Windows 7 Windows 7 won't install

[Vasamard]

So I built a new PC including a new HDD and a 250GB SSD. I added the old HDD too. I moved all my personal data (programs and settings etc excluded) to the new HDD and then reset my old HDD so there would only be Windows 10 there.

Now what I wanted to do is get Win10 on my SSD by using Clonezilla which didn't work since my SSD is smaller than the HDD where it was installed. Creating a smaller partition on the old HDD did not work unfortunately.

So I decided to just use an old USB drive with Win7 on it and then upgrade once installed.

First, I tried booting from the USB drive and I got the error after clicking "Install now" - "A required CD/DVD driver is missing". So what I did was boot the PC as usual and start the setup from Windows Explorer. This solved the first problem but added a new one: "windows is unable to install to the selected location error 0x80300024". I did some reading and eventually decided to format the old HDD along with Windows (big mistake) and unplug all other hard drives so it would work.

I will probably never know if this solved the issue since I'm now back again stuck at the "CD driver is missing" error since I can only boot from the USB drive and not launch in the explorer...

Things I've tried:

- After getting the error, plugging the USB drive somewhere else and try again

- Change AIHC (or similar) to something else

- Disable all USB 3.0 slots

Nothing worked. Please help, I've been trying for hours!

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Hi, welcome to the forum

You're build information is somewhat confusing but I think I get the general idea. You have a couple of problems, but the last one seems to be that you are attempting to run W10 from a USB external drive, which is not possible! W10 (and all earlier versions of Windows as well) will only boot from an internal HDD connected directly to an IDE/EIDE/SATA Motherboard port.

It would be helpful if you posted your systems specs for us; such as Make/Model of your Motherboard, CPU, GPU chip/card, PSU specs. You can download the free SPECCY diagnostic from piriform.com and post back the output text result file back here to this thread where we can have look at it.

What I might suggest in the meantime, is to take your old Hard Drive and download the free MACRIUM REFLECT, which we recommend a lot here, and make an Image File of that old drive. **IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE TO MAKE THE RECOMMENDED RESCUE MEDIA OFFERED BY THE PROGRAM**. I also recommend you do this on a different working computer than the one you built, in case it has some sort of a hardware problem or configuration issue such as in BIOS settings, etc. Clonezilla is notoriously difficult to use, and is for expert level use only.

Then REMOVE all internal and external hard drives from your self-built PC case. Next, install the SSD drive or HDD you wish to restore the Macrium image to. Again, make sure you are connecting that SSD or HDD to a Motherboard connector inside the case; no USB ports. Boot your computer and go into your Motherboard's BIOS using whatever key to interrupt the boot process such as <F1>, <F2>, ESC, or DELETE key, and check that your target boot-drive is being recognized by your BIOS.

Next, place the DVD Rescue Media into the Optical drive of your self-built PC and change the boot order so that your PC will boot from the DVD media in the Optical drive. This will boot a Linux-type environment in Macrium (WindowsPE) that will bring up a menu. Select "Restore Image" and then use the browse button to locate your external USB drive holding the Backup Image file you made earlier. Follow the prompts and Macrium will restore the image from your old HDD to your new drive, say your SSD you wanted to use. Exit out of the Macrium rescue menu and your PC will reboot and should come up to W10 just like it did on your old HDD. Everything should be there; apps, libraries with documents, photos, music, videos, movies, etc. as well as desktop settings.

We have some tutorials that might be helpful, so post back if you need those. This program (Macrium) is the best I've found, and many of us here at WF really like it and have been using it successfully for years. The interface (GUI) is so much easier than Clonezilla, it's not even funny. It's WinPE as I said which is windows-like and Linux-like combined; very easy to use.

One last thing; if you make your Backup Image file on a laptop or other desktop PC as mentioned, you'll need to make sure that it's a 64bit machine for the Macrium rescue media disc, as if it's a 32bit machine, your rescue media may not boot correctly on your self-built PC if your Mobo is a 64bit. This may present a bit more of a challenge, but if you make sure that your rescue media matches the CPU type (64bit-->64bit or 32bit-->32bit), you rescue media boot should work fine. This caused me some issues when I first started using the program, as I often switched images between drives on desktop PCs and laptops. Not all PC Motherboards are 64bit; but most are these days. Not all laptops are 64bit, and if the laptop is older than 2013, only expensive laptops (over $700) usually were 64bit; but not always so you need to check! (the SPECCY program will help you to check this).

The key here is to make sure you only have 1 HDD in your PC when you are trying to restore a backup image file, and that boot-drive must be an internally connected drive. The only other drive that should be used during the restore image file process should be the USB external drive you used to store your Backup Image file that you made on the other working computer. No other internal or external drives should be used during this restore process!!!

Good luck and let us know how it goes. We'll be waiting for your system specs too.

<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>