By Windows 7 surely comes with some great features but as any other operating system, this one is not immune to malicious programs and problems. So, if you deal with a corrupt Windows 7 installation, then read on as this post will let you know what to do in this case.
From time to time, every operating system will need a repair job or a re-installation. This may be required by malware, corrupt data or other problems like these. Performing a fresh installation and wiping your hard drive may be quite a headache. So, there’s a way for you to repair a corrupt Windows 7 installation and keep your user accounts, personal data and programs intact at the same time.
You can do this by using the In-Place Upgrade option.
You need to know that you can perform this upgrade process by using the In-Place Upgrade option from within Windows. In case your PC cannot fully boot to the Windows desktop, then this post will be of no help. Make sure you read the post entirely before starting to repair your corrupt copy of Windows 7.
Before starting the repair installation, there are some things you should take care of.:
1.One of the first things to do is to back up all your data even if the repair process will not render your files unrecoverable. Still, you never know what might happen, so better safe than sorry!
2. Make sure you uninstall all the third-applications software (firewalls and antivirus apps).You’ll be able to install them again after the repair process completes. This process needs to be initiated from within Windows and this means that all the security apps that actively scan files must be removed.
3. The next thing to do is to download and store all the necessary drivers for your system to function.
4. Once you’ve backed up all of your drivers, you will have to delete all the temporary files and junk data. To do this, you’ll have to go to the Start menu and type Folder Options in the search box. Then hit Enter and when you see the Folder Options window, click on the View tab and then choose the ‘Show hidden files, folders and drivers”. Once you do that, click OK.
5. What you have to do next is to go to the Start menu again and then select Computer. Right-click on your primary drive, open the Properties menu, select Disk Cleanup and then “Clean up system files”. The drive will be rescanned in a few moments and after that you’ll have to click the More Options tab.
In the System Restore and Shadow Copies section, make sure you select Clean Up. You will see a dialog box in which you’ll have to click the Delete button. After this, go back to the Disk Cleanup tab, check all the files that are listed in the “Files to Delete” and then hit OK. All those temporary files and junk data will now be deleted.
6. Even if you’ve deleted the temporary files, there still are some folders you will have to manually delete. To do this, you will have to open the C: drive and double-click on the Windows folder. Now you will have to delete files in the Prefetch and Temp folders. Make sure you delete the files in these two folders and not the folders themselves.
Then go back to the C: drive and then double-click the Users folder. Once you get to this folder, you will first have to double-click the folder with your username and after that the AppData folder. In case you don’t see the second folder, then it means you shouldn’t have selected the “Show hidden files, folders and drives” earlier.
After you do this, you will have to double-click the Local folder and then the Temp folder. In the case of this Temp folder, you will also have to delete the files within it. Now restart your computer.
After you’ve followed the steps above, you can safely begin the Windows 7 repair installation. Now before going any further, you have to make sure that you have a Windows 7 installation disc that is compatible with the Windows version that is already installed on your computer. The drive on which you intend to install the new version must have at least 10GB of free space.
The installation media should be able to run this clean Windows 7 installation properly. So, here it goes:
1. The first thing to do in order to start the repair installation process is to insert the installation media. After that run Setup and click the Install button in the Setup window.
2. The next thing to do is to accept the license terms and conditions and then choose the Upgrade installation option.
3. Now the installer will perform a compatibility check. Once this completes, you will have to hit the next button and then the Upgrade/Repair instalation will begin.
In case you don’t see the Upgrade option, you can still run the repair installation. To do that, you’ll have to right-click the Setup file before running it and select Properties. Once you get to the Properties menu, you’ll have to go to the Compatibility tab and make sure you check Run this program in compatibility mode for: From the drop-down menu, select Windows Vista (Service Pack 2).
After that, you’ll have to check the “Run this program as an administrator” box and click OK. Now the Upgrade option should be available when you run Setup.
4. You will then have to wait till the installer finishes its job. All the information about your system will be gathered by the installer which will copy the necessary files and then transfer your personal programs and files to the fresh version of Windows 7.
Still there are a few things like custom themes and sounds that will not be moved to the new copy and you’ll have to install them again after the fresh installation completes.
5.When the upgrade installation process finishes, you will have to activate the fresh install and answer some basic questions related to network settings, time and date and so on. After the final updates and repairs complete, you will have to verify that all your files have remained intact and that the apps run properly.
6. To make sure that the fresh copy of Windows 7 is entirely up to date, you will have to run Windows Update. In order to wrap up the installation procedure, you will have to delete the old junk data left from your corrupted copy of Windows 7. The data will be stored in two folders that will be labeled: $INPLACE.~TR and $WINDOWS.~Q.
You will have to follow the steps mentioned above to do the disk cleanup, select “Clean up system files” and them delete the two folders. That’s about all! You can now enjoy Windows 7.
