This section of this website provides the solutions to the problems with Windows 7 that I have encountered since it was made available in February 2009. Included is a link to another page on this website that provides links to Windows 7 problems dealt with in Microsoft's Knowledge Base.
Click here! to skip the following informative preamble and the diagnostic information applicable to Windows 7 and go directly to the list of solved problems on this page.
A descriptive link to each problem is provided on this page. All of the main versions - Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate - provide the best problem-solving and recovery options made available by Windows to date, all of which are dealt with on this page. System Restore, first made available in Windows XP, is still the first option to try because it backdates the system to an earlier state - the date a particular restore point was created. However, many problems cannot be fixed by using System Restore and that is the kind of problem that is dealt with on this page. Therefore, as long as the problem is caused by software (is not hardware related), either from within Win7 itself or by third-party software, the chances of rectifying a problem are better than ever. However, if the problem is caused by faulty or problematic hardware components or peripheral devices attached to the computer, you can have a look at the hardware problem sections of this website for a solution or enter as accurate a description of the problem as possible in this website's Search box provided at the top of every page. To make finding a solution to a problem as easy as possible, I have made the titles of every problem contain as many symptoms as possible. Good luck.
The Q&As that deal with problems in Windows 7 are under the table below, which provides useful links to recovery methods that might help you to fix your problem(s). Click here! to go to the page on this website that deals in article form with the various methods of recovering, restoring and repairing Windows 7.
Click here! to go to the full list of hardware and software problems dealt with on this website
There is a very useful tool provided by Window 7 (but not Vista) that is simple to use. To run it, enter psr in the Start => Search programs and files box, click on the link called Record steps to reproduce a problem that is presented. The program's small window appears. Click on Start Record and you can record everything you do as you re-create the problem. The recording can be paused at any time and resumed later. If you are computer savvy you should be able to fix the problem yourself without making the recording, but if not you can send the recording to someone who is computer savvy, who can then tell you what to do to fix the problem.
How do I use Problem Steps Recorder? -
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/How-do-I-use-Problem-Steps-Recorder
Windows 7 Walkthrough: Problem Steps Recorder -
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=22292
Obscure Win7 tools [including the PSR] can save you time and trouble -
"Some of Windows 7's best new features aren't so easy to find." - http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/...
Windows 7 provides several troubleshooters in its Control Panel that is accessed by clicking on the Start button. The default view of the Control Panel (View by: Category) has a System and Security section. You click on the Find and fix problems link to open the page that provides the troubleshooters, which, when activated, run to fix problems automatically. The easiest way to access them is to type the word troubleshooting in the Start => Search programs and files box (no need to press the Enter key) to be presented with a clickable link. The most useful troubleshooters are under the following headings:
Hardware and Sound - Troubleshoot audio recording - Troubleshoot audio playback - Use a printer
Network and Internet - Internet connections - Shared folders - HomeGroup - Network adapter - Incoming Connections
System and Security - Fix problems with Windows Update - Run maintenance tasks - Check for performance issues
Windows Vista and Windows 7 have a useful utility called Reliability Monitor that can be useful to troubleshoot computer problems; for instance, in tracking crashes after software installations and updates. The following webpage provides illustrated instructions on how to use it.
Windows 7 - Reliability Monitor - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2270-reliability-monitor.html
Click the relevant link below to go to that Q&A article. Use your browser's Back button to backtrack
1. - Troubleshooting Windows 7 Problems with the Microsoft Knowledge Base [Goes to another page on this website.]
4. - Windows 7 Backup and Restore doesn't work - it won't even open
6. - Common printer problem: Office XP won't print to USB printer in Windows 7 - Using Windows Compatibility Mode [Goes to the first page of the Software Problems section of this website.]
8. - System icons do not appear in the notification area in Windows Vista or in Windows 7 until you restart the computer [Goes to a page on the Microsoft Knowledge Base]
9. - How to remove Windows XP/Windows Vista from a dual-boot setup with Windows 7
10. - No devices listed in the Device Manager in Windows 7 Home Premium
11. - I installed updates on a Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit version but now nothing works
14. - Why can't a second Windows 7 PC connect to a HomeGroup? - Error message: This computer cannot connect to a HomeGroup [Goes to a problem on the Networking Problems section of this website.]
15. - Software package Adobe PhotoDeluxe won't work on a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit PC
16. - How to remove web-tracking flash cookies created by the Adobe Flash Player
17. - Slipstreaming Windows 7: How to create a Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) disc and how to combine a Windows 7 installation disc with the SP1 files to create a slipstreamed Windows 7 SP1 disc that can install Windows 7 SP1 [Goes to another page on this website that deals with slipstreaming Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7.]
22. - The Sleep and Hibernate features in Windows 7 have stopped working
23. - The "Search" feature and Indexing Service in Windows 7 won't/doesn't work
26. - How can I install Windows 7 on a netbook computer that doesn't have an optical CD/DVD drive?
30. - My computer running the 64-bit version Windows 7 Home Premium isn't using all of its 4GB RAM memory [The link takes you to a problem on a separate page that is listed on the RAM Memory Problems page on this website.]
31. - I want to remove Windows Vista from multi-boot Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 (Win7) setup [The link takes you to a problem on the Windows Vista Problems page on this website.]
35. - Windows 7 Backup is not working - won't back up to a USB external hard disk drive
Click here! to go to the full list of hardware and software problems dealt with on this website
I have some programs and applications that I used with Windows XP. I have just upgraded my PC to Windows 7. When I installed them, they wouldn't work properly - some not at all and others not as they did in XP. Is there any way to get them working in Win7?
The Professional and Ultimate and Enterprise (business) versions of Windows 7 have a Windows XP Mode that allows a user to run programs as if they are running in Windows XP. It is really Windows XP running within a virtual machine within Windows 7. To use it, the computer's processor must support hardware virtualisation (AMD-V or Intel VT).
The following Microsoft webpage provides a download of XP Mode for the versions of Win7 that qualify for it:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx
Windows XP Mode -
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-xp-mode
The Home Premium edition of Vista and Win7 does not have this feature, so the only way to have both versions and run programs that only run in Windows XP is to make use of a dual-boot system running XP and Vista/Win7 or to use the following method to create a virtual machine:
Create an XP Mode for Windows 7 Home Versions & Vista -
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/11060/create-an-xp-mode-for-windows7-home-versions-and-vista/
Note that almost all applications, programs and utilities that run under Windows XP will run properly in Windows 7, including MS Office 2000, which means that there is no need to buy a version of Windows 7 that provides Windows XP Mode.
If you want to use Windows XP Mode in the qualifying versions of Windows 7 read the following articles:
Using Windows 7′s XP Mode — step by step -
http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/using-windows-7s-xp-mode-step-by-step/
PC Specs Eased For Win7 XP Mode -
"Microsoft users no longer need hardware-assisted virtualization to run XP apps in Windows 7... Previously, Windows 7 XP Mode required a PC equipped with hardware-assisted virtualization, such as Intel Virtualization Technology or AMD-V. But Microsoft's update eliminates that need." -
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/...
Note also that most programs designed for the 32-bit version of Windows will work on the 64-bit version of Windows. Notable exceptions are many antivirus programs. -
32-bit and 64-bit Windows: frequently asked questions -
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/...
Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization for a list of AMD and Intel processors that support virtualisation or download and run the Microsoft Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool.
If you don't have one of the qualifying version of Windows 7, such as the Home Premium version, which doesn't provide an XP Mode, and you don't want to go to the bother of creating your own virtual machine within Vista/Win7, the instructions for which are provided by one of the links above, try running the program or application in Compatibility Mode. The following webpage provides a tutorial on how to use it.
Windows 7 - Compatibility Mode -
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html
Not so long ago, I used Windows Easy Transfer successfully to transfer Windows XP's files and settings to Windows 7 Home Premium on a new PC. Can it be used to transfer the same files and settings from 32-bit Win7 to 64-bit Win7 on the same PC?
I have just upgraded that PC's motherboard, processor and RAM memory, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't get past the loading of the RAID or ACPI drivers - 32- or 64-bit. The Win7 64-bit installation gave an error message after loading the drivers when I tried to install it on the C: drive. I phoned Microsoft's technical support, but, trust my luck, they couldn't find my Product Key on their system and implied that I had purchased a pirate copy and hung up on me. Sweet Jesus, I can't tell you how much that pissed me off, because I have a genuine retail copy of Win7 purchased from Amazon itself, not from one of its Marketplace sellers. Nevertheless, I installed 32-bit Win7 without any special drivers and the system activated and was validated using that same Product Key.
Windows Easy Transfer (WET) should work to transfer all of your data and settings from Win7 32-bit to Win7 64-bit on the same PC and should work even better transferring from Windows XP to Win7 64-bit.
Note that WET can be used to transfer files and settings to a new Windows 8 PC.
