Windows 7 upgrade issues

I have downloaded Windows XP Pro 64bit and, after finally making an ISO DVD disk, managed to install it onto a new hard drive in my system. However, I still had another drive in my system containing Windows XP Pro 32bit.

After installing Win7, I now see a dual boot screen on start-up asking which OS I want to boot from. No problem there.

However, this morning I changed the Win7 drive to the main boot drive and got the message NTLDR missing pre ALT+CTRL+DEL to restart. I therefore changed the XP hard drive back to the first boot drive and everything was OK.

I then removed the Win XP drive from my system completely and again got the "missing NTLDR" message ! Basically, I cannot boot directly from the Win7 drive and must keep the Win XP in my system as the main boot drive in order for it to work.

Surely this cannot be right !

Has anyone managed a clean install without another copy of Windows in their system ?
 
is it possible to use my upgrade license if i use a retail copy of win 7 pro instead of the upgrade disc?
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This is an idea I had.

I have 3 Windows7 versions in my hands for 3 PCs.

1. Full retail Home Premium from PC World.

2. Upgrade download Professional from student offer.

3. Upgrade disc Home Premium from Packard Bell.

I'd hoped to use the retail disc to install all 3 PCs with the product key used to identify which version I paid for.

I did this with the Vista discs which had every Vista version on the disc and you could enter the product key at install or pick from a list of versions. Remembering to untick the checkbox about activation.

Will this work???

Pablo
 
Yes, this is the one. It is because it is 64bit that has caused all the problems for people wanting to upgrade from a 32bit OS.
 
i used an oem iso version downloaded from the net. after installing, put the key given by digital river. it activated fine. win 7 pro 64 bit up and running now. :clap::clap:
 
i used an oem iso version downloaded from the net. after installing, put the key given by digital river. it activated fine. win 7 pro 64 bit up and running now. :clap::clap:

Did you install on the same drive as an existing Windows OS (but on a different partition) or did you install on another drive but with Windows OS in the system on another drive ?

Thanks
 
However, this morning I changed the Win7 drive to the main boot drive and got the message NTLDR missing pre ALT+CTRL+DEL to restart. I therefore changed the XP hard drive back to the first boot drive and everything was OK.

I then removed the Win XP drive from my system completely and again got the "missing NTLDR" message ! Basically, I cannot boot directly from the Win7 drive and must keep the Win XP in my system as the main boot drive in order for it to work.

Jude, this is exactly the behaviour I was warning you about when I suggested you disconnect any other hard drives during installation. If you are installing Windows 7 on drive 2, it will write files to drive 1 (the first bootable drive it finds).
 
Did you install on the same drive as an existing Windows OS (but on a different partition) or did you install on another drive but with Windows OS in the system on another drive ?

Thanks

installed on a seperate drive. i did not use the one downloaded from digital river to save me the trouble of converting and burning the iso. have an existing vista os on a seperate drive but as i said i used an oem disc not the upgrade disc.
 
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Jude, this is exactly the behaviour I was warning you about when I suggested you disconnect any other hard drives during installation. If you are installing Windows 7 on drive 2, it will write files to drive 1 (the first bootable drive it finds).

Hi fat jez, I wish it was that simple !

I initially disconnected the XP drive from the system (as you suggested) and installed Win7. However, at the point of the install when I had to enter the product key, I was told that the key was invalid. I therefore continued the install without the product key.

Once Win7 had installed I tried to activate it (with the product key) but got the message :

"Descp: The Software Licensing Service determined that this specified product key can only be used for upgrading not for clean installation."

I therefore reformatted the drive, reconnected the XP drive as 2nd boot drive and installed Win7 on the 1st boot drive. However, when the Win7 install rebooted for the first time, I had the "NTLDR missing press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart message". I therefore made the XP drive the 1st boot drive, the install completed and I then had no problem activating Win7.

Now, when I start my computer, I see a dual boot menu with an option to either select "earlier version of Windows" or "Windows 7".

I have since tried removing the XP dirve but immediately get the "missing NTLDR" problem again.
 
