USB Windows 7 Install

ZRTMWA

Solid State Member
Messages
17
I just ordered a laptop and didn't order an OS with it. I bought Windows 7 separately for $30 after using the student discount. I copied the .exe to a flash drive (my new usb 3.0!) and wrote down the product code.

So I'm wondering about how exactly the install process will work, with there being no OS on the laptop. I'm thinking I'll plug it in, turn it on and hit F11 at the start up to go into BIOS. Then I'll change the BIOS settings to boot from the flash drive, restart the computer and install Win7. Does this sound about right? Thanks.

Chris
 
You need to run that exe which should create an ISO file, then burn the ISO to a DVD. Then you'll need to make your USB thumb drive bootable (Boot From A USB Flash/Pen/Key Drive). Once you do that, you can then copy the files from the DVD to the thumb drive. After that you will be able to go into the BIOS and change settings to boot from USB and do the install from the USB drive.
 
So I opened the file and it took like an hour and 40 minutes to download 3053.30MB. It downloaded three files:

setup1.box (2.75GB)
setup2.box (160MB)
Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x64.exe (76.2 MB)

So do I burn all of these files to a DVD? I've just decided to boot from the optical drive because the only reason I wanted to boot from the flash drive is so I wouldn't have to buy blank DVD's. But if I have to burn to a DVD to boot from a flash drive, I might as well just burn the DVD.
 
I ended up using the programs mentioned in this article, VirtualCloneDriver to make a Virtual Drive, and then WinToFlash to format my flash drive and copy Win7 from the Virtual Drive. I'll let you know how it turns out when I get my laptop, which should be around Wednesday.
 
Back
Top Bottom