Windows 7 Windows 7 install Freezes at "Completing Installation"

mjlaris

New Member
I ordered a Windows 7 Home Premium Family pack about 2 months ago and it arrived last week. While I wasn't expecting it until October 22, I figured "why look a gift horse in the mouth". However, when I try to install it I hit a problem. I had Vista Ultimate installed and attempted an upgrade. Everything went fine until I got to the "Completing Installation" part. At this point the installation just stops. I've left it sitting here for over 8 hours with no results. I have tried doing a clean install, deleting and formatting the previous Windows drive, and always the same thing happens. There is no error message, it just stops. When I do a hard shutdown and reboot, I get the message that the computer experienced an unexpected shutdown and to reboot my computer. I get the same message when I reboot. I called MS who told me that support will not be available until 10/22. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Mark
 
I had a similar problem while installing Windows 7. What I found that worked for me was to install a different video card and then try to install. Once I changed video cards, it took about 5 minutes once it got to the same screen "Completing Installation". After the installation was complete, I put back my original video card and had no problems.
Give it a try if you have or can borrow a different video card.
Good Luck
 
I'm having almost the same problem. I'm trying to install Win7 Ultimate on my PC, currently i have Vista Ultimate installed on it, so i make a 100gb partition on my 500gb HDD (its a samsung SataII ) to put win7 on it.

The problem is, if i try to boot from win7 dvd and do a clean install, it hangs on "expanding windows files" at 11%. Sometimes it hangs before reach 11% (sometimes it not reaches 11% get stucking at 0% or 1%).

But if i try installing a clean install from Vista (starting clean install on the actual OS and therefore continuing the installation after restart - NOT UPGRADE) the installation go through all steps normally, except for the last one, "completing installation". At this point the installation warns that will reboot but simply don't restart/reboot and the mouse arrow and the wallpaper remain there, but notthing more happens. And if press "reset" CPU button, the installation rollback to "completing installation' process and remain there forever. The three "dots" moves but notthing happens.

There's a solution for it? I really like to find a solution for it.

Sorry by my poor english.

Almost forgot, my machine specs are :

Athlon 64 3500+
Motherboard ASUS M2V-MX
2gb of RAM
HD Samsung SATA II 500gb
GeForce 8600GT 512mb
LG H42N DVD Burner

thanks.
 
I have a similar problem.
System is:-
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9430
Asus Rampage Formula X48 Motherboard
Nvidia Geforce 9800 GX2

My PC freezes (black screen with cursor flashing at top left) during installation of both 64bit and 32bit Windows 7 during a complete re-install. It happens during the second half of the installation (I am told by my PC manufacturer that at this stage the program is installing drivers)

I spent 12 hrs on it yesterday, (including 90mins on the phone to Microsoft Support). Plus all of today.

The last thing they suggested was to take out one of my 2Gb memory sticks, but this didn't work. Previous to that they told me to take out my video card, (and then argued with me when I told them I couldn't then connect my monitor). I've also tried taking out my sound card, and swapping over my memory sticks.

My PC manufacturer told me to try re-installing Vista to prove my PC hadn't suffered a coincidental breakdown. I did this, but it's now been wiped again during the latest installation trials.

I've read elsewhere that it could be the Geforce card which is causing the conflict. But not seen that on these forums. If the card hadn't cost me £350 I might try buying another one...

Microsoft support just phoned (another 23 mins) and said could I run chkdsk, so I asked how I could do that without a working PC... So they've now asked me to reinstall Vista and then run chkdsk. But they thought that it was a hardware problem and that there was nothing else they could do for me. I asked about getting my money back, and they said I would have to contact PC World who I bought it from.

I wish I'd read before this that "Which" recommend you don't buy Windows 7 for another year by which time all of the bugs should be sorted.
 
Does anyone have any suggestions?

You know you can't do an in-place upgrade from Vista Ultimate to Win 7 Home Premium, so I assume you are doing a custom install. But check here:
Icrontic » Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to any retail version

I would buy a new hard drive, or use an old one if you have it, make sure it is clean and try an install. I normally unplug the internet connection when I am playing like this, but that is up to you. The upgrade DVD should install on the new hard drive, but it probably won't activate (or maybe it will ;)). But it would narrow down the possible roadblocks.

