*SOLVED* Windows 7 Clean Install: "No Drives Were Found"

UPDATE

I can't figure out the UEFI/BIOS/Legacy thing in my BIOS settings. I'm starting to realize I might be over my head here. Could it be that my USB boot drive is not set up correctly? I'm using Rufus to make my bootable USB, which defaults to "MBR partition scheme for BIOS/UEFI" but also has the options "MBR partition scheme for UEFI" and "GPT partition scheme for UEFI".
 
Hi friend. Sorry!;) You have risen above my pay grade. I created the USB media. I did not use Rufus to create my media, and my flash works well. Does yours look like this? I'm really out of my league here! Maybe you might think about creating another media USB and trying that. IDKCapture25.JPG
 
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I created the USB media. I did not use Rufus to create my media
Click to expand...

If your screenshot is an X64 Windows 7 extracted iso, then wouldn't clicking the setup.exe file start installing it ?
 
JesseM said:
UPDATE

I can't figure out the UEFI/BIOS/Legacy thing in my BIOS settings. I'm starting to realize I might be over my head here. Could it be that my USB boot drive is not set up correctly? I'm using Rufus to make my bootable USB, which defaults to "MBR partition scheme for BIOS/UEFI" but also has the options "MBR partition scheme for UEFI" and "GPT partition scheme for UEFI".
Click to expand...

Get rid of rufus, don't bother with it again, unless you want to repeat the same process again in the future.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/rc07a5r5r537fu6/Windows7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool-Installer-en-US.exe
This is from microsoft which they pulled off the internet to make way for their do it your-self installer which is confusing to some people.
As long as the w7 iso you downloaded is from legitimate resource and the checksum turns out fine.
Nine times out of ten it will work on sandisk, kingston and other leading usb flash drive or adapter drive sd cards.
Since you have windows 7 home premium "oem" not retail edition you are in luck as I have this archived in my mediafire.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/vnetgb8qvbbjik7/Windows_7_64-bit_Home_Premium_x64.iso
 
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Since you have windows 7 home premium "oem" not retail edition you are in luck as I have this archived in my mediafire.
Click to expand...

screenshot_24.jpg
 
MaikuTech said:
Get rid of rufus, don't bother with it again, unless you want to repeat the same process again in the future.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/rc07a5r5r537fu6/Windows7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool-Installer-en-US.exe
This is from microsoft which they pulled off the internet to make way for their do it your-self installer which is confusing to some people.
As long as the w7 iso you downloaded is from legitimate resource and the checksum turns out fine.
Nine times out of ten it will work on sandisk, kingston and other leading usb flash drive or adapter drive sd cards.
Since you have windows 7 home premium "oem" not retail edition you are in luck as I have this archived in my mediafire.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/vnetgb8qvbbjik7/Windows_7_64-bit_Home_Premium_x64.iso
Click to expand...

Thanks for joining to help. Unfortunately, I get this error when attempting to create a bootable USB using the tool you shared:
bootableusb.jpg
 
jobeard said:
Read this on Legacy vs GPT

and some more here
Click to expand...

The more I read the more confused I get. I'm actually pretty sure my laptop boots in BIOS mode, and I think it doesn't have a UEFI booting option. There is nothing in the BIOS menu that mentions UEFI/EFI/SecureBoot/etc. It has "USB legacy support", "Onboard LAN Boot ROM", and some other vaguely relevant sounding options. I've been changing setting in the BIOS menu and now I can no longer even get into the Windows setup anymore. It just hangs at the black screen with an underscore _ and nothing else. I can still boot to Windows just fine.
 
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You don't need a bootable usb if your version of Windows 7 has a setup.exe file in the extracted iso, which needs to be on a usb inserted in the computer.
7-Zip is what I use to extract iso files.
Look at the screenshot in post #33.
 
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DavidBailey said:
You don't need a bootable usb if your version of Windows 7 has a setup.exe file in the extracted iso, which needs to be on a usb inserted in the computer.
7-Zip is what I use to extract iso files.
Look at the screenshot in post #33.
Click to expand...

Trying this now. How does the USB drive need to be formatted? NTSF? FAT32? Does it matter?

UPDATE
Laptop still gets stuck at the black screen with nothing but a blinking underscore with USB drive formatted as NTSF or FAT32.
I got it to boot into the Windows setup again by resetting BIOS settings to factory defaults and starting over from scratch with the USB drive. Now I'm back where I started, still getting the error "No drives were found. Click Load Driver to provide a mass storage driver for installation." I tried downloading mass storage controller drivers from Asus support for my laptop, and they showed up in the installer, but the HDD still doesn't show up after installing them.
 
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How does the USB drive need to be formatted? NTSF? FAT32? Does it matter?
Click to expand...
Format the usb as NTFS.
Fat 32 breaks up big files into 4 GB files.

Laptop still gets stuck at the black screen with nothing but a blinking underscore with USB drive formatted as NTFS or FAT32.
Click to expand...

You said you changed things in the bios ?
My bios has an option to restore defaults.
If you can try it.

I'm assuming you extracted the Win7 iso to a usb drive ?
And with the usb still inserted you clicked on the setup.exe file ?
screenshot_24.jpg
 
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DavidBailey said:
Format the usb as NTFS.
Fat 32 breaks up big files into 4 GB files.

You said you changed things in the bios ?
My bios has an option to restore defaults.
If you can try it.
Click to expand...

See my edit in my last post.

DavidBailey said:
I'm assuming you extracted the Win7 iso to a usb drive ?
And with the usb still inserted you clicked on the setup.exe file ?
Click to expand...

I extracted the .iso to the USB drive and booted into it. I will try running the installer from inside Windows now.
 
Hi Can you post a screen shot Disk Management?
PS I don't think it will wipe your data if you install windows with the "Setup exe"
 
holdum323 said:
Hi Can you post a screen shot Disk Management?
PS I don't think it will wipe your data if you install windows with the "Setup exe"
Click to expand...

If he installs over his current windows installation, yes it will erase his files in my documents and where ever else.
Windows installation will make his current installation into windows.old.
The programs will remain intact but not working unless he restitches the registry which can aggrevating.
.
 
Hi Jesse. It is my understanding that any Partition before the boot partition will have to be removed with a 3rd party program. This program should work for you. Maybe other members here have a better solution.;)
https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/epm-free.html
My thinking is that partition is what's causing your problems installing windows. I have no idea how it got there. Hopefully this program can fix your issue.
PS This is getting out of my pay grade. Will see If I can get a friend to help post here.
 
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Maybe, create a new Administrator Account.
Then, log out of your account.
Log in to the new account.
Then delete your old account.
And any other accounts that can be deleted.
I read some sites that said all your personal info is tied to your user account & deleting it would take all that info with it.
Get rid of windows.old too.
 
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Hi Can I get a update? Are you now running W10 or W7? Do you still want to get rid of the 14GB partition?
Thanks. Why is this thread marked solved, but you keep posting questions?What is that partition on the right side of the C: Partition? Do you still want help?
 
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