Windows 7 XP 32 to 7 64 Hangs at "finalizing"

Vambo

New Member
I have been through this three times and have to reinstall XP after installation fails every time.

I am trying to upgrade using a student version Win 7 64 Ultimate DVD, the XP is home version.

I boot from DVD and do the custom bit and it starts to install. It hangs during preparing to install, so I reboot and it makes it past the first hang point. During the finalization it hangs. This is before it does any reboot. I have let it go for two hours and it doesn't proceede. I try to reboot and I get some boot error. Only way I know to get things going again is to reinstall XP.

I have tried with a fresh XP install SP2 no drivers or other software installed. Same results.

Burns up a weekend real quick.
 
If you have formatted your drive and try to install 64 bit I would assume the system / processor / bios .. or something doesn't support 64 bit. Unless you have OVER 4 gb memory there is no advantage to 64 bit.
 
System will run 64 no problem.
Phenom II 955
ASUS M4A790 EVO
4 gig ram
BIOS is the latest

I have not formated the drive and tried. Always had XP installed, figured I had to have it installed since it is an upgrade.
 
If you are on Windows XP and planning to UPGRADE...

YOU MUST DO A CLEAN INSTALL. There is no upgrade path. There are user migration tools you can use, but you will need to backup your files and do a clean install.

I have seen several threads about this and just want to clarify. The upgrade from Windows Vista is a valid upgrade path, but Windows XP to Windows 7 is not
 
How do you make a clean install with an upgrade key? At some point don't you have to prove you have xp ... by bootnig to xp or ??? or use a workaround?

This has always confused me and apparently many others. Somehow they end up with xp on a partition and a bootmanager error, or it keeps loading XP, when they finish the install and try to boot into Win 7.
 
This is confusing,. I just asked a question to Mike in the staff forum asking about this issue.
 
It can be confusing, but altering some of the normal words used helps. Like, use Custom(clean) install instead of a Clean install. Use in-place upgrade instead of upgrade. Maybe even use Upgrade DVD as opposed to Upgrade.

You can start an upgrade DVD from wherever you want (if using same bit version), but you will have to do a Custom(clean) install with XP. Some folks say you can even format the drive using disk options once the install has seen the old OS, but I have not tried it. The one thing you do not want to do, if you are using an Upgrade DVD, is to format prior to beginning the install.

I believe folks that have boot problems after installing on a second drive is because it is not set as drive 0 in the bios, so the boot information is not done correctly. But that is just a theory.
 
It can be confusing, but altering some of the normal words used helps. Like, use Custom(clean) install instead of a Clean install. Use in-place upgrade instead of upgrade. Maybe even use Upgrade DVD as opposed to Upgrade.

I think everyone is used to the way we've previously done it and that might confuse the more.

For the newbie "clean" and upgrade are more clearly understood,. I believe.
 
You can start an upgrade DVD from wherever you want

But if you got the upgrade from a download like digital rivers you don't have a dvd .. and even if you make one it won't boot without some kind of trickery.

The one thing you do not want to do, if you are using an Upgrade DVD, is to format prior to beginning the install.

If you don't format, or allow the install to format, how is it a clean install?

Also, if you boot to xp - or 32 bit then try a clean install won't you have sharing violations? I mean is XP just going to "go away" ???
You have booted into xp - or 32 bit and now the install has to take over... I just don't see how it can format a drive with a loaded os running. Again, I don't know... I'm just trying to apply logic.



I believe folks that have boot problems after installing on a second drive is because it is not set as drive 0 in the bios, so the boot information is not done correctly. But that is just a theory.


The bios doesn't set the drive, that is done by the order the drives are installed on the motherboard. All the bios can do is re-arrange the priority. If you boot to a dvd, the boot priority is NOT set by the bios.. so your fist drive can be EITHER drive, depending on their physical location on the motherboard.

For that reason, over and over I have said that for me, the only reliable thing to do is to unplug every hard drive EXCEPT the one I want the install to use. When the setup is finished, I shut down then plug in the other drives and then go into the bios and set the priority to use the drive I had installed windows to. If I just plug in the other drives and boot up... it often tries to go to the wrong drive and gives me the message about bootmanager not found or corrupt. No amount of system repairing or restoring from the install disk can straighten it out. I have to set the priority correctly in the bios so the machine goes to the drive I have installed Windows to.
 
Yea,.

LOL!!!!!!

For that reason, over and over I have said that for me, the only reliable thing to do is to unplug every hard drive EXCEPT the one I want the install to use. When the setup is finished, I shut down then plug in the other drives and then go into the bios and set the priority to use the drive I had installed windows to. If I just plug in the other drives and boot up... it often tries to go to the wrong drive and gives me the message about bootmanager not found or corrupt. No amount of system repairing or restoring from the install disk can straighten it out. I have to set the priority correctly in the bios so the machine goes to the drive I have installed Windows to

For the newbie,. this may be a daunting task,.

Would you be responsible if the didn't unplug the power cord and didn't wear a wrist strap and got shocked to death:D

I see lawsuit coming!
 
Yea,.
LOL!!!!!!

For the newbie,. this may be a daunting task,.

Would you be responsible if the didn't unplug the power cord and didn't wear a wrist strap and got shocked to death:D

I see lawsuit coming!

Only 5 v inside.
That's 3 less than a smoke detector battery.
 
I think we are getting side tracked here a little bit. I have a purchased Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit, up-grade student version DVD, not one I burnt. I'm trying to figure out why it hangs. There is no doubt the system is capable of running 64 bit. Can things like sound cards or something of the sort come into play during installation? Or do they not come into play until installation is more or less complete? Is there possibly a setting in the BIOS that could throw a flag.
To me it's like it is waiting on a response from something that isn't responding, obviously I guess. Or it doesn't recognize the response it's getting. I wouldn't think it wouldn't make a difference what hardware is plugged in until the system has rebooted after install and it is using the basic framework of the operating system to do other configurations. But that is a little out of my realm.
This hangs before it does any re-booting on it's own.
 
By "clean", do you mean format hard drive before I install? I don't know. How does the software know it is a upgrade then?
 
Yes,. Windows will format on installation ?make sure to choose Advanced,. *the second box down,. rather than the Upgrade box
 
Can't anybody read. Can we get past this? I know, I know.............
Stop regergitating the same crap. It's like the only thing going on here is seeing who has the most post in the forum.
How about reading the whole thread and see what has been stated and dicussed before we waste more time. You would think this being a Windows forum someone would be make sure they understand the problem before they give the same cookie cutter answers.
 
can't you "clean" install with a student disk?


If you get the disk... most don't since it's about $20 extra. The student deal for $30 at digital rivers just downloads the files. If you just burn them to a disk or first pack them into and iso and burn it to disk, it won't boot. That's why everyone was taling about the oscdimg.exe microsoft provides to make an iso bootable... HOWEVER it "seems" that if you are already running Win 7... like RC ... oscdimg.exe is not compatible.. won't work... so you are still stuck to look for another alternative... that's probably why Microsoft released the USB tool that they had to pull for open source code violations.

When I offered a solution for this problem I got those ugly warnings by my name.
 
Back
Top