If the different drive installs normally, then there is probably some driver or program on the old drive causing problems.
 
I've tried 4 times to install Windows 7 Upgrade onto my HP Pavilion a6030n. The first failure caused my screen to turn zig-zaggy. Rolled back to VISTA and tried again. This time it passed the first two steps and was performing step 3, up to about 21%, when a message flashed that Windows needs to reboot. After about 5 minutes, the computer performs a reboot, but instead of resuming the install, my screen came back up at a larger resolution and the Install window bounced back to the initial installation window, as if it were about to start over again. I then got a message that said that there was a disk in the drive when the computer rebooted and that created a problem, therefore it was rolling back to the previous OS. On the third and fourth attempt to install, things progresed to just about the same point, except that it looked as though it was going to continue the install after it rebooted. Unlike the previous time, my cursor did not freeze up and the installation window, while bigger, was where it left off before the reboot. I thought everything was okay, howver, after a few minutes, it just froze up again as it did before. I had to press the power button to shut down and then to restart my computer. In each instance, the Windows 7 installation failed and the computer rolled back to VISTA. I've never seen anything like this with previous OS upgrades. There seems to be a problem when the installation reboots. If it can't reboot and continue the install, how are you supposed to continue the upgrade? I would try a complete wipe, however, I've read numerous postings that say that others have tried this and it didn't work either. Considering the the compatibility adviser says my computer is fine for the upgrade, I am baffled as to why this has been such a nightmare. I've read all the info on preparing to install and have done all the preliminary work necessary to upgrade. I bought 2 of these upgrade DVD's from Best Buy when they were offered at $50. I'm beginning to think that I've been ripped off. Nothing in the info from Microsoft mentions needing to do anything extraordinary in order to install the upgrade, so why is this such a pain?
 
I have a similar problem.
System is:-
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9430
Asus Rampage Formula X48 Motherboard
Nvidia Geforce 9800 GX2

My PC freezes (black screen with cursor flashing at top left) during installation of both 64bit and 32bit Windows 7 during a complete re-install. It happens during the second half of the installation (I am told by my PC manufacturer that at this stage the program is installing drivers)

I spent 12 hrs on it yesterday, (including 90mins on the phone to Microsoft Support). Plus all of today.

The last thing they suggested was to take out one of my 2Gb memory sticks, but this didn't work. Previous to that they told me to take out my video card, (and then argued with me when I told them I couldn't then connect my monitor). I've also tried taking out my sound card, and swapping over my memory sticks.

My PC manufacturer told me to try re-installing Vista to prove my PC hadn't suffered a coincidental breakdown. I did this, but it's now been wiped again during the latest installation trials.

I've read elsewhere that it could be the Geforce card which is causing the conflict. But not seen that on these forums. If the card hadn't cost me £350 I might try buying another one...

Microsoft support just phoned (another 23 mins) and said could I run chkdsk, so I asked how I could do that without a working PC... So they've now asked me to reinstall Vista and then run chkdsk. But they thought that it was a hardware problem and that there was nothing else they could do for me. I asked about getting my money back, and they said I would have to contact PC World who I bought it from.

I wish I'd read before this that "Which" recommend you don't buy Windows 7 for another year by which time all of the bugs should be sorted.

Are you running running disk manager and deleting all partitions then doing the Custom clean install?
 
I'm having almost the same problem. I'm trying to install Win7 Ultimate on my PC, currently i have Vista Ultimate installed on it, so i make a 100gb partition on my 500gb HDD (its a samsung SataII ) to put win7 on it.

The problem is, if i try to boot from win7 dvd and do a clean install, it hangs on "expanding windows files" at 11%. Sometimes it hangs before reach 11% (sometimes it not reaches 11% get stucking at 0% or 1%).

But if i try installing a clean install from Vista (starting clean install on the actual OS and therefore continuing the installation after restart - NOT UPGRADE)
.

You can't load vista first.

You do a clean install by booting to a disk.. booting to your dvd. Vista has AV programs and firewalls that cause the problem you have having.
 