How To Transfer Files, Settings & User Profiles From Windows 7 To Windows 8 [Guide] -
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/transfer-files-settings-from-windows-7-to-windows-8/
Windows Easy Transfer [Windows 7] -
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer
Note well that WET does not transfer most applications, programs or tools, because their entries have to be installed in Win7's Registry and only the installation process can do that, so all of them that require Registry entries to function will have to be reinstalled. When moving from 32-bit to 64-bit or vice versa, this includes WET selecting the proper DLLs and other support files for the new "bitedness". Luckily, WET also helps you to remember which applications were installed on the previous system, provides some guidance in the reinstallation and, in many cases, even helps with restoring your tweaks.
When making the transfer on a single PC, you can simplify the process even more if you have sufficient hard-disk space. For example, you could store WET's output from the first version of Windows (XP or 32-bit Win7 on an unused partition on the hard drive and them make WET import from there into the new version of Windows (Win7 64-bit in your case). That way there is no need to use a flash/pen drive or CD/DVD disc as a temporary storage facility.
Remember not to use WET to transfer Outlook data if you use Outlook, because doing so usually corrupts the Outlook Mail profile.
Click here! to go to more information about Windows Easy Transfer on this site. Use your browser's Back button to return to this point on this page.
Windows Easy Transfer [Windows 7] -
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer
Transferring files and settings: frequently asked questions -
Applies to Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, Vista Enterprise, Vista Ultimate. -
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/...
Backup and Restore in Windows 7 won't work. When I open the Control Panel and click on "Backup up your Computer", nothing happens. Is there a better backup program for Win7? I tried Acronis True Image, but it takes too much control of the system. I just want to back up my folders and files so that I can restore them should a system failure occur. I also create a system image whenever I make a big change to the system, such as install a Service Pack.
It looks as if when you installed Acronis True Image it hijacked Backup and Restore, rendering it unable to open. You have to disable the Integrate True Image into Windows option in Acronis True Image. Apparently, the option to disaable the integration did not work, but has now been fixed.
The solution: "After you install the latest build, switching off the integration will bring back both the Windows backup and restore option and the Windows backups." - Taken from the following Acronis Knowledge Base article:
14741: Acronis True Image Home 2011: Disabling "Integrate True Image into Windows" Does Not Work - http://kb.acronis.com/content/14741
Macrium Reflect - "The fastest disk imaging software is now available as a free edition. Absolutely free! No strings! The only free XP, Vista and Windows 7 compatible disk imaging software with BartPE and Linux based recovery options." -
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
The following excellent very user-friendly, free backup and imaging program can restore to dissimilar hardware, which means that if the computer that you created the backup on is stolen or rendered unusable, you can restore the backup to a new computer that has different hardware components and device drivers.
EaseUS Todo Backup Free -
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm
Issue 1. - Windows 7 cannot save files to the C: drive/partition even after making sure that I am the Administrator and checked 'allow' on all permissions. "A required privilege is not held by client" error message appears when I try to save any file to my C: drive/partition. How can I save files where I want to instead of in the Library where it wants to force me to save them and install programs?
Issue 2. - I am the Administrator on a new Windows 7 installation, but I cannot save a file to anywhere within Windows. I've checked all of the file permissions and all of the accounts but nothing works. UAC (User Account Control) is turned off, but I still can't save a file to any local drive or my external USB hard drive.
The solution that works most often requires the enablement of the Administrator account to have full writing privileges. Even though your User Accounts say you are the "Administrator", this is not the same as running from the built-in Administrator account.
In most cases, if the program you are running doesn't request elevation privileges from Windows 7, it will be unable to save files to certain locations or allow the user to write, edit, replace files, etc., that only the Administrator has the permission to do, because even though you may be in the administrators group in Windows 7, if the programs you run don't apply to Windows 7 for those administrative privileges when installed, the program has to be set to "Run as Administrator", or set to run using Windows XP Compatibility settings to be able to write to perform those actions.
If you want to create a file using the right-click menu in the root of C: (C:/), then you need to launch an instance of Windows Explorer (by right-clicking on its entry in the Start Menu, etc.) and using Run as Administrator. If you want your program to, say, write a log file to the root of C:, you need to run your program as the Administrator or run it using the Windows XP compatibility settings, or the program's creator had the sense to make the program request administrative privileges from Windows 7 during installation or when it was first run after installation.
What are permissions [Windows 7] - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/What-are-permissions
For example, when using Windows Vista and Windows 7 to run the System File Checker's sfc /scannow command from the Command Prompt and get told that you don't have sufficient rights to run it in spite running Windows as the Administrator, right-click on the cmd.exe shortcut link that is provided when you enter the cmd command in the Search... box to open the Command Prompt and choose Run As Administrator.
Windows 7 Access Denied: Permission & Ownership -
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/windows-7-access-denied-permission-ownership/
Add "Run as Administrator" to Any File Type in Windows 7 or Vista -
"Have you ever tried to unzip a file to the Program Files directory in Windows 7 or Vista? You’ll get all sorts of permission denied errors, and generally be unsuccessful. So how do we open up the zipfile as an administrator? For that matter, how do you open any file as administrator? There’s a simple registry tweak that will let us specify the action to run as administrator for a file type. Unfortunately you’ll have to make the tweak manually, but we’ll walk you through it." -
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/...
In short, instead of opening a protected file in the associated application, run the application first as an Administrator and then open the file inside it.
If User Access Control (UAC) is enabled, the user only has standard user rights. Users with the standard privileges are not allowed to write to a system sub-folder, such as C:\WindowsSystem32\Drivers. Instead, you can save the file to your document folder and copy it with Windows Explorer by accepting the UAC prompt, to System32\Drivers folder, etc.
But disabling UAC should solve the problem in most cases, because the standard permissions are dropped, giving way to Administrator permissions.
To turn off User Account Control:
1. Click on the Start button
2. Type uac in the Search programs and files box (you don't have to press the Enter key)
3. Click on the "Change User Account Control settings" link when it appears.
4. Use your mouse to move the slider control to the bottom setting - "Never notify"
5. Click on the OK button
Someone on the web wrote: "I had this same problem until I found a trojan horse [virus] on my PC. I ran MSCONFIG and checked Startup for "DLCXCATS" and Services for "dlcx_device". Once these were removed and I rebooted, I was able to save my files. Hope this helps." And someone else wrote: Finally found a fix! Removed AVG Free (the free version of AVG Antivirus). Now everything works great!" So if none of the above works, try scanning your system with several scanners, such as Microsoft Security Essentials, AVG, Malwarebytes, etc., and try turning off the PC's security scanners, one at a time, to see if one of them is responsible.
Read How to perform a no-reformat, non-destructive, in-place repair installation/install of Windows 7 on this website to find out how that is done...
If while trying to implement the repair installation a message appears saying that you have to uninstall, say, the Raxco Software PerfectDisk software before it can continue and you do that and search the Registry for any traces of the software and delete the entries and then try the reinstall again without success, the reason is because there are still leftover Registry entries and folders of the offending software.
You must search the Registry using the search queries Raxco and PerfectDisk plus any other names associated with the software and its modules.
To open the Registry Editor in Vista and Win7, type regedit in the Start => Search... box (in Windows XP it is the Run box and you must press Enter). In Vista and Win7, just entering the command brings up a link that open the Registry when clicked.
Note that you should create a restore point in System Restore before editing the Registry so that you can restore the Registry from Safe Mode should the system fail to boot because of the changes you have made. I would also create a backup/system image in case System Restore doesn't restore the restore point.
When it opens, use Edit => Find or use Ctrl + F. Pressing the F3 key makes the search look for the next entry. Search for upper- and lowercase variations of any other related names or program modules - e.g. Raxco, raxco, PerfectDisk, perfectdisk, etc. If the software has any other names, search for them as well. For example, the ZoneAlarm firewall used to have entries using its developer's name, Zonelabs, so you had to search for both names.
The Registry allows you to delete any entries. The folder containing the entries (e.g., a folder called Raxco) can be highlighted in the window on left hand side with the actual entries within it appearing in the windows on the right hand side. If the folder has one of the names, delete the entire folder. The Registry tells you when there are no more entries to be found and you can exist it.
Next, use the Search box in Windows Explorer (opened by right-clicking on the Start button and clicking Explore (XP) and Open Windows Explorer (Vista/Win7) to search the system (C: drive) for folders and files that contain the names you searched the Registry for and delete them. Then reboot to remove any processes that might remain in RAM memory. Finally, run a good Registry cleaner, such as CCleaner, and reboot again. You should now be able to get through the repair installation.
Removing a version of Windows from a dual-boot setup can be done manually, but it is much easier to use a reliable boot-loader editing tool such as EasyBCD from neosmart.net, which is free for non-commercial use, which applies to most people who will only use it once.
Always have an up-to-date restorable backup of the system, preferably also an image of the system, both of which which Backup and Restore provided by Win7 can create, before you undertake any major changes to the system, such as this one.
Just use EasyBCD from within Windows 7 (or the most recent version of Windows) to set your system to load only Windows 7 (or the most recent version of Windows).
Next, test to make sure that it works (only Win7 boots), then use EasyBCD to remove the XP/Vista dual-boot entry from the Windows 7 boot loader, delete the XP/Vista partition and that's it.
NeoSmart provides very useful user forums that can be asked for help should it be required, such as this thread: Remove Vista from Vista/Windows 7 dual boot. If there is not a suitably useful thread, you can create your own.
