Why won't Windows 10 setup.exe run in Windows 7?

[guruka]

Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

I have installed the Windows 10 upgrade on two Win 8.1 PCs using the USB stick created with Microsoft's Media Creation Tool. No problems. Now turning to a Windows 7 machine with has passed the compatibility and readiness testing and shows the white "Get Windows 10" icon in the system tray. Not wanting to wait for the interminably slow Microsoft in place download (even on a 20 Mb/s connection) I tried to install from the USB stick as I did in Windows 8.1. Guess what... the setup.exe file on the USB drive simply refuses to run even though I am logged in with Admin account. Even tried it in Safe Mode. No go. No error message. Nothing at all. Just won't even run. Anyone else having this issue?

Oh, and yes, it is the correct version of Windows 10. Attempting to install Win 10 "Home" over Win 7 "Home Premium" and Malwarebytes is disabled.

UPDATE: Decided to try installing using the Media Creation Tool itself from within Windows 7 because it offers the option to "upgrade this PC." It won't run either giving the useless error message:

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Of course, rebooting makes no difference at all.

 

[Zachary Boddy]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

Open Run by pressing [Win] + [R] and typing "winver" without the quotation marks. Maybe you're not running the right updates or have a genuine version of Windows 7 (just taking all possibilities into account). It'll show you what version of Windows you're running and if it's licensed. You should have Service Pack 1.

 

[avdveen]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

I have the exact same problem on a valid Windows 7 Pro SP1 64-bit desktop.

Tried running setup.exe from flash drive and CDROM, nothing happens.
Tested the installer files on a clean VM as well as my Win7 Pro 64-bit laptop and it works on both, so the Win10 Pro 64-bit install files are not corrupt.

Other .exe files run and install fine, just not the Win10 stuff, so not a corrupt registry (entry) either.

Win10 upgrade via Windows Update is also failing, error code 80070005; all attempts to resolve that has been fruitless too.

 

[rebinoh]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

I have the exact same problem on a valid Windows 7 Pro SP1 64-bit desktop.

Tried running setup.exe from flash drive and CDROM, nothing happens.
Tested the installer files on a clean VM as well as my Win7 Pro 64-bit laptop and it works on both, so the Win10 Pro 64-bit install files are not corrupt.


Other .exe files run and install fine, just not the Win10 stuff, so not a corrupt registry (entry) either.

Win10 upgrade via Windows Update is also failing, error code 80070005; all attempts to resolve that has been fruitless too.

I'm having a similar issue but on a Windows 7 Home Premium desktop. I've used all the KB fixes and ran a chkdsk to no avail. Can someone offer some assistance?

 

[guruka]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

We are all in exactly the same situation. All updates installed and Chkdsk run with no errors. The setup.exe on the ISO will not run and neither will the Media Creation tool.

 

[guruka]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

Correct version of Windows shows on both machines. One is Home Premium SP1 and the other is Professional SP1. Both are correctly licensed and activated. What's especially weird is that attempting an in-place upgrade gives no error messages at all. The executable just does not run. Both these machines (a laptop and a desktop) are doing exactly the same thing. All my Win 8.1 machines upgraded perfectly using the same USB ISO to do an in-place upgrade.

 

[Ma Rio]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

Why not just boot from the USB drive? That's the whole purpose of it for me.

 

[guruka]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

Yes. You are right. I can do a clean install by booting from the ISO. That, of course, will require both reinstalling all programs and restoring all data from backup and also the purchase of two Win 10 license keys, because when you do a clean install you don't get the free upgrade. So yeah, for a bunch of money and many hours of my time it can be done that way. And I may end up going that route. Since my existing Win 7 installations are stable, fast, clean and well maintained I may just decide to wait to upgrade. I'm just concerned that in-place installs are not even possible on these machines and wondering why.

I guess I'm not fond of mysteries where computers are concerned. I like to get to the causes of problems and understand them.

 

[jmshub]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

If you boot from the USB drive, you can still choose the option to upgrade the instance of Windows on the PC instead of a clean install.

 

[Ma Rio]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

Yes. You are right. I can do a clean install by booting from the ISO. That, of course, will require both reinstalling all programs and restoring all data from backup and also the purchase of two Win 10 license keys, because when you do a clean install you don't get the free upgrade. So yeah, for a bunch of money and many hours of my time it can be done that way. And I may end up going that route. Since my existing Win 7 installations are stable, fast, clean and well maintained I may just decide to wait to upgrade. I'm just concerned that in-place installs are not even possible on these machines and wondering why.

I guess I'm not fond of mysteries where computers are concerned. I like to get to the causes of problems and understand them.

Well..programs are generally easy to reinstall and that doesn't take up too much of your time (except you hoard them). Other data also. I suggest you do it manually by just putting all your pics, music, docs n everything up on a flash drive or an external HDD, and just copy them back, that works better for me than making a backup and then restoring from it. As for the licence..well, yes. It didn't bother me even in the first place because I didn't have a (legal) licence for Win8, but it could be a problem to you.

 

[guruka]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

Thanks, but no, actually that is not possible. When you try that you will receive an error message saying to remove the installation media and start Windows normally and then re-insert the installation media and restart the upgrade from within Windows. So, yes, you can choose "upgrade" when you boot from the install media, but no, it won't actually allow that to happen. Only two choices: in-place upgrade (which doesn't work) or get a Win 10 license key and do a clean install overwriting the existing installation. If you skip entering a key you have limited functionality - which is pretty much useless.

 

[guruka]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

Yeah, you are right. I've done clean installs and rebuilds many times and it always feels good to start clean. These machines are pretty mean and lean anyway, so it's no big deal. More about solving the mystery and seeing who else is having this experience than anything else.

 

[Ma Rio]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

If you skip entering a key you have limited functionality - which is pretty much useless.

Not true I think. You actually have almost all the functionality. The only thing I noticed is that you can't do any customatisation (which isn't that important, and also the default theme looks good), and one more thing, I can't remember, but I know it's not a big deal.

 

[guruka]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

Thanks for your help. If anyone solves the mystery, do post the answer here. Thanks.

 

[anon(9598047)]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

Is your window10 ISO broken?

 

[guruka]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

No. Have done three other installs from it. All went perfectly.

 

[rebinoh]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

I was on the phone for almost two hours with a Microsoft technical support representative and he told me not to use the ISO because I would need a product key.

He tried to bypass that requirement and it wouldn't load. He did some more alterations via the remote access and thought all was fixed, but alas, it was not.

As I stated to him, it may be something simple that I'm overlooking but at this point I'm so frustrated I think I'm going to just continue to use Windows 7. I was so looking forward to having the new OS. But if anyone has any suggestions, I'm more than open to them.

 

[guruka]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

A clean "boot from the installation media installation requires a product key UNLESS you have first installed from within your existing OS. If you do that the hardware footprint of your computer is stored on MS server and a clean install without a key becomes possible.

 

[guruka]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

SOLVED: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

I unplugged all my hard drives except the boot drive and the upgrade install proceeded fine. Since I keep my User data on a different drive, I then rebooted with that drive hooked up, made sure drive letters were assigned correctly and then remapped my user data folders on C: to the existing ones on D: using Properties/Move.

 

[jerrycott]

Re: Windows 10 setup.exe will not run in Windows 7

I'm having the exact same problem. On two valid win 7 machines. Win 10 update will not run, setup.exe will not run from flash drive. No error message, nothing. I think it might install if I boot from the flashdrive and select "clean install" but I don't want to loose all my stuff. Both machines have SSD's.