# Win 7 clean install - stuck on "Completing installation"



## Squirrel93 (Dec 6, 2012)

Hi. I am attempting to install Windows 7 Ultimate on my until-now XP-based desktop computer. I have gone though all the stages, there are green checkmarks beside "Installing features" and "Installing updates". "Completing installation" is highlighted, and the green bar at the bottom is almost 90% through. 

I can move the mouse and the 3 dots after "Completing installation" are moving, so it hasn't frozen but it's been like this for approximately 30-35+ minutes now. Is something wrong, you think? What should I do?


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## spirit (Dec 6, 2012)

Remove any graphics cards or sound cards and use onboard video or sound.


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## johnb35 (Dec 6, 2012)

Did you download and run the windows 7 upgrade advisor first to check for hardware issues?


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 6, 2012)

Sorry, nevermind - solved it with Shift+F10


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 6, 2012)

Sorry to double-post, need new help rather urgently. I believe I successfully finished the Win7 installation, but now I can't use Explorer.exe properly. Whenever I try to access Computer, My Documents, Control Panel etc, there is a box saying "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item". 

What's wrong? I did a "clear" install of Win7 over an old XP one, but should that be a problem? Can't access much at the moment, other than surfing the web. Internet Explorer wouldn't let me log into this forum, but managed to get hold of Firefox.


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## johnb35 (Dec 6, 2012)

Did you delete all existing partitions before installing windows 7?  Can you tell me what your system specs are?  

Motherboard
processor
ram
video card
psu


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 6, 2012)

Nope, I think that might be the problem. The installation guide never prompted me to delete the old partition before installing Win7 on it. (And I, being a tech-noob, didn't think about it.) 

Every time I boot, I am now given a few seconds to choose between "Earlier version of Windows" and "Windows 7". 

Also, every time, a dialogue box pops up saying something about how I should rename a folder called "C:/Program" to "C:/Program1" as it might cause problems otherwise. Is this a sign of 2 installations in conflict? 

I can't access Computer or its right-click "Properties" menu, but I can tell you from memory it contains this, at least: 

AMD Athlon II X2 3.01 Dual-Core or something along those lines
4 gb RAM, but with the XP version I could only use 3 
ATI Radeon 4670 HD 

EDIT: Yep, XP partition still present. Currently accessing Internet from it, with all my games and files remaining. Do I somehow remove it for the Win7 to function properly, or what do I do?


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## johnb35 (Dec 6, 2012)

Yeah, you'll have to reinstall windows fresh again.  This time choose to delete existing partitions and create one.  Or actually what I really recommend doing is downloading killdisk or dban and put it on a cd and boot to it to totally wipe the drive providing you don't need any data.  Then install windows 7.


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 6, 2012)

Thanks for your help! Will try this in the morning.


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## spirit (Dec 7, 2012)

When you install Windows 7, delete any partitions and then install it.


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 7, 2012)

I can't find any option to erase old partitions when installing Win7, so I have to do it manually. 

I got dBan, burnt it to a disk and ran it, but it says that it finished with "non-fatal errors" and then a number of red ERROR messages appear. The old partitions remain. 

I got Killdisk, installed it and started it up but not quite sure how to use it. There is a "kill" button but I can't click it.


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## johnb35 (Dec 7, 2012)

Do you have a card reader installed or any other external drives plugged in?  Only have the drive that you need to erase plugged in besides a cdrom to boot from the cd.

To delete existing partitions using the windows 7 install cd, do the following.

When you get to the window where it asks you where to install...






click on drive options (advanced).

Then highlight each line entry up top and click on the delete button as shown in the following image.






Then go back and click on new and partition the drive how you want it.  If you only want one partition then leave amount in box as it is, it will only create one partition.  Click on format so it formats and checks the drive for errors, not really needed but I would do it in your case.  Then if it doesn't start automatically installing highlight that partition and hit enter and it should start installing.  It will create a system reserved partition of 100mb.


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 7, 2012)

Thank you for your extensive help, including pictures! I finally succeeded in installing Windows 7. 

One problem after another, I couldn't install it in my native language and now I want to change the display language to Swedish via Windows Update. It's the Ultimate version so I know it's possible, and I found the Swedish Language Pack in the update list. 
The problem is: Windows Update won't update. After selecting some updates (including SP1), it just gets stuck at 0% and won't move. I did some online searching, and someone said it could be malware. Got malware scanners, as well as ccleaner to scan for registry errors, but it didn't help much. 