It seems as though everyone is having slightly similar issues with their installation of Windows 7, but what I am hearing from a number of people is not exactly what is happening when I've tried to install the new OS. First off, I am not doing a clean install, by which I would be wiping my HD. I am putting the Win 7 DVD in the DVD drive and doing an UPGRADE from VISTA Home Premium 32 bit to Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit.

I've followed all the suggested requirements leading up to the actual installation. In fact, I've repeated that process at least 4 times, just prior to each time I've attempted to try once again to get Win 7 to install. My computer passes the requirements for installation of Win 7. In fact, it probably surpasses the requirements.

Four different times, I have sat here for about 3hours each time and tried to UPGRADE my OS to Windows 7. The install starts out fine. It completes the first two stages of the install and begins the third stage. The third stage reaches 21% progress, when a message flashes at the bottom of the screen saying that windows needs to reboot my computer. This would be the very first reboot of the installation process. After about 3-4 minutes, the computer actually reboots. The Windows 7 splash screen will appear, followed by a black screen and a much larger cursor arrow, then the installation window re-appears, although it is much bigger. It would seem that during the reboot, the video settings get messed up.

Briefly, the installation window seems to be waiting for something. The cursor can be moved about, then suddenly it freezes up. At that point, it's clear that the installation has stopped at 21% completion of the third stage of the installation. I get no warning messages or any messages explaining what has happened. Everything just freezes up. No matter how long I might wait, it will not resume. All I can do is press the power button to shut down, then press it again to perform a hard boot up. Once the screen reappears, a message tells me that the installation failed and windows will now roll back to my earlier OS. That's all the explanation I get. There's not indication of what caused the problem, so there's no way to know how to resolve it.

This is just an educated guess on my part but I observed on one of my installation attempts that when the computer performed this "first" reboot, it didn't return the screen back to the point of the installation where it was at 21% of the third stage of the install. Instead, the installation window flipped back to the very first screen of the installation and it momentarily appeared to me as though the computer was about to attempt to boot from the DVD. I didn't permit that to happen because I assumed that booting from the DVD was not the way to Upgrade but rather to wipe the drive and perform a clean installation, which I do not want to do. Again, just guess out loud here, but my computer's BIOS boot sequence begins with the DVD drive, followed by the Hard Drive since I don't have a floppy drive. I'm only guessing here that by changing the boot sequence so that the hard drive boots first, when the installation attempts to do its first reboot, it will seek data from the hard drive, which is where it's been storing all the new files, and PERHAPS, the installation may continue. Because it was booting to the DVD first, it wasn't finding the files that it placed on the hard drive and therefore stopped. This is all just a guess on my part of course. I changed my BIOS settings last night and when I have the time and the patience to try the installation again for the fifth time, I'm hoping that the installation will continue and maybe complete itself.

I've heard many people suggest that you should unplug all your peripherals before you attempt the Upgrade, since that is supposed to help. That makes some sense to me, so I wil try that too. Obviously, I don't think you would want to remove your video card. I don't understand why you'd need to remove or even swap any of your RAM chips. I have a second external DVD burner and two external USB hubs with peripherals attached. I'll try unplugging all of that and my printers as well. My LCD screen, keyboard, mouse and Internet connection will remain attached.

If, after doing all of this, I still can't get Windows 7 to install properly, I am going to put it back in the box and resume using VISTA, which is looking better every day. The sad thing is that I bought two of these Win 7 DVDs when Best Buy was offering them at a reduced price. They'll make nice coasters I guess because I doubt that I'll be able to get my money back. In my line of work, people look to me as an IT person. I can tell you right now that if anyone asks me, I will not suggest that they waste their money on a Windows 7 upgrade right now. Contrary to the hype and the Microsoft ads, what they've sold us is neither easy or intuitive. From what I am reading online, many, many people are having serious problems upgrading to Win 7. I can accept that a percentage of these folks are not experienced enough with software upgrades, but certainly that doesn't apply to all of us. This isn't the first OS upgrade I have done. It's just the worst one I've ever encountered. It seems especially pathetic that we all paid for this OS and yet the best we can do to find answers is to join a forum and spend even more of our time trying to digest feedback from others who are as lost as we are. Why am I not hearing directly from Microsoft that there is a problem with the installation disks? I dropped them an email yesterday, but since my problem didn't reach the level of importance one would hope for, I must wait for two days to hear from them. My guess is that I will only get a computer generated reply that will suggest a number of things to try of a very general nature, but nothing that will actually resolve the problem on the first attempt. You know and I know that we're not the only folks who are having a problem installing Win 7. They have to know it too. If I had known that the upgrade was going ro require me to waste this much time or that I'd have to modify my computer and my peripherals to such a degree, even after their Windows Adviser indicated that my computer was a perfect candidate for the upgrade, I would not have purchased 2 Win 7 DVDs. VISTA isn't perfect, but it works. I would have waited until I bought a new system to try Win 7, rather than waste the $50 that I spend on each disk.
 
