These are my notes as I installed Windows 7 on an older computer with an ASUS P5B motherboard and a Pentium D chip with 2gb Ram.
Consider it a travelogue or your guide to installing Windows 7. It’s what I experienced, what you should expect and in follow on articles, solutions to problems that came up.
I booted from the shiny new Windows 7 Beta 1 DVD and tried to install. Due to problems with the current Windows Vista installation, the upgrade option repeatedly failed. No specific clues or reasons were given.
For this reason I chose to do a ‘Clean” or “Fresh” install and not attempt an upgrade. If you’ll remember the so called upgrade process from Windows XP to Windows Vista, well.. let’s just say it didn’t work either.
The startup involves staring at a pulsating Microsoft Windows Beta 7 logo. It’s quite hypnotic and I began to think warm thoughts about Microsoft and Bill Gates until it started to run on to about 5 minutes of useless pulsating with no clue to the user as to what was going on. No progress bar, no meter, nothing.
After the initial start of Windows 7 Beta 1 installation, the screen changes to a low resolution wallpaper that looks like you are underwater. On the bottom right you see the release series of 7000.
At this point it will appear to have crashed as it’s doing nothing and giving the user no progress bar again. It took 11 minutes on my system at this point. It looked locked up / crashed, but I just waited and it finally finished.
Just like Windows Vista before it, the installation screens look basically the same under Windows 7 Beta 1.
The first screen after the first of many long lonely waits, is the normal select your language and start install screen.
Again, a long wait, no progress bar and pulsating things to stare at. My computer looks dead and appears to be doing nothing, but I keep the faith and just wait. This time I wait about 10 minutes.
Now, finally you’ll see the EULA (End User License Agreement) which you’ll have to accept to go further of course. It makes me wonder if they put something in there like “Microsoft can at it’s sole discretion borrow your care” if we’d all blindly accept it. My guess.. yes.
Now you’ll see the normal install screen that we all know and love from the Microsoft Windows Vista installation process that features some progress information in for form of a list of tasks to be performed:
- Copying
- Expanding
- Installing Features
- Installing Updates
- Completing Installation
- Enriching Bill Gates
On this screen we do actually get some great feedback on whether the installation is progressing and to what extent.
The speed of installation seems about like Windows Vista.
I selected at the very beginning *not* to download updates, but at this point it downloads and installs them anyway.
Your computer will restart automatically at the end of this process, so don’t worry if you went for coffee (suggested 30 minutes) and found your computer powered off or re-booted.
At this point I’m into the install about 35 minutes. We’re far from done.
My restart leads me to another long wait staring at a pulsating object telling me nothing, but doing a great job of making me worry that the installation has crashed. It hasn’t.
We’re at a new screen where it says:
- Updating Registry Settings
- Starting Services
Next another underwater scene where it says “Completing Installation”.
At this point something really odd happens as on my dual monitor system, the default monitor under Windows 7 Beta 1 shifts from my Primary (under Windows Vista) monitor to a smaller monitor I keep on the left side. It appears that Windows 7 Beta 1 Monitor Preference is opposite to Microsoft Windows Vista.
The “Completing Installation” has now officially taken forever. I know because I’ve been using a stopwatch to time it and it’s been forever already… twice. If your system is taking a long time at this point, don’t panic. Time for more coffee.
Another reboot follows all this where we get “Starting Windows”. At this point I think I will finally see the Windows 7 Beta 1 Aero interface, but no!
We get to wait for “Checking Performance”. This takes another 5 minutes.
Next is the old familiar username screen from Microsoft Windows Vista.
Next is “Enter Your Product Key” and “Do you want to activate automatically?”.
Put it in there and click the little box for auto activation.
Finally you’ll see the Microsoft Windows 7 Beta 1 Aero Interface and the desktop will be yours to rule.
In my next articles I’ll tell you what I found out about all the applications and drivers that need to be installed to take a raw fresh install of Windows 7 Beta to a functioning dekstop. In fact it’s the desktop I am writing this article on right now.
Don’t worry boys and girls! This story has a happy ending. All is well in the end, but there’s some problems that you’ll need to resolve on your jouney and I’ll walk you through it in my next 5 or 6 articles.
Popularity: 41% [?]
Welcome back! You may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. I am happy to research all technical questions - Just contact me. Thanks for visiting!
Related posts:
- Vista SP2 Beta Audio & Network Problems - Warning To Potential Beta Testers Like most technology geeks I was excited to get my...
- Windows 7 Beta 1 Installed - What Does It Mean For Corporate Users and IT Departments? If I worked in corporate IT (wait.. I do!) I'd...
- Adobe CS4 / CS3 on Windows 7 Beta Problems With Macrovision And Aero - Adobe Management - Wake Up! It's sad I cannot write a great review about great...
- Windows 7 Beta 1 Audio Driver Problems - BIOS Update and SoundMAX Audio Driver Update Fix After you install Windows 7 Beta 1, you may start...
- Windows 7 Beta - No Beta Updates From Microsoft Until Release Day? Microsoft confirmed that there will be no updates to Windows...
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:54 am
Unfortunately Windows 7 will not install into my PC and as a matter of fact kills my SATA drives in the process once it hangs during the expanding files step
January 11th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Mine hangs during the expanding windows section also, but I’m using EIDE drives, not SATA
January 12th, 2009 at 12:12 am
What machine did you try this setup on?
I’ve run this install over a dozen times now, only one of them went this slow, it was on an old pentium 4 2.4C, with 1gb or ram.
