Another Win 7 no-reformat, nondestructive reinstall question!

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I’m having an issue with IE9 and sometimes IE8 (see my thread in the IE forum) and I’m thinking that the issue really may be Win7 SP1. I’d like to follow Fred’s suggestion but I have to uninstall SP1 first since I have a Win 7 64bit Ultimate pre-SP1 DVD. However I cannot uninstall SP1 from Control Panel. When I select the SP from the list there is no “Uninstall” button. There is for the ones above it and the ones below it but not that one.

Does this mean I have to uninstall all updates made after SP1 first?

Kevin

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Open,Control Panel then click on;Programs & Features.Once their ion the upper left hand corner click on;View installed updates.NOW,in the search box in the upper right hand corner type in;KB976932.This is the SP1 update.

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Open,Control Panel then click on;Programs & Features.Once their ion the upper left hand corner click on;View installed updates.NOW,in the search box in the upper right hand corner type in;KB976932.This is the SP1 update.

Thanks but what I meant by “Control Panel” was the Programs & Features applet and the Installed Updates list.

When I select KB976932, the “Uninstall” button disappears! So does that mean I need to uninstall any updates applied after SP1 before it can uninstalled?

Kevin

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Thanks but what I meant by “Control Panel” was the Programs & Features applet and the Installed Updates list.

When I select KB976932, the “Uninstall” button disappears! So does that mean I need to uninstall any updates applied after SP1 before it can uninstalled?

Kevin

I believe you are correct in your deduction. There are post-SP1 updates that update the updates in SP1. Uninstalling SP1 without uninstalling all post-SP1 updates could very well put your PC into an unusable condition, and so Windows blocks that possibility from occurring.

I have always advised making a drive image before any major update such as a service pack, or before a mega-update Tuesday where there are a dozen or more “critical” or “important” updates waiting in the queue. It allows one to revert to a known-good configuration.

Drive images are very handy for more than just backups.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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I would have to say,NO.About uninstall any updates before SP1 can be uninstalled.Just right click on the KB976932 line & uninstall.Then fllow the directions from Fred Langa.I have gone over the article that Fred had wrote more than a few times.He doesn’t mention anything about your question.

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I would have to say,NO.About uninstall any updates before SP1 can be uninstalled.Just right click on the KB976932 line & uninstall.Then fllow the directions from Fred Langa.I have gone over the article that Fred had wrote more than a few times.He doesn’t mention anything about your question.

@chowur: It appears that you are not reading the reply from kswsan53:

When I select KB976932, the “Uninstall” button disappears!

There is no “right click on the KB976932 line & uninstall” ability when there is no “Uninstall” button after KB976932 is selected.

One might assume that Fred Langa did not encounter this particular problem, since he made no mention of a solution in his article.

Also bear in mind that we don’t all necessarily get all of the same updates; much depends on the configuration of the individual machine, what other software is installed on the individual machine, what other Microsoft software is installed on the individual machine, etc.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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OK, I went through and uninstalled all of the updates and security patches applied since I installed SP1. Still after doing that I cannot uninstall SP1! The only thing I can figure is that the SP1 backup files were corrupted or deleted (maybe during a disk cleanup?). So I cannot do the no-reformat, nondestructive Win & reinstall using my pre-SP1 DVD.

I’d look into creating a slipstreamed Win 7 SP1 DVD but since my goal was to roll back to pre-SP1 to try and solve an issue I’m having with IE9, there doesn’t seem much point to doing that.

What’s the least destuctive way to get back to pre-SP1 at this point?

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Probably the repair install of Win 7. Once you do this you will have to reapply all updates. Even easier would have been a restoration from an Image. After you get back to where you want to be, look into imaging. Just search for Imaging in the forums. I can restore to any number of Images in about 10 minutes. Any time I make a change in my system I recreate a new Image. I store all my Images on an ext USB HD.

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Ted,

Thanks but what I was trying to do was a repair install. However without being able to uninstall SP1 that cannot be done because the repair/upgrade sees Win 7 SP1 as already upgraded from my pre-SP1 installation DVD. If you follow the link in your post above, you’ll see that one canot even use a slipstreamed Win 7 SP1 DVD to do a repair install.

So back to my original question what’s the best way to get back to a pre-SP1 installation?

Kevin

P.S. I actually used a drive image to get my system back to where I was before I uninstalled the post-SP1 updates so I guess I’ll look at doing an image before major updates like this in the future.

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Without an Image to the pre-SP1 installation, I’m afraid there may not be a better alternative to the full reinstall. I’m wondering if downloading the full SP1 file from MS( one of the last 2 options is what you would want) then reinstalling it from the downloaded file might fix or reinsert the corrupt or missing uninstall info for SP1. Might be worth a try before a reinstall.

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Without an Image to the pre-SP1 installation, I’m afraid there may not be a better alternative to the full reinstall. I’m wondering if downloading the full SP1 file from MS( one of the last 2 options is what you would want) then reinstalling it from the downloaded file might fix or reinsert the corrupt or missing uninstall info for SP1. Might be worth a try before a reinstall.

Gave it a shot but when you try and run the install, it stops and says that SP1 is already installed. Never got far enough to effect anything.

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I fought a similar problem with IE9 beta and could not get it to uninstall no matter all the good advice from the folks here. Also could not get SP1 to install or some prereqs for the Blackberry Desktop. I finally gave up and formatted the hard drive after I made a clone of the system so I could go back if I needed to. Now everything works great. It was a pain in the you know what, but the system is running cleaner and nicer than ever and everything that I needed to install worked without errors. I did not reinstall any application software until I had gotten SP1 and every update installed. One thing I’ve learned in this day of large hard drives is that I make a complete copy of all my application CD/DVDs to a hard drive and I have not had any problem reinstalling software by just going to the appropriate folder and running setup.exe. Sure saves me a lot of time looking for all the CDs. If a key code is needed I make a text file and store that in the same folder and I can just open that file and copy and paste when needed.

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That’s too bad. was worth a shot, but in your case a reinstall appears to be in the cards. Imaging is the best and easiest way I know to restore my OS. I use a ext. USB HD (1 TB) and I can store dozens of images. I just make sure I use descriptive titles and dates so I know what I am restoring. Having a full image before and after major uopdates is a great idea, but if you keep Up To Date Images then the before image would be redundant as you already have it.

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Hi Everybody,

Well I finally just decided to start over and reinstall Win7. I started back on 8/28, kept a writteon log of what I did, and made periodoc system disk images using Macrium Reflect at key points along the way until I got to the point where Windows Update offered up the SP1 update. I naturally made a disk image right before I did that update and since the update the system has been fine.

Thanks to everybody for trying to help

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Unfortunately, MS made available the iso file for Win 7 with SP1after your thread had run it’s course. This might very well have worked for you. Glad you got things ironed out.

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Ted,

Thanks for the link. Wish I had it sooner so I could see if the nondestructive reinstall would have fixed my problem. But maybe in the long run doing the rebuild was better as I certainly paid more attention to what I instaled and when.
I am downloading the .ISOs even as I write this so I’ll be ready for the next time. Which I hope doesn’t happen but chances are it will after all it is Windows! :rolleyes:

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I would also create Images because these will restore your entire system including all customizations and installed apps. Much quicker than starting from scratch, even with the iso that includes SP1. I recreate Images when I make changes. Restoration is a 10 minute process. Can’t go wrong with that.

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Agree. I made images as I went along and am still making them periodically.

I just wanted the install DVD with SP1 as a backup so in a disaster I can start a little further along the path.

Sort of a belt ‘n suspenders thing.:)

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