Completely puzzled by this Windows 7 install...

357mag

Member
Awhile ago I posted a problem that I was having installing Windows 7. I kept getting the error message "Windows has encountered an error and installation cannot continue..."

So I followed advice I got from this forum and downloaded a fixed version or a more updated version of the operating system. I then used that with NT Lite to make a custom setup disc.

If my memory serves me correctly I then tried the new setup disc and I got Windows 7 installed without seeing that error message.

I've been using Windows 8.1 though most all the time.

Now this afternoon I decided to install Windows 7 so I popped in my new install disc and much to my surprise I received that same error.

So either there is still bugs in the Windows 7 installation process or I am using an older setup disc.

This really is bizarre.
 
The download speed coming from Microsoft's site is extremely slow. It will take days to download Windows 7.
 
The download speed coming from Microsoft's site is extremely slow. It will take days to download Windows 7.
I have used Free download manager and installed it's plugins, downloading from Ms is not really slow as my ISP (2.1 MB/s).
 
I realized I save the .iso image so I simply burned a new disc. But upon installing it I once again got error messages. What happens is that during the installation process is that Windows is disabling your Administrator account. So you can't even get to the desktop. I looked on YouTube and there was a video telling you to go into Safe Mode and then into Computer Management and uncheck the box next to Account is disabled. I did that and it solved the problem. Even if you use NTLite and tell it to enable the Administrator account it does not matter because during installation Windows 7 wants to disable it.
 
That is too strange, it works for me.

Maybe you are removing a needed component for enabling the admin account, upload the autosaved preset and will check ifthere is more than what i have removed, my image is about 1.05 GB.
 
I don't have the preset. I made this awhile ago back in October. I did not remove anything that would have caused this behavior. It's a known issue across the internet and you can see many videos on YouTube that discuss this.
 
I have installed Win 7 many times, never seen such issue other than destination is damaged orvother hardware damaged.
 
I'm gonna try something. This time when I use NTLite to make my custom disk I am going to add a user. Usually in the past I have only told NTLite to enable the built-in administrator account. No regular users. But this time I'm gonna add just one simple user.

I will report back the results.
 
I'm gonna try something. This time when I use NTLite to make my custom disk I am going to add a user. Usually in the past I have only told NTLite to enable the built-in administrator account. No regular users. But this time I'm gonna add just one simple user.

I will report back the results.

A lite 8.1 iso is the same or better of a lite win7 iso, because in 8.1 there are improvements to explorer.exe and file operations caching. (in few words explorer do jobs better and copy/move jobs are faster)
 
I cant say if 8.1 is faster because im now using a faster ssd but its good as 7 and like 7 it needs a few basic tweaks. :)
 
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I would say that Win8.1 "feels" faster than Win7. I've run CrystalMark on both on my spinning RAID 1+0. I get the same numbers there. But windows seem to pop up faster.

USB 3.0 xfer might be a little better. But I haven't benchmarked it. So it could be confirmation bias.

Otherwise Win8.1 uses less RAM. So my apps have an extra 1GB on my limited 12GB box.

But Win8.1 does take some small tweaking. I have to run CoreParking (or whatever it's called - I mentioned it in a previous post here) to kee two cores unparked so that PowerDirector 15's GUI doesn't stutter when I'm editing video.

I have a nicely 'Lited Win7 that runs well. But I like running my new build of Win8.1 because it has less "bit-rot" and/or barnacles in it, being 6 years old now, with all sorts of stuff added/removed from it over the years.
 
I just tried installing Windows 7 straight from the disk. No NTLite involved. I still got the same error message. My hardware in my computer has not changed over the years either. I'm still using the same stuff. Windows 7 installation program must have bugs.
 
I would expect that if the Win7 install program had bugs we would have heard about it by now.

Rather, I expect that there's something unique with your system. Or something has changed with your system over the years. (Or worst case, malware infecting the boot record.)

I don't have Bootit Bare Metal. But in my older Bootit NT, there is an option to overwrite the MBR with a "Standard Win7 MRB." Might want to try that next - or its GPT equivalent, which I presume Bare Metal offers. (But back up everything first, of course.)
 
I can run and install both Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 smooth as butter. No issues so I don't think there is a problem with my boot sector. Although I would be willing to run a scan and see if something turns up. I will download something and check.
 
Malware Bytes reported the only suspicious thing was my own Screensaver which I made. There is nothing wrong with that. Stupid anti-virus programs.
I'm going to download the Windows 7 iso again and do a new burn and try it again.
 
So, both Win8.1 and (I presume) Win10 can use Secure Boot. Win7 cannot.

I have Secure Boot disabled in my BIOS. I presume that you do also?
 
I've never heard of Secure Boot. I've never seen that in my BIOS either. I could look around. But I don't think I have that.
 
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