Fixed Problem: Windows Cannot Install The Required Files

About error [Windows cannot install required files…]

Installing Windows may be easy for people who are familiar with PC, however, during the installation process, errors happen frequently. When users install or update the OS, the failure error “Windows cannot install required files. The file may be corrupt or missing. Make sure all files required for installation are available and restart the installation” occurs, and usually, users will see an error code behind the error such as error 0x80070570, error code 0x8007025d and 0x80070002.

Another symptom is that the error may happen when you use a DVD/CD or USB flash drive to install Windows. And you’ll see some other messages behind the “Windows cannot install required files” like Network problems, file corruption, etc.

How to fix error [Windows cannot install required files]

Since there are different error codes and various error warnings in this problem, the fixing methods are also different according to specific situations.

Case 1. Fix Windows cannot install required files error 0x80070570

For error 0x80070570, there are 4 possible reasons that will cause the problem: RAM failure, Windows installation file problem, disk damage, and file system error. We suggest you download the Windows installation files from the official website to avoid the risk of faulty OS installation files.

1. Check the RAM

You can run Windows built-in tool Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool to check your RAM.

Step 1. Open the Start menu, type “Windows Memory Diagnostic”, and press Enter. You can also press Windows Key+R, type “mdsched.exe” into the Run dialog that appears, and press Enter.

Step 2. You’ll need to reboot your computer to perform the test. While the test is happening, you won’t be able to use your computer.

To agree to this, click “Restart now and check for problems (recommended).” Be sure to save your work first. Your computer will immediately restart.

The Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool screen will show once your machine restarts. Simply leave it alone and let it run the test. This might take some time. During this procedure, you will see a progress bar and a "Status" message informing you whether any errors were discovered.

When it’s done, your computer will automatically reboot and return to the Windows desktop. After you log in, the test results will appear. But if Windows doesn’t show the result, you can right-click the Start button and select “Event Viewer” and go to Windows Logs > System. You’ll see a list of a large number of events. Click “Find” in the right pane.

Then type “MemoryDiagnostic” into the find box and click “Find Next.” You’ll see the result displayed, as well as additional details about your RAM, at the bottom of the window.

2. File system problem

You can also try to reformat your disk to fix the file system problem. The file system is crucial in a PC since it determines how files are stored and accessed. A fresh drive may only be used to save data once it has been properly formatted. If the file system failure causes any issues, you should try to reformat the disk.

3. Hard disk damage

Since your Windows will be installed on the one of hard disks in your PC, if the disk that you wish to use as the system disk has damage, then any error is fair. To fix this issue, if you’re sure your hard disk doesn’t have physical damage, then the only method is to check it with CHKDSK or S.M.A.R.T test.

Since you can’t use the Windows system, you could move your disk to another PC to use these tools to check the problem, or you can use the third-party tool AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to directly run this check tool on your problem PC.

The “Make Bootable Media” function can create media with this tool pre-installed. When you boot your PC from this media, you’ll see this tool. There are “Check Partitions” that employ CHKDSK to help you check disks and “Disk Health” that can use S.M.A.R.T and show the details of your disks. What’s more, this tool can resize the partition size, format disk, clone disk, wipe disk… You can try many utilities to fix your problem.

Prepare a USB, then we can start.

Stage 1. Make a bootable media

Step 1. Install and run this tool. Click “Make Bootable Media” under “Tools”.

Step 2. On this page, choose “USB Boot Device” and select your USB drive. Then, click “Proceed”.

Step 3. Click “Yes” to continue. When the process completes, click “Finish”.

Stage 2. Check disk error

Now, your repair media is ready. Boot your PC, and choose this USB as the boot drive.

Step 1. On the main page of this tool, Right-click the drive you want to check and go to Advanced > Check Partition.

Step 2. In the pop-out window, you have three options available, check the error only, check and fix the error, and find bad sectors. Choose the one that suits you.

Tip: You can use the “Surface Test” feature to check bad sectors.

To check S.M.A.R.T test details, you can go to the “Disk Health” feature.

Step 1. In the main window, right-click on one hard drive and choose Properties-->Health(SMART) to see detailed S.M.A.R.T. information of this disk.

Step 2. There are 3 states of hard disk health: Good, Caution, and Bad. If there is something wrong with your disk, you’ll see the window shows bad status.

You can click "View details" to see specific S.M.A.R.T. values, red text indicates that the value of the item is equal to or exceeds the threshold.

Case 2. Fix Windows cannot install required files error code 0x8007025d

Error 0x8007025D equals ERROR_BAD_COMPRESSION_BUFFER which means the specified buffer contains ill-formed data.

