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I'm trying to update my wife's HP laptop from Vista to 7. I followed the following steps:

  1. Run full backup to external HD.
  2. Turn on computer
  3. Insert update disc
  4. Select "Update," after de-authorizing iTunes.
  5. Leave it to do its magic.

This morning I went down stairs and to my horror got a Press any key to load from disc.....missing Operating System on a black screen.

Luckily my wife's school isn't in session, but she's taking a few summer classes and really can't afford to be without a computer for a long period of time.

Any ideas? My only thoughts are that her HD was encrypted (she's in nursing school, HIPPA stuff), and I'm curious if that would have corrupted something.

Do I have any options other than clicking "Other" and reintalling everything?

[EDIT]

Yes: I disconnected the drive first.

Boot order: Notebook HD, CD, USB...

Backup: just the windows backup. It was better than my wife's 'nothing'.

Encryption: Safeboot

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You disconnected the external drive right? Are you sure your boot order didn't get screwed up? What software package were you using for encryption? What tool did you use to make a backup with, if you had a good backup, then doing a restore should be easy right? – Zoredache Aug 17 '11 at 23:45
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If memory serves, the upgrade program will erase the old device configuration profile and reinstall all the drivers from scratch. Since the disk encryption driver does not correspond to any physical device, it may not be installed. Alternatively, Windows installer overwritten the MBR boot sector that the encryption software uses. In either case, you can see if the software manufacturer provides any recovery disk to restore the boot sector or driver. – billc.cn Aug 18 '11 at 0:18
@bill: thanks. I just found out it's 'True Crypt' that they were using...doesn't even sound legit...thanks for your help. – Cpfohl Aug 18 '11 at 0:34
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Not at all, it's just the most popular free disk-encryption utility on the planet... – digitxp Aug 18 '11 at 0:35
Yeah, I use True Crypt on my computer as well, but I never dared to use the full disk encryption feature because I don't know how well they implemented it... Looks like it's not 100% reliable. – billc.cn Aug 18 '11 at 0:36
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From the TrueCrypt website:

When the system partition/drive is encrypted, the system cannot be upgraded
(for example, from Windows XP to Windows Vista) or repaired from within the pre-boot
environment (using a Windows setup CD/DVD or the Windows pre-boot component). In such
cases, the system partition/drive must be decrypted first. Note: A running operating
system can be updated (security patches, service packs, etc.) without any problems even
when the system partition/drive is encrypted.

Lack of a warning...I didn't even think of it.

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