# Can't install Norton -- Low disk space **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692 "2012-01-16T14:26:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/1 "2012-01-16T14:26:09Z")
Argh, this is frustrating! Some weird virus thingy got into my laptop, and as a result, I had to re-install Windows. The upgrade option didn’t work, so I went for the complete reformat option. Everything went well. But my antivirus software – Norton – was deleted. I can download it for free from Comcast, but the install is not working right. If I try to run it, I get the progress bar, then nothing happens. I tried downloading the install file, which worked. When I try running it, it gives me an error of either “failed self extraction” or “you need at least 2mb of free space on your temp drive.” Temp DRIVE? I have temp folders. But a drive? This is a Dell laptop running Windows7 (Dell OEM) My drives are: OS (C: ) 159 GB free of 218 GB D: (DVD/CDROM) RECOVERY (E: ) 28.4 MB free of 14.6 GB The free space on E: is because I deleted everything from windows emp. Before that I had 0 free. And still, Windows is giving me a message that I’m low on disk space. I haven’t yet tried installing any other software. Help? ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/2 "2012-01-16T20:54:22Z")
Forget about Norton. Download Microsoft Security Essentials (also free). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/3 "2012-01-17T13:47:05Z")
It’s not my firewall, as it turns out. It’s everything. After Windows got corrupted, I tried reinstalling it. What it did was create logical drive E:, with just enough space to hold Windows and nothing else. I can’t download anything to E: because there isn’t enough space. What I need to do is wipe the entire drive and start over. And I can’t figure out how to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/4 "2012-01-17T13:52:31Z")
By “the entire drive” do you mean e: , or both c: and e: ? In other words, are c: and e: partitions on one physical disk or two separate disks? And what do you want to end up with - just c: ? But you ought to be able to boot from the Windows DVD and do a new install, ignoring the current state of the machine. ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/5 "2012-01-17T13:59:53Z")
Sounds like when you reinstalled Windows it partitioned your drive with just enough space to handle the OS, and now you’re trying to install Norton on that same partition and there isn’t enough room. You don’t have an option when installing Norton to push it to the C partition? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/6 "2012-01-17T17:15:34Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > By “the entire drive” do you mean e: , or both c: and e: ? In other words, are c: and e: partitions on one physical disk or two separate disks? And what do you want to end up with - just c: ? > > But you ought to be able to boot from the Windows DVD and do a new install, ignoring the current state of the machine. Yes, C: and E: are on the same physical disk, and I want to remove the partition and wipe “just C:.” I can’t boot from the Windows install disk. It’s just ignored while Windows (my choice of drive) starts normally. Maybe I should look in the BIOS for boot options? And Norton wouldn’t let me choose where to install it. It’s already on the C: version anyway, but that version is damaged. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/7 "2012-01-17T17:29:00Z")
Yes, you need to change the boot options in the BIOS so that the DVD drive is in the list before your hard drive. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/8 "2012-01-17T17:45:06Z")
OK, I’ll try that. I’ll need to find somewhere to store my files first. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/9 "2012-01-17T17:46:44Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > After Windows got corrupted, I tried reinstalling it. What it did was create logical drive E:, with just enough space to hold Windows and nothing else. I am curious what your reasoning for doing this was. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/10 "2012-01-17T18:22:12Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I am curious what your reasoning for doing this was. For what, creating the logical drive? That wasn’t my decision, Windows did that all on its own. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/11 "2012-01-17T18:24:12Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > For what, creating the logical drive? That wasn’t my decision, Windows did that all on its own. I have installed Windows hundreds of times, and never encountered that. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/12 "2012-01-17T18:28:59Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I have installed Windows hundreds of times, and never encountered that. Ditto, but make that thousands, read the screens. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/13 "2012-01-17T18:32:17Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > OK, I’ll try that. I’ll need to find somewhere to store my files first. if your OS is booting, you should be able to copy any docs or pics off, and drivers :D. Once that is done, try reloading again, but pay special attention to the screens about partitions. Delete them all The proceed with a quick format of your new C drive and reinstall of windows. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/14 "2012-01-17T18:50:11Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I have installed Windows hundreds of times, and never encountered that. Me too. Except for this one time. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/15 "2012-01-17T18:51:48Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > if your OS is booting, you should be able to copy any docs or pics off, and drivers :D. Yes, except for the low disk space, E: is working fine. I think I’ll copy my files on C: up to some sort of cloud service. Then keep them there for good. ---
**Author:** ![Stathol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@Stathol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stathol)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/16 "2012-01-17T22:01:33Z")
… I don’t know how you did this, but I’m 99% sure you just destroyed the Dell System Restore partition. On most of their computers, Dell splits the main disk into two partitions: one small, one large. Both are flagged bootable, but the default boot priority is to boot to the large partition. The small partition contains a FAT32 filesystem and boots to a utility that wipes the large partition and re-clones it from a compressed filesystem image of the factory install, also stored on the small partition. That’s why it’s about 15GB for a Win 7 laptop – a base install of Win 7 plus the usual Dell/OEM crapware, when compressed, is about 15GB. There is pretty much no way the Windows 7 installer just automatically installed there. A FAT32 filesystem is not a valid target for Windows 7 installation. Nevertheless, the installer is aware of the FAT32 filesystem and there is no way it would install itself there automatically. Well, unless you had already nuked that partition for some reason in the past. Otherwise, getting Win 7 installed there requires 3 discrete, manual steps in the Windows installer: deleting the existing FAT32 partition, creating a new NTFS flagged partition in the freed space, and formatting (even if that’s just quick-formatting) the new NTFS partition with an NTFS filesystem. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/17 "2012-01-18T01:00:38Z")
> [@Stathol](#): > > I don’t know how you did this, but I’m 99% sure you just destroyed the Dell System Restore partition. I am sure you are right; that never occurred to me. I could not figure out how a second partition could be created accidentally in Windows setup. But if it was already there, Windows could easily default to it, and proceed to suggest the changes you outlined. Good catch! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/18 "2012-01-18T02:16:54Z")
I was wondering about that as well. Good catch, indeed. If all of this wasn’t fun enough, there’s a new snag. I can do a custom install of Windows, but I need a 25-character DVD key. The install disk came in a paper sleeve which has a UPC code on it that starts with cn-or7xd1-, but it’s 20 characters. Help said that the key is either on the original packaging or “on your computer.” There’s nothing resembling it on my physical laptop (unsurprising), and the only thing I found on my system properties was a Product ID, also 20 characters. Isn’t the disk ID usually 5 groups of 5 characters? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/19 "2012-01-18T02:52:44Z")
You’re fucked in that regard, unless you know someone with a product key. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692/20 "2012-01-18T03:52:26Z")
It’s possible that the Product Key is on a sticker somewhere on your computer case. It’s that way on the Dell laptop I’m using to type this post. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-install-norton-low-disk-space/609692.md?page=2)