Laptop saying "Not a valid Win32 application" when using the installer

this is really stressing me out so ill give a run down
in december i got a japanese sony vaio laptop from japan that ran windows 11 when i first bought it and there were no issues, i downgraded is to a windows 7 os and i was missing alot of drivers. i tried alot of things and it didnt work, so im trying to go back to windows 11. i know the laptop can run it because again it was running it no problem when i first got this laptop. how can i fix this?

It is a problem going to an older Operating System that a computer wasn't built for, easier to Upgrade an older computer to a newer OS.

It may be necessary to do a factory reset back to its as-shipped condition.

Part of the issue can be that Win7 is no longer supported and most likely can't even be Activated, since back in Sept. or Oct. '23. I lucky with an old Dell Notebook and got it Upgraded from an activated Win8.1 to Win10 but won't take a chance going back since Win8/8.1 support is also discontinued. I still have a usable Win7 Desktop but only for reference purposes.

Berton said:

It is a problem going to an older Operating System that a computer wasn't built for, easier to Upgrade an older computer to a newer OS.

It may be necessary to do a factory reset back to its as-shipped condition.

Part of the issue can be that Win7 is no longer supported and most likely can't even be Activated, since back in Sept. or Oct. '23. I lucky with an old Dell Notebook and got it Upgraded from an activated Win8.1 to Win10 but won't take a chance going back since Win8/8.1 support is also discontinued. I still have a usable Win7 Desktop but only for reference purposes.

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what after the factory reset?

Factory Reset should put the computer back to how it was when purchased. If it came with Win11 it'll end up as Win11.

Berton said:

Factory Reset should put the computer back to how it was when purchased. If it came with Win11 it'll end up as Win11.

Click to expand...

well, the laptop itself was originally made for windows home premium iirc. i downloaded windows 7 ultimate with a disc, im not sure if itll work. should i still give it a try?

sparkledog said:

this is really stressing me out so ill give a run down
in december i got a japanese sony vaio laptop from japan that ran windows 11 when i first bought it and there were no issues, i downgraded is to a windows 7 os and i was missing alot of drivers. i tried alot of things and it didnt work, so im trying to go back to windows 11. i know the laptop can run it because again it was running it no problem when i first got this laptop. how can i fix this?

Click to expand...

Are you trying to do the installation from within Windows 7? It has never been allowed to upgrade 7 directly to 11. The error message is pretty uninformative, though.

You'd need to clean install 11. Clean Install Windows 11 Tutorial

sparkledog said:

well, the laptop itself was originally made for windows home premium iirc. i downloaded windows 7 ultimate with a disc, im not sure if itll work. should i still give it a try?

Click to expand...

That puts a different light on the problem. One issue is a computer of that age most likely does not meet the System Requirements for Win11 anyway. I've not seen a computer older than 2019 that meets those specs. but it may run Win10. Two weeks ago I upgraded a Win8.1 to Win10 and it works but it is a low-end machine.

Berton said:

That puts a different light on the problem. One issue is a computer of that age most likely does not meet the System Requirements for Win11 anyway. I've not seen a computer older than 2019 that meets those specs. but it may run Win10. Two weeks ago I upgraded a Win8.1 to Win10 and it works but it is a low-end machine.

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I have photos and videos of it running 11 before I reset it, here.

Can't see it, not a member.

Welcome to the forum @sparkledog
What Berton says is true....if the factory recovery partition of 11 still exists. But I suspect it does not since you say you downgraded to 7 which would have required a clean install, thereby deleting all partitions.
Therefore, recovery of 11 would be impossible. To get back to 11, you will have to clean install 11.
You will also have to install Windows 11 Home. (unless you want to purchase a license for another version.)
It should be very easy to do if you follow the clean install tutorial. Make sure all partitions are deleted and 11 is installed on unallocated space.
READ TUTORIAL CAREFULLY.


I also suspect changes were made to bios when you installed windows 7. Set bios back to default.

Berton said:

Can't see it, not a member.

Click to expand...

I can see it, as a guest.

Not that you're missing anything useful.

Berton said:

One issue is a computer of that age most likely does not meet the System Requirements for Win11 anyway. I've not seen a computer older than 2019 that meets those specs.

Click to expand...

sparkledog said:

I have photos and videos of it running 11 before I reset it......

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I believe you. I have been able to get Windows 11 to run on some really inappropriate devices.

To put this in perspective, the last Sony Vaio was produced in 2014. I can see from your video that the model is VPCCB.



The Sony User Guide for the VPCC Series is dated: © 2011 Sony Corporation.

sparkledog said:

in december i got a japanese sony vaio laptop from japan that ran windows 11 when i first bought it....

Click to expand...

These are specs of the VPCCB from Sony Asia.


In particular, it has an Intel® Core™ i5-2410M, a 2nd gen Intel processor. The minimum spec for a supported Windows 11 device is an 8th gen or later cpu.

