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Install Win 7 Pro in a different language

I just bought a new laptop that came with Windows 7 Pro 64bit in Italian. I'd like to have it in English, but language packs are an option available only with the Ultimate version.

Can I install the English version downloading the official DVD available from Digital River but using my actual product key? Is it legal/possible?

$Windows.~WS folder in C:\ drive after Windows 10 Installation, Upgrade or Media Creation?

I have a hidden folder on my C:\ drive called $Windows.~WS that's 3 GB large after my Windows 10 upgrade.

Disk clean and CCleaner even with system files removal didn't remove it, so I'm wondering if it's safe to manually SHIFT+DEL it?

How to record screen while installing Windows?

Besides recording the screen with an actual camera what are the options to make, for example, a Windows installation video tutorial?

Change the Windows 8 product key after installation?

I just completed a fresh install of Windows 8 Pro as it was released to MSDN. Installation went without a hitch however I can't find out where to enter the correct product key for the copy I have.

Clicking on the Activate this Computer in Activity Centre displays the following screen, but no option to change the product key:

\Boot\ BCD Status: 0xc000000f error

I am getting the following message whenever I start my laptop:

Windows Boot Manager  

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.  
To fix the problem:

  1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer. 
  2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next."
  3. Click "repair your computer."

If you don't have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer
manufacturer for assistance. 

  File: \boot\bcd

  Status: 0xc0000225

I have googled about the error, and from the message it looks like I need to boot my laptop from the Windows installation disc.

My laptop has Windows 7 Professional SP1 x86 installed, but when I try to insert Windows 7 Professional x86 I get the same error. Do I require an SP1 disc? I did setup CD/DVD drive as first in the boot order, but I still got the same error.

Also what other options should I try to get to the Windows 7 System Repair Screen, so that I can repair/rebuild the BCD file?

Set "Users" to be on drive D: instead of drive C: during installation of Windows 7 [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate:
Moving users folder on Windows Vista/Seven to another partition

I am planning on doing a re-installation of my Windows 7 (Home Premium) computer and I would like to set it up in a way that:

1. System and "Program Files" are on drive C: partition
2. "Users" will be on drive D: partition

What I basically want to have is to set the system up into something similar to what I usually do on my Linux installations; i.e. / will be the root partition and /home will be for the users.

Is this possible?

Windows 8: Choose What To Keep

I have downloaded "Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant" from Microsoft Windows 8 Website. I am currently using Windows 7 right now.

When I run an application, I have to select one of the following option what I want to keep:

• Windows Setting, Personal Files and apps
• Just Personal Files
• Nothing

If I select Nothing, will Pictures and Documents will be deleted? They are located in different in drive (Eg: E:\Pictures\) and I have set the paths in Pictures Properties and Documents Properties

What method computer manufacturers use to install Windows?

They automate Windows installation using scripts or do they simply restore different disk images for each hardware model?

I've heard the second approach is not possible since some software that the OEM includes must generate different keys for each machine, and because of that they must install it using a script. (I don't know if this rumor is plausible)

Installing Win7 over PXE through Serva fails on Loading Network Resources [closed]

I'm trying to install Win7 OS on a Lenovo E335 with no DVD/CD. I'm doing it over PXE/Network using Serva. Although I am able to get passed Serva's installation menu, ServaPENet fails at the booting client when "Loading Network Resources" giving:

FAILED No NIC/Driver, ABORTING!

This is the only log on the Serva Client PC and nothing on the Serva-server side. I would appreciate if someone can tell me how to get past this error. The network card works fine; it has already loaded the Windows PE installation structure on a X: drive on the new laptop.

Another detail: I am using a normal Ethernet Cable to connect the PCs. Should this be enough, or is a crossover cable mandatory in this case?

Windows 7/8 installation fails on a SSD

Short story: I have recently purchased a SSD (Samsung 840 PRO, 512 Go) on which I wish to install Windows 8. However the installation fails to complete. It starts just fine (regional options, serial number, copy of files), restarts the computer a couple of times (even to the point where it says it's "configuring devices" or something like that), but at one point the computer restarts, the W8 start screen appears (with the small turning animation), then fades to black... and stays black. Nothing happens any more.

I tried rebooting several times (with or without the install disc inserted) with no better luck.

I also tried the whole process with Windows 7 (Ultimate) and I get a similar result. (I re-formatted the SSD first.)

Fortunately I was a able to plug my old HDD back and reboot with my previous system (along with the SSD). The W8 boot screen asked me which OS I wanted to start, so the new W8 is detected. But it's stuck at some point of the installation. Booting in my old W8, I can see that there are about 14GB worth of files that have been copied on the SSD (the usual Windows folder structure).

As far as I remember, I didn't change significantly my computer (hardware-wise) since I installed Windows 7 on it a few years back (and then upgraded it to W8 a few of weeks back). Except for the SSD, of course.

