Repair install Win 7 remotely

[Haole Boy]

Aloha,

I've been fighting a difficult Win 7 Windows Update problem for a while now. I've been working with a specialist at sysnative.com, and one of the things he's suggested is doing a repair install. Unfortunately, my access to this machine is via remote connection (Instant Housecall). I've never done a repair install, but the process looks simple enough from what I've read. What frightens me is what happens if this fails and I cannot re-establish my remote connection. The user is somewhat capable, but I really don't want to do the "decribe exactly what you see on the screen" scenario that takes hours just to start a program.

So, has anyone done a Win 7 Repair Install via remote connection? Did it work? Any hints or tips?

I know I don't have to be concerned that anyone here will be reluctant to tell me I'm nuts to even consider this!

Mahalo,

Harry Z

 

[MDD1963]

The options of choosing a repair install are presented in the very earliest stage of pre-installation/bootup...

Ergo, doing it remotely is rather 'problematic' while in the earliest pre-OS/boot menu options. I'd think....

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Did you already try SFCfix? Usually I try it as a last resort.

 

[Diggs]

I know I don't have to be concerned that anyone here will be reluctant to tell me I'm nuts to even consider this!

This! There always has to be at least a plan B (and hopefully plan C). If things go wrong here, you are done. No fallback at all.

 

[Haole Boy]

The options of choosing a repair install are presented in the very earliest stage of pre-installation/bootup...

Ergo, doing it remotely is rather 'problematic' while in the earliest pre-OS/boot menu options. I'd think....

From what I've read, you run setup.exe on the system you want to repair after it has booted. So, I'm not sure what your're referring to with "earliest pro-OS/boot menu options". Here's the article I'm referencing on how to do the repair install.

Did you already try SFCfix? Usually I try it as a last resort.

Yes, that was tried before I opened up a topic on sysnative.com (which is also the "home" for sfcfix)

This! There always has to be at least a plan B (and hopefully plan C). If things go wrong here, you are done. No fallback at all.

Yeah, that's why I'm asking for additional input on this. It's kind of a question about whether I ask him to put the machine in a box and send it to me now, or send it to me after the repair install fails.... :-(

Mahalo for your replies!

 

[Haole Boy]

FWIW, I have a machine on my bench right now that needs a repair install. Guess I'll try this via remote just to sees what happens. (I have two full disk backups just in case it goes south...). I'll report back here with the results.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Have you tried Tweaking's All-In-One Windows Repair to see if it helps fix the problem?

 

[Haole Boy]

Have you tried Tweaking's All-In-One Windows Repair to see if it helps fix the problem?

Yep. I tried just WU related repairs first, then every repair they have. Did not resolve the problem.

I don't use the sysnative folks very often, but when I have used them, it's been a good experience. I also make a contribution every time I do use them.

Mahalo,

Harry Z.

 

[Markverhyden]

Personally I'd never do a repair install like that unless B, C, etc options, including hands on, are agreed upon in advance. Now if they had multiple machines networked so I could RDP from another to the patient would make things much easier.

 

[johnrobert]

You would have to run it from within Windows and when it reboots there nothing more you could do
they would have to take control and hopefully, it works out.
Let them do it, then if anything goes wrong they did it.
This is something I would never do remotely.

 

[Haole Boy]

FWIW, I have a machine on my bench right now that needs a repair install. Guess I'll try this via remote just to sees what happens. (I have two full disk backups just in case it goes south...). I'll report back here with the results.

Well, I tried it and it worked! Connected to the subject machine via remote, and ran setup.exe. Let it run through all of it's preliminary stuff and got to the point where the actual install started. I had to leave at that point. When I came back my remote access program (Instant Housecall) was waiting for me to accept the remote connection. I connected and the machine was waiting for me to hit any key to get to the logon screen. Everything seems to work, and the problems that caused me to do the repair install have been resolved.

As for my customer, I'm still not sure what to do. It's almost a case of put in a box and ship it to me now, or try the repair install and it if fails, put it in a box and ship it to me then.

Note: my original post concerned repair install of Windows 7. The system I tried this on today is Windows 10 Home. One of my concerns is that I might end up in a situation where Win 7 does not have the network card driver needed so that I can re-establish connection. So, I will have to make sure that network drivers are downloaded and accessible by the customer for install. Not sure what other differences there might be between Win 7 and Win 10 in this scenario.

Mahalo for all your replies. Very much appreciated.

Harry Z

 

[GTP]

Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Windows 7 and Windows 10 "repair installs" are two different beasts as you would be well aware.
The Windows 10 that you did on the bench would have been a refresh?, whereas the Windows 7 will be a complete new install.
Instant Housecall would have reconnected to the connection module that would have stayed present and active on the Win 10 machine.
Windows 7 will not.

 

[Mick]

^This is true. I honestly don't see how you are going to do this remotely without running into a heap of problems, of which the NIC driver is but one. Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to get a customer that's so far away you can't visit him?

