Windows 7 Windows 7 installation BIG PROBLEMS

Mark Hooton said:

Hi All, half way through upgrade or custom from Vista Biz to Win 7 Professional on my Dell XPS 720 I get an error message which reads 'windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation'

I then have to reboot to get back to Vista.

The blurb says that I should download th Advisor (which I did) and remove any `problem` software pagages (which I did) and I still cannot install Windows 7.

Any ideas in easy to understand steps?

Click to expand...

I would try the following:

Run MSCONFIG from a command prompt and temporarily uncheck all startup items and non-MS processes. After re-booting, I would try your installation again. This will hopefully keep any drivers and processes from running that may be causing problems. If you can install, then activate your startup items and processes a few at a time.

Thanks, will do

Thanks, Good person, I will give that a go later and see what happens - if Iget stuck I`ll get back to you and thanks again for your help!

Do Dell Desktops have a recovery partition like the laptops, and could that be causing problems?

a reply

Thanks for your message - yes Dell do run a partition for back up and retore purposes but persoanlly I think it might have something to do with my usb hub. About 6 months ago the dell would not reboot due to the fact, i think, that the USB controller had burnt out - I had to remove all the usb devices to get it to reboot. I replaced the USB controller and all seems fine until win 7. What I have done so far is as follows:

1. Removed conflicting programs > no difference.
2. In MSCONFIG started up in basic mode > installation cannot get info on drives.
3. Stopped ancillary or unknown progrs running > during compatability check win 7 reported that there could be a potential issue with the usb and/or activesync (aha!).

Despite this advice from the compatability check I am now running installation whilst we speak. It normally stops at 21% into the `expanding windows files` and gives the reboot error code. I am 86% into the preceeding task (gathering settings) so I will shortly find out if I get the same error. If I do I was going to try unplugging all external usb devices and trying again on the premise that the rerason why it cannot reboot into the next installtion phase is because a usb `thingy` is stopping it : what do you think?

same problem

hey have you found the solution yet? i've been having the same problem with my laptop.

My solution

Hi there - mine is now fixed, it turned out to be a hardware promblem - the PCIMCIA card/thingymajig wasn`t working which turned out to be the reason why I was getting that error message. Obviously I cannot comment on your machine but if you are getting the same message I would strongly suspect a hardware problem! Hope this helps.

same problem

Hi All,At the stage of expanding windows files (at 20%) I get an error message which reads 'windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation'
please help.

TRY THIS FIRST AND TALK LATER

sid1908 said:

Hi All,At the stage of expanding windows files (at 20%) I get an error message which reads 'windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation'
please help.

Click to expand...

I HAVE A UNBEATABLE ANSWER FOR IT.ALL YOU HAVE TO D IS INSTALL WINDOWS7 FROM SAFE MODE.PLEASE MAKE SURE DONT KEEP THE WINDOWS 7 FILES ON DESKTOP.BETTER TO DO CUSTOM INSTALLATION INSTEAD UPGRADE.GOOD LUCK.