Cannot remove Win7 SP1

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Hi,
I’m trying to do a ‘No-reformat, nondestructive reinstall’ of Windows 7 Home Premium, as described by Fred Langa in the July 14 2011 newsletter.

Fred mentions that SP1 (Service Pack for Microsoft Windows KB976932) should be uninstalled prior to attempting the upgrade, however, when I follow his procedure, select the appropriate entry in the update list and then right click, no ‘Uninstall’ option appears. I checked several other update entries and some offer the ‘Uninstall’ prompt and others do not.
I did try just following the update procedure but – as Fred mentioned – the process fails stating that I’m trying to upgrade with an older version, than the one currently installed.

So, until I can get rid of SP1, I can’t proceed…… Any ideas as to how I can uninstall SP1 would be much appreciated

Thanks

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You could always download theWin 7 ISO filethat includes SP1, burn that ISO file to disk and use that to do the non-destructive reinstall. Understand this ISO file is relatively old and the reinstalled OS will require quite a few updates, but then again you are already looking at quite a few updates if you are successful using your original DVD as well.

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I agree with Medico. Downloading the ISO will save you a lot of time. Just make sure you download the version that has the same bittedness as your installed version. You can check this by right clicking “Computer” in Windows Explorer and selecting Properties. See the System section in the center.

Joe

--Joe

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It may be me, but using the referenced ISO for SP1 didn’t work when I tried Fred’s approach. At the end of the whole process, I was told that my key was invalid. Mine is for W7 Home Premium build 6000. The downloaded ISO winds up with build 6001 and wants it’s own key.

If there’s a way around this, I would surely like it pointed out – and buying a new key is not a way around it for me.

Dick

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Thanks for your comments…. Ref Dick-Y’s post, How can I check which build I have present on my PC ? I can’t see any reference to a ‘build’ on the ‘Properties’ page of Win 7….

I downloaded the appropriate ISO file from the suggested website, but when I tried to Unzip it, WinZip created an error :

Extracting efimicrosoftbootfontschs_boot.ttf Unable to create file.

This file and all the files in this ‘fonts’ folder are of Zero length.
I repeated the download from the Techdows website and tried again but the result was the same

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Thanks for your comments…. Ref Dick-Y’s post, How can I check which build I have present on my PC ? I can’t see any reference to a ‘build’ on the ‘Properties’ page of Win 7….

I downloaded the appropriate ISO file from the suggested website, but when I tried to Unzip it, WinZip created an error :

Extracting efimicrosoftbootfontschs_boot.ttf Unable to create file.

This file and all the files in this ‘fonts’ folder are of Zero length.
I repeated the download from the Techdows website and tried again but the result was the same

You don’t unzip an ISO you burn it to a CD/DVD. If you right click the ISO file you should get an option to use ‘Windows Disc Image Burner’.

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It may be me, but using the referenced ISO for SP1 didn’t work when I tried Fred’s approach. At the end of the whole process, I was told that my key was invalid. Mine is for W7 Home Premium build 6000. The downloaded ISO winds up with build 6001 and wants it’s own key.

If there’s a way around this, I would surely like it pointed out – and buying a new key is not a way around it for me.

Dick

If this is an OEM system are you sure you have the correct key?

Joe

--Joe

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It may be me, but using the referenced ISO for SP1 didn’t work when I tried Fred’s approach. At the end of the whole process, I was told that my key was invalid. Mine is for W7 Home Premium build 6000. The downloaded ISO winds up with build 6001 and wants it’s own key.

If there’s a way around this, I would surely like it pointed out – and buying a new key is not a way around it for me.

Dick

You could try the telephone method to activate. May work or if does not then often get put through to an MS adviser who after hearing what you are trying to do may allow activation.

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willum08:
The build number mismatch was reported to me after I went through the process Fred describes.
I have since found this as a way to see what the build number:

“How to find windows version, build number and revision number?
Click Start, type regedit and press Enter to open the Windows registry
Navigate to the registry key – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersion

On the right panel, you will find the key “CurrentBuildNumber“.The value of this key is your Windows Build Number.”

I hope this helps.

Also, if anyone can help me overcome my last point in msg #4 above I would be grateful.

Dick

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Hi Dick-Y,
Thanks for your post. I’ve found an alternative method
Right Click Computer > Properties > Help > About Windows and the new window shows the version……..

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Thanks. Better that way than mucking about in the Registry.
Dick-Y

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Joe:
It’s a Dell 4600 that I bought new from Dell; and it came with W7 Home Premium CD’s to match what came preloaded.
So,”Yes”, it’s the correct Key.

Dick

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Does anyone have any idea why the Zipped ISO file will not Unzip – as mentioned in my post above timed 2013-10-18 14:09 ??

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Does anyone have any idea why the Zipped ISO file will not Unzip – as mentioned in my post above timed 2013-10-18 14:09 ??

What’s the point of trying to unzip? Just burn the ISO to a DVD and use it to install.

Joe

--Joe

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I tried burning the file to a DVD using the facility within Windows 7 but received an error saying that the file could not be burned and that it was incompitable……

I have downloaded the file again, from a different website, and this time it is a larger size than the first download so the first download must have been faulty……
The new downloaded file burned successfully to DVD – hopefully I can now re-install Win 7 …….

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The original site pointed to by Medico and others offered only ISO files for download. Where did you get the zipped file from?
Dick

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Hi Dick,When I downloaded the original ISO file, it showed as having a WinZip Icon and I naturally assumed that it was a ZIP file…. (Wrong !!!)
I then tried burning the downloaded file to a DVD and got an error message as I reported above.

Anyway, that file proved to be corrupted, but I didn’t realise this until I downloaded another copy from a different website (Webtrickz.com),
even though it ‘points’ to the same download source (http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24208.iso)

I’ve now burned a successful ISO Disk, re-installed Windows 7 and everything is working fine – including validation

Thanks to all for your input …….

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willum08:
Did you start the process with build 6000 for your Home Premium, or did you begin with 6001?
Dick

ps,
If you did start with 6000, how did you get it validated?

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Hi Dick,When I downloaded the original ISO file, it showed as having a WinZip Icon and I naturally assumed that it was a ZIP file….

WinZip can open .iso files. When you installed WinZip it associated .iso with WinZip so if you double click on a .iso file, it will open in WinZip. If you don’t want this to happen, associate .iso with the program you prefer (like a dvd burning program)

Jerry

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Has anyone done Fred Langa’s process and gone from build 6000 to 6001 and gotten it validated?

Dick

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Has anyone done Fred Langa’s process and gone from build 6000 to 6001 and gotten it validated?

Dick

You could try the telephone option to see if MS will activate it.

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Thanks, but I’m still wondering/asking if anyone has gone the route of build 6000 to 6001 w/o calling Softy. I would particularly like to hear back from Willum08 about how/what he did to resolve his original question to the board.

Dick

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Hi Dick,

Apologies for late reply – I’ve been away from home (without Internet Access)

In answer to your specific question, the build version of my original Win 7 was reported as : Version 6.1 (Build 7601: Service Pack 1). Fred’s procedure worked fine but I had to use the telephone activation method – bit of a pain with all these numbers – but worth the effort I suppose……….

Cheers !

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Thanks willumo8. So you went from 6001 to 6001.
Dick

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I would assume so – however, I’ve not seen any actual reference to ‘6000’ or ‘6001’ – just the details in my last posting.

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My bad. I meant 7600 and 7601. I need some morning tea.

Dick

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