Windows is much smoother to navigate than before, but Firefox, if anything, is slower than ever. It often lags and freezes up for several minutes even when using just one tab. I have no idea why this is.


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## johnb35 (Dec 7, 2012)

Download sp1 first by going here.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5842

Depending on if you have the 64 or 32 bit version installed, you would need one of the bottom 2 downloads.  x64 or x86

Then try using windows update to continue updating.   I've seen issues like this with vista that wouldn't update until sp1 was installed separately.


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 7, 2012)

Solved it! Went into pgedit.msc or something like that and enabled automatic updates. Now I got the service pack! 

The slowness problem continues, however. Firefox and other programs lock up and respond quite slowly. I navigate in Win7 folders fine, but when I surf or install a program, it takes ages. Any ideas?


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## S.T.A.R.S. (Dec 7, 2012)

How big is the CPU usage and RAM usage when using those programs which work slow to you such as Mozilla Firefox?


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## StrangleHold (Dec 7, 2012)

Squirrel93 said:


> Solved it! Went into pgedit.msc or something like that and enabled automatic updates. Now I got the service pack!
> 
> The slowness problem continues, however. Firefox and other programs lock up and respond quite slowly. I navigate in Win7 folders fine, but when I surf or install a program, it takes ages. Any ideas?


 
Update should have been enabled by default. After the install did you update your motherboard and video drivers?


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## AntimatterAsh (Dec 8, 2012)

Squirrel93 said:


> te than before, but Firefox, if anything, is slower than ever. It often lags and freezes up for several minutes even when using just one tab. I have no idea why this is.



Firefox compared to other browsers does run slowly in my experience, you also have to remember that 7 uses more ram and processing power to run the core os than XP, so it may be slightly slower if you have about 1.5gb ram or lower.


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 8, 2012)

S.T.A.R.S. said:


> How big is the CPU usage and RAM usage when using those programs which work slow to you such as Mozilla Firefox?


About 30-50% of CPU usage and just over 1 gB RAM when opening 4 tabs in Firefox at once. Admittedly, I did download a game from Steam at the time. 



StrangleHold said:


> Update should have been enabled by default. After the install did you update your motherboard and video drivers?


See, I guess this is one of the reasons I don't get along very well with PC computers. I think they should do this automatically and save me the trouble. I have no idea what brand my motherboard is. Any good way to identify it?


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## spirit (Dec 8, 2012)

Download CPU-Z and look on the mainboard tab. Should look something like this:






The text in the red box shows the motherboard make and model. Once you know the make and model, go the manufacturer's website and download the appropriate drivers.

CPU-Z can be downloaded from here http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html


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## S.T.A.R.S. (Dec 8, 2012)

Squirrel93 said:


> About 30-50% of CPU usage and just over 1 gB RAM when opening 4 tabs in Firefox at once. Admittedly, I did download a game from Steam at the time.



50% CPU usage is too much for a simple firefox and 1 GB of RAM memory is also too much even with 10 opened tabs.
To me CPU usage is 00 to 02 and RAM usage is around 100 MB to 150 MB maximum with multiple opened tabs (about 12 tabs) and not to mention that my complete hardware is a LOT weaker than yours.And yes the results are ALMOST the same on XP AND Windows 7.On Windows 7 the CPU is around 04 (on XP 00 to 02) and MEM usage around 190 MB (on XP 100 to 150 MB),but it is a very small difference than it is in XP so I do not count that.
In short firefox works perfectly on XP and Windows 7.

However the differences in your case are WAAAAAY BIGGER and considering you have such a stronger hardware than mine almost 15 years old,firefox should fly to you and instead it barely works.And as you said the SAME thing also happens with other programs and not just firefox.

So do the following:

NOTE: Disconnect the internet LAN cable and do NOT connect it again until I say so!

You should completely erase your entire HDD using let's say KILL DISK and then install Windows 7 again on UNALLOCATED SPACE which will be the only thing you will see there in the list (after erasing entire HDD using KILL DISK).So select that UNALLOCATED SPACE and click NEXT and Windows 7 will automatically create one partition which uses the entire HDD and then install Windows 7 on it.

After that install SP1 and ONLY SP1!
After that completely disable the Windows 7 update function!
After that install the BASIC DRIVERS ONLY in this order:

-chipset driver (if any)
-graphic driver (if any)
-audio driver (if any)
-LAN network driver (if any)
-wireless LAN network driver (if any)

After that install let's say Mozilla Firefox program and once that has been done,open it,go to options and completely disable update function.Exit firefox.

