Windows 7 will not install to ANY drive

[JustWhitman]

I feel like I've tried everything I can possibly think of here and I'm still left frustrated and confused. Problem is, simply put, Windows 7 refuses to install to any of my three HDDs.

Upon first glance it looks like Windows just can't see/find the drive(s). As if it requires RAID drivers. But then when it asks me to load the necessary drivers the harddrive that I've partitioned outside of the installer is visible and selectable to load drivers FROM. So it shows up in the browser to select drivers, but then in the install menu NOTHING is listed. So it makes no sense to me why, if it can see the partitioned space from the 'browse' window, does it refuse to see it and install to it outside of that menu? Another oddity is that Windows XP can see and install to any of the drives just fine, as can Linux. And even more frustrating, I've had Windows 7 installed on the drive before!

I'm using older hardware, a Gigabyte 965P-DS3. It has a JMicron RAID controller for 2xSATA as well as the standard Intel ICH8 4xSATA. I've tried both controllers, I've tried it with AHCI on/off, using the SATA in legacy IDE mode, putting two drives in RAID, tried with and without formatting and partitiong the drive prior to starting the install and NOTHING I've done has yet to make a single drive visible for 7 to install to.

I'm out of ideas here, so I'm really hoping someone here can help me solve this mystery because it has me very frustrated.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Have you tried to install with just one drive present?

 

[pete1229]

Just a thought, did you have linux installed on the primary drive? If so you may need to convert the drive from GPT to MBR before Windows will recognize the disk for installation.

 

[PreOmegaZero]

When loading the Windows 7 install, press SHIFT+F10 to bring up command-prompt.
Run DISKPART, then 'LIST DISK".
It should show you whatever drives are attached to the machines, regardless of how they are setup.
If you want to get more info, select the hard drive in question by using 'SELECT DISK X" (X=drive #), then 'LIST PAR' and/or 'LIST VOL' for volume information to find the formatting.

 

[JustWhitman]

Just a thought, did you have linux installed on the primary drive? If so you may need to convert the drive from GPT to MBR before Windows will recognize the disk for installation.

This is what I was originally thinking could have caused the problem. I'm using Gentoo, so nothing was automated. I did at one point format one (or maybe all can't remember ) of the drives using GPT, but all drives have been reverted to MSDOS partition tables. But I'm thinking maybe since GPT uses a different structure (and backup elsewhere on the drive) that something was left behind.

I'm thinkingthe above is on the right track though and it's something at a lower-level, because it seems to be in the drive formatting, but I can't be sure yet, just what I'm thinking as I feel like I've tried everything else. One thing I've been trying to search for is if there is a way to return the drives to factory defaults, but haven't done much looking into it yet.

I'm going to try PreOmegaZero suggestion, just to see what 7 says about the disks.

If it weren't for games I wouldn't even bother installing Windows on here.

 

[JustWhitman]

Running the diskpart command, and not even doing anything to the drives, suddenly makes them visible and I can partition the disks and everything. HOWEVER, it still won't install as once I get through partitioning and it starts copying files it does the "Copying Windows Files" part really fast and then starts "Expanding Windows Files" but fails after a few seconds saying

Windows cannot install required files. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation.

So I'm still at square one, can't install, just a new reason as to why now. I've never had this much trouble trying to install an OS.

 

[sonoma1993]

Running the diskpart command, and not even doing anything to the drives, suddenly makes them visible and I can partition the disks and everything. HOWEVER, it still won't install as once I get through partitioning and it starts copying files it does the "Copying Windows Files" part really fast and then starts "Expanding Windows Files" but fails after a few seconds saying



So I'm still at square one, can't install, just a new reason as to why now. I've never had this much trouble trying to install an OS.

Try installing Windows 7 with one memory module installed at a time.

 

[PreOmegaZero]

Running the diskpart command, and not even doing anything to the drives, suddenly makes them visible and I can partition the disks and everything. HOWEVER, it still won't install as once I get through partitioning and it starts copying files it does the "Copying Windows Files" part really fast and then starts "Expanding Windows Files" but fails after a few seconds saying



So I'm still at square one, can't install, just a new reason as to why now. I've never had this much trouble trying to install an OS.

What kind of media are you using to install?

Do the following in DISKPART to make the drive Windows 7 ready:

• List Disk
• Select Disk X
• Clean
• Clean
• create partition primary
• active
• exit (exits DISKPART)
• exit (reboots the computer)

Retry the installation

 

[JustWhitman]

Wow, I managed to peg it down to...

Installation media. I had created a custom install disc and for whatever reason it simply doesn't work on this PC. It works on other computers fine, but for some odd reason it just won't on this one. Weird that you suggested it PreOmegaZero, as I had resolved it before reading your last post heh.

I put the original Windows 7 disk in and poof, drives show up fine and installs fine. All this time I've spent trying to get this to work and it boiled down to something that simple? Go figure. The fact that it's worked fine on other computers is why the thought didn't even cross my mind. I just wish I understood the why and what of it, but I'm just glad to have finally resolved the issue.

Thanks for the help though guys. Now I've got to make another thread for another question I've got .

 

[dbcooper1]

Running the diskpart command, and not even doing anything to the drives, suddenly makes them visible and I can partition the disks and everything. HOWEVER, it still won't install as once I get through partitioning and it starts copying files it does the "Copying Windows Files" part really fast and then starts "Expanding Windows Files" but fails after a few seconds saying

Windows cannot install required files. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation.


So I'm still at square one, can't install, just a new reason as to why now. I've never had this much trouble trying to install an OS.

It was telling you it was losing the source, not the destination.. Were you booting from a USB port or was the source in a folder not at the top of the file structure?

 

[JustWhitman]

It was telling you it was losing the source, not the destination.. Were you booting from a USB port or was the source in a folder not at the top of the file structure?

I tried it both from a DVD as well as bootable USB thumbdrive. Source folder was in the root and not under anything else. Still baffled by this one but like I said just glad it's working.

 

[JustWhitman]

Just an update.

I know now that it was because I was trying to install from a thumb drive. My speculation is that, since I booted from a USB "drive" the install thought all drives would be connected to the same interface. Or something along those lines. I'm also guessing it's that in combination with my hardware. This Gigabyte mobo has always been rather flaky. Or just because the hardware is a little older.

Because I can use the same thumbdrive to install Windows 7 on other, newer, laptops and PCs just fine.

 

[dbcooper1]

Just an update.

I know now that it was because I was trying to install from a thumb drive. My speculation is that, since I booted from a USB "drive" the install thought all drives would be connected to the same interface. Or something along those lines. I'm also guessing it's that in combination with my hardware. This Gigabyte mobo has always been rather flaky. Or just because the hardware is a little older.

Because I can use the same thumbdrive to install Windows 7 on other, newer, laptops and PCs just fine.[/QUOTE

Yeah, sounds like your board might have been changing the drive letter based on boot order at some point during your attempted install.