Anyone still running Windows 7?

How many licenses are we talking about here... assuming they're running on three more PCs?

Sent from Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE

Look, I didn't even realize I had misspoken there. These are just the copies of Windows my wife picked up and installed on her own machine, then over at her brother's place, and even one for a friend of hers. If they happen to be unlicensed in that specific scenario, well, that’s on me, I suppose.
But regardless of the legality, they were functioning perfectly fine on the old computer, yet now, suddenly, they aren't working at all.

Give this solution a shot..

http://support.microsoft.com/mats/windows_update/

Nothing to report.
It’s still showing that red shield icon. For some reason, the system simply refuses to let me adjust any of the settings, insisting—with an almost stubborn persistence—that I restart my computer before anything changes.

Make sure the date and time in your BIOS matches what you have set in Windows. Also—does Windows Update actually run when you try to trigger it?

How does one actually access the BIOS? My friend was handling everything for me previously, so please forgive my utter lack of technical knowledge on the matter.
I am currently locked in a most vexing struggle with Windows Update, which seems to have developed a stubborn, almost sentient refusal to cooperate with my every command. It is quite frankly exhausting. When I attempt to engage with it, the interface greets me with nothing but a mocking red icon marked with an "X," as if to signal its utter disdain for my troubleshooting efforts. Naturally, I attempted to rectify this by navigating into the settings to adjust the configuration, only to be met with a deceptive little green checkmark accompanied by the message "Install updates automatically." It looks perfectly functional—almost tauntingly so. Yet, the moment I click "OK" to confirm these settings, the system simply tosses me back to the initial screen, completely ignoring the instruction. To add insult to injury, when I finally decide to click "Check for updates," the computer insists with absolute certainty that I must restart the machine to finalize the changes. So, I perform the restart, waiting with a weary sense of anticipation, only to find myself right back at square one, staring at the same broken loop. It feels like a descent into madness.

The Delete key—basically, you just restart the computer and then mash that Delete key as soon as it starts booting up, and you should be able to jump straight into the BIOS. Once you're in there, take a look and see if the system clock is actually running correctly...

Everything seems perfectly fine on the surface—the system looks solid, yet the time and date are still acting up, and the problem remains stubbornly unchanged.
What should my next move be?

Click on the Start button
in the search box, type
SERVICES.MSC
and hit the Enter key
Go ahead and accept any UAC prompt that pops up—once you're in the Services control panel, just look for this one:

Background Intelligent Transfer Service
--just double-click it
Check the startup type—you'll want to make sure it’s set to 'Automatic (Delayed Start)'
and then just click OK to exit.

Next, find Windows Update
and double-click it
Again, check the startup type to ensure it is also set to 'Automatic (Delayed Start)'
then hit OK.

Now, give Windows Update a manual start and see how it goes...

If everything looks good, try running Windows Updates once more to see if that actually fixes the issue.

I gave this method a shot as well.
Nothing to report, really—just more of the same disappointment.

Do you have anything important on your PC—any data you need to save? I’m asking because you mentioned you just installed Windows recently. If I were in your shoes, I’d honestly just wipe the hard drive and do a totally clean install of Windows—it might be the easiest way to fix this once and for all... it really should work. Otherwise, you might just end up spinning your wheels for nothing, and let's face it, a fresh Windows installation only takes about 20 or 30 minutes anyway. 😁

Look, even that isn't going to fix the underlying issue.
We put this rig together back on Tuesday, installed a fresh version of Windows the very same day, and realized right then that we had a problem on our hands. By Wednesday, my wife—bless her heart, she was just trying to tidy things up—wiped the entire system and did a completely clean install of Windows, so there was absolutely nothing left on the C drive or the D drive. And yet, wouldn't you know it, the exact same problem popped right back up.
My son is playing all his usual games just like he always has, and honestly, I can't see anything else acting up besides this one specific headache.
We were under the impression that a total reinstall of Windows would be the magic bullet to solve this, but clearly, we were mistaken. It was only after that failed attempt that I finally turned to you all for help, because frankly, we're at our wits' end here.

Problem solved.