Now connect the internet LAN cable back in the computer and after that try to use the internet using installed firefox.


Let us know how things work now!




Cheers!


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 11, 2012)

S.T.A.R.S. said:


> 50% CPU usage is too much for a simple firefox and 1 GB of RAM memory is also too much even with 10 opened tabs.
> To me CPU usage is 00 to 02 and RAM usage is around 100 MB to 150 MB maximum with multiple opened tabs (about 12 tabs) and not to mention that my complete hardware is a LOT weaker than yours.And yes the results are ALMOST the same on XP AND Windows 7.On Windows 7 the CPU is around 04 (on XP 00 to 02) and MEM usage around 190 MB (on XP 100 to 150 MB),but it is a very small difference than it is in XP so I do not count that.
> In short firefox works perfectly on XP and Windows 7.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your reply! I did use KillDisk to wipe the old partition and then Installed Windows 7 on the unallocated space, do I have to do this again? The HDD is split into 2 partitions: the one I wiped (approximately 97 gB) and one I didn't wipe (around 830 gB). I don't think the Win7 installation ever gave me the option to wipe the bigger one or change the HDD into 1 single partition. 

It would feel tedious to do this again. However, if you are sure that would do the trick, then I will follow your advice. Firefox is not as slow as it was a few days ago, but my RAM usage is constantly over 1.2-1.25 gB, even with just one Firefox tab running. Can't be normal, can it? 

PS: How do I get hold of the drivers before reconnecting to the Internet?


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## johnb35 (Dec 11, 2012)

If you only want one bid drive instead of it partioned into 2 drives then you should be able to use disk management to merge the partitions together, haven't tried it though.  

The motherboard driver disk will have all the drivers including the ethernet.


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 11, 2012)

johnb35 said:


> If you only want one bid drive instead of it partioned into 2 drives then you should be able to use disk management to merge the partitions together, haven't tried it though.
> 
> The motherboard driver disk will have all the drivers including the ethernet.


Thank you! Used Disk manager to merge the partitions. The local computer store made 2 from the beginning, but I never saw the point. 
So... I'll be able to install SP1 without Internet connection, or have I misunderstood STARS? 

And I did find the correct CDs after digging around in some boxes. Stupid of me not to remember them... I'll try reinstalling tomorrow morning. Should be less painful this time around. 

(If not, I'll probably be back, hehe...)


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 12, 2012)

I wiped the old partition and reinstalled Win7. Installed the motherboard, audio and graphics drivers, but can't find SP1 in Windows Update. 

CPU usage is fluctuating between 0-60% (mostly 2-10%) with one Firefox tab open. RAM usage was 700-750 MB for a little while, now back up at 1.2-1.5 GB. 

I googled it, and someone at another forum said it's normal for a 64-bit Win7 with lots of RAM to use about 1 GB when idle. Mine is currently at 1.38, but seems to settle around 900-980 when no programs are running. I have 4 GB RAM in total. Explorer.exe is actually quite fast now (In Computer>Properties, "performance classification" or whatever it would be called in English is all between 5.9 and 7.1). It's just Firefox that lags up sometimes. Maybe not that big of a deal, though. 



EDIT: I was going to start a new thread, but might as well ask here if anyone knows: My laptop suddenly won't connect to the Internet. The WiFi is fine, other computers and phones can connect both with cable and wirelessly. The computer claims the problem pertains to Mozilla Firefox, but neither Internet Explorer nor Chrome can connect. I get 5 bars in the bottom right corner as if all were well, but cannot surf the web. Skype seems to work, however. When I try to share Internet connection from my iPhone to the laptop, it cannot connect using that either. So there must be something wrong with the network card, I figured. I ran diagnostics, and it claims to have solved a network card problem every time but no difference.


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## johnb35 (Dec 12, 2012)

Depending on if you have the 64bit or 32bit version of 7, the files you need are the bottom 2 links on this page.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5842

Your cpu usage could be your system autoupdating.  What process is using most of the cpu when its at 60%?


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## Squirrel93 (Dec 17, 2012)

Thank you! Downloading the 64 one now. 

Firefox and something called WinSAT are both using a lot more memory than all other processes. 

In Device Manager, something called Network Controller has a yellow exclamation mark. I can't automatically update its driver, and manufacturer is unknown. Could this be a contributing factor to my slow browser? Thanks!


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