When I open the Device Manager in Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit version, it doesn't show any devices - it is empty. Here is what I have tried unsuccessfully, as recommended on the web: Plug and Play is set to automatic in the BIOS - ran the System File Checker (SFC) - at the top of the list in Device Manager, where the name you gave to your computer has a + sign the the left of it - clicked that to expand the tree. I don't want to use System Restore to restore a restore point made prior to the problem, because I don't know when the problem started because I don't go into the Device Manager very often. I only did so because of an error message on my desktop related to the computer's ATI graphics card so, went into Device Manager to see what was wrong with it.
I would try using System Restore first by choosing the oldest available restore point. According to reports on the web doing that doesn't usually work. The only other ways to get the Device Manager back is to restore a backup or system image or perform a clean installation of Windows - if you have a Windows 7 installation disc.
If you don't have a backup, image or installation disc, you might have a Recovery Disc that the computer manufacturer provided or that can be downloaded or purchased that sets the computer back to the state it was when it left the factory. If you have the original Win7 disc, you will have to install Service Pack 1 (SP1) and all of the subsequent updates which can be done by using http://update.microsoft.com/ or by waiting for Windows to install the updates automatically, which is its default setting in Windows Update in the Control Panel.
This problem shows how important it is to make regular backups, which in Windows 7, using its Backup and Restore, can be a regular backup, a regular backup plus a system image or just a system image. Click here! to go to the information on backups on this website. To restore a backup or system image requires booting the system with a Repair Disc that you create within Win7.
After allowing Windows to install updates, it reports all updates were successful. When I reboot the PC everything looks fine, but no matter which application I select to run from the desktop a message comes up saying that either I don't have the privileges to access it or it has moved. I close that window and the next window offers to remove it from the system. The only way to recover is to restore a system image created with Backup and Restore. Using System Restore was no good. I chose a restore point that was created just before the updates were installed. The problem was still there so I chose a restore point made earlier but it still didn't work. Because I have had this problem previously, getting around it by choosing not to install the updates permanently, before installing the updates I tried turning off the Online Armor Premium firewall and Microsoft's Security Essentials anti-virus software, which had no effect.
This kind of problem is always caused by the incompatibility of certain software with one or more updates. There is so much software that it is almost impossible to create updates that work with all of it all of the time.
I have found a report on the web that reported success in overcoming this problem by putting the Online Armor Premium firewall in Learning Mode.
In your case nothing works, but even if you know which software isn't working, the method to troubleshoot the problem is the same. You uninstall each of the security updates, one at a time, until the general functionality of the system or the particular software is restored.
Go to Start => Control Panel => System and Security. Under the heading of "Windows Update" click on "View installed updates". Put them in order of "Installed On" date, which you know, then select the first one, right-click on it and select Uninstall. If functionality is restored and you can't get around the problem by doing something like putting the firewall in learning mode, you'll have to prevent any update that causes problems from being installed.
When Windows notifies you from the Notification Area (System Tray) in the bottom-right corner that updates are waiting to be installed, click on the shield icon and choose the Custom option. It lists the updates that can be installed, allowing you to choose not to install any of them. If you remove the check mark beside any of the updates with the mouse, another window called "Hide Updates" presents itself. It has the option in it called "Don't notify me about these updates again". That update will never be installed unless you go to Microsoft's Windows Update site and choose to install it. You should keep all of your software updated and try installing it at a later date, because the problem will probably have been fixed, either by Microsoft or by the software developers.
My Toshiba Qosmio laptop computer came with an OEM copy of Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed and a Recovery Disc. However, after an irrecoverable system crash, which must be software-related because the computer works using a Ubuntu Linux boot DVD, I discovered that I had lost the Recovery Disc, so I bought a retail copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. Unfortunately, it won't install because it can't wipe the previous installation from the laptop's hard drive.
That problem could be due to installing Win7 as an upgrade instead of a clean installation or because you have not formatted the hard disk drive when when using the Custom (advanced) installation option.
Here are step-by-step instructions to perform a clean installation:
1. - Start up the computer and press the Setup key indicated on the startup screen (usually the Del key) that opens the BIOS setup program. All BIOS programs allow the user to set the boot order of devices. To boot from a DVD, if it is not the default setting, set the CD/DVD drive as the first boot device. You can leave that setting because the computer will only use it if there is a CD/DVD disc in the drive. Save the setting, insert the Win7 DVD in the drive and exit the BIOS. The computer will reboot and should boot from the disc after you have pressed any key when the message to do so presents itself. If you don't press a key within about 8 seconds, you will have to restart the computer and try again.
2. - When the setup process asks you to do so, set the language preference, click the Next button and click on Install Now on the next setup screen.
3. - Use the mouse pointer to place a check mark in the I accept the license terms dialog box and click on Next.
4. - Select the Custom (advanced) option (not the alternative Upgrade option).
5. - The next Window is called Where do you want to install Windows? It provides the available partitions on the laptop's hard disk drive. Select the drive or partition to install Windows 7 on and click on the Drive Options (advanced) link, which is easy to miss. Your computer's hard drive may have a boot partition and a much smaller recovery partition or it may not be partitioned at all and have all of its capacity as a single drive called Disk 0. If there is a partition it will be called Disk 0 partition 1. If the computer has a second hard drive installed it would be called Disk 1. For some reason, probably due to the binary number system that computer's use, which only uses 0 and 1, software developers like to start from 0 instead of 1. If the drive or partition of the drive that you have selected is labelled as unallocated, then you can just click on the Next button, because it is empty space that doesn't need formatting. Note that if you have accessed the Win7 installation disc from within Windows, the Drive options (advanced) option that you need to use won't be provided, hence the requirement to boot the system from the installation disc.
6. - To wipe the existing installation from the drive or partition it is installed on requires formatting it, so select the drive or partition of the drive that you want to do a clean install of Windows 7 on, then click on the Format option to format it and click on the Next button.
7. - Windows 7 will start to install on the formatted drive or partition of that drive. The computer will restart a few times, so there is no need to worry that anything is going wrong when it does this.
Note that if you don't want anything other than Windows and programs and data files on the drive and there are no partitions that contain critical data, such as a recovery partition that contains a backup that returns the computer to its factory state (its user manual will tell you if it uses a recovery partition), or system diagnostics programs, you can delete all of the partitions and then format the whole capacity of the drive as a single drive. Alternatively, you can break the drive into partitions and then format them. Note that Windows and its programs uses up large quantities of disk space and if you install Windows on a small partition it can run out of space. A drive or partition that has Windows installed on it should have about 20% free space in order to be able to function properly. Open Start => Computer and right-click on the C: drive and choose Properties to see how much free space there is on the boot drive. To avoid problems later on, I would just use the full capacity of the drive (with no partitions created).
Remember that you will have only installed Windows, not the original software that Toshiba installed. Consequently, certain buttons and hardware might not work. To fix that, visit Toshiba's website, find its Support section and download the software made available for your model of laptop.
In both Windows 98 and Windows XP, I could use Adobe PhotoDeluxe 3.1, which came with my scanner, to clean up photocopies of birth, death, marriage certificates and accompanying image files, but the application won't run even using compatibility mode set to Windows XP in the Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit version that my new desktop PC runs. Apparently, I need the Professional or Ultimate versions if Win7 in order to use Windows XP Mode that allows a user to run Windows-XP-compatible programs from a copy of Windows XP built into Win7. Is there any other way I might be able to get this software working on my new PC?
Adobe PhotoDeluxe 3.1 is an excellent application, but all things must pass. However, if you want to keep using it, you can run Windows XP in a virtual machine within Windows 7 and install it in that copy of XP. Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 is free to download from microsoft.com or you can use VirtualBox from http://www.virtualbox.org/. With either program installed, you can use your Windows XP installation disc to install XP in that virtual machine. If necessary, you should be able to find many guides on how to use those programs by using a suitable search query in a search engine.
However, I would abandon that application for the excellent Photoshop Elements, which you would have to purchase. Google's Picassa is a free program that you can use. Photoshop Elements can read the PDD files generated by Adobe PhotoDeluxe, Picassa can't, but if you can use your old computer running Adobe PhotoDeluxe to convert the PDD files into a format that Picassa finds compatible, such as JPEG, TIFF or PNG, you'll be on your way with Picassa.
Fortunately, you won't have to convert thousands of files individually, you can buy a program, such as Image Converter Plus for around £30, which can convert large batches of files automatically.
November 24, 2009. - The Adobe Flash Player, from adobe.com, used by most browsers to display web content such as video, can record 100Kb (kilobytes) of data, much more than the 4Kb that standard cookies use. The flash cookies are stored silently on our computers by more than half of the top 100 websites, and are not always mentioned explicitly in privacy policies. The flash cookies track online activity and therefore are a threat to your privacy. Online sources state that these cookies are used to target users with adverts, and to capture private data that can then be sold. Flash cookies are capable of re-creating regular web cookies after they have been deleted, so even after you have deleted regular cookies, they will reappear. They are shared between browsers and can't be managed via or deleted by your browser. Flash cookies can't usually be managed or deleted using a program on your computer. CCleaner from ccleaner.com removes many of them but not all.
