Taking The Plunge!! Installing Windows 7

[DallasDad]

1st time trying to install a new OS. Going to do a clean install on my HP (Vista) OEM computer. Installing Windows 7 32 bit Home Premium.

Questions; What happens when you delete all partitions? Does Windows 7 automatically recreate new partitions?

Does the program automatically check drivers and attempt to install them during the installation? What happens if it can't find a driver?

Sorry for the dumb questions but like I said, this is the 1st time I've tried installing an OS.

Any tips before I take the plunge?

 

[clifford_cooley]

You will have options to choose which partitions or create them within the installation process. Windows will attempt to install your drivers. With the drivers that fail many of them are correctly installed through Windows update.

As far as any drivers that are not correctly installed and updated through your install or windows update. The only drivers you will need before you install is the ones needed to get online( modem/network adaptor drivers ). Once online you can work on fixing the remainder of the problems.

 

[DallasDad]

You will have options to choose which partitions or create them within the installation process. Windows will attempt to install your drivers. With the drivers that fail many of them are correctly installed through Windows update.

As far as any drivers that are not correctly installed and updated through your install or windows update. The only drivers you will need before you install is the ones needed to get online( modem/network adaptor drivers ). Once online you can work on fixing the remainder of the problems.

Uh Oh...you just threw me a curve ball. Haha
I need a DRIVER for my DSL modem?? I don't have a router, just a DSL modem. Don't need a driver for that do I ?

 

[clifford_cooley]

Uh Oh...you just threw me a curve ball. Haha
I need a DRIVER for my DSL modem?? I don't have a router, just a DSL modem. Don't need a driver for that do I ?

No that is for those that connect through dialup

Your DSL modem is external and does not require Windows drivers.

 

[DallasDad]

Thanks Clifford. Guess that means I'm ready to pull the trigger. (I hope) LOL

 

[clifford_cooley]

Good luck DallasDad - I'll be pulling for you -

 

[draceena]

Take a stop by your OEM Computer Manufacturers website and have a look for your specific computer (many of the OEM's have a Model Number of some sort). Then have a look at the drivers they may have for download. Check for Motherboard/Soundcard/Internet drivers, especially if they have any that are listed for Windows 7. Download them and burn to a CD/DVD or put on a flash drive. Then when you do the install, if you need drivers, you already have them.

 

[DallasDad]

Good luck DallasDad - I'll be pulling for you -

Made it! :lol:
So far so good. I guess we'll find out more tomorrow, but meantime it appears I made it on the first try! LOL.

Haven't tried to hook up the printer yet, gotta go find a driver for that. Oh well we'll get that tomorrow.


Hey draceena, I'll look into that. If I could put drivers on a flash drive, that could be useful.

 

[clifford_cooley]

WTG DallasDad Congrats

 

[DallasDad]

WTG DallasDad Congrats

Well, found a problem though.

It only shows 1 partition of 465 Gig which is where the OS is at. Problem is, the computer has 1000 Gig. :dontknow:

That was the listed size of one of the original partitions. It just deleted the original contents and kept the 465 G size and set the new OS on it, but no indication about the rest of the unallocated space.

 

[clifford_cooley]

What are you saying DallasDad?

Are you saying that the unallocated space is not showing in Disk Management?

 

[DallasDad]

What are you saying DallasDad?

Are you saying that the unallocated space is not showing in Disk Management?

By "Disk Management" I assume you mean when you click on "Computer" in the START menu and it shows the Hard Disc Drives, then yes thats what I'm saying.

It only shows the "C" disk drive, 452 Gb free of 465 Gb, but my hard drive is 1000 Gb.
The only other thing it shows is the 2 DVD drives.
There's nothing else on the page.

Originally with Vista it had 3 disk drives (partitions).

 

[clifford_cooley]

Control Panel >> System and Security >> Administrative Tools >> Computer Management >> Disk Management

This will show all of your partitions and allow you to partition unallocated space

 

[DallasDad]

Control Panel >> System and Security >> Administrative Tools >> Computer Management >> Disk Management

This will show all of your partitions and allow you to partition unallocated space

In Disk Management:

Got it. OK, Disk "0" (C drive) is 465.7 Gb
Disk "1" is 465.7 Gb unallocated.

 

[clifford_cooley]

You have several options in Disk Management.

• You can partition and format a new drive.
• You can expand or shrink the drives.

Right click on the partition you want to change for options

 

[DallasDad]

You have several options in Disk Management.

• You can partition and format a new drive.
• You can expand or shrink the drives.

Right click on the partition you want to change for options

Just created a new partition! 465 Gb except it's called "New Volume"?, and it is formatted. YeeHaw!! LOL

Whats with the "new volume" title?

Never did this before either. Just look at all the trouble I'm getting into since I joined this forum! Hahaha Installing OS's, partitioning hard drives, whew!

Thank you VERY MUCH for your help clifford! I would've never figured it out. LOL

 

[clifford_cooley]

You can right click on the new drive and go to properties. There you can rename the drive volume from "New Volume" to what ever you wish.

I'm glad you are getting it under control

 

[DallasDad]

You can right click on the new drive and go to properties. There you can rename the drive volume from "New Volume" to what ever you wish.

I'm glad you are getting it under control

Cool, I'm a happy Camper! :adore:
I was afraid I'd have to do a complete reinstall to fix it! Yikes!

 

[Nibiru2012]

Well, found a problem though.

It only shows 1 partition of 465 Gig which is where the OS is at. Problem is, the computer has 1000 Gig. :dontknow:

That was the listed size of one of the original partitions. It just deleted the original contents and kept the 465 G size and set the new OS on it, but no indication about the rest of the unallocated space.

Try Partition Wizard, it's free and works really well. Download the CD Bootable ISO image and burn it to a CD or CD-RW.

• Partition Wizard is a Windows based partition manager.
  
  It supports both MBR and GUID partition table format running on 32/64 bits Operating System including Windows XP, Vista, Windows Server 2000/2003/2008, and Windows 7. Working as partition magic, Partition Wizard provides powerful and professional functions to manage partition including Move/Resize Partition, Copy Partition, Create Partition, Delete Partition, Format Partition, Convert File System, Hide/Unhide Partition, Explore Partition, Partition Recovery and much more.
  Partition Wizard allow home users, business users, and system administrators to easily perform partition operations safely and quickly. The Enhanced Data Protecting technology keeps your data safe even in cases of power outages or hardware failure.
• Partition Wizard is provided absolutely FREE OF CHARGE for homes and businesses.
  Partition Wizard is optimized and divided into Home, Business, Server, and Enterprise Edition

Download the CD ISO image here. It's fairly small, 33.9 MB file. Then burn it to a CD using either the native Windows 7 image burner or ImgBurn (Free app).

The bootable CD is Linux based and fast. Nice GUI to work with also. I like it better than GParted for partitioning. You can also download the windows version too and install it. It's free too!

 

[clifford_cooley]

Try Partition Wizard

I think I will try it out Nibiru2012