Windows 7 installation doesn't get past "Setup is starting services" screen

• Clean Windows 7 64bit install.
• 1x empty 250 GB Samsung SSD drive, AHCI.
• 16gb RAM tested with memtest86+.
• BIOS/Legacy mode (no UEFI)

Everything goes well during the first phase - reboot - OK.

After the reboot the installation is stuck at "Setup is starting services" screen.

It doesn't hang. The animation keeps playing. I gave it a good 1 hour. There are no error messages.

I reboot the system, same thing happens, tried starting it in Safe Mode with Command prompt - same thing - it still goes to "Setup is starting services" screen and gets stuck there (animation playing).

I tried pressing shift-F10, alt-tab or anything that would bring up a command prompt of any kind - nothing comes up.

There are quite a lot of google hits for people getting stuck at "Setup is starting services" screen, but nothing seems to work simply because I can't seem to get to Command Prompt or any sort-of error log.

What should I do?

1 Answer

It was a faulty installation media.

Nothing to do with being in BIOS/legacy mode.

I'm still kind-of surprised that there were no error messages or prompts whatsoever, and no way to diagnose the problem.