Windows (7) problems!

[NoCforMe]

Nothing to do with assembly-language programming, nor any other kind of programming here.

I'm still struggling getting a stable Windows 7 set up on my computah. Latest quirk is that twice now the system has told me that it's "unable to start"; none of the repair options worked, so I ended up reinstalling the OS from scratch. Pain in the ass as you can imagine.

So now I'm on my 3rd (4th?) round, and some things are just bugging me. Maybe someone here (you?) can help:

1. Can't delete (or even access!) certain files and folders because the popup says I need administrative privileges:

One thing I needed to do upon reinstallation was to clear some space on the boot drive; every time you install Windows when there's an existing OS already there (even if it's crippled), it copies the existing OS to a save folder called Windows.old[.nnn], which takes up a lot of space. A lot of the stuff I was able to delete, but some of it not, although I discovered a stupid trick: sometimes when it tells you that you need admin rights, you can delete stuff anyhow by trimming from the bottom up. In other words, while you can't delete a folder that has subfolders, if you delete the subfolders first (and all files), then you can delete the original folder. Another pain in the ass, since some folders are deeply nested down there.

So why is this? This seems extremely stupid: you don't actually need administrative rights, you just need to circumvent ... whatever.

2. Administrative privileges:

I still can't figure out why I get denied access in cases like those above, because the user I am has administrative rights!. So why am I being denied access if I am essentially an administrator? Do you have to be actually logged on as "Administrator"? I think I figured out how to enable that account, so maybe I'll be able to use it if needed. Not sure how, though: would I need to explicitly log on as Administrator at the "Welcome" prompt?

3. Can't create a system image for backup:

As suggested by @Zedd here earlier, I tried to make a system image once I got the OS at least partly installed, but failed. The message I got is shown below. It makes no sense to me; message says "for volumes more than 500 megabytes, the minimum is 320 megabytes of free space." Well, on the boot drive I've got more than 400 gigabytes free, and yet it won't make the image. (The destination drive I tried is almost a terabyte, completely empty.) WTF???

@Zedd, how do you create your images? I assume you use the Windows facility, or do you use some other utility program to create them? I was able to create a "repair disc", but haven't had the chance to try it; I wonder if it will repair the OS in case it gets screwed up again. (I still have no idea why it because unbootable; maybe my used computah has some defect ...)

4. Can't install AVG because "unsigned drivers":

This is a new one. I tried installing AVG, mainly so I could see if my unbootability problem is caused by a virus, but I can't install it because halfway through the process Windows pops up messages saying that someone (AVG) is trying to install a device driver that isn't digitally signed and it aborts the install process. This is weird, since I was able to successfully install AVG before (meaning just a week ago), and now it won't go. WTF????? So I gave up on it, used Windows Defender instead to scan my system, which found nothing. (I assume it finds viruses, though this is far from clear from its displayed text which says that it guards against "spyware or potentially unwanted software" (maybe their euphemism for "viruses"?).

There are undoubtedly other issues, but these are all I can think of at the moment. If this continues, I'm just going to have to get a new computer, stop trying to mess with used shit.

[learn64bit]

about 2.

This is my setting, I think It is about 2.

[learn64bit]

about 4

I think this my setting about 4

[learn64bit]

about 1 and 3
I have no experience

about unsigned drivers
I have this problem too, I think I must run Win7 in test mode to be able to use those progams

about AV software
I don't have one

about shutdown and reboot
I normally use sleep. Last time I use restart Win7 is 6 months ago...

[jj2007]

Extract the batch file, then right-click on it and choose "Run as administrator". You'll get a DOS prompt from which you can do all those nasty things that require privileges.

[learn64bit]

about Win7 maintenance

C:\Windows\Temp
C:\Windows\Installer
C:\Users\a\AppData\Local\Temp
C:\Users\a\AppData\Local\CrashDumps
C:\Users\All Users\Intel\Intel Extreme Tuning Utility\Logs
C:\ProgramData\Intel\Intel Extreme Tuning Utility\Logs
C:\ProgramData\Package Cache
C:\ProgramData\Downloaded Installations

I will delete any file in above folders when I found C drive free space getting smaller

[NoCforMe]

Extract the batch file, then right-click on it and choose "Run as administrator". You'll get a DOS prompt from which you can do all those nasty things that require privileges.

Thanks, JJ, but I think I can figure out on my own how to open a DOS window without this batch file. (All it does is run "cmd.exe".)

I've actually done that, but you can imagine the problems: some of the folder names, like in windows\winsxs, have horrendously long names that you can't possibly type. On the other hand, my preferred command processor, 4DOS (from the 1990s, which I still use) lets you do these things by keystrokes, finding file after file. Much smarter than cmd.exe.

[jj2007]

Thanks, JJ, but I think I can figure out on my own how to open a DOS window without this batch file. (All it does is run "cmd.exe".)

David, I know you are a bright young man

some of the folder names, in the windows\winsxs, have horrendously long names that you can't possibly type

Install something like FreeCommander (my favourite) or xplorer2 (my previous favourite). Right-click on the exe, run as admin, and you have an awful lot of features and admin rights. There are many more candidates, see Wikipedia or https://techcult.com/best-free-file-manager-for-windows/

[learn64bit]

about cpu and gpu setting
watching youtube video
reading masm code

[my favourite yt channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SourceSpy91. his new god vids are really good]

[Shintaro]

Maybe have a look HERE about the rights issue.

[NoCforMe]

Thanks, good stuff. I actually figured out the 2nd method (Local Security Policy) by myself while rooting around in all that control panel admin stuff. So apparently now I have a bona fide Administrator account.

[zedd151]

For creating image, I use a program called Dism++. It can create the image from the OS it's running on. It can restore the OS from image file in Boot Mode. It creates a file used with WinRE and boots up from winRE to run itself to reinstall. When reinstalling,  I always tell the program to format first so not to install over an existing installation.
Available 32 bit and 64 bit in same installation. github  https://github.com/Chuyu-Team/Dism-Multi-language

Click 'Code', then 'Download zip'

[zedd151]

'net user administrator /active:yes' from command prompt for activating real "Administrator" account.

[zedd151]

There exist a method for always allowing unsigned drivers, but it escapes me at the moment.

[zedd151]

A program called ECMenu (Easy Context Menu) has a context menu that you can select a folder and Take Ownership of contents of the folder.