Problems installing Windows 7 to fresh SSD from within Windows 10.
Hey guys, I'm running Windows 10 primarily but wanted to install Windows 7 to a spare SSD I had for a LAN party this weekend (in order to use SoftXPand and allow two people to use my computer at once). For some reason my install has failed repeatedly and I can't put my finger on why. I'm running the Windows 7 installer from an ISO, I've formatted the target drive multiple times and it allows me to start the install.. Windows 10 will reboot shortly after it runs through the initial parts and then after POST it spits me into an OS selection page where Windows 10 and Windows Setup are my two options. I pick Windows Setup and it tells me that a recent hardware or software change has prevented my computer from booting.. I know this might not be enough information, but are there any oddball reasons that stand out as to why this might be happening?
Thanks!
Per the guidelines: Windows 10 64bit on 2x512 Samsung SSDs in RAID0 i7 Skylake 6700k 32GB DDR4 I'm not solid on exactly what UEFI is, but my motherboard uses it currently and I'm a little suspicious that it might be partly to blame for the older OS having problems..?
Target drive for my install is an older Chronos SATA III 128GB drive that works fine.. I was able to browse old files on it and SMART report came up clean.
Troubleshooting steps:
- Burned ISO to USB and attempted install from BIOS - prompted for drivers(?) didn't get far into install before deciding to just run it from windows 10
- I might just be a little burnt out after work and not thinking of something obvious, but I've not tried too much other than that.. and my Google-fu has failed in finding similar problems.
Posted Jun 11, 2016, 2:58 AM UTC
You can't install Windows 7 from an .iso file. It needs to be burned to a disk/USB drive and booted from that. Also, even with two OSes on a machine, you can't have two people use it at once.
Thanks for the feedback.
Regarding the two people at once bit, I'm not installing Windows 7 because I believe it will allow me to have more than one person on my computer at the same time.. it's because Windows 7 is the most recent OS that is compatible with a piece of software called SoftXpand which IS designed to allow for multi-seat gaming.
Hm, never heard of it. Looks like its development has stopped, so no surprise that it doesn't work with anything since Windows 7.
Also, I've tried installing from a genuine windows 7 disc, installing from some iso I downloaded & burned onto another disc, a USB thumb drive, and by just directly mounting the ISO and running it against the drive I wanted to install it on.. all without luck.
What happens when you try to install from the Windows 7 disk.