I just ran it on a p4 3.00GHz, with 1gb of ddr-400, onto a 40gb IDE 7200RPM drive. took less than 20 min from beginning to end, with none of these: “pauses”
I have a feeling your hardware is at fault here.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
i still wait for “Comleting installation…”, seems like it ll take forever, it’s running now for more then 40 minutes, no progress, nothing. from time to time i can hear a short reaction on my hd.
got a pentium core 2 quad 2,4ghz, 1gb ram, hd:maxtor atlas 15k2 15000 rpm scsi.
maybe because of my motherboard. it’s an asus P5NSLI.
uncool
January 13th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
How long did your “Completing Installation” take? Mine has been going for over 5 hours how. I don’t think that’s right. I am using the upgrade function. Is this the same problem you had while using the upgrade function?
January 17th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Second Life do not work with Windows 7 (64bit)…it worked with Vista (64bit) !!!
all this time installing wIndows 7 (64bit)…..this guys are crazy…where is the compatibility with the vista ????? im bad luck i guess…the first software i try..it do not work
January 17th, 2009 at 5:07 am
Wow! Thanks for all the comments guys!
Here’s what I do to get great compatibility with Vista Software using Windows 7. Please note that this will allow you to install a lot of software that doesn’t normally install also:
1) Right click the program you want to run
2) Click ‘Properties’
3) Select ‘Run this program in compatibility for VISTA’
4) Select ‘Run this program as an administrator
5) Right click ‘My Computer’ and Select ‘Properties’
6) Select ‘Advanced Systems Settings” and then “Performance Settings”
7) Select “Best Performance”, apply it, hit ok, watch your pc become ugly again.
Unless you use the Application Compatibility Profiler and Toolkit (free download from microsoft) to sleuth out the problems and settings, then that’s the best you can do.
99% of all the software that doesn’t run the first time WILL RUN if you follow those steps.
After you see it run, then turn on the ‘Pretty’ settings gradually in the performance section.
All my best to the Second Life folks out there. It’s a great platform and an excellent community.
January 17th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
My computer hangs in the “completing installation” part. The screen seems to freeze and so does my mouse, and the hard drive/dvd drive stops spinning or working. Am I supposed to wait through it and maybe it’ll unfreeze? (I’ve already tried both 64 and 32 bit dvds but they both froze so its not a corrupt dvd)
January 17th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I have Windows 7 on a total of eight computers in the lab. On one of them we had a real continuous hang during the install. I took off all the extra stuff (usb drives, hubs, etc) and updated the BIOS. After the update, I went into the BIOS and selected to reset all the bios settings and saved. After that it installed fine.
If you’ve waited more than 1hr then there’s a good chance your computer is hung. Believe it or not, you could just be waiting for whatever windows is trying to do during the install. Be particularly patient at the last part of the install. This is where the new Windows 7 is moving the old Windows Vista or 7 into the Windows.old directory and it takes ages.
January 17th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Thank you D.Williams, I will try that.
January 17th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
It worked! It finally installed and its really awesome. Thanks again D.Williams.
January 17th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
You got problem? We’ve got answers! Fire away! I’m really glad I could help. That’s what this website is all about. Thanks for your participation. Please consider subscribing (free) from one of the links on the page.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Hey to everybody.sorry for bad english… I have started win 7 (32-bit) upgrade (previous was Vista Ultimate 32-bit also) on my HP dv9628 notebook. Everything seems to be ok till the last step Completing upgrade 56%…
It is going for ages (in my case now its like 4-5 hours)
This is 5th time i am trying with same problem every time..
Any body have an ideas please help…
thanks
January 20th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Hello,
Thanks for the question: To make it work on most laptops, notebooks, you’ll need to make sure you update the BIOS to the latest version. You can do that easily by checking the HP website for the update kit. You’ll also in general want to disconnect all extra devices from the computer (usb sticks, etc.). I don’t have an HP notebook to test with, but this worked on our Toshiba, Dell and one Sony. Only the Toshiba did not need a Bios update for whatever reason. Best of luck and keep trying, but start at the hp.com site.
-D
January 20th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Thanks for expres answer. Had F.30 BIOS version. The latest is F.31. I have Updated it now… Starting new setup. I will post results in few hours…
Thanks one more time for fast answer.
P.S. Also did the thing you wrote about Bios… put it to default settings..
January 20th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Again same problem. I am disappointed. Stuck on Completing upgrade (56%) 6th time same problem on same place. I just remember error is 0XE06D7363 but i don’t remember error mesage. Anybody have any clue??
January 28th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
hi every body just try to install from windows xp or vista and choos new istallation(custom)the fault is in the dvd burning
February 17th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Just tried to install Windows 7 32 bit.
Sys Specs AMD 4400 2x core, 2gb corsair XMS Pro A7N32 SLI Deluxe on an older 80gb EIDE drive.
Went with the EIDE drive as it was an extra just laying around & I didn’t want to mess up a perfectly good XP install on my RAID drives. I did disconnect the other drives & just had the 80gb & my DVD burner hooked up.
It took almost 45 minutes to get past the expanding files part and then after the updates were done I got an error that Windows 7 was unable to reboot the machine & the installation would not continue.
I put the time issue to the HDD as it is only a 5400 RPM drive but I have not been able to find anything about the reboot issue. Maybe a bad burn?? I used Verbatim DVD+R at 8x so maybe I need to slow it down more.
Any thoughts?
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:04 am
Hi, I’d love to help, but we don’t have any AMD based hardware around here. I stopped using AMD and we de-certified AMD for coprorate use due to performance and compatibility issues.
May 31st, 2010 at 3:12 am
hey,I find out that your web site is extremely educational and useful and we were curious if there can be a possibility of obtaining More writing like this on your web site. If you willing to help us out, we will be willing to compensate you… , Horace Umfleet