# I'm into hour 5 of a clean install of Windows 7 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-into-hour-5-of-a-clean-install-of-windows-7/708487 "2014-12-29T23:03:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-into-hour-5-of-a-clean-install-of-windows-7/708487/1 "2014-12-29T23:03:25Z")
The actual installation of the OS didn’t take that long. I’ve installed well over 200 updates though, all of them dropping through Windows update. It got to like update number 167 of 186 of the last batch, which is apparently IE 11, and choked. It’s a 4 year old HP, 3GHz AMD 8 GB RAM, nothing special. But still, Jesus Christ. And for some reason the updates download slow as shit through WU. I haven’t even installed a single program yet. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-into-hour-5-of-a-clean-install-of-windows-7/708487/2 "2014-12-29T23:19:26Z")
Somethings wrong. Maybe a congested internet connection? It shouldn’t take nearly this long. 45 mins to an hour at most to get all the win updates. Depends on which service pack your install disk has. You can order the latest service pack on a CD from Microsoft. I have one up at the office that I use. That cuts the dl time quite a bit. [https://om2.one.microsoft.com/opa/Validation.aspx?StoreID=d8f7bc03-a729-4829-88fe-3060615fec1b&LocaleCode=en-us&JavaScriptOn=yes](https://om2.one.microsoft.com/opa/Validation.aspx?StoreID=d8f7bc03-a729-4829-88fe-3060615fec1b&LocaleCode=en-us&JavaScriptOn=yes) ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-into-hour-5-of-a-clean-install-of-windows-7/708487/3 "2014-12-29T23:27:26Z")
Look on the taskbar for a program installing icon. Some “updates” are in fact program installs (like MSE) that pop up an install screen that waits for user input but is underneath the update window. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-into-hour-5-of-a-clean-install-of-windows-7/708487/4 "2014-12-29T23:32:27Z")
It looks like IE11 and some sort of .Net Framework update (each 50mbish) are the last 2 and don’t seem to want to install. They both just hang. Any ideas how to overcome this? There is literally nothing on the computer yet but the OS. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-into-hour-5-of-a-clean-install-of-windows-7/708487/5 "2014-12-29T23:53:35Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Somethings wrong. Maybe a congested internet connection? It shouldn’t take nearly this long. 45 mins to an hour at most to get all the win updates. Depends on which service pack your install disk has. > > You can order the latest service pack on a CD from Microsoft. I have one up at the office that I use. That cuts the dl time quite a bit. > [https://om2.one.microsoft.com/opa/Validation.aspx?StoreID=d8f7bc03-a729-4829-88fe-3060615fec1b&LocaleCode=en-us&JavaScriptOn=yes](https://om2.one.microsoft.com/opa/Validation.aspx?StoreID=d8f7bc03-a729-4829-88fe-3060615fec1b&LocaleCode=en-us&JavaScriptOn=yes) No, nothing’s wrong. This is par for the course when reinstalling from an original (no service pack) Windows disk. This is really one thing I’ve long wished Microsoft would do something about. At least on the Mac, Apple releases periodic “point” updates which roll up all of the previous updates into one installer. You install e.g. 10.6.0, the all you need to do is install the 10.6.8 combo update and you’re at 10.6.8. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-into-hour-5-of-a-clean-install-of-windows-7/708487/6 "2014-12-30T00:49:55Z")
Yeah, this is the original Win 7 disc, no service packs, so it’s updating EVERYTHING. Think I’m finally done though. I had to download IE11 standalone and install that to overcome the Windows Update version. DRAG ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-into-hour-5-of-a-clean-install-of-windows-7/708487/7 "2014-12-30T02:18:27Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > This is really one thing I’ve long wished Microsoft would do something about. At least on the Mac, Apple releases periodic “point” updates which roll up all of the previous updates into one installer. You install e.g. 10.6.0, the all you need to do is install the 10.6.8 combo update and you’re at 10.6.8. I think Microsoft already does that. There were standalone service packs available for Windows XP and I think for Windows 7. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-into-hour-5-of-a-clean-install-of-windows-7/708487/8 "2014-12-30T02:27:07Z")
You can download the ISO of Windows 7 including SP1; it’s easy to find a legit source. [Here,](http://arstechnica.com/features/2012/06/blowing-away-bloatware-a-guide-to-reinstalling-windows-on-a-new-pc/) for instance. Then it’s a simple matter to burn it to a disk or USB.