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Published
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January 30, 2009 |
Last Updated |
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October 24, 2009 |
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Introduction |
In this article I will be showing you how to install
Windows 7 from a Memory stick ( USB Flash
Memory ), instead of using a DVD. This is very useful,
if you do not have any available DVD to install Windows
7, and specifically, that Windows 7 is still in Beta,
and over the next few months there will be additional
builds for Windows 7, so instead of wasting a lot of
DVDs to try out these builds, I will be showing you how
to prepare a flash memory ( external USB stick/Hard disk
) to install Windows 7 .
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Note : This article was
written when Windows 7 was still in BETA 1, changes
might occur later to the product once it is RTM.
Update on 24/Oct/2009 :
Check my new article
First we will need to mount the
content of the Windows 7 DVD ( or the ISO file ) to the
external Flash Memory. Open Command Prompt ( cmd )
and write the following commands:
- To open Command Prompt , click
on Start >
All Programs > Accessories
> Command Prompt

- Type diskpart

- Type list disk , with this
command , all hard disk attached to your machine
will be listed. My machine internal Hard disk is 75
GB and my flash memory is 8 GB, as shown below :

- My USB Stick sown above with a Disk ###
as Disk 1, so type select
Disk 1

- Type clean, this will clear the
configuration information, or all information, off
the disk.

- Then type create partition primary

- select the partition by typing : select partition 1

- Set it as active by typing : active,
this will mark the current basic partition as an
active boot partition.

- Format the partition with a Fat32 File System by
typing : format fs=fat32

- Assign a letter to the flash disk, type assign letter=v
, where v is a free drive letter

- Exit Diskpart by typing : exit
-
Now we need to copy the Windows 7 Installation files
to the USB Stick.
Type xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f v:
where d is the drive letter of the DVD drive that
holds the Windows 7 DVD, or the Drive letter of the
path that you are saving in it the ISO file of
Windows 7, and v is the drive
letter that you assigned to the external USB Stick in
the previous step.


Plug the USB stick to the machine
you want to install Windows 7 to, and reboot/or
start it up. Make sure that USB booting is set in
the BIOS prior to your internal hard disk.
Once booted, an animated logo for Windows 7 will be displayed and below it
will show you that Windows is starting

Once it loads,
choose
your preferred language settings and then click
Next

Click on Install now
to start installing Windows
7 .


On the License Terms page, if you are from those people who
don't just click Next on such pages ( who does not ), under
installation, you
will notice that you may install and use as many copies of the software as you want, and that the software
will stop running on the 1st of August 2009 ( Reminder :
This is Public Beta 1 of Windows 7 ) .
Accept the license terms by selecting
the checkbox beside I accept the license terms, and click
Next.

On the installation type page, click on
Custom (advanced) to start a new
installation
I was running the setup on a blank hard disk that had no OS
loaded on it before. so I was wondering why the Upgrade option was
active and not grayed as it used to be when I
used to install Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008
on blank Disks !! I
tried it and received the below message !! OK, I believe this should be fixed,
as with Vista installation, the installer would gray
this option out !!

Choose the partition or disk that you want to install
Windows
7 on, and then click Next

Installation will start

The machine will reboot later and will start updating registry
settings

and then setup will be starting services

We will be back to the installation page, completing
installation

computer will be rebooted to continue installation

setup will prepare computer for first use

Setup will continue, and this time you will have to choose a
username and a computer name

when you enter the username, the machine
name will be automatically chosen as username-PC , if you do not wish to have
this name for your machine, then simply change it and then click Next
Then you will have to enter a
password for your username, In this page, I didn't
like one thing, which is forcing me to provide a
password hint if I have chosen to insert a password,
as I usually do not like to provide password hints,
I decided to leave the password empty ! and clicked
Next


On the Product Key
page, you can either enter the product key or simply leave it empty and click on
Next.

On the recommended settings page ,
choose your settings and click Next

Select your Time Zone and set your
Time and Date settings, then click Next

Setup will start to finalize and
prepare desktop


And finally, Windows 7 desktop will be displayed.

Summary
Instead of wasting a lot of DVDs, specially if
the product is still in Beta and will have lots of
releases in the next few months, why not start using a
flash memory to hold Windows 7 installation files, so
that when a new Windows 7 or 2008 R2 build is released,
simply delete the contents, rerun the xcopy command and you are ready to go again.
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