Having said that, it should be capable of running Windows 11 quite well, my System Two has a 1st gen i5. But it requires a workaround to be able to bypass the hardware checks and install Windows 11. The workaround I use is here:
Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware - post #1,912

bobkn said:

Not that you're missing anything useful.

Click to expand...

That's where I saw the model number - that's useful information.

Bree said:

That's where I saw the model number - that's useful information.

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I suppose that it's helpful to know that the OP had Windows 11 installed on an old laptop. (Its CPU was released in 2011.)

Too bad that Sony dropped all support for the machine as of January 1, 2021. That complicates matters.

I wonder what Windows 7 drivers "sparkledog" was missing? If the laptop could be connected to the Internet, I'd hope that Windows Update could supply some of the others needed.

bobkn said:

I suppose that it's helpful to know that the OP had Windows 11 installed on an old laptop. (Its CPU was released in 2011.)

Too bad that Sony dropped all support for the machine as of January 1, 2021. That complicates matters.

I wonder what Windows 7 drivers "sparkledog" was missing? If the laptop could be connected to the Internet, I'd hope that Windows Update could supply some of the others needed.

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after installing windows, the internet couldnt be used (probably due to some missing drivers?) and i couldnt fix it. i checked the little thingy thing and saw a bunch of yellow triangles for my driver.
i wanted windows 7 for.. aesthetic because im animecore slob lmao. but i just cant put aesthetic over functionality.
ill try to clean install windows later this morning (its like 6am lol)! thank you guys so much for the help!

sparkledog said:

after installing windows, the internet couldnt be used (probably due to some missing drivers?) and i couldnt fix it. i checked the little thingy thing and saw a bunch of yellow triangles for my driver.

Click to expand...

A thought for that issue, disable the onboard device in Device Manager and use a USB dongle to get Wireless service to the Router. I just received 2 for use in older Notebooks that have only 2G service but 5G is needed. They also include Bluetooth for mice, keyboards, etc.

Bree said:

I believe you. I have been able to get Windows 11 to run on some really inappropriate devices.

To put this in perspective, the last Sony Vaio was produced in 2014. I can see from your video that the model is VPCCB.

View attachment 86633

The Sony User Guide for the VPCC Series is dated: © 2011 Sony Corporation.


These are specs of the VPCCB from Sony Asia.

https://www.sony-asia.com/electronics/support/laptop-pc-vpc-series/vpccb16fg/specifications

In particular, it has an Intel® Core™ i5-2410M, a 2nd gen Intel processor. The minimum spec for a supported Windows 11 device is an 8th gen or later cpu.

Having said that, it should be capable of running Windows 11 quite well, my System Two has a 1st gen i5. But it requires a workaround to be able to bypass the hardware checks and install Windows 11. The workaround I use is here:
Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware - post #1,912

Click to expand...

please forgive my slowness, i have no experience with computers (clearly..)
post 1,912.. i think im supposed to put this in cmd? i used the regedit command and pasted the first "reg add" segment. it says access is denied, was i not supposed to put it in there? sorry for my denseness, im just super super confused

sparkledog said:

please forgive my slowness, i have no experience with computers (clearly..)
post 1,912.. i think im supposed to put this in cmd? i used the regedit command and pasted the first "reg add" segment. it says access is denied, was i not supposed to put it in there? sorry for my denseness, im just super super confused

Click to expand...

Just click on the link I gave, it takes you to my post #1,912.

Those reg commands can only be run as an administrator, that's why you saw 'access denied'.

Copy all the 'reg add' commands from that post, paste them into Notepad, then save it as a file named bypass.bat. Copy this .bat file to a Windows 11 install usb. When I boot from my install usb to do a clean install, at the first Setup screen I press Shift+F10 to open a command prompt. This is an Administrator command prompt, so I can run the .bat file from it, you should find the install usb is drive D: after you have booted from it. After you have run it you can carry on with installing Windows 11 and it will skip all hardware checks.

bobkn said:

The error message is pretty uninformative, though.

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That error message 99 percent means that the exe file is corrupted. Usually an incomplete download. (one about the file not being valid)

Strange that it's happening with NT6 though, if not corrupted.

The only exception I know of, is if you try to run new executable file formats from pre-Vista Windows.
If they were compiled for NT6-only. NT5 (Windows 2000 and Windows XP) will think they are corrupted.

Also, the error message will mention "Win32", even with 64-bit Windows, LOL.

Bree said:

Just click on the link I gave, it takes you to my post #1,912.

Those reg commands can only be run as an administrator, that's why you saw 'access denied'.

Copy all the 'reg add' commands from that post, paste them into Notepad, then save it as a file named bypass.bat. Copy this .bat file to a Windows 11 install usb. When I boot from my install usb to do a clean install, at the first Setup screen I press Shift+F10 to open a command prompt. This is an Administrator command prompt, so I can run the .bat file from it, you should find the install usb is drive D: after you have booted from it. After you have run it you can carry on with installing Windows 11 and it will skip all hardware checks.

Click to expand...

i FINALLY got a boot usb. (can people still get notifications to this thread?)
i see HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, but it doesnt say system setup. can i still use this?