Can't Install Windows 7 - MBR - Bricked System?

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Celerion

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Dec 22, 2013
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The title pretty much states itself. I'll go over what I did which "destroyed" my system first, so scroll down to the "-----------" if you don't need this info.

Basically I was editing a file in System32, we'll put it at that. The file was explorerframe.dll. After restarting my computer after editing it, Windows 7 failed to start up properly due to an issue with explorer.exe not running which effectively delivered a black screen and cursor. I managed to get CMD running in Administrator mode and ran "sfc /scannow", though that failed to function properly as well. Afterwards I grabbed my Windows 7 HP SP1 installation disk and attempted to reinstall (Repair gave me an error saying I am trying to repair a OS which is a different version or something). Due to my hard drives/ssd having a MBR partition and not a GPT partition, I can't install Windows 7 onto any of my drives. This leaves me punching a wall, for I believe I can't really do much more now aside from buying a new SSD, otherwise my PC is "bricked".
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If anybody has an idea about what I could do, or even confirm that getting a new SSD would allow me to install Windows 7, please post!

~Alex
 
Solution
MC_K7
If your important files are on the HDD, then you can reformat the SSD? At the beginning of Windows installation, it gives you options to manage partitions (create, delete, etc...) so if you think the partition\volume type is the problem as I suggested you can destroy it and create a new one and reinstall Windows on it.

If for some reasons you can't do it at the beginning of Windows installation, there are many software to manage partitions. Acronis Disk Director is the best if I can recall, but it ain't free.

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MC_K7

MC_K7

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Did you try a system restore first?

In any case, I really don't think you need a new SSD. You could simply reinstall Windows completely (clean install). Just destroy existing volumes and partitions if needed to, but GPT should be compatible with Windows 7 anyways, but if it causes you problems for some reasons, as I said just destroy the partitions and create new ones, you can change to MBR if needed to.

 
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Celerion

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Dec 22, 2013
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That's the thing: I can't boot up Windows 7 to change those partitions nor can I do a system restore anymore. (First time it gave me an error, and my drives are formatted now, so there really isn't anything to go back to. Most of my files were on a seperate HDD though, which is still in good condition). If I could get advice on how to convert my MBR partitions to GPT without booting up entirely, that'd be great.
 
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MC_K7

MC_K7

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If your important files are on the HDD, then you can reformat the SSD? At the beginning of Windows installation, it gives you options to manage partitions (create, delete, etc...) so if you think the partition\volume type is the problem as I suggested you can destroy it and create a new one and reinstall Windows on it.

If for some reasons you can't do it at the beginning of Windows installation, there are many software to manage partitions. Acronis Disk Director is the best if I can recall, but it ain't free.

 
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Celerion

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Dec 22, 2013
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Didn't realize "Delete" was the option to delete the partition. Thanks. However, after deleting the partition on the SSD and selecting "New", I select the amount of space to be allocated (The highest amount) and select "Ok". The disk is still read as a MBR partition though, and not GPT... any ideas? Thanks so far btw.

Edit: Also, I could try deleting the Partition on a secondary HDD, see if that works. (I have 3 HDDs, the Secondary one is currently inside the PC, the one with the files is elsewhere).
 
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Celerion

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Dec 22, 2013
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SSD didn't work from my post above, deleting the Partition on the secondary HDD did though, I am installing Windows 7 on it now. Will get back here if any problems persist..
 
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MC_K7

MC_K7

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But why do you want to use GPT? I thought it was only good when you need more than 4 partitions on the same disk, or for disks with capacity above 2TB? You only got 128GB on that SSD and only 1 partition. Why not use MBR? There's no performance benefit going from MBR to GPT. I installed SSDs in hundreds of computers and always selected the default partition options that Windows suggests (MBR) and they run super fast. Windows 7 boots in less than 15 seconds and Windows 8 in less than 10 seconds. You wouldn't see any difference with GPT.

 
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Celerion

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Dec 22, 2013
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10,510


That's exactly what I thought after reading a few articles online. I also notice barely any difference in boot up times. Now however I am reinstalling all of my drivers from my chipset. I successfully installed Windows 7 onto my secondary HDD, so I suppose my issues are now behind me. Hopefully no driver installation issues pop up...

My sincerest thanks and gratitude to you!
~Alex

 
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MC_K7

MC_K7

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I'm not sure I follow, why did you install Windows 7 on the HDD? Usually people install their OS on the SSD for maximum performance. Just make sure you install latest chipset drivers after Windows installation if you want best performance from your SSD. But if you simply wanted to change the partitions on your HDD, you can simply install Windows on the SSD, then plug the HDD as a secondary drive, then from Windows you can access Disk Management and modify partitions for all your disks. No need to go through Windows installation process for each disks.

 
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