Macromedia.com used to develop the Flash Player before Adobe took that company over. That is why the flash cookies are stored in a folder called macromedia.com. To get rid of them, use Windows Explorer to locate the following end folders within the macromedia.com folder and delete the files in them:
In Windows XP, find C:\Documents and Settings\Username\ Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\ #SharedObjects\RandomFolderName and
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\.
For Windows Vista and Windows 7, use C:\users\username\AppData\roaming.
The AppData folder in Windows Vista and Windows 7 will be hidden unless you open Appearance and Personalization, open Folder Options, click on the View tab and enable Show hidden files, folders, drives. You should leave the Settings.sol file because it contains the Global Settings that you create using the Flash Settings Manager on the following webpage. You have to go to that page to set the settings of Flash Player being used by your computer, because there is no local control panel for the Flash Player. The reason for this is obvious - Adobe doesn't want users to be able to choose the settings easily from within their own computers that prevent tracking data and information capture.
Flash Settings Manager -
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/...
Note that when the Flash Player is updated, the settings are set back to the default settings, so you'll have to visit the link above to reset them manually every time you install an update. The player usually asks you if you want to install an update, but you can also check the settings by right clicking with the mouse on the player's screen.
You should make sure that the amount of disk space is set to zero on the Global Setting Storage page and that a check mark is placed in the Never Ask Again box.
The BBC iPlayer at bbc.co.uk/iplayer uses the Flash Player, so unless you change the default settings on the page provided above, it can collect data from your PC and even access its microphone and camera if it has them, which most recently-purchased laptops do.
You won't be able to view it unless you have the Flash Player installed as an add-on to your browser. To find out what its settings are on your computer, choose a programme to watch, right-click with the mouse pointer on the video screen and select Settings. The settings should be the global settings that you set on the Flash Settings Manager webpage.
My desktop/laptop PC is running Windows 7 Home Premium. Whenever I try to create the System Repair Disc, I always receive the following error message: The System Repair Disc could not be created. Incorrect parameter (0x80070057).
The error message 0x80070057 occurs in several problem areas in Windows Vista and Windows 7, mostly to do with failing to partition a hard disk drive and failing to make a backup with the Windows backup program to an internal or external hard disk drive.
This Q&A on this website - Error code:0x80070057 occurred while preparing the partition for the installation of Windows 7 - Windows 7 could not format a partition on disc 0 - or when trying to create a system backup using Backup and Restore - deals with those cases.
When Windows 7 is up and running, you have the option at long last of creating a System Repair Disc that provides recovery tools. No doubt this is because the Windows Vista and Windows 7 DVD cannot be used as a boot disc as the Windows XP disc can to perform a repair installation, due to the fact that all of the versions of Windows Vista/7 respectively are on the same disc and your licence only installs the applicable version for that licence.
To create a System Repair Disc requires a CD or CD/DVD drive that can burn data to recordable CD/DVDs. All you have to do is enter repair in the Start => Search programs and files box and click on Create a System Repair Disc, put a recordable CD/DVD disc in the optical drive, and then label the disc something like Windows 7 Repair Disc and then put it in a safe place. The following article provides information on each of the above-mentioned System Recovery Options:
What are the system recovery options in Windows 7? -
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IN/windows7/...
If you cannot create the disc and this message comes up: "The System Repair Disc could not be created. Incorrect parameter (0x80070057)", the following page provides how to go about it:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/...
This is the fix: Boot the system by inserting the Windows 7 installation disc. When the process gets to the main setup window, click the Repair option in the lower-left corner. Select Command Prompt from the System Recovery Options menu that presents itself. At the Command Prompt, enter the recdisc command and then press Enter. A pop-up allows you to choose the letter of the drive on which you want to create the System Repair Disc disc. Choose the drive letter for your computer's CD/DVD drive as shown under Start => Computer. With a clean recordable DVD in the DVD drive, select Start to burn the disc.
This is the menu that comes up when you choose the Repair option provided by the Windows 7 installation DVD:
While installing the retail Windows 7 Home Premium on a brand new Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS hard disk drive, I click on Disk 0 partition 1 and instantly get this error message: "Windows could not format a partition disc 0. The error occurred while preparing the partition for installation. Error code:0x80070057".
This error code can be produced by several situations in Windows Vista and Windows 7, such as when trying to partition a hard disk drive, or when trying to perform a system backup using the Windows 7 Backup program to an internal or external hard disk drive, or even when trying to create a Win7 System Repair Disc. The Q&A Error code:0x80070057: The Windows 7 System Repair Disc could not be created. Incorrect parameter (0x80070057) deals with that case on this website.
Visit the following computer-forum thread that deals with the inability to format a Western Digital VelociRaptor in Windows Vista due to the 0x80070057 error message. The information can be used to solve the same problem in Windows 7.
Vista - Failed to Format Vista x64 Ultimate (0x80070057) -
http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/199742-failed-format-vista-x64-ultimate-0x80070057.html
If the error message is produced while you are performing a system backup to an internal or external hard disk drive using the Windows 7 Backup program, try increasing the amount of virtual memory. The easiest way to do that is to enter the words virtual memory in the Start => Search programs and files box and then click on the How to change the size of virtual memory link the presents itself. Step 7 tells you how to change the amount of virtual memory. If you have enough free hard-disk space, try using a setting of 4000MB (4GB) under Custom size.
You can find out how much free space is available on a particular hard drive or partition under Start => Computer. Remember that many other programs reserve disk space, such as the Recycle Bin, Internet Options in the Control Panel, System Restore, etc., so you'll have to reduce the amount of reserved disk space that they use if there is not plenty of free disk space otherwise the virtual memory might not be able to use it or the amount of virtual memory reserved might prevent those other programs from working properly. Remember that in Windows 7, as with the virtual memory settings, you can access most areas just by enter the relevant name in the Start => Search programs and files box.
If you still are having problems you ca try using a Windows and Registry-cleaning program that can fix any errors in the Windows Registry and free up some disk space that can fix the problem. CCleaner is a good free cleaner. It can clean Windows itself and it provides a good Registry cleaner. Alternatively, you can try using the free trial period of a paid-for program from regcure.net - or any similar cleaner with a good reputation.
My desktop PC runs Windows 7 Home Premium, fully updated. In a folder of my external hard disk drive, I keep backups of my photo images, which are all JPEG files (with a .jpg extension), but I cannot delete any of them. When I try to delete one or more of them, I get a message saying: "You need permission to perform this action. You require permission from the computer's administrator to make changes to this file...Item type: JPEG Image." Try Again or Cancel are the only options. I have tried opening Windows Explorer as Administrator. No good. I have tried changing the owner, who is me, ffs, the only one who uses the computer. No good yet again! I've noticed that the folder that contains the .jpg files has a little lock symbol on it and none of the .jpg files shows the picture, only a generic icon instead of a small photo. Can you please tell me how to get rid of them? I never had this problem with Windows XP.
Microsoft has (some say foolishly) added a somewhat burdensome security measure that makes it necessary to take the following actions in order to perform administrative functions:
1. - Open Elevated Command Prompt with Administrator Privileges
When you first use the Command Prompt to run text commands, you don't get any administration privileges. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, an elevate Command Prompt is required to be able to perform administrative functions. Some commands that you can run using Command Prompt might require elevated or administrative privileges. To run these commands, you can use the Run as administrator command. You will know this is the case if a message comes up saying that an elevated Command Prompt is required. To open an elevated Command Prompt, click on the Start button. In the Search programs and files box, enter the words Command Prompt. Command Prompt will appear as a clickable link. Right click on Command Prompt icon and choose Run as administrator. Note that if you use it a lot, you can pin the Command Prompt to the taskbar by right-clicking on its icon on the taskbar and then enabling Pin this program to taskbar with the mouse pointer. To unpin it enable Unpin this program from taskbar.
If you need illustrated instructions go here:
2. - Take Ownership and Grant Permissions to Access Files and Folders in Windows 7
Illustrated somewhat lengthy instructions on how to do that are provided here:
"Windows 7 has implemented addition security mechanism to prevent accidental or intentional file or folder modification by not allowing users other then owner of file or folder to access it. Hence in case if you need to access, modify or delete such files or folder you need to take ownership first then assign rights or permission to respective users. Here is Guide on How to take Ownership and Grant Permission in Window 7." -
If you want to add the ability to the Right Click Context Menu so that the option appears whenever you right-click on a folder or file, all you have to do is download and run the .reg file that adds the ability to the Windows Registry, which makes it appear in Windows. A file that removes that ability from Windows 7 is also provided within the first link.
Add Take Ownership Option in Right Click Context Menu of Windows 7 -
"What if you can have Take Ownership option straight under your right click context menu ? Don't you think it will be faster and easier to change ownership? If answer is yes then here is method to get Take Ownership option under to right click menu." -
http://www.blogsdna.com/2173/add-take-ownership-option-in-right-click-context-menu-of-windows-7.htm
Take and Grant Full Control Permissions and Ownership in Windows 7 or Vista Right Click Menu -
http://www.mydigitallife.info/...
Click here! to go to that Q&A on this website. The best solution involves disabling the User Account Control [UAC].
