriate for your situation.

Note In the following commands, D: represents the DVD drive. If the DVD drive on the computer is represented by a different letter, such as E:, use that letter in the command.
  • When the previous Windows installation was Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Microsoft Windows 2000

    Type the following command, and then press ENTER: D:\boot\bootsect /nt52 c:
  • When the previous Windows installation was Windows Vista

    Type the following command, and then press ENTER: D:\boot\bootsect /nt60 c:
Step 6: Restore the Boot.ini file for the previous Windows installation of Windows XP or of Windows 2000

Note Follow these steps only when the previous installation is Windows XP or Windows 2000.

Type the following commands and press ENTER after each command: Attrib –h –s –r boot.ini.saved

Copy boot.ini.saved boot.ini
Step 7: Close the Command Prompt window, and then click Restart

  1. Type the following command at the command prompt, and then press ENTER: exit
  2. Click Restart to restart your computer.
Note After you have verified that Windows XP is functional, you can remove the C:\Win7 folder if it is not needed for data recovery.


I got through steps 1 and 2 with no problems. For steps 3 and 4 I got the "The system cannot find the file specified" message. I then proceeded to step 5.. This step makes no mention of restoring back to W7, just older OS. Didn't make sense to me, but I guess I foolishly went ahead and followed the directions by typing "
D:\boot\bootsect /nt52 c:".

When I restarted I got the message:

NTLDR is missing.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

I kept getting this message so I am now stuck. I decided to again re-install windows. However, even if I change the boot order to CD/DVD first, it does not read the disk.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Rob
 
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If you now have a windows.old folder, you more than likely actually did a Repair Install and not a clean install. I've done numerous clean installs in all versions of Windows, I've ever used. Since Windows Vista came out, it & 7 both create a hidden partition for the boot files. It only does this if the partition doesn't already exist. You need to format both the System Reserved partition and the partition Windows is going on, then delete both. Now when you go to install Windows 7, select the Unallocated space for the install. To get to all those options you need to click on Custom Install and then Advanced Options.. What you should have originally done was open up Windows Update, clicked on View Update History. Then written down the numbers for the update/s he installed that day They all begin with KB followed by a series of numbers. After writing their numbers down, click on Installed Updates at lower left side. Find the listing for that update, right-click on it and click on uninstall and restart the pc when told to. You could've also used System Restore to restore the pc prior to that updates installation. Those 2 ways are alot easier in the long run as nothing needs to be reinstalled and reconfigured.
 
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Your suggestion to unistall the updates and/or to restore the system are totally valid. But as I said, the would freeze upon booting up. Furthermore, as I had written, I was not successfull in booting into smart mode. If I could have done than, I would have dine exactly what you suggested.


Having said that I would like to do a clean install, but as the sytem boots up I get this message:

NTLDR is missing.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

I then press Ctrl+Alt+Del and end up again with:

NTLDR is missing.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

The CD/DVD drive does not want to read the W7 disk.

Any thoughts?
 
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This may sound strange, but it work's. It's quite possible the Windows 7 DVD is dirty,i/e: fingerprints, smudges, etc. Use a cottonball and wipe the whole dvd going in straight lines. If that doesn't work, wet another cottonball and put a little dish detergent on it and wipe the disk completely and rinse with water. Use another few cottonballs to dry the disk and retry using it. If that still doesn't work the dvd drive itself may be dirty on the reading lens. If that's the case you need to buy a CD/DVD cleaning kit, which comes with a special cd you use that has a little material on the bottom that cleans the lens. It's usually like a 3-4 step process through Windows Media Player. The disk that cleans the lens, usually has a guided walkthrough on the disk itself and the 3rd or 4th step usually plays a short pre-recorded song to make sure the disk did it's job and the drive can read the disk.
 

Nibiru2012

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Be sure to disconnect any extra hard drives other than the one you want to install Windows 7 on, it's picky that way.

Be sure your DVD drive is set to be the "First Boot Device" in the system BIOS.

The only time I've seen that NTLDR is missing message is when one try's to boot from the setup on the DVD itself within Windows 7 or if more than one hard drive is present.
 
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If it isn't that. The only other things I can think of are A)DVD drive itself is going bad or B)Windows 7 dvd is bad. Try those other suggestion's first. Another easy way to know: put the Windows 7 dvd in another pc's dvd drive and try booting from it. Do that after cleaning the dvd, if it still doesn't work on the pc you're trying to fix. If it still doesn't work on either pc the dvd itself is bad. If it does work on the other pc, but still can't be read on the pc you're trying to fix, after cleaning the dvd and dvd drive lens. Then the pc's dvd drive itself is bad.
 

TrainableMan

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On more of a side note ... the Windows.old is not meant to keep you from having to reinstall all the programs again; they need to be installed so the registry settings, etc get loaded. If you restore from Windows.old following those instructions you are returning the computer to the old OS install, not tweaking the current W7 install.

Whenever you want to copy data and userids and most settings to a new W7 machine you should use Windows Easy Transfer. It can be used to back-up the user data to an external HD and then any settings stored under the users logon are restored when you run WET restore; however programs still need installed as well as any settings that are not stored under the userid.
 

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