Good morning... well, still doesn’t work.... says “Play” in the launcher but no luck. Couple new questions.

Pretty sure I am running as administrator for computer as I am the only user and I thought I set up windows that way... I log in with a password at bootup?

Where is NVSE? I tried TESV, no luck. I’m still noticing the game is not in my games folder after installation. There is lots of Skyrim stuff in the Skyrim Apps folder... is that not the main game? Originally the game had been it “Games” folder right off the C: drive and now I’m not seeing it there... but when I install off the disk I’m not being asked where do I want to install the game?

That’s it! I’m re-installing windows 7.... Please let this work... going to re-install all drivers, etc, then Steam/Skyrim and give it go. If it doesn’t work I’m lost...

You mean SKSE.

One more question. Don't shoot me. This is a legit copy, yes?

Reading over the entire thread, it seems like you still had some loose registry files and so on. You should have used an uninstaller program (like Revo uninstaller) to get rid of all registry and leftover garbage.
Reinstalling Windows 7 is the extreme last move I would do, don't forget you will have to get all drivers and associations and so on, and whatever software you had installed previously. It's painful as hell, I have done it too many times during windowsXP/Vista years and just the thought of clean OS install makes me sick to my stomach, knowing all the time it's gonna take to recover everything back to normal.

It is a legit copy. So, I've re-installed windows, my graphics card driver, and tried installing Skyrim... for some reason the update is pausing indefinitely (so it appears)...

sigh... what now?

Wait a minute? How is FRAPS still on my C: drive after a compete Window's restore? Video files I had captured using it are still in the directory... I thought a window's re-install would be like pressing the reset button...

And still nothing in the main "Games" folder on C: drive... where is Steam putting the game?

This really svcks...

OK, game loads now... now I just gotta find the driver for the 360 controller and my PX5 and I should be good.... knock on wood

Excellent!

Reloading Windows replaces the operating system but it doesn't blank the harddrive, so any files should still be there. Windows should also see any old software, but it probably can't run any of it until it's re-installed as the registry doesn't have the location data to run the application.

Chances are your problems were caused by the registry. In case you run into problems again it's possible to roll back your registry without reinstalling the OS. On that note, you should look up how to back up your registry once you have everything up and running.

As for the location of your games, Steam puts them all in the Steam directory. I believe you can set a different location, but it may cause problems with anything you've already installed (which obviously isn't in the new location, and should not be moved their manually).

Has anyone mentioned installing a registry fixer/cleaner and trying that yet? I would uninstall Syrim completely, run a flie cleaner, then run a registry cleaner. This might fix the issue. If this was already mentioned or done I apologize.

*edit: I guess try this next time before reinstalling windows since your problem is fixed

You need to repartition the Windows drive (C:\). For Vista/7 I also suggest that you delete the System Reserved partition. After deleting the partitions, simply reinstall Windows on the unallocated space on the drive(s) that were once the C:\ partition.

Did you use System Restore from within Windows or use your Windows disc to repair/reinstall Windows? A reinstall using the Windows disc, will simply overwrite the C:\Windows directory. A System Restore will restore the registry from a backup copy of a certain data. The registry is saved when you install applications/drivers, install Windows updates, or manually backup the registry.

Re-install Windows on your spare hard drive (preferably a new one) then the game. Painful, but it is the only SURE way of solving the "unsolveable".

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/xbox-360-controller-for-windows#support

Just choose the correct OS for your computer.

Thanks all, my system is running great again, and I will never delete Skyrim again!

You might try running CCleaner to get rid of any other orphaned registry entries. I wonder if it would have fixed your problem in the first place, before restoring the OS.