I have a new Windows 7 Home Premium desktop PC that won't allow me to connect my iPod touch to it via a USB port. This iPod worked perfectly with iTunes on my old Windows XP desktop computer, but I keep getting an error message that says the device isn't recognised.
iTunes can be difficult to get working. You have to know if you have the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium. Any device that you connect to a computer requires a software device driver that is compatible with the operating system. With iTunes, the current (January 2011) default option is to download the 32-bit version of the driver. 64-bit editions of Windows Vista or Windows 7 require the iTunes 64-bit installer - iTunes 10.1.1 for Windows (64 bit) - http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1047. The 64-bit version won't install on a 32-bit version of Windows and vice versa, which is why there are different 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
In Windows 7, to find out which bit-version is installed, enter system in the Start => Search programs and files box and then click on the System link that appears under the Control Panel heading. In other versions of Windows, open System in the Control Panel and look at the information on the General tab of the System Properties window.
Before you can install it, you must uninstall the current version of iTunes, which is an involved process. When iTunes is installed, it adds several services and programs, which must all be removed according to the instructions in the iTunes removal guide on Apple's website.
Removing and reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows Vista or Windows 7 - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1923
Removing and Reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows XP - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1925
The guide lists all of the components that have to be removed and the order of their removal.
When you have the new version of iTunes installed, restart the PC and connect the iPod. If it still won't connect, try restarting it by holding the power button until the red Slide to power off slider appears. Slide this and the iPod will power off. Hold the power button down to switch it on. After the device has started, try to connect it. If no go, the following could be the reason. iPods - particularly the iPod touch and iPhone - have a tendency not to connect to a USB hub (to which several USB devices can be connected) or even a PC that has a USB hub connected to it. To find out if that is the case, unplug every USB device from the computer except the keyboard and mouse and then plug the iPod's USB cable into one of the rear USB ports built into the PC's motherboard. If it works, you can use a process of elimination to discover which device is preventing the iPod from working.
If a USB hub that is not independently powered is responsible, you can try replacing it with a self-powered model. If the iPod still won't connect, as a last resort, you can force Windows 7 to remove and redetect all USB devices and reinstall them.
The following steps can stop devices working and lock up your computer, so back up important files and close all other applications. In Windows 7, enter the term device manager in the Start => Search programs and files box to be presented with a clickable link that opens the Device Manager. (The Device Manager can be accessed via System in the Control Panel of all version of Windows since Windows 95.)
With the mouse, expand the Universal Serial Bus Controllers section. Right-click with the mouse pointer on the first USB Universal Host Controller and choose the Uninstall option on the menu that presents itself. Uninstall all of the other USB Universal Host Controllers, of which there are usually three. If your mouse and keyboard stop working, shut the computer down by pressing its power button until it switches off. If not, complete the removal and restart the computer. When it restarts, Windows 7 will reinstall all of the USB drivers. After that has been completed, shut down the iPod as described above, turn it back on and reconnect it to your computer. It should now be working as it did with your Windows XP computer.
On a new desktop PC running Windows 7 Professional, the Sleep and Hibernate features worked as they should, but all of a sudden neither worked. Whenever I tried to make the computer sleep or hibernate, the system will either turn off the display, which would not turn back on, forcing a reboot and the computer would stay switched on - that is, the fan stayed on and computer would not enter Sleep or Hibernate mode. Alternatively, the computer would just shut off and when I powered it back on, I was greeted with this message:
Problem signature: Problem Event Name: BlueScreen OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.48 Locale ID: 1033. Additional information about the problem: BCCode: d1 BCP1: 0000000000005312 BCP2: 0000000000000002 BCP3: 0000000000000000 BCP4: FFFFF8800D8EF0A9 OS Version: 6_1_7600 Service Pack: 0_0 Product: 256_1 Files that help describe the problem: C:\Windows\Minidump\020711-32604-01.dmp C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-47861-0.sysdata.xml
None of that information was of any use whatsoever in determining the cause of the problem.
I knew that a PC's BIOS Setup Program usually has a Wake On LAN feature - a setting that wakes up the system if it receives a signal from LAN network it is connected to - which should be disabled to allow the Sleep, Hybrid Sleep (a mixture of both of those features) or Hibernation modes to function. I also knew that the BIOS must be set to allow Sleep, Hybrid Sleep or Hibernation to function. Most computers are set by default to allow those functions to work, but I entered the BIOS and checked that that was the case. In this case, the BIOS settings were correct.
I turned off the option within Device Manager for the PC's network adapter (under Network adapters) called: Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power, which is the recommended setting to allow Windows to sleep with USB devices, which the network adapter was. But that setting wasn't the cause of the problem.
I knew that the first remedy to try would be to restore a restore point in System Restore that predated the problem, but I also knew that I needed to find out what the cause of the problem was because using System Restore would probably fix the problem, but the conditions that brought it about would probably recur. For example, if the problem was caused by a device driver, using System Restore would backdate the system to the previous driver, but Windows would probably visit Windows Update and restore the new driver that was causing the problem - automatically.
I suspected that a driver update was responsible for the problem (I thought that the network adapter's driver was the most likely to be to blame) and I also knew that you should NEVER obtain device-driver updates from Microsoft, because Windows Update is known to mess up with some driver updates. Remember, ALWAYS go directly to the device manufacturer for a driver update.
By installing the latest device driver, I discovered the cause of the problem was the Atheros driver, which the Netgear WNDA3100 External USB Network Adapter was using. Unfortunately, it wasn't the compatible version for Windows 7, it was meant to be used by Windows Vista, so that meant that it must have been conflicting with Windows 7's sleep and hibernate protocol. I went to the Netgear website and downloaded the latest version: 3.5.0.7. Then I uninstalled the old driver and ran the new version setup. This worked like a charm and, as an added bonus, I was able to use the Netgear Smart Wizard Network Manager that comes with the adapter, which wasn't possible with the Vista version of the driver. The driver is still listed as coming from Atheros Communications Inc., so it must be a subsidiary or associated company of Netgear.
You should always turn off Windows Update in the Control Panel when you install a new piece of hardware by choosing the Change settings option and the using the drop-down menu to choose Never check for update (not recommended) setting, which you can re-enable to its previous setting after the driver installation. Because, what happened in this case was PC's owner installed the Netgear network adapter in the PC, Windows visited Windows Update on the web and installed the driver for Windows Vista, which allowed the network adapter to work and connect to the web, but screwed up the Sleep and Hibernate features, which function in a different way in Windows 7.
I am having difficulty getting the Search facility in my new Windows 7 Home Premium computer to work. When I search for files in the same folder, some of them are listed but others that I know are there are ignored. All of the recommended solutions have been tried without success. Also, the Indexing Service is telling me that it has finished having indexed only 33 items. This number slowly increases over several days. Why isn't this service working?
The Windows 7 Indexing Service should start on a new computer by indexing all the files in specific locations (Documents, Pictures, etc.) as quickly as it can, which is usually very rapidly. This usually reduces system performance, but only for a short while. In your case, for some reason it looks as if the computer is struggling to access particular files.
Security software preinstalled on the computer would monitor all file accesses. Some security programs are known to block access to files so that they can't be searched. There should be an icon for the security software in the Notification Area in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Right-click this and you should be presented with an option either to turn the security software off or access its control panel. If you have to go into a control panel, look for an option that disables the software or turns off real-time file protection, then click on the Start button and enter Indexing in the Search programs and files box. Click the Indexing Options link, followed by the Advanced option and click Rebuild. If this fixes your problem, you should either update your security software or replace it. The free version of AVG Anti-Virus or Microsoft's free Security Essentials are excellent choices.
If the problem remains, the computer may be suffering from a file-system error. The next step is to click on the Start button and enter the word Command in the Search programs and files box. Right-click with the mouse pointer on the Command Prompt link and select Run as Administrator. Click OK in the dialog box that appears. At the Command Prompt (a black DOS-like window) enter sfc /scannow. This runs the System File Checker that checks protected operating system files for errors and repairs them. Now try rebuilding the index by following the instructions provided above.
If doing that doesn't work, click on Computer on the Start menu. Right-click the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Tools tab and click the Check now button under Error-checking. Windows asks you to restart your computer so that the checking can take place while Windows itself isn't running, so do this and wait for the computer's hard disk drive to be checked by the chkdsk utility. When this has completed, use the instructions provided above to rebuild the index. Hopefully, the problem will now no longer exist.
What is it with the Search in Windows 7 when used to search for files? Windows XP has a marvellous file-search facility. It can find any file if it is on the computer. But when I type terms such as *.exe that finds all files that have an .exe extension in the Windows 7 Search box, it finds everything except what I asked for. The responses might not even be related to what the search is for.
Microsoft's developers changed the search syntax in Windows 7 to make it more powerful, but somehow made it much more difficult to perform simple file searches. Until Microsoft improves the file-search ability, you'll have to use an alternative program.
The free Google Desktop is a very good alternative. Its file searches are fast and easy to use. There are several other alternatives that you can find by making use of a search engine.