Is this a know problem? Do you have a suggestion as how to proceed?

Partitions on GPT disk are not in the recommended order?

I want to install a clean RTM Windows 8.0 on a laptop that came with OEM Windows 8.0 pre-installed. I have a working ISO image on DVD. The problem is that the setup program complains about "recommended order" for a GPT disk.

The partitions on the disk selected for installation are not in the recommended order. For additional information about installing to GPT disks go to the Microsoft website (www.microsoft.com) and search for GPT.

Do you want to proceed with installation?

I can obviously select to ignore it and install anyway! But what does it mean? What will the consequences be if I select to continue? Will I loose any partition?

Screenshots

Update

I ignored the warning, or whatever you want to call that, and Windows 8.0 installed successfully. No partitions were lost in the process. You can see that by the screenshot below.

You can also see that the partition layout is the same as before. In other words partitions have not been moved and reordered to fit the ideal GPT partition order as described by MS articles posted by Rod in the answer below.

What music was used in the Windows XP installation wizard?

I've just created a Windows XP VM so that I can test in IE6. (One day I'll look back and laugh.) There was a music track! It was quite soothing and had just started breaking into some vocals when I clicked "Finished".

What music was this? Is it available anywhere?

Windows 10 Media installers fails to start

I was really excited for Windows 10, but my system was factory reset, so I had to go back to Windows 8.1. By the time I got back to Windows 8.1, I installed all 100-something updates, hoping Win10 or some prerequisite for it would install. I still have not, seen any sort f update for Windows 10. In fact the only update I see currently is a security update for Internet Explorer. I said, ok, I hear there is an ISO I can download. I thought, ok, I just download xxx.iso, run it, Windows would mount it, and I would be on my way o installation. But of course no. Microsoft wants to make things hard. I had to download some media creation tool that would either allow me to install Windows 10 right now, or make a bootable disk. This would be ok, except for the fact that it does not even start. I get a message box saying:

Setup couldn't start properly. Please reboot your PC and try running Windows 10 setup again

I have tried rebooting several times. Each with no more success. I have tried both 32 and 64 bit editions and both fail. How can I fix this. Everything on Google has been telling me to clean u disk space and I cleared ~40Gb using cleanmgr. I have 407Gb available right now.

Transferring a Windows 8 license and proper un- and reinstallation

Long story short

I have two computers: a laptop and a desktop computer. Both have Windows 7 on them.

I buy the Windows 8 Pro upgrade. To see if it screws up anything, I install it on my laptop as a guinea pig. I intend to use Windows 8 for my main computer, my desktop, but I want to test it on the laptop, so I know I don’t risk losing access to my desktop and the data on it. I never use my laptop, and only used it, because it already has a Windows 7 installation on it.

The problem

At some point, I must have entered the license key on my laptop, because when I go to the activation screen on my desktop, I get this:

Uh-oh. I can’t use the key on my desktop. Now how the hell do I transfer the key from my laptop to my desktop computer?

Answers and suggestions so far

Let’s just say that I tried everything possible to get some answers on this matter. The best response I got from Microsoft is this:

To install Windows 8 on your desktop, do the following:

• Uninstall Windows 8 on your laptop
• Afterwards, install Windows 8 on your desktop
• If it won’t activate, call product activation at (...)

I am not a fan of that last point. The error message does allude to such a solution, however:

If you’ve reinstalled Windows or made changes to your hardware recently, you may be able to use your current key.

The question

My main question is this: has anyone been in a similar situation, and if so, what did you do to resolve this?

Failing that, what is the proper way to

1. uninstall the Windows 8 installation on my laptop, and
2. reinstall the Windows 8 installation on my desktop?

Ad 1

I have already tried using the “reset” feature on my laptop, but that only resulted in a new Windows 8 installation that was already activated. But which is the right way to uninstall the installation in a way that allows me to use the license key on the desktop computer?

Ad 2

Which is the proper way to reinstall the Windows 8 installation on my desktop computer? Why do I even have to reinstall it in the first place?

I won’t get around to do this, until my USB key with 3.0 support arrives in the mail, but it is going to be a while, until I find a assuaging response to the best way to go about this anyway.

Installing Windows from a partition [duplicate]

Ok so I have left my USB pen in work and I want to install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview onto my netbook.

Can I setup a partition on my netbook, put the Windows installer files onto that and boot from it?

I have used the computer manager snap in to create an 8GB NTFS partition on my hard drive. I have then download the Windows 8 ISO. I guess I now need to do three things.

1. Add an entry in the Windows 7 boot loader pointed to my new partition
2. Extract the contents of the ISO onto the partition
3. Change the properties of the partition in some way to make it bootable

Two questions:

1. Is this correct?
2. How do I go about achieving the above?

Thanks