[FIX] Common Problems While Installing Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta

As we all know Microsoft will release public beta of Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 by the end of July. Microsoft has started publishing troubleshooting articles to help you in fixing some common problems which might occur while installing SP1.

You might face following problems while installing SP1 in Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2:

Problem 1:

When installing SP1, you might get an "Installation was not successful" error message. The most common causes of this problem are:

• An inconsistency in the Windows Servicing Store. The Windows Servicing Store is a feature that is required to successfully install the service packs.
• A program on your computer, such as antivirus or antispyware programs, is interfering with the installation of the service pack.

Solution:

To try to solve this problem, first download and run the System Update Readiness Tool. The System Update Readiness Tool can help fix problems that might prevent Windows updates and service packs from installing.

Problem 2:

If you try to install SP1 with Microsoft Security Essentials or Microsoft Forefront Client Security already installed on your computer, your security program might prevent the successful installation of the service pack.

Solution:

To successfully install SP1, you or a network administrator will have to uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials or Microsoft Forefront Client Security, install the service pack, and then reinstall your security program.

Problem 3:

While installing SP1, you might get "Windows has detected unsupported languages files" error message.

Solution:

SP1 can only be installed on a computer that is running a German, Spanish, French, English, or Japanese version of Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

problem with wireless adapter or access Point

This issue occurs if the Wi-Fi hot spot uses wireless APs or routers that don’t support the 802.11 power save protocol. Choose one of the following three procedures to resolve the issue:

  Method 1: Modify the default power saving power plan
Modify the default on-battery power setting for the wireless network adapter. Configure the wireless network adapter to use the Maximum Performance setting when Windows Vista or Windows 7 is configured to use the Balanced power plan or the Power saver power plan. To do this, follow these steps:
1.    Click Start
Collapse this imageExpand this image, type Power Options in the Start Search box, and then click Power Options in the Programs list.
Collapse this imageExpand this imageIf you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password or click Continue.
2.    Click Change plan settings under the power plan that is selected. For example, if the Balanced option is selected, click Change plan settings under Balanced.
3.    Click Change advanced power settings.
4.    In the Power Options dialog box, expand Wireless Adapter Settings, and then expand Power Saving Mode.
5.     In the list that appears next to On battery, click Maximum Performance, and then click OK.
 Method 2
You could modify the power saving settings of the wireless network adapter to work around this issue. To do this, follow these steps:
1.    Click Start, click Run, type ncpa.cpl, and then click OK.
2.    In the Network Connections dialog box, right-click the wireless network adapter, and then click Properties.
3.    Click Configure under the name of the network card.
4.    Click the Advanced tab, and then modify the power management settings. For example, click Power Management in the Property list, drag the Value slider to the power management setting that you want to use, and then click OK.

Note These settings may differ depending on the manufacturer of the wireless network adapter.
 Method 3


To work around this problem, manually create a network profile by using the Manually Connect to a Wireless Network Wizard and by selecting shared-mode network authentication. To do this, follow these steps:
1.    Click Start
Collapse this imageExpand this image, type network and sharing in the Start Search box, and then click Network and Sharing Center in the Programs list.
Collapse this imageExpand this imageIf you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.
2.    Click Manage Wireless Networks, and then click Add.
3.    Click Manually create a network profile.
4.    In the Network Name box, enter the name of the network.
5.    In the Security type box, click Shared.

How to Repair or Reinstall Office Programs

This procedure detects and repairs problems that are associated with installed Microsoft Office programs, such as registry settings and missing installation files. This procedure does not repair personal files, such as worksheets or templates.

The following two methods describe two ways that you can use the Detect and Repair tool to detect and repair problems with installed programs.

Method 1: Run Detect and Repair on the Help Menu

1. On the Help menu in any Office program, click Detect and Repair.
2. Click Start.

Note To restore program shortcuts to the Start menu, verify that the Restore my shortcuts while repairing check box is selected.

Method 2: Run the Detect and Repair Tool from Add or Remove Programs

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Add or Remove Programs, click Microsoft Office 2003, and then click Change.
3. In the Microsoft Office 2003 Setup dialog box, click Reinstall or Repair, and then click Next.
4. Click either Reinstall Office or Detect and Repair errors in my Office installation, and then click Install.

Note If you choose to detect and repair problems in your Microsoft Office installation, click to select the Restore my Start Menu Shortcuts check box to rebuild your Microsoft Office shortcuts

How to Install Individual Features in Office 2003

Generally, when you first try to use a feature that is not installed, Office 2003 installs the feature automatically. For example, if you point to Get External Data on the Data menu in Microsoft Office Excel 2003, and then you click Run Database Query, Microsoft Query is installed automatically.

If the feature that you want is not installed automatically in Office 2003, follow these steps:

1. Quit all programs.
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
3. Double-click Add or Remove Programs, click Microsoft Office 2003, and then click Change.
4. In the Microsoft Office 2003 Setup dialog box, click Add or Remove Features, and then click Next.
5. Click to select the check boxes of the components that you want to install.
6. Click to select the Choose advance customization of applications check box, and then click Next.
7. Expand the product that you want to customize, click the icon to the left of the feature name, and then click the installation state that you want. For example, if you want to remove a feature, set it to Not Available. To install a feature immediately, click Run from My Computer, or click Installed on First Use if you want to install the feature when it is requested for the first time.
8. When you finish changing the installation states, click Update.

Explorer Toolbar Editor: Add New Options To Windows 7 Explorer Toolbar

The toolbar in Windows 7 explorer lets you quickly create a new folder, organize files and folders, include a file or folder in library, and share files with groups. But the explorer toolbar lacks some useful options such as cut, copy, paste, delete, close and many other options which we use very often.

