Dell 9020 USFF can't complete setup win7?

[mikehende]

Hello all, this unit was brought to me with win7 Pro installed but the owner had some issues and asked me to reinstall win7. After wiping the drive clean and attempting to reinstall win7 pro, when it gets to the end of the "Completing installation" on the Installing Windows screen, I am getting a prompt stating :

 

Windows setup could not configure windows to run on this hardware

 

I tried both the win7 pro 32 and 64 bit versions but same deal. Owner said this was a business desktop which had some sort of lock on it so he could only go to the net and could not download and install any programs. What can i do here please?

[AWS]

Any locks would be a limited user account on the system and wouldn't affect a clean install of the OS. If you are trying to do an upgrade install it would fail from that user account. I assume you chose custom install, removed all the partitions and then formatted to do a clean install.

 

It could be a driver issue. Specifically the sata driver. It could be a bios setting. Try setting the sata mode to AHCI. If it's in that mode try IDE.

 

I seen this a couple years a couple years ago when I was troubleshooting an issue like this.

 

When you get error prompt do this:

1. Hit SHIFT+F10 to bring up command prompt.
    
   
2. type MMC
   
3. Click File -> Add/Remove Snap-in (Or CTRL+M)
   
4. Select Computer Management (Double click and Finish on Local Computer)
   
5. Click OK
   
6. Double click Computer Management (Local) -> System Tools -> Local Users and Groups -> Users -> Double Click Administrator -> Uncheck Account is disabled -> OK
   
7. Now right click Administrator -> Set Password... -> Set a decent password to get started.
   

Now, restart and it should work.

 

If this doesn't work try this:

1. SHIFT-F10 to bring up command prompt.
   
2. type: CD C:\windows\system32\oobe
   
3. type msoobe
   
4. enter
   
5. Make a generic account and password. hit finish (if it requests a product key and you have one, enter it now. if OEM/No key required, just finish). Set time/date. Finish.
   
6. Restart.
   

 

If none of that works download the driver for the sata controller, put it on a disk and use the option to load it when partitioning the drive.

[mikehende]

setting the sata mode to AHCI did the trick, THANK YOU!

[mikehende]

BTW, just for my knowledge, how would one be able to lock a pc in that way please?

[AWS]

You set up a user account and use security preferences to restrict access. I set up all desktops at work so the user can access all the software they need and the internet. They can't download and install anything or access any other files or settings on the box.