Message Signalled Interrupt mode is utilized by USB 3.0 to communicate with the system. While USB 2.0 and earlier employ a much older IRQ or Interrupt Request mechanism. This new MSI system has one unique capability that is being used by various devices that support USB type 3.0 for asynchronous data transmission between device and system.

If you receive the error 0x8007025D, the cause is Windows Cannot Install Required Files. Windows is largely faulty or garbled data that your PNY devices send to the buffers. This causes your device's buffers to get clogged, and it is unable to correctly decode the received data.

1. Remove external devices

To fix this error, the first option is to remove your external devices. Unplug any USB device connected to your PC, as well as any other peripheral devices and the internet wire. In most cases, this Windows Cannot Install Required Files 0x8007025d problem occurs as a result of a faulty or obsolete device driver. So, deleting all of these devices would most likely resolve this mistake.

2. Resize and reformat the size of the system partition

Windows 10 will require around 20GB of storage space. We recommend that you limit the size of your installation partition to roughly 125 GB. This decreases the possibility of the area in which you are putting the windows becoming corrupted. After you select to custom install Windows 10, you may minimize disk space by clicking on the expand option.

You can use AOMEI Partition Assistant to resize your partition. After your plug in, the USB enters the software, then choose the “Resize/Move Partition” function to adjust your drive size.

According to some users’ feedback, the Windows cannot install required files message will appear sometimes when they try to install Windows 10 on an SSD which has a single large partition. Thus, after you adjust the size of the system drive, you can use the free unallocated space to create another partition on the disk to see if the problem is fixed or not.

Case 3. Fix error [Windows cannot install required files. The file may be corrupt or missing]

The error “The file may be corrupted or missing” may also be fixed by recovering lost data. After you created a bootable repair USB, you can use the “Partition Recovery Wizard” function to have a try.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional and click “Recover” > “Partition Recovery”.

Step 2. Select a search method in this window. “Fast Search” is recommended. If it fails, you can go for “Full Search”.

Step 3. Select the disk which contains the missing Dell recovery partition. And click “Next”.

Step 4. Tick the missing recovery partition and hit on “Proceed”.

Step 5. Then wait for the process to be done. When you see “Congratulations”, the missing Dell recovery partition is recovered successfully.

Other options to fix Windows cannot install error

If the above ways are still not working for your case, then there are some other options that might help you.

1. Update BIOS

Please keep your PC connected to the power source during BIOS updating. Otherwise, your computer may be damaged.

Step 1. Press Windows + R keyboard combination to open the Run dialog. Type “msinfo32” into the text box. Press Enter to open the System Information window.

Step 2. Look for the BIOS Version/Date information (please write down the manufacturer and BIOS version if necessary).

Step 3. Go to the official website of the manufacturer and enter the computer serial number into the search box (you can also click on the auto-detect option if it has).

Step 4. Choose BIOS from the list of drivers to download the recommended update.

Step 5. Double-click on the .exe file after downloading it successfully. Finish the update of BIOS according to instructions.

2. Change another port

To fix this error, if you continue to receive this Windows installation problem, you should suspect that something is amiss with your SATA port. Some customers reported that merely changing the port solved the problem.

Note: If you have purchased a prebuilt PC, the action of opening the case will make its warranty invalid.

Step 1. Shut down your computer. Cut off the power supply.

Step 2. Open the case carefully. Connect the SATA cable of your drive to a different SATA port on the motherboard.

Try to install Windows again.

3. Change SATA to AHCI

Step 1. Boot into the BIOS by pressing the corresponding key (if you're not clear, please check on the official website).

Step 2. Navigate to Drives and SATA Operation (the name will be a little bit different on different PCs).

Step 3. Change SATA to AHCI under Storage configuration. Exit BIOS and save changes.

Turn off the computer and remove all external drives.

4. Change the hard drive type to IDE

If you see the message "Windows cannot install needed files" when attempting to install Windows 10, the problem might be with your BIOS setup. According to users, this issue can arise if your hard disk is configured to function as an AHCI device.

Step 1. Enter BIOS and change the hard drive type to IDE.

Step 2. Once you do that, you should be able to install Windows without any issues.

After you install Windows, you can switch back to AHCI mode and everything should work without any problems.

5. Turn off Execute Disable Bit

If certain settings in BIOS are not appropriate, the Windows installation error will appear. Some users reported that it is the Execute Disable Bit setting that was causing the issue in BIOS.

Step 1. Restart your computer to enter BIOS.

Step 2. Find the Execute Disable Bit setting. Change the setting from enabled to disabled.

Ending lines

These are how to solve the error "Windows cannot install the required files".  Windows install error has various causes, luckily, the solutions are also plural. Besides the Windows built-in tools, AOMEI Partition Assistant is also a nice option if it suits your case. It has many practical utilities to help Windows users to manage PC.