, I am not doing a clean .

But that would fix it. It's really just hit or miss.. a coin flip if Vista can be upgraded. Even for those who do get upgraded they still have a mess. I've tried it... I'm not guessing.

Surely you can backup your data? Copy your personal files to dvd or put them on a flash drive... if they are valuable AT ALL to you, you can't just hope your hard drive never dies... ALL hard drives eventually fail. Where will you be then?

It's simply time to "man up" and just get a new hard drive, do a clean install to it... then pull off everything you want from your Vista drive... format it and clone to it so you have bootable backup WHEN your hard drive wears out. You'll thank me then.

Sorry to be lecturing.... it just seems to me that you need a little pep talk.
 
I'm sorry to say but a clean install is the way to go. Upgrades have always been known to be troublesome. If you are doing an upgrade, uninstall your drivers and antivirus.
 
Hello! Before I started the installation, I ran through a preparation checklist of things to do before installing Win 7. I've done a major backup, including all my drivers, to an external drive. I updated my BIOS from HP's site. I even saved a disk image of my entire hard drive. Then I ran the Windows Adviser, discovered that there were 2 possible incompatible programs on my computer, so I used Revo Uninstaller to totally wipe them out. I know that I could wipe my HD and boot directly from the Win 7 DVD, which "might" then install the new OS. The problem there is that too many people have tried this and it failed also. Additionally, you should not have to do anything but Upgrade in order to install Win 7. If that were not true, then Microsoft needs to stop saying that you can. I like a challenge, so sooner or later, I'll find a way to get it installed. I just didn't expect that it was going to be such a monster of a job.
 
Hello! Before I started the installation, I ran through a preparation checklist of things to do before installing Win 7. I've done a major backup, including all my drivers, to an external drive. I updated my BIOS from HP's site. I even saved a disk image of my entire hard drive. Then I ran the Windows Adviser, discovered that there were 2 possible incompatible programs on my computer, so I used Revo Uninstaller to totally wipe them out. I know that I could wipe my HD and boot directly from the Win 7 DVD, which "might" then install the new OS. The problem there is that too many people have tried this and it failed also. Additionally, you should not have to do anything but Upgrade in order to install Win 7. If that were not true, then Microsoft needs to stop saying that you can. I like a challenge, so sooner or later, I'll find a way to get it installed. I just didn't expect that it was going to be such a monster of a job.

yes... like Chris Rocks says... you CAN drive a car with your feet.... but that doesn't make it a good idea.

Here are some things to consider.... OFTEN.. maybe 60 or 70% of the time Vista can be upgraded.... but there are literally thousands of possible combinations of of hardware/drivers... and your system may have come with special drivers .. and it is simply impossible for programmers to identify and preserve them all. Next, the installed software .. as you have already noted... has potential to conflict with Win 7. There may be software you have forgotten about that is trying to protect Vista from being taken over. There may be malware or viruse or trojans that no AV software has ever identified. There are just so many possible problems that fighting all of them to get upgraded becomes only an exercise for the sake of learning. ..so, good luck... come back with advice for others when you lick it.
 
ive read this and done everything under the sun. every SINGLE thing I have tried.

But you know what I Tried and WORKED?

I have another computer, basic $100 computer i bought for the lounge so I can play vids on the tv. I installed windows 7 within 30mins on that comp using the hard drive from my main computer, chucked my hdd back in my main computer, and it worked.

Ha!

Thanks for all your help nonetheless guys.
 
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