Windows 7 installation gets stuck on Expanding Files for 2 hours

  • SoerenE
    White Belt
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  • 03/13/2014

Hi

 

So we are using Lenovo machines and on our T430s/X230 we sometime saw machines that would get stuck on expanding files during Windows 7 installation. On these models we could change it from AHCI to Compatability Mode on the harddisk and this would resolve the issue. However on our new T440s and i presume it could also happen on our X240 this problem is occuring again but this time Lenovo and Intel has removed Compatability Mode as they no longer support Windows XP.

 

Anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

 

 Quick edit: Its worth mentioning that the PC does complete installation just takes 2 hours longer then normal.

 

Thanks

Soeren

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  • I kind of want to bump this topic because we have just decided to begin using the Lenovo x240's due to the x230's no longer being manufactured. Due to this change, in the deployment process for the x240, it does take CONSIDERABLY longer to deploy a scripted install. As where it currently takes 45-50 minutes to deploy a scripted install to an x230 or older Lenovo, it now takes the x240 about 2.5 hours to deploy, most of the time spent at the expanding Windows Files stage in the installation process. It usually hangs up right at 45% and then takes forever proceeding on to 100%. After it finishes expanding the files and installing Windows, everything proceeds according to design. Any help and advice in this particular matter would be greatly appreciated as this is not the type of results we would like to see from the deployment process, as I am sure no one else would either.
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The situation where changing to compatibility mode solved your problem comes down to not having the correct mass storage drivers in your build. Compatibility mode has no direct link to the lifespan of XP, but reflects the arrival of the SATA interface which operating systems do not support by default. Unlike the older IDE (PATA) standard, which was a true standard, the SATA interface is supported by a large number of different chipsets which require different drivers, and SATA itself has evolved from SATA 1 to SATA 2 to SATA 3 and now SATA 6.

With each new hardware release, it becomes necessary to add the correct mass storage drivers to the build. Without that, the functionality of the build process is trashed.  Although the process completes in an additional 2 hour, I am left wondering what the state of the hard disk is, at the end of the build process. Clearly this additional time is being spent on something like retries as the disk is not being accessed correctly, and the final performance may end up being hit as well.

Answered 09/17/2014 by: EdT
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