Ah, I see your point. You're upgrading, so need a valid XP install to be present. The problem is that the files needed for 7 to boot (NTLDR) are on the XP disk. I believe there are ways around a clean install of 7 from an upgrade disk...
 
from what i gathered in the windows 7 forum, you can use your upgrade disc/download to do a clean install. some has done it and were successful. the premise is that the upgrade disc could be a retail copy same as the key that was given that of a full version.
 
Thanks for the posts.

I'm aware of the "ways around" and I'm going to try it tomorrow. I have the Student download version of Win7 Pro 64bit so had to make an ISO disk.

Once I finally had Win7 installed (on a new SSD drive) I spent almost a whole day getting it to the way I wanted it and then realised I was still booting from the XP drive first. I then changed the boot priority and that's obviosuly when the fun started !:eek:
 
Once I finally had Win7 installed (on a new SSD drive) I spent almost a whole day getting it to the way I wanted it and then realised I was still booting from the XP drive first. I then changed the boot priority and that's obviosuly when the fun started !:eek:

Tried disconnecting the XP disk, booting the 7 install disk and repairing your installation?
 
I tried that and was quite hopeful that it had sorted the problem !

The Win7 installer reported that it was a boot sector error and that it had "attempted" to repair it.

However, when I rebooted the "missing NTLDR" problem was still there !

I think I'm going to have reinstall Win7 and try using the fix from the Supersite Blog. I'm just a bit concerned that Microsoft may close this loophole very quickly and then I'll suddenly find myself in a similar situation !
 
I have upgraded a Dell laptop which had an XP upgrade on it. I downloaded the 32bit version Friday and all went without a hitch, I feel lucky.

My questions are;
1 is it possible to save the download to a disk should I need to reinstall?
2 Does the Homegroup network setup work between 32bit and 64 bit versions as I am awaiting my free 64 bit upgrade from Dell for my home desktop?

Thanks all.
 
Tried disconnecting the XP disk, booting the 7 install disk and repairing your installation?

Hi Fat Jez,

Success ! I'd already tried what you suggested twice without success. However, I was scanning the Internet last night for a possible solution and found out that each time you run repair from the disk, it only makes one change per pass. The same article was about a problem very similar to mine and stated that it would take 3 passes of the repair disk to resolve this problem.

I therefore disconnected the XP drive and ran repair twice. On the second pass no problems were found so I rebooted Win7 (without the XP drive) and it now works !

Thank you for your input in trying to help me reolve the problem :thumbsup:
 
No worries Jude, glad you got it sorted. MS don't believe in making it easy, do they? ;) A few too many assumptions on their part during the install process, methinks. :mad:
 
Well, several days on and I'm still not even anywhere near started :eek:

The download does not work, just comes up with the not a valid win32 application error.

I downloaded the iso, it wont boot from this.

Getting well and truly pi55ed off to be honest.

Any advice apart from smashing everything to do with win7 :lease:

(i'm trying to go from xp32 bit, to home premium 64 bit if it helps)
 
Bear with me and read through this:

I installed my copy of Win 7 64 bit this way:

1. Installed Win 7 64bit Release Candidate that I had previously been testing as a clean install on the target HD.
2. I then unpacked the download files which worked because of the 64bit environment.
3. The installer ran automatically at the end of the unpacking and I did a clean install and it happily accepted my key.

So if you have the 64 bit RC then you can do it this way. If you do not have the 64bit RC there is another possibility.

You can now download a 90 day trial of Windows 7 64bit Enterprise edition for free to anyone. I believe it comes as an ISO ready to be burned to DVD. Download and install the 64bit version and you should be able to unpack and install your paid for copy of W7 64bit with it.

Windows 7 Enterprise| Trial, Evaluation, Test, Deploy
 
Ikki, this worked thanks :thumbsup:

Although in the end up, I had to install 32bit w7, then 64bit w7 ent'prise, then could use the upgrade I purchased.

Anyway, all validated and :cool:
 
Windows 7 is best.Because it has better features then the other.And Windows 7 is a vast improvement from Vista as it takes up much less ram and has other optimizations such as fast booting times. I recommend Windows 7, and if you really don't want vista and don't want to wait for the final version of Windows 7, you can download a copy of the Release Candidate from the Microsoft website for free and use it up till June of 2010. I am working with the Release Candidate right now and so far I have absolutely no complaints, considering Im a heavy computer use with advanced software.
 

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