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June 11th, 2023 14:00
XPS 8900 - There was a problem resetting your PC -- Windows 10 install
Hello
This is my first post -- I'm not even close to being expert, but I have been able to try some things from watching Youtube, etc - I am having trouble installing Windows 10 -- I don't mind if I wipe out everything -- a factory reset is fine, (I backed up my files to external drive)
I have a Dell XPS 8900 desktop --
I purchased the PC in 2016 with Windows 7 pre-installed. A Windows 7 Pro SP1 64 bit Reinstallation DVD and Windows 10 Pro 64 bit DVD was provided with the purchase, and I still have both discs.
I am able to re-install Windows 7 Pro SP1 successfully, booting from the DVD drive and installing, etc. And after that, Windows 7 will load normally from normal boot. But, when trying to clean install an upgrade of Windows 10 using the same steps, with the Windows 10 disc, I run into trouble.
Description of steps:
Boot with Windows 10 re-install DVD
Choose English, US, etc
Click the options:
Troubleshoot
Reset this PC
Remove everything
Option then says to choose a target operating system
Only option on screen is Windows 7 -- So I click that
Then the options are
Only the drive where windows is installed
All drives -- (I choose this)
Then I choose -- Fully clean the drive
Then I click Reset button
It starts the process:
Resetting this PC 46%
The process will reach as far as 46% complete or so before it is interrupted by a blue screen with an error message
There was a problem resetting your PC. Cancel
So I just click Cancel and go back to re-install Windows 7. I tried a handful of times to clean install with the Windows 10 DVD and it seems to consistently stop the process around 45%. Wondering what that could be a sign of?
Would it make a difference if I did not use the Windows 10 re-installation DVD that was supplied by Dell when I purchased the PC, and instead, should I try downloading a copy of Windows 10 from the internet and boot with a thumb drive?
Is there a step that I'm missing? Do I maybe have to install some drivers before I attempt to install Windows 10?
Some info from Disk management screen (which I can get when Windows 7 is installed)
Disk 0 (an SSD drive)
29.82 GB NTFS -- Healthy (Primary Partition)
(I think Dell initially meant for the SSD to be a cache drive, but maybe it was never setup properly. I just treated it as a place to drag miscellaneous files into.)
Disk 1
System Reserved 100 MB NTFS -- Healthy (System Active
C: 1862.92 GB NTFS Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
Some notes in case it matters:
The fresh install of Windows 7 knocked out my internet capability.
Does Windows 10 need the internet to complete the install process?
When installing Windows 7, I was never asked to enter the product key code -- Will this prevent it from working properly? I do have the keys for both Windows 7 and 10
The Legacy option is chosen in boot menu, if that matters?
I have run the diagnostics test from the boot menu -- it passes all tests.
Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated
- Best regards


filbert
4 Operator
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1.8K Posts
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June 11th, 2023 14:00
I'm unclear on the Win10 DVD. You bought a Windows 10 licence? You didn't need to, as you can upgrade from Win7 to Win10 for free.
I wrote a detailed Windows installation process that may help you.
Here's another description of the install process, from a Microsoft MVP.
And no, you don't need Internet to install Win10 (as long as you tell the installer that you don't have Internet), but you will need an Internet connection to activate the licence.
Chino de Oro
9 Legend
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8.3K Posts
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June 11th, 2023 19:00
First thing you need to do is to get rid of the cache drive, Disk 0 SSD. Replacing with a larger capacity SSD for OS drive. It can be a 2.5" SATA SSD or an M.2 NVMe SSD (via M.2 slot or PCIe adapter).
Second thing is changing BIOS settings to enable AHCI for SATA mode.
Finally, you can perform Windows 10 installation. Use the latest version from Microsoft Windows Creation Tool to create an installation USB drive. You may need product keys from old media that came with the system. There are different ways to install Windows. If Reset this PC installation method had given you problem, you may try Clean Install from USB method.
Do some research to learn which type of SSD will work best for your system.
wishone
3 Posts
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June 12th, 2023 07:00
Thanks Chino de Oro for the info
I might change the SSD in the future but for now just looking for a quick fix --
I will try the USB clean install method and tweak the BIOS
wishone
3 Posts
0
June 12th, 2023 07:00
Thanks filbert for the info
The Windows 10 DVD actually came with the computer in 2016 - I was just happy with Windows 7 so I never bothered to install it
I will try the steps you gave sometime soon