Windows 7 x86 upgrade hangs on FIRST BOOT with spinning icon

In the DM you have to check off the "Show Hidden Devices" option in the view in order to have the DM display all of the not seen items for each category. As for it hanging on the upgrade over 7 to 10 that may require a visit to the Asrock support to download drivers there either for 10 or not found some for 8.1 being the closest compatibility wise if some startup item is found to be at fault. 10 has a nasty habit of slapping drivers on it looks up for previous version and then finding you have to manually look up the updated form of software to go with the driver update if one newer is to be found.

As for the inplace upgrade from XP to 10? That wasn't what you saw but rather the 10 installer simply nuke the old XP installation in favor of the fresh 10 install since there isn't any upgrade path even from Vista to 10. 7 is the oldest version to allow for that being 3 versions back. Refer to the upgrade guide about what is supported. I'll quote the minimum requirements here for you. https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...on.html?filter

Windows 10 System Requirements

See also: Minimum hardware requirements - Windows 10 hardware dev

• OS: Windows 7 or Windows 8.1
• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
• RAM: 2 gigabyte (GB)
• Hard disk space: 16 GB
• Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
• Display: 800x600 screen resolution
• Internet access to activate

Despite the time frame when the early 10 upgrades were first seen compared to the progress since I think you find that trying to upgrade from 7 to 10 rather then going with a full clean install is where you are running into a hidden problem as well as upgrades from 3 versions back with any version of Windows does tend to run into any number of issues. Upgrades do tend to be buggy! With 10 over 10 for the most however the WU updates essentially being 10 upgrades of one newer build over an older one generally go far smoother since there isn't any OS conflicts coming up. 8.1 to 10 upgrades will obviously go smoother being the immediate predecessor version with the closest compatibility overall as well as 8, 8.1, 10 all sharing one common item. Secure Boot.

Upgrading over a restored image from a previous version would only seem to be a source of further complication and is most likely the probable cause for why the present upgrade attempt you have going is running into a major snag. The possibility of some serious outdated hardware on a 2012 made board isn't as likely since I have seen the 10 installer look up a driver for an XP with Vista updates only discontinued tv tuner/capture card find the driver while the original app? fails! So it wouldn't likely be anything board related causing the snag.

Another important factor that stands out however is your mention of...?

Its final 2007 configuration was an nForce chipset board with Duron CPU. I removed all that hardware from Device Manager after the successful upgrade to 7.

Simply editing the System Reg won't smooth talk the 10 installer to work on a completely new set of hardwares! The updated security factor incorporated into 10 won't see the restored image of 7 as a valid copy of Windows. A bit of MS intentional sabotage to prevent piracy requiring the upgrade take place over a genuine activated clean install of the previous version if not a 10 over update to take place first. In other words the clean install of 7 with transfer of 7 license over to the newer machine followed by no longer having the free upgrade offer available of seeing a new 10 license applied. Otherwise things will continue to FLOP!

Your mention of restoring images from one machine to the next isn't good and why a fresh clean install has to be advised! That will provide the proper environment. Restoration of images has to take place while often on a new replacement drive the exact same system in order to remain valid! Even with the few failed initial upgrades on a few different machines here from 7 to 10 they didn't hang at post time but simply ran too rough for comfort with errors and after those initial activations saw clean installs take place. The upgrades otherwise worked simply from 7 already having seen clean installs with each install activated to that set of hardwares providing the means. In your case however something is in conflict!

The upgrade was XP SP2 to SP3 to Vista Business to 7 Professional to SP1 before attempting to upgrade to 10.

And that would seem to suggest one upgrade to the version to the next and on to the next without any break in between for a nice clean install of Windows on a freshly formatted or reformatted drive took place? I highly doubt there's anything Legacy left to even find having gone from FAT to NTFS which would have been at least reformat whether or not that was seen with XP it would have been mandatory for Vista as well any newer version. The transition from FAT to NTFS would have also seen one complete fresh install of the newer version replace the older unless XP first saw the transition by clean install from either Legacy(9x) or a conversion from FAT to NTFS which generally would require knocking out the existing copy of Windows.

For most with custom builds the immediate move from one version to the next generally dictates a fresh clean install of Windows to get familiar with the new version after having made an image than can be restored from the previous in case of want to revert back. With 10 however this was the first time MS mandated the upgrade path but only during the first year's free upgrade promotion. Once the upgrade was seen most then went on to see a second clean install take place and numerous clean instals if in the Insider Preview program.

In your situation you have run out of upgrade paths since the drive is obviously loaded up with too much excess baggage? that simply needs to go! There's no longer any room for tweaking the registry but now requires the latest version's installer to see a fresh detection of all present hardwares to make up it's own original profile. The gap between 7 and 10 is also 3 versions newer compared to Vista being XP's successor and 7 succeeding Vista in the chain of progression. While upgrades can end up being buggy in too many instances the larger gap and the initial MS Free upgrade offer forcing upgrade not allowing for first time clean installs caused a great number of similar problems to what you have there. "Clean Install Time" is the word now!

If you were simply moving up from 7 to 10 direct by upgrade you might still have a fare chance for seeing a working install take place. But with past clutter and not having seen a clean install of 7 as mentioned earlier the drive is simply too cluttered up with stuff only a complete wipe can take care of! Sorry but the versions later upgrade path is shaky under the best of circumstances! And at this late date there wouldn't be more then a 1,000th of a 1% chance some old Legacy doc file let alone and device driver was still to be found on the drive. The move from FAT to NTFS would have seen to that being gone for good.

You seem to be missing the point even more so. Having clutter lingering going back to th 90s is a clear indication that the check box option for not keeping data is only for files inside certain system file areas and not clutter on the drive in general as well as a likely corrupted volume. As a general rule most will either see a reformat if not a complete wipe and new primary put to use when any initial upgrade or even clean install falters.

Any files from the 90s however were either backed up to floppy back then for later retrieval or some older app that was later tried out on XP after the FAT to NTFS migration was seen for any to be remaining. 98SE and ME were the two Legacy OSs that could support any direct upgrade path to XP leaving 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98 1st left to total wipe when XP installer simply removes those from the drive as far as the Windows folders go. But the migration from XP forward if FAT lingered would have to mean a reformat to NTFS.

At the present time however regardless of how that went the drive's volume containing 20+yrs. old files is a clean indication of the need for planning a full clean install by starting off by dumping the image trying to be restored onto the SSD you have there in order to see a completely fresh everything. The Windows installer prepares the boot sectors on Static drives a little bit differently then what is seen with mechanical drives to start with and why restoring an image from a spinner is hanging on you it would seem.