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I'm trying to install Windows 7 from a bootable USB stick. My other laptop read it properly. However when I try to boot from a defective laptop, it tells me:

A disk read error occured. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart.

I have Windows XP on the laptop: it reaches the Windows boot screen, tries to load Windows then restarts. What can I do? I can't boot Windows 7, so I can't run chkdsk or anything.

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  • Not sure if you are trying to install Windows 7 or repair the XP installation? Please clarify exactly what you are trying to accomplish, use the edit feature to modify your question.
    – Moab
    Apr 17, 2011 at 23:20
  • I'm trying to install windows 7 from a USB boot stick.\ Apr 18, 2011 at 0:25
  • It was your second paragraph that had me wondering. Will it boot from any other bootable usb device? Did you try all the usb ports?
    – Moab
    Apr 18, 2011 at 0:28
  • Do you get the same disk read error when you boot from the hard drive?, if you do, it may not be trying to boot from USB at all.
    – Moab
    Apr 18, 2011 at 0:31
  • @Moab I tried all USB ports. I did not get any error for trying to boot from the hard drive. It loaded up the windows xp bot screen. Apr 18, 2011 at 0:41

2 Answers 2

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Sometimes an USB stick error happens when having a lot of files in root folder. If there's more stuff than actually the files needed to make the Windows install, try to move them to some safe device/computer.

Some times is the file system of the USB and/or operative system. USB sticks are often FAT 32, or FAT 16. In some cases people install Windows XP in FAT 32. I guess your Windows 7 is in NTFS file system, as usual. Might happen some issue related to this.

Did you check that in the defective laptop BIOS menu, you have USB listed in boot sequence/options ? You might have it configured differently or laptop BIOS not supporting USB boot at all.

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  • So what I did was to move the USB drive to be booted at the top of the list. It gives this error when I try to select it in the boot device manager. Apr 18, 2011 at 22:59
  • @ShawnMclean And what exactly solved your problem? Aug 19, 2020 at 11:02
  • @Thomas the first sentence. That bios at the time allowed me to reorder the boot devices instead of selecting them. Sep 11, 2020 at 22:58
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If the same USB drive works in another system, then the problem must lie with your XP system. You could try a BIOS update if there is a later version available. If that does not help, make an Easy2Boot v1.91B USB drive and add the Win7 ISO to it (_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN7 folder). Do NOT set the boot order to boot from the USB drive - instead use a F key (e.g. F8, F10, F11, F12 or whatever) to invoke the BIOS Boot Selection pop-up box and then select the USB drive as the boot drive. Use a USB 2 port. As soon as it starts to boot, immediately press and hold down the SHIFT key. This will install the grub4dos USB 2 driver which may be less buggy than your BIOS's USB driver. You should see a message about 1 Device found (0x80). Then select the Windows Install - Win7 menu and try installing Windows 7 usual.

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  • This definitely sorted me out. Tried: "Rufus", "Universal USB installer", "MS Windows USB DVD Tool", "Windows 7 USB edition", "WinToUSB", and couple other methods. None worked except this. #OldPCProblems
    – Pierre
    Feb 6, 2020 at 3:52

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