My desktop PC was running Windows XP. I decided to upgrade it to Windows 7 Home Premium. Microsoft makes it clear on its website that the upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 has to be a clean installation. I replaced the old IDE hard drive with a new SATA hard drive because the PC's motherboard has a single IDE connector and six SATA connectors. I used the Upgrade version of Windows 7 Home Premium. This seemed to work properly, but when I tried to activate it, it refused to accept the Product Key, but continued to run. Several days later, after entering the word activate in the Start => Search programs and files box and then clicking the Activate Windows link that was provided, I saw that my copy wasn't activated and it continued to refuse activation. If you have an Upgrade version of Windows 7, is it necessary to install it from within Windows XP or Windows Vista so that it can check for the presence of the old version of Windows before it allows activation? If that is the case, if your old hard drive has failed, you won't be able to use the Windows 7 Upgrade DVD to install Windows on a new hard drive.
You will be able to install a retail copy of an Upgrade version of Windows 7 on a new hard disk drive if the hard drive it was initially installed on dies. In that situation, you can also install an OEM copy (that can only be used on the computer it was first install on) on a new hard drive.
If you have a retail or OEM copy of a version of Windows XP or Windows Vista on your current system, you can buy and install an Upgrade version of Windows 7, which is cheaper than the full product, which is meant to be installed on a new PC or a new hard disk drive that does not have XP or Vista installed on it. Note that an OEM copy can be purchased by a user or is preinstalled by a PC manufacturer such as Dell. It is significantly cheaper than the full version of the same version and is slightly cheaper than the retail Upgrade version and can only be used on the computer on which it is first installed. The retail boxed product can be installed on as many computers as you like as long as only one of them is being used. When you use it on another computer, the computer on which it was first installed has to be put out of action, etc.
Microsoft requires a clean installation if Windows XP is installed on the computer, because an inplace upgrade is not possible due to the fact that XP is two versions of Windows away from Windows 7. In order to overcome your Product Activation problem, what you need to do is install the Upgrade version of Windows 7 on the new hard drive, but don't enter the Product Key.
If you want to install Windows 7 on a hard disk drive with Windows XP already installed on it, say, because you want to reuse the drive but want to get rid of Windows XP, you can run the Windows 7 installation disc from within the older version of Windows. Windows 7 will activate properly because it checks that the old version of Windows is present before it formats the hard drive in order to perform a clean install.
If you want to keep Windows XP on its original hard disk drive so that you can go back to using it, you have to replace it with your new SATA hard drive and boot the system from the Windows 7 installation disc. Note that in order to boot from a CD or DVD, the CD/DVD drive must be set as the first boot device in the BIOS setup program. The licence agreement entitles you to install Windows 7 to an empty hard drive using an Upgrade version (the Home Premium version in your case) as long as Windows XP is no longer being used. However, there is nothing legally preventing you from accessing the files on the old drive via the Windows 7 installation.
That said, if you install Windows 7 to the new drive while having the old drive still installed, Windows 7 will create a dual-boot system automatically that presents a boot menu at startup that provides the option to boot to Windows 7 or to a previous version of Windows (Windows XP in your case). This isn't legal according to the Windows 7 licence agreement, which says that you can't use the version of Windows that you upgraded from, but Microsoft has done nothing to prevent it from happening. You will be able to boot from both versions and Windows XP will still be updated.
You should find that installing Windows 7 by booting from the installation disc and then making use of the Custom install option works perfectly, but don't try to activate it until you've installed it and rebooted the system. Microsoft itself has provided a workaround if doing that doesn't work. You just perform the installation again, but, this time, choose the Upgrade option instead of Custom. After this has finished, you should be able to activate Windows 7 by using the Activate option provided in the Start menu.
I want to install Windows 7 on my laptop PC. It has an integrated ATI graphics chip, but ATI doesn't seem to provide laptop device drivers for all laptops, and my manufacturer doesn't currently provide Windows 7 drivers. Is there a way out?
Note that the video/graphics card manufacturer, ATI, which was purchased by AMD, is now called AMD.
ATI and NVIDIA don't provide drivers for all mobile graphics chips on all laptops because the laptop manufacturers provide their own support and don't want users installing drivers that they haven't approved.
For many years, ATI (and NVIDIA) had their hands tied by laptop manufacturers who request that ATI does not offer support for the mobile graphics chips that they use in ATI's Catalyst Driver. Most laptop manufacturers, such as Dell, customise the drivers they use and have their own support system, so they don't want their customers downloading device drivers from ATI's home page that won't work properly.
Annoying certainly, but there are ways to get around the problem. With the Mobility Modder tool, you can use the standard ATI/AMD or NVIDIA drivers on your laptop.
Instructions on using the tool for ATI/AMD mobile graphics chips can be found at http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php. For NVIDIA laptop graphics chips the page is http://www.hardwareheaven.com/nvmodtool.php.
Because of their small size, netbook computers don't have a built-in optical CD/DVD disc drive, so, unless an external optical CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive is used, an alternative method is required to install an upgrade version Windows 7, but all netbook computers have USB ports.
Microsoft has just released the USB/DVD fix that creates a bootable USB flash drive from a Windows 7 installation disc. -
Microsoft's little-known Open Source division has created the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool. It creates a bootable ISO copy of a Windows 7 installation disc on a USB flash drive/memory stick, so all you have to do is plug it into the netbook computer and follow the prompts to install Windows 7. If you are using a Windows XP PC to create the bootable disc, you have to download and install a couple of NET Framework files first. -
Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool -
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool
A USB flash drive with at least 4GB of storage space and another computer PC that has a CD/DVD drive (or an external optical drive) is required, plus, of course the Windows 7 disc. Here is a tutorial on how to accomplish that task. -
How to create a bootable Windows 7 USB flash drive -
"If you're looking for a quicker way to install Windows 7 than via DVD, try installing it from a USB drive. This guide describes two ways to make a bootable Windows 7 USB drive." -
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/12/-the-usb-flash-drive.ars
As mentioned above, you can also use an external CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive, which are widely available for around L30 from online stores such as internal CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive. amazon.co.uk. The drive plugs into one of the PC's USB ports and once the computer has recognised it you can use it in exactly the same way as an
I have two client desktop PCs connected to a Windows Home Server. One client is a new HP PC that runs Windows 7 Professional 64 bit version. The other client is a Dell PC that runs Windows Vista 32 bit version. The Dell PC was working just fine, but for some reason, file copying from the HP Win7 PC to any other machine on the network are painfully slow, while copying files to the HP Win7 PC are blazing fast. This problem first came to my attention when I tried the initial backup of the HP PC to the Windows Home Server. It was excruciatingly slow and I had no idea why. Then, I tried a simple file copy from it to the Windows Home Server and that was also very slow.
Try the following possible fixes:
Instructions on how to disable the Task Offload settings by using the Command Prompt are provided on this page:
Slow Network copy and connection drops in Windows 7 - "If you experience Slow Network Connection or file copy from and to the Windows 7 PC or laptop takes ages to complete or connection disconnects then this could be caused by the Task Offload settings. The task offload settings are enabled by default at the NIC level and globally at the system level. This should work for Windows Vista as well." -
http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-vista/slow-network-copy-and-connection-drops-in-windows-7/
If doing that fails to fix the problem, try disabling the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) in Windows 7. to do that, enter that term in the Start => Search programs and files box to be presented with a link to the feature or follow this click path: Start => Control Panel => System and Security => System => Remote tab.
Remote Desktop Connection: frequently asked questions -
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Remote-Desktop-Connection-frequently-asked-questions
Since installing a PC running Windows 7 Professional on my wireless home network that also has PCs running Windows XP and Linux, I have not been able to access the NAS drives, which are fully operational from my Windows XP and Linux work stations. I can access the NAS drives via HTTP from Win7, but it refuses to see them as standard network drives. I have searched the web for a solution, but all of the recommendations have proved useless.
Networking PCs, all of which are running Windows 7, is usually very easy, but connecting a Windows 7 system to older PCs with previous versions of Windows or non-Windows operating systems, such as Linux, can sometimes problematic.
When a Windows 7 system doesn't network properly with older network devices, the first action to take is to check third-party firewalls, such as ZoneAlarm, Comodo, McAfee, Norton, etc. In most of the cases where this kind of mixed networking is a problem, a third-party firewall is usually responsible.
The Windows 7 HomeGroup feature accounts for most of the other Windows 7 networking problems.
You can connect by using some network protocols (e.g., HTTP), but not others, which means that connectivity is present, but full access is being blocked, probably by a closed network port or some other firewall issue.
Try following these steps:
1. - Disconnect the network from the web by unplugging the data cable that feeds your cable-box/DSL modem/router so that it will no be left unprotected when you disable the third-party firewall. Your network computers are now only connected to each other.
2. - Remove or disable the third-party firewalls (not the Windows Firewall, because it is designed to work with HomeGroup) running on all of your computers. With no third-party firewalls running, you should be able to get your network working properly. For those of you who have more than one computer running Windows 7, don't set up or enable a HomeGroup on any of them yet, just concentrate on getting the basic networking functioning properly. With the firewalls gone, you should be able to get everything working properly.