Explorer Toolbar Editor is a tiny application, from our friends at winreview, which provides you the ability to add a number of new options to the explorer toolbar with a mouse click.

Explorer Toolbar Editor lets you add Burn, Clear changes, Close, Copy, Cut, Delete, Details Pane, E-mail, Folder Options, Include in library, Layout, Library Pane, Manage default printers, Menu bar, Navigation pane, Open print queue, Open printer server property, Paste, Play all, Print, Properties, Redo, Remove properties, Rename, Search on website, Select all, Separator, Slide show, Start scan, Sync, Undo, Work offline or online option and Update printer driver options to the explorer toolbar.

This tool also lets you remove the default toolbar options such as New Folder and Share with options from the toolbar.

You can add specific options to documents library, generic library, music library, pictures library, videos library, documents folder, music folder, pictures folder, videos folder and search Results. For example, you can add Print, Slide show and Rename options to picture folder and  Undo, Redo, Select all, and Remove Properties to documents folder.

How to use Explorer Toolbar Editor to customize Windows explorer toolbar:

Step 1: Download, install, and run Explorer Toolbar Editor software.

Step 2: Select a library, folder, or search result in the left pane and click Add Buttons to view all available options to to the selected category. Check all the options that you want to add to the toolbar and click Add button.

Step 3: You are done! Open Windows explorer and select a file or folder to view newly added buttons. To remove a button, launch Explorer Toolbar Editor, select a category in the left pane, then select an option that you want to remove, and then click Remove buttons.

Explorer Toolbar Editor is a freeware and works great on both x86 and x64 versions of Windows 7.

Here is how to use UltraISO software to create bootable USB drive:

Step 1: Download and install UltraISO software on your PC. Even though UltraISO is a paid software, you can download the free 30-day trial version to make your USB bootable.

Step 2: The next step is to run UltraISO trial version with admin rights. Right-click on the UltraISO software shortcut on the desktop or Start menu entry, and select Run as administrator option. If you are prompted with Register Now screen, click Continue to Try.. button to use the trial version.

Step 3: In the home screen, click File > Open option to browse to your Windows 7 or Windows 8 ISO file.

Step 4: Next, in the home screen of UltraISO, click on Bootable menu and then click Write Disk Image option to launch Write Disk Image dialog box.

Step 5: In the Write Disk Image dialog, select the Disk Drive as your USB flash drive, select the write method as USB-HDD before hitting the Format button. It will then launch Format Removable Disk dialog, where you need to simply click Start button to begin formatting the flash drive. Please backup all data from the USB device before hitting the Format button.

Step 6: Once the format in done, click Write button and then click Yes for the warning prompt to start the process. When the writing is finished, you will see Burn Successful message event list. Close UltraISO software and connect your USB to a machine to start installing Windows.

How To: Install Windows 7 Or Windows 8 From USB Drive

This guide works 100% for Vista & Windows 7 unlike most of the guides out there. I have seen many sites/blogs that have “Install Vista from USB guide” but either with incomplete steps or not working guide. I have also seen some guides that don’t’ use proper commands in this guide. After spending many hours I have come up with this 100% working guide.

I just did this method on one of my friends machine and installed the new Windows 7 BETA. The main advantage is that by using USB drive you will be able to install Windows 7/Vista in just 15 minutes. You can also use this bootable USB drive on friend’s computer who doesn’t have a DVD optical drive.

The method is very simple and you can use without any hassles. Needless to say that your motherboard should support USB Boot feature to make use of the bootable USB drive.

Requirements:

*USB Flash Drive (Minimum 4GB)

*Windows 7 or Vista installation files.

Follow the below steps to create bootable Windows 7/Vista USB drive using which you can install Windows 7/Vista easily.

1. Plug-in your USB flash drive to USB port and move all the contents from USB drive to a safe location on your system.

2. Open Command Prompt with admin rights. Use any of the below methods to open Command Prompt with admin rights.

*Type cmd in Start menu search box and hit Ctrl+ Shift+ Enter.

Or

*Go to Start menu > All programs > Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

3. You need to know about the USB drive a little bit. Type in the following commands in the command prompt:

First type DISKPART and hit enter to see the below message.

Next type LIST DISK command and note down the Disk number (ex: Disk 1) of your USB flash drive. In the below screenshot my Flash Drive Disk no is Disk 1.

4. Next type all the below commands one by one. Here I assume that your disk drive no is “Disk 1”.If you have Disk 2 as your USB flash drive then use Disk 2.Refer the above step to confirm it.

So below are the commands you need to type and execute one by one:

SELECT DISK 1

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS

(Format process may take few seconds)

ASSIGN

EXIT

Don’t close the command prompt as we need to execute one more command at the next step. Just minimize it.

5. Next insert your Windows7/Vista DVD into the optical drive and check the drive letter of the DVD drive. In this guide I will assume that your DVD drive letter is “D” and USB drive letter is “H” (open my computer to know about it).

6. Maximize the minimized Command Prompt in the 4th step.Type  the following command now:

D: CD BOOT and hit enter.Where “D” is your DVD drive letter.

CD BOOT and hit enter to see the below message.

7. Type another command given below to update the USB drive with BOOTMGR compatible code.

BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 H:

Where “H” is your USB drive letter. Once you enter the above command you will see the below message.

8. Copy your Windows 7/Vista DVD contents to the USB flash drive.

9. Your USB drive is ready to boot and install Windows 7/Vista. Only thing you need to change the boot priority at the BIOS to USB from the HDD or CD ROM drive. I won’t explain it as it’s just the matter the changing the boot priority or enabling the USB boot option in the BIOS.