 

[johnrobert]

Correct me if I am wrong but a repair install has never been sanctioned by MS never seen a fix where it's been advised to do.
but it can work.
I remember in the Win98 days doing it all the time we called it an over-install it was the about the only to fix many problems

 

[Haole Boy]

Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Windows 7 and Windows 10 "repair installs" are two different beasts as you would be well aware.
The Windows 10 that you did on the bench would have been a refresh?, whereas the Windows 7 will be a complete new install.
Instant Housecall would have reconnected to the connection module that would have stayed present and active on the Win 10 machine.-Wi
Windows 7 will not.

I did not do the built-into-Win10 Refresh or Reset. I had a usb drive with the Windows 10 install files on it, and ran setup.exe after booting into the system. Please see this tutorial for more info. The Win7 repair install process is similar. Sometimes it's referred to as in in-place upgrade.

^This is true. I honestly don't see how you are going to do this remotely without running into a heap of problems, of which the NIC driver is but one. Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to get a customer that's so far away you can't visit him?

He's a relative. He's in California, I'm in Hawaii. Kinda hard to make a house call.

Correct me if I am wrong but a repair install has never been sanctioned by MS never seen a fix where it's been advised to do.
but it can work.
I remember in the Win98 days doing it all the time we called it an over-install it was the about the only to fix many problems

"Sanctioned" or not, it has worked wonders on the machine I did it on. Wish I had tried this on a few other machines that have come through in the past...

Again, mahalo for all the replies.

Harry Z

 

[Porthos]

He's a relative. He's in California, I'm in Hawaii. Kinda hard to make a house call.

How bout one of you go on Vacation. You or your relative.

 

[timeshifter]

• Use FaceTime of Skype so you can guide some of the offline portions of the install
• Send them an IP KVM of some sort, they plug it into their network then plug in the video and USB connections to the PC. Never done this, I think Bomgar makes something like this. May be others, cheaper.
• Send them a new sysprep'd SSD with Windows 7 ready to go, walk them through the install.

 

[Kitten Kong]

Plan D, imo would be to see which TN member you could team up with, for an onsite visit should it be needed.

I think it would be a whole lot quicker, than your client boxing up the machine and sending it to you, and vice Versa.

 

[Haole Boy]

How bout one of you go on Vacation. You or your relative.

Actually, I will be there in a month. Not sure if he wants to wait that long, or if my wife is willing to give up part of our vacation for me to play with a computer.

• Use FaceTime of Skype so you can guide some of the offline portions of the install
• Send them an IP KVM of some sort, they plug it into their network then plug in the video and USB connections to the PC. Never done this, I think Bomgar makes something like this. May be others, cheaper.
• Send them a new sysprep'd SSD with Windows 7 ready to go, walk them through the install.

Great ideas! I'm not familiar with IP KVMs and have never done a sysprep setup (residential customer set, so no need). I will do some research to see if these can work for me.

There's your Plan A and your Plan B. You've nailed it.

For Plan B you could probably get them to FedEx you just the HDD - Windows 7 is surprisingly flexible about being moved bodily from one machine to another.

Interesting idea... not sure if he has the skills to remove / replace the HDD, though. I've never tried this with Win 7. I remember doing this with Windows 95 or 98 and it took about 7 reboots to get the various device drivers installed, but it worked. Yet another idea to keep in the back of my mind as we proceed.

Plan D, imo would be to see which TN member you could team up with, for an onsite visit should it be needed.

I think it would be a whole lot quicker, than your client boxing up the machine and sending it to you, and vice Versa.

And one more great idea.

Mahalo for all the responses! I'll update with whatever progress / steps I take.

Harry Z

 

[timeshifter]

have never done a sysprep setup (residential customer set, so no need)

I'm residential and small business, none of whom really need sysprep as they're all very small. But, I learned just enough about sysprep to apply it to my work.

The only two Windows OS that install these days are 7 and 10. 10 is a no brainer and the easiest to install Windows ever. Windows 7 has some issues, mainly that it needs so many damned updates and there a lots of glitches with the update process. So right now I have two Windows 7 installs that are about one year old now in terms of updates. One with Windows 7 Home Premium and the other is Windows 7 Professional. They're both Dell OEM installs. If I put them on a Dell machine they activate automatically. I work on a lot of Dells. If they're not Dells then I type in the product key from the sticker on the machine and it will activate 99% of the time.

The concept is that you install Windows 7 on a PC. Then you install all the drivers and updates to it's completely ready to go. Then you run a command called sysprep. It strips out some info about the machine. Next you make an image of the machine. You restore that image to a new hard drive / machine. When you boot that new system you'll run through the OOBE (out of box experience) just like you brought the machine home from the store the first time.

I use the Microsoft sysprep command. Microsoft also has command line tools to make and restore the images, but I settled in to using Macrium reflect for that part.

Anyway, that's the basic concepts on how I use it.