If you had a HomeGroup set up between Win7 PCs, you can leave it by opening the Control Panel from the Start menu. If you have View by: Category selected, click on "Choose homegroup and sharing options" under the Network and Internet category. Look for the option called "Leave the homegroup".
3. - When you have all the connections working, re-enable the firewalls by doing one computer at a time. As each firewall starts working, it should see and allow, or ask you to allow, the new connections.
If a third-party firewall proves to be problematic, try using the Windows Firewall (controlled via the Control Panel) on the Windows 7 PCs.
4. - Acess the web. You should now have full connectivity. Remember that when firewalls aren't the cause of Windows 7 networking problems, a HomeGroup is usually responsible. Windows 7's HomeGroup feature is aimed at home users who know nothing about networking, so it has been automated to set up network sharing of files, folders, devices, etc.. Unfortunately, HomeGroup and security elements of Windows 7 networking, such as 128-bit encryption for shared files, introduces additional complexity that can be the source of problems. You have already set up a mixed-operating-system LAN, so you know how to set up network sharing, so avoid using a homegroup. Just set up the network that you want yourself, which is what most experienced users do on mixed Win7/Vista/XP/Linux LANs.
I've just upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium by doing a clean installation of it on a new 1TB hard disk drive that I installed in my Packard Bell iMedia B2216 desktop PC. Its current video/graphics card is a Radeon X1650 series, the manufacturer doesn't provide a Windows 7 device driver. I'd like to upgrade the computer's graphics card. I'm not a gamer, but I have an interest in graphics and video editing. I understand that I might have to upgrade the PC's 250W power supply unit as well. Packard Bell told me that I have to use Tech Guys, which will charge me to do it. So far, I've upgraded the processor and RAM memory as well as installing a second hard disk drive and optical DVD writer. Which graphics card would suit my PC and give an improvement over the Radeon X1650? Also, which power supply would you recommend?
Note that the video/graphics card manufacturer, ATI, which was purchased by AMD, is now called AMD.
Note that I might recommend a lower powered power supply than is recommended by the graphics-card manufacturers, because it is the practice with them to play safe with their recommendations so as not to run the risk of disappointing the purchasers of their hardware. Some people have so much hardware installed on their desktop PCs that a more powerful unit would be required for an upgrade than would normally have been the case. For example, AMD recommends a 450W power supply to run an ATI Radeon HD 4770 graphics card, but by using the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite from http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp to work out if a particular computer is able to use that graphics card with a lower-powered power supply, it could easily turn out that a 300W power supply is perfectly adequate. However, if someone has a lot of power-hungry hardware components installed, a 500W or even a 600W unit could be required, depending on the hardware. A safe policy is to add about 200W to the requirement. So, if a 300W is adequate, buy a 500W unit.
Packard Bell's support website provides very little information your computer. It doesn't even specify which graphics card is installed or which slot it uses. However, I don't know of any desktop PCs of the age of yours that don't have a PCI-Express x16 slot on the motherboard. A PCI-Express x16 slot allows you to install most PCI Express cards, PCI Express being the current graphics standard for graphics cards.
Depending on the graphics card you buy, you may also have to upgrade the PC's measly 250W power supply unit (PSU). Current (March 2010) graphics cards draw more power than was the case a few years ago and may also require extra power connectors, which your PC's power supply may not have. The first thing to do is measure your power supply. A standard unit is 150mm wide and 85mm tall, although its depth can vary. If yours is this size, you can install any ATX power supply. To be safe, buy a 500W unit at least, or even a 650W unit. Just because it is, say, a 500W unit doesn't mean that it uses 500W all the time; it provides as much power as the PC draws. Any new power supply should provide PCI Express power connectors for current graphics cards. The ModXStream Pro 500W unit, made by OCZ, currently (March 2010) costs only L50, is a good inexpensive power supply. The DarkPower Pro 650W, made by Be Quiet!, is a superior choice, but it currently costs L100.
Are you sure that you need a new graphics card. If you don't play games, a more powerful card won't improve video editing, because most video-editing programs use a PC's processor more than its graphics card. There is no Windows 7 device driver for your existing ATI Radeon X1650 graphics card, but the Windows Vista driver is available from amd.com. The Download Drivers section on the right-hand side of the home page. There's no official AMD support, but that driver should run under Windows 7, having replaced Microsoft's driver with AMD's. If you still want to upgrade, the ATI Radeon HD 4770 card would be a good buy. It costs around L65, uses about 50W and requires a six-pin PCI Express (PCI-E) power connector. However, you can avoid replacing your PC's power supply by buying an ATI Radeon HD 4670, which costs around L50. It also uses about 50W, but doesn't require an extra PCI-E power connector. However, since you have also upgraded the hard disk drive, processor and RAM memory, the 250W power supply might not be able to supply the extra power for the new graphics card, so make use of the Antec Power-Supply Calculator.
My Windows 7 Home Premium desktop PC is running using the Administrator account, not a user account that has far fewer privileges, but when I try to run a few programs that ran perfectly well under Windows XP, an error message is produced that tells me that I have "insufficient privileges" and that I should make sure that I am running them "as an Administrator". Is there a way that I can make them run?
This is no doubt caused by the security feature in Windows Vista and Windows 7 called User Account Control (UAC) that prevents unrecognised software from being run. It can prevent older software from being run, but is easy to get around.
Use the Start => All Programs menu to find an installed program that is being affected in this way. Right click with the mouse pointer on the entry. One of the options in the menu that presents itself should be called Run as Administrator. Choose it. A message should come up asking, "Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to your computer?" Click OK and the program should then run as it should.
If you want to make sure that a program always runs with Administrator privileges, right-click on its entry as before, but this time choose Properties from the menu. Next, click on the Compatibility tab, enable the option called Run this program as Administrator and click OK.
My laptop PC can dual-boot to Windows XP and Windows 7. The sound works properly in XP, but Win7 is silent. I have looked in Device Manager and there is no entry at all for sound, but there are several entries in XP. I have checked the Control Panel under Sound for recording and playback, but it shows no device installed. Is this a question of no device drivers installed for the sound card, and, if so, why isn't Windows detecting hardware that has no drivers installed and then installing them, as is usually the case? The motherboard make/model is Alienware Aurora m9700 AB040. In Windows XP, the only sound entry that shows a driver tab is SoundMax.
The alienware.com website provides a support area should be able to provide a driver for the sound card or sound chip integrated on the motherboard. I looked but I could only see the availability of Windows XP and Windows Vista drivers for all devices. You will probably be able to use a Vista driver if there is no Windows 7 driver.
Windows 7 provides several very effective automatic troubleshooters in its Control Panel that is accessed by clicking on the Start button. I have used it to correct a device driver problem with an old HP printer, scanner, copier for which there is no full Windows 7 drivers. The printer troubleshooter found and installed a basic printer driver that allowed the printer to function but not the scanner and copier.
The default view of the Control Panel (View by: Category) has a System and Security section. You click on the Find and fix problems link to open the page that provides the troubleshooters, which, when activated, run to fix problems automatically. The easiest way to access them is to type the word troubleshooting in the Start =>" Search programs and files box (no need to press the Enter key) to be presented with a clickable link.
The most useful troubleshooters are under the following headings: Hardware and Sound - Troubleshoot audio recording - Troubleshoot audio playback - Use a printer Network and Internet - Internet connections - Shared folders - HomeGroup - Network adapter - Incoming Connections System and Security - Fix problems with Windows Update - Run maintenance tasks - Check for performance issues
For a sound problem, just enter the word sound in the Start =>" Search programs and files box and then look for the Find and fix problems link
Feedback from the sender: The good news is I have fixed it. Searched the web for SoundMax, found and downloaded the Vista drivers from somewhere, clicked on setup.exe which opened the SoundMax wizard and after some creaking and freezing it installed. Rebooted, got a message driver not installed then heard the Win7 startup tune. There was another download for Vista that did not work, so with this problem keep trying. The Device Manager now has a sound entry.
The following article tell you how to enable Windows Vista and Windows 7 to make use of multicore processors to speed up the boot (startup) process.
Windows 7 and Vista Boot Optimization -
http://ttcshelbyville.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/windows-7-and-vista-boot-optimization/
If you experience any problems with programs after setting the number of cores to use at startup, just undo the setting.
Setting processor affinity to an application (process) in Windows Vista [and Windows 7] - You use the same method in Windows 7. You can set the Set Affinity and the Set Priority options. I would avoid using the Realtime option provided by the Set Priority option, because it can cause probems. - http://techblissonline.com/set-processor-affinity-windows-vista-applications-process/
"Ok multitasking is great in these modern times of multiprocessors and Win7 management directives, but what about the times when multitasking is not a priority? When one basically wants one task to get done as quickly as possible and many times, using a program that is not very multi-processor aware? Using affinity only seems to distribute the workload more evenly among the processors but does very little to actually increase the utilization of cpu time overall. Same lack of utilization when priority is given high or real time status (because its not competing with anything else of significance already). So its the multitasking reserve that I'd like to adjust, make it 10% or less instead of up to 45% or so in some instances (program dependent?) with 30% seemingly the most common reserve approximation. Any way to do that on a dynamic or static basis? For example when I'm using DVDFlick on my quad, its terrible in Win7. Processing is only 14 frames per second and as mentioned affinity and priority have little to no effect. If I boot to XP on the same system and use DVDFlick on the same file, 45 frames per second processed, no adjustments made, distribution to all 4 processors excellent and 2-10% reserve only. That's what I want from Win7 if possible."