Here is what you need to do:

Press Start, press All programs, Accessories and click Notepad
Copy and paste the following text into the document

I’m going to stop right there because this platform won't let me paste the rest of my message; apparently, I have 12 images attached and they only allow 10, which is just typical, isn't it? Some arbitrary limit that stalls everything just when you're getting somewhere.
The process itself is quite straightforward, really, and if anyone else finds themselves facing these same headaches, please just send me a private message. I'll happily email you the full procedure. It honestly takes about five minutes, and ever since I followed these steps, my system has been running perfectly smooth again.

Just a quick question—I’m setting up a new machine and need two separate accounts: one standard user and one administrator.
- Will the list of users be visible on the login screen? I’d rather avoid that if possible.
- Is a password mandatory for every login? I want to bypass it for the standard user—just a simple username entry—but obviously, the admin account will still need a password.
- Also, regarding software: I don't want everything the admin has to be available to the standard user. All they really need is Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer.

Ideally, the standard user would just log in automatically without any typing at all. For the admin, I’d want to have to hit a specific key to trigger the login prompt—kind of like how you tap a key to boot into Linux or access the BIOS.

I’m assuming we’re talking about a non-domain setup here—just a standard home PC.

1) That list is visible, sure, but you can just hide it using local Group Policy.
2) Honestly, you probably don't even need to bother. You can just set Windows to auto-login for the main user on boot. If an admin needs to jump in, they can just hit Start > log off and punch in the admin password. Once they're done, just restart the machine or log the user back in (if they aren't supposed to have the password).
3) A lot of apps give you an "Install for this user only" option during setup. If you really need to tighten things down regarding what software a user can run, you can handle that through local Group Policy using "Software restriction policies."

Hey, thanks for getting back to me.

Yeah, something like that—it’s just a standard home PC shared by two users. I’m actually in the middle of ordering a new machine right now and I'm torn between Windows 7 and Win 8. naginjati Win 7. Honestly, I'm leaning toward Windows 7 just to save my sanity.

I want to know if I can get away with the cheaper Windows 7 Home edition and still run two separate user profiles like I described. One person just needs Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer, while the other needs more advanced software and a customized desktop—you know, specific shortcuts for important files and folders—so they'll definitely need a password to access their account.

I noticed Group Policy isn't included in the Home version... hopefully there's some simpler workaround available.

I’m really not looking to get into a whole debate over Windows 7 vs Windows 8.1 because it’s a lost cause. All I’ll say is that Windows 8.1 isn't nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. But hey, let's not derail the thread; there's already a dedicated topic for that. If you've decided to stick with Windows 7, that's totally fine by me.

True, Windows 7 Home editions don't come with GPO, but honestly, if the PC is just for an average user, there's really no point in shelling out extra cash for a Pro / Ent version anyway. There is this one tool that supposedly lets you access the GPO editor on "Home" editions, but since I don't actually run any "Home" versions myself, I can't personally vouch for whether it actually works.

Regarding that second paragraph—all user profiles on Windows are separate. That means once you've customized your own setup (shortcuts, docs, whatever), nobody else is going to see it. Sure, an admin user could technically head over to C:\Users\ and peek at someone else's files, but that requires having an admin account.

Hey, I’m running into an issue installing Windows 7.
It isn't my first rodeo; I've done this countless times before without any drama.
But this time, right when it hits the "expanding files" stage, it just hangs at 0% forever before finally throwing a "corrupt or missing file" error. Specifically, ERROR code 0 x80070017.
Anyone know what's causing this? Thanks.

It sounds like your DVD might be the culprit here—maybe it’s got some scratches or just a bit of surface damage preventing a clean read. You should probably grab a fresh copy of the OS from this link instead; they'll provide it as an ISO file, so you can just burn it onto a blank DVD and you'll be good to go.

http://www.w7forums.com/threads/offi...wnloads.12325/

Thanks, it worked. It wasn't easy though—spent four hours downloading everything on this ancient computer that's basically running on fumes. I ran into some issues during the burning process where it just refused to boot, so I had to trick it by booting from an old Windows DVD first. Once the installation kicked off, I swapped in the new DVD. Everything went smoothly and it’s all up and running now. I ended up installing Windows Home Premium.