Windows 7 file extraction problem on Win 7 Pro install

john517

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2010
I have Win 7 Pro bought online during last winter's college student sale. No original CD, but I burned two copies of the download.

I'm trying to reinstall Win 7 on a new processor and motherboard. Backed up the old system drive and have been trying a clean install with no success. During file extraction, Windows complains it can't find a file and the installation aborts.

This happens using both disks and on three optical drives which I swapped in and out of the computer. The new MB is by Foxconn with an AMD Athlon II dual-core chip.

XP installs with no problems, although there is another issue with DEP that I'll ask about elsewhere.

Odd that both DVDs would be bad; both were verified when originally burned, and have been tucked away in a disk book since one was used last winter for the original install. In other words, at least one of the two once worked.

There are several things I could think of to do in theory, but having never done them before, I'm not sure theory works in practice. For example, if I boot from the install disk and go into the repair console, do I have access to all the drives on the machine? Can I copy the install disk to a hard drive and try to begin the install from there? I guess I can also try booting from an install disk copied to a USB thumb drive? Any other techniques anyone could suggest?

I guess it's clear that I really don't think both the disks or all my optical drives are bad.

If both disks are bad, though, what options do I have? I haven't been able to google an answer in Microsoft's dense legal prose and it appears that the site where I originally bought the OS through a separate company has been taken down.

Thanks for any links or advice.
 
^^ Agree with TorrentG here.

Also, it's possible that the DVD has errors on it. This could have occurred when originall burning. You'll know for sure when you copy the installation files to the USB drive and try installing. If it is corrupted, you'll have to contact Microsoft (or DigitalRiver, the company the deal was offered through) for getting a new copy.
 
and never burn at maximum cause it will most likely verify, I burn Win 7 to RW and usually burn at 4x and toss it after 40 or so
if it smell's like a duck it might be a duck
EDIT: I did have this same situation at work but finally figured out it was the dvd burner
 
Last edited:
I'll give the USB drive a try. Thanks.

I was interested, though, in the comment that if I burn a disk at maximum speed, it will most likely verify. Never heard that before -- any explanation as to why that's the case, or is that just something you found through experience without worrying about why?

I don't remember what speed I burned the thing at, and I guess I usually do crank down the speed to avoid the chance of making coasters -- but I didn't realize the verification might be faulty.
 
It will likely verify because of the risks associated with burning a maximum time, possible corruption.
 
Maybe I don't understand this because I have the wrong mental definition of a term or it's just an off day.

My understanding is that verification involves comparing bit by bit a newly-burned disk with the original data still on the hard drive (as in this case, or the data on another optical drive).

So let's say there is an error on a new burn (and I understand why that may be more likely at maximum speed because of incomplete burning of a pit). Then is it also likely that reading the disk at full speed during the verification will produce a complementary error so the comparison with the original data shows no errors?
 
Then is it also likely that reading the disk at full speed during the verification will produce a complementary error so the comparison with the original data shows no errors?
Yes

But later you go to install and disk crashes or put in another dvd reader and it crashes. There is incompatibilities between different reader's and by burn slower you increase your chance that they will work.

Personal experience,
I have a Dell OEM with an rw and a reader, if I burn at max on the rw and stick in reader and boot from it I have error. 2 different Dell dvd. I've carried same disk to other pc's here and it crashes. Using Ultraiso maximum on the RW is 4x for disk I have but I select 4x and it works in all pc including laptop or other PC people bring me to work on. Before I used Nero so no difference.

This is especially true for disk you need to boot from and mnay be a chance you can copy data to usb and it may work.
 
Last edited:
john517 - if you want to install to a USB drive just download the Microsoft Window USB installer program and it will do it very easily for you. It's a piece of cake to install and use.

Link Removed - Invalid URL

If you downloaded the DVD ISO image of Pro it should be about 3.02 GB in size. Use ImgBurn to burn it to a good quality DVD blank. Burn no faster than 8X and use the verify feature in ImgBurn to check the burn against the ISO file. You should be good to go then.

ImgBurn is a free ISO burning program, you can get it here: The Official ImgBurn Website

You can use either the BING or Ixquick search engines to find the MS Genuine ISO image DVD files from Digital River. Just type in: "Windows 7 DVD ISO image files" and you'll find them.

~Nibs
 
Thanks. That USB bootable disk utility will be useful. I've done it before, but not recently.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I recalled something I read a few months ago on a Web site, but can't recall where. The thrust of the post was that CDs are better for storing data than DVDs; CDs were found later to have been 'overengineered,' and DVD standards were loosened considerably because their normal use is in video, where a single error or random single errors aren't enough to scramble the picture or audio.

No idea if that's correct, but if it is, it would suggest that CDs might be a better medium for storing data that will fit or could be broken into pieces on separate disks.

Any comments?
 
I don't store any data on CDs. Used to but not anymore. I use external hard drives for that, been doing that since 2003.

I don't recall every seeing anything about a looser standard for DVDs, but you may correct. I'll check it out.
 
Back
Top Bottom