Find the answers in this thread from which the above quote comes:
Questions on multitasking in Windows 7 with dual-core and quad-core processors -
http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread.php/...
The poster of the following post on a computer forum used Windows 7 Backup to create scheduled backups to an external USB hard disk drive, but, having remembered to connect the backup drive to the computer for the first couple of backups, he subsequently forgot to do so. The Windows 7 Action Center reminded him about the missed backup, so he decided to do it manually. However, the incremental backup took so long that he had to cancel it, but then Windows would not shut down, so he had to keep the start button pressed until it did. This happened again the next time he tried to make a backup. He tried successfully to transfer a few small files to the external drive and thought that this proved that the drive was working. However, he subsequently tried to copy a 2GB folder and found that the transfer rate was only 217Kbps, so he decided to check the connection to the external drive (he was using a USB extension cable to get extra length) and discovered that "the USB connector on the external disc cable was bad - it didn't make a tight connection with the USB extension cable. Luckily, I had a spare cable around, and backup worked without problems."
This solution shows that you should always check the basics, such as the connection, before attempting more complex troubleshooting.
Windows 7 Backup is not working -
http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread.php/...
Two weeks ago I installed Windows 7 Professional [The equivalent of Windows Vista Business] on a friend's laptop computer. The previous version was Windows Vista. I did a full installation, not an upgrade installation. Everything worked as it should, including connecting to my secured wireless network from my router. My friend collected her laptop, took it home, but then I got a call saying she could not connect to her wireless home network. When she took it to the school where she works as a teacher, it would only connect to unsecured networks, but not to her own. I got the laptop back and now it wouldn't connect to my home network. Windows produced a message saying that it was unable to connect. It didn't provide the box that allows you to enter its network encryption key.
This is what I have already tried or done: 1. - The wireless device does have the latest driver. 2. - Removed the connection from my gateway. 3. - The laptop wireless device does support IPv6. 4. - Changed Network ID to Home computer instead of Domain. 5. - Made sure that Network Discovery was turned on. 6. - Disabled the DHCP Broadcast Flag (recommendation from Microsoft). 7. - Ran the Wizard to set up a new connection or network. 8. - Also made sure the following were set to Automatic and started in Services:
* DNS Client
* Function Discovery Provider Host
* Function Discovery Resource Publication
* Peer Networking Grouping
* HomeGroup Provider
* HomeGroup Listener
* SSDP Discovery
* UPnP Device Host
Also, the Troubleshooter in the Network and Sharing Center does not find a problem.
The solution is no doubt going to involve doing something very simple. When this happened to me, I fixed the problem by giving the wireless network an new name (the name can be anything you like, but is usually named after your internet service provider (ISP) if you got your router from an ISP). The network name is also called its SSID. It identifies the network when you view the available wireless networks by right-clicking the network icon in the Notification Area in the bottom right-hand corner of the Windows desktop (or via Network and Sharing Center in the Control Panel). I also changed the WPA-PSK encryption key. Windows 7 will then have to configure it again with the new details, so it will have to bring up its dialog box that requires the encryption key to be entered before you can connect to the 'new' (reconfigured) network when you choose to view the available wireless networks and then choose to connect to yours.
Only a wireless network that has WEP or WPA encryption enabled via its router requires an encryption key. The settings differ from router to router and are changed via the router's web-based configuration page (and sub-pages), which is opened in a browser, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, when you enter a specified IP address - http://192.168.1.1 for my router. The router's user manual or the instructions on how to use a router provided by an ISP tell you how to bring up the settings page. Then you just have to look through all of the settings' pages to find the page that allows you to enable/disable WEP or WPA encryption (don't ever use weak crackable WEP only the much stronger WPA), change the network name (SSID) and change the WPA-PSK encryption key.
I am building a new desktop PC. I want it to be able to run Windows XP Professional, Windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux and to be able to choose which operating system to boot into at startup. I have a new hard disk drive that I will partition to create a separate partition for each operating system, plus one partition for the data files that can be accessed irrespective of which operating system is chosen at startup. I know that the partitions will have to be formatted to use the NTFS file system, but I don't know if there is a preferable order to install the operating systems. Will each installation configure the boot loader so that it is made available as a boot choice at startup?
Here is how I created this triple-boot system myself.
I started with a blank hard disk drive, booted from the Windows XP Professional installation disc, created a partition for XP, using the option that is provided from the set procedure to do so, and installed it on that partition.
Next, I inserted the Windows 7 Home Premium installation disc in the DVD writer and ran the Windows 7 installation program from within Windows XP. I created a second partition for Windows 7 in the same way, as I did for Windows XP, and installed it in that partition. You must install Windows XP first because you won't be able to add XP if you install Windows 7 first without going to a great deal of trouble.
When the PC was booted it offered the boot options of Windows 7 or an "Earlier version of Windows" (Windows XP). Windows 7 is the default choice and if you don't choose it, after a few seconds it boots automatically. You have to choose Windows XP to boot into it. You can reverse this boot order from within Windows 7 so that Windows XP is the default choice that boots after a few seconds provided for you to make a choice. To do that follow this click path: Start => Control Panel => System (System Properties window comes up) => Advanced tab => Startup and Recovery => Settings button. You have to do it from within Windows 7 because it created the boot menu.
Next, I created another NTFS partition to use for storing data files, which can be accessed from all three operating systems.
Finally, I booted from the Ubuntu Linux installation disc that I burned from an ISO file downloaded from ubuntu.com and installed it in the remaining hard-drive space.
Note that you cannot create more than 4 primary partitions on a hard disk drive. In this case, I only needed to create two primary partitions and an extended partition. The Windows partition manager allows you to do that. You can then create as many logical partitions within the extended partition as are required. The operating system allocates a drive letter (C:, D:, E:, etc.) to each logical partition.
If you need more information, read Disk partitioning - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_partitioning.
Now, whenever I boot the PC, using nothing more than the default boot loaders that each operating system provides, the procedure is as follows:
First Grub offers Ubuntu or the Windows 7 boot loader. If I select Windows 7, the Windows 7 boot loader offers Windows 7 or Windows XP. All the operating systems boot up as they should.
Then all you have to do is sort out drive lettering so that the two versions of Windows have the same drive letters for the data partition and also set it to automount when you start Ubuntu. You can make sure that each version of Windows uses the same drive letter for the data partition in Disk Management, which you can bring up by entering diskmgmt.msc in the Start => Run box in Windows XP and in the Search programs and files box in Win7. You can also enter the term disk management in Win7's Search box to be provided with a link to it. To change the drive letter, right-click the mouse with its pointer in the drive's box in Disk Management and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths...
I use a PC with a Foxconn H161MXL motherboard, running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit version, to run my business so I have to be very careful making sure that I have as many backup options as possible available to cover every kind of system failure and quirky happenstance. I use Acronis True Image to clone the boot hard drive (1.5TB) to a second hard drive (1TB), enabling me to swap them should the boot disk fail for some reason, but, to avoid having to clone periodically, I want to set up a RAID 1 array that mirrors the boot drive to a second drive. I need to know which is best hardware (BIOS) or software RAID and can it be set up from the existing system, because I don't want to format the drives and reinstall.
Note that Windows 7 Home Premium does not support software RAID, only the Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows 7 do.
I downloaded the motherboard manual from Foxconn's site. It doesn't support hardware RAID (the motherboard doesn't have a RAID controller configured via the BIOS), so you'll have to use software RAID, which is slightly quicker. Windows 7 can mirror a hard drive volume via its Disk Management feature, which you access by entering its name in the Start => Search programs and files box, without destroying any data on the original drive, so there is no need to format and reinstall.
You have to convert both drives to dynamic disks to use them in a RAID configuration, which is not supported by the standard version of Acronis True Image. The Plus Pack has to be installed. You do the conversion to dynamic disks in Disk Management.
If the 1.5TB boot drive is a single volume (unpartitioned) it cannot be mirrored to a 1TB drive without shrinking it to under 1TB. Both drives have your data on them, so you can use the 1TB drive as the boot drive and mirror it to the 1.5TB drive. Ideally, you should use two drives of the same make, model and capacity in a RAID 1 setup.
The boot disk will probably be called Disk 0 in Disk Management. By right-clicking with the mouse pointer in its volume, convert it into a dynamic disk, reboot and then add the second drive to the system (Disk 1). Next, select the C: drive's partition for Disk 0, right clicked it and select Add Mirror. When it asks which drive to mirror, select the second drive. If the boot drive has, say, two partitions and you selected to mirror both of them, Windows will write both partitions at the same time, taking a long time, so do one partition at a time until the whole drive is mirrored.
The remaining space on the target drive will be unallocated space, which you should not format and use because doing so can slow down the mirrored drive considerably.
In Disk Management, when the mirroring is complete, the Layout heading for both drives should say Mirror and the Type heading should say Dynamic.
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