Troubleshooting Windows Installation Errors: How to Fix CD/DVD Driver Issues?

[pyzicslolito]

I bought a new desktop computer without pre installed os. Now I fail to install
1: XP-the Blue death screen after file loading completes
2: Vista-window can't open required file (install.wim) after collecting information is almost done
3: windows 7 - the required CD/DVD device driver is missing
I don't know why the odds...they are the errors I run into while trying to set up windows. Thanks a lot.

 

[UltrafastPED]

Newer computer means that there are devices and hardware interfaces which the older operating systems don't know how to handle ... hence the problems.

You should get an installation CD which has all of the service packs already installed; for example, you could try Windows XP with SP 3 included.

But your best bet is to check with the manufacturer and find out which versions of Windows are supported; and they should have the required device drivers for Windows 7.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

Is your computer actually "new", or are you buying a used one from a friend or something?

WinXP with SP 3 won't be enough on newer hard drives. You should forget about WinXP. Vista also has issues with newer hard drives...there is probably a service pack that fixes the problem, but I don't know which one.

Windows 7 ought to work on a new machine. I have no idea why it would complain, you'll probably have to dig around the internet to resolve your problem.

 

[Borek]

My bet is that there is something wrong with the hardware. Windows has many ways of complaining about not being able to detect/recognize devices, in most cases it doesn't crash before running out of ideas.

 

[AlephZero]

If you want to run Windows, there isn't much point in buying a new computer without it pre-installed, because a the computer manufacturer can buy a legal copy much cheaper than you can, and will "install" it by just copying the disk image of a working system onto the hard disk, rather than messing around with installation CDs and DVDs.

And if you wanted a bare bones computer to run only Linux, why is not being able to install Windows a problem?

 

[rcgldr]

Do a web search for "ultimate boot cd," which contains a collection of freeware, download and use it to partition your hard drive(s). After this you should be able to install Windows, although there may be issues with Windows XP and newer components like sound cards.

If you really want XP, you may need to attach an external USB floppy drive (need to get one compatable with Win XP) in order to install some types of Sata drivers. Win Vista and 7 should already have generic Sata drivers.

 

[pyzicslolito]

Newer computer means that there are devices and hardware interfaces which the older operating systems don't know how to handle ... hence the problems.

You should get an installation CD which has all of the service packs already installed; for example, you could try Windows XP with SP 3 included.

But your best bet is to check with the manufacturer and find out which versions of Windows are supported; and they should have the required device drivers for Windows 7.

Very true. Thank you a lot. It is true that old software CDs fail to install theOS on the new HD I bought a new/latest windows 8CD and things work fine. I also testify the installation with a bootable USB with Windows 7 and it works too.
Again thank you everyone for your guidance.

 

[vatzis]

Usually its just driver issues, and if it fails to even get past the loading of Windows, its hard disk drives. look at your motherboard model and download all the drivers for the version of Windows your loading. it should help you.

 

[Routaran]

I suspect that the OS is probably misidentifying the drive and loading the wrong driver causing the problem. There's really not too much you can do here.

You can try to look at the exact make and model of the CD/DVD drive, see if the manufacturer has device drivers available for download and then include those in your installation disk.
For custom WindowsXP disks, I use http://www.nliteos.com/
For custom Windows7 disks, I manually include the device drivers as i haven't come across a good utility, nlite should be releasing a version that supports win7 & 8 eventually.

Anyway, I think that doing this would be un-necessarily painful.

My suggestion is, run down to the computer store, enquire about their return policy. If they allow returns within 7 days full refund or something like that, then buy an external CD/DVD drive. Pop your disk in there and do the install, it should work fine. Once you're up and running, return the portable CD drive.

If it still doesn't work, can you please post pictures of the errors or more details of what you are seeing on the screen when the errors occur. It will make the troubleshooting process easier.

Cheers,
Routaran