Is your Windows 7 clean install going slow?

A

awesomo

Gawd
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Mar 20, 2010
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After many experiences installing windows 7 on multiple computers and having multiple problems with the installs wanting to take 24 hours. I have created a list of everything I have done in the past so Windows 7 doesn't put me in install Hell anymore. Everything on this list I have ran into at leased once where it caused issues.

  • Remove all USB devices except your keyboard. (INCLUDING internal card readers, you could keep your mouse if you can't use tab)
  • Remove all PCI devices except your video card.
  • Disable the Floppy Disk drive in bios (Even if you have one!)
  • Remove all of your memory except one stick. (If it's 2 256 or 6 2gb sticks, still remove all but ONE)
  • Update your bios. (If possible)
  • Enable memory rewrite in bios. (A lot of modern bios have this option and it is generally disabled)
  • Disable the sound card in bios.
  • Enable AHCI in bios if installing to a SSD. (Not only have I had this put me in a slow install situation, it robs your SSD of performance if AHCI is off)
  • Check your install media. If downloading from msdn, you CAN get corrupt iso's. Either on the way to your pc, or on the way to the disk from a bad disk/burner. If you bought an OEM or Boxed copy, I highly doubt the disk is bad, but it is possible. I ran into a bad oem XP disk before.
  • Try a different DVD drive if you pc doesn't support usb boot or if you don't have a spare usb drive around. (Just because cds work fine on the drive doesn't mean dvds will, I have had MULTIPLE drives die on the cd side while dvds still worked fine, and on the dvd side while cd's still worked fine)
  • Try booting off of a usb drive with the install files on it. (Great tool here http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool there is a sticky on this as well if you should need more help)
  • Check to make sure your memory and hdd isn't bad. (I put this one last because it will take forever to check these fully)
  • A faulty motherboard could be the culprit as well, but that is harder to check. If this was a new PC and I was at wit's end, I would just rma the Motherboard and Power Supply. I have seen both cause weird issues installing windows 7.

If there is something you have encountered that isn't on this list, post it. This may be a good sticky post ;) With my luck, more often than not, windows 7 installs are a bitch on pc's that weren't initially windows 7.
 
Some useful tips but I have not ran into any problems by not doing any of the above yet and have installed Win7 twice so far.

What is this bios option for exactly?

"Enable memory rewrite in bios."
 
You could also use a flash drive as the installation media rather than a DVD. With a Patriot DASH 8GB drive, the Expanding part of the installation took 5 minutes 22 seconds rather than 12 minutes 33 seconds using a DVD.
 
wtf? 24 hour Windows 7 install? Uhm, I've never heard of that, let alone experienced it. Done ~5 Windows 7 installs, all finished in 20 to 45 minutes without hick ups.
 
I've done dozens of Windows 7 installs. Never take very long at all.

Good tips for those that do run into problems, though. Windows 7 does have a memory tester on the DVD for when you get to that step.
 
eh, probably installed W7 a dozen times without doing any of that. generally it takes < 1 hr complete probably 40 minutes.
 
Win7 install has always been faster than XP install for me.

I think all of these computer that you installed Win7 on must have common parts, hardware, BIOS settings wrong, etc. Perhaps the DVD you're using is scratched? CRC errors with the DVD drive (i.e., bad drive, cabling) can also cause install to take long time. Maybe you should disconnect the network cable before starting the install, so it doesn't try to "call home".
 
I've had a 2 hour Windows Vista install but that was due to a bad DVD drive. I replaced the DVD drive and it installed in less than 20 minutes. I'm sure it would have been the same for Windows 7.

Adding to my issue - even if I used a flash drive to install with that bad DVD drive still in my computer, it still took over 2 hours to install Windows.

Windows Vista and 7 are very unforgiving when it comes to having bad hardware.
 
Something is seriously wrong if you can not get a windows 7 system loaded and online in under an hour. 24 hours is not right.
Have done 7-8 installs of windows 7, none have taken more than an hour or required any thing like the steps you outline.
 
I've installed all versions of Windows 7 (32 and 64bit) except Enterprise, over 20 installs so far and haven't had any issues.
did a couple of Dell Pentium 4's, Dell Netbooks, Acer netbooks, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, and HP laptops, and the rest were custom builds with various hardware.
 
Good for all of you that haven't had problems. Out of the 40+ installs I have been asked to do on pc's that didn't initially have windows 7. Most went without a hitch, 10-45 minutes. I have had 6 give me SOB issues resolved after hours of turmoil. Thus the list.
 
I've installed WIn7 on atleast 10 machines and none took longer than 20mins. If its an upgrade from a previous OS who knows how long it takes.
 
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