Windows 7: installation from the hard drive. Step-by-step instructions and recommendations

Many of those who have encountered the installation or reinstallation of Windows systems know that for this operation, in most cases, external media such as optical disks or USB drives are used. If you try to run the installation file from the hard drive, the user will not receive the desired result. Therefore, for Windows 7 installation from the hard disk should be done using completely different techniques. For the average user, there are five main options, which will be discussed right now.

Windows 7: Installation from the hard disk. Installation options

So, let's consider some directions in the installation of the seventh version of the system. Among the main options are the following:

• Installation on top of the old "seven";
• Installation as a second OS;
• Installation using the command line;
• Use of special utilities;
• Installation of the system on an external HDD.

Each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages, but for all of them, one common rule is the presence of an image of the installation distribution system, with which you will later have to work. In addition, if you already have hard disk partitions created on your computer, you can not touch them when installing Windows 7. Otherwise they will need to be created. But more on that later.

Preliminary information

Now let's look at some initial conditions that must be observed when installing the system.

The system requirements are such that for a system with 32-bit architecture, at least 16 GB of free disk space is required, and for the x64 system, about 20 GB. And this is provided that there is already an installed system, the catalog of which after the installation will be renamed to Windows.old. You can not delete it manually (unless you do a disk cleanup). Then it will just be impossible to roll back.

Installing on top of the old system

Using this technique, you need to understand immediately that you will not be able to format the hard disk when installing Windows 7, even if it is a system partition. But we will rely on the fact that the distribution is on drive C, when the partition is made. How to partition a disk, will be discussed later.

As it is already clear, first the downloaded distribution should be placed on an independent partition (usually it's a D drive). You can, of course, start the installation from it, but then come out with errors. Now just select the installation file Setup.exe from the Archive directory, and then you should install Windows 7, which does not differ from the standard procedure.

In this case, for Windows 7, installing from a hard disk is more likely a means of updating system files, since a new configuration can inherit errors from the old one. It is not comfortable.

An alternative method for installing Windows 7 as a second OS: what can I use?

However, you can do otherwise. To install the system, there is a way to install it on top of the existing OS, but as an additional OS, which you can then download when you select it from the Boot menu. The main thing is to create a boot partition in the source volume.

For all operations, you only need to have an application that can work with images and create virtual drives, and a utility that creates an MBR boot sector on the selected partition. As an example, we use Daemon Tools and the EasyBCD program.

Creating a section

Just download the installation distribution, even if it is on the system drive, it is impossible. This is due only to the fact that the system itself does not recognize it, but, if it sees it, it establishes a ban on downloading. Here you need to refer to the disk management section, which can be accessed through computer administration.

The benefit of Windows 7, like all subsequent versions, has such a tool. First look at the virtual section D. Call the menu and select the compression of the volume (the specified size should slightly exceed the volume of the distribution). Next, right-click the menu and use the command to create a simple volume (without this, the system does not determine that this section is functional).

How to break a hard drive when installing Windows 7, it is understandable. We proceed to the most responsible part.

Installing the system

Now we are directly interested in installing Window 7. Hard disk systems are such that they still do not see the distribution.

Launch the Daemon Tools program and mount the image using the appropriate command, specifying the path to the saved file. We copy it to the newly created partition (unpacked image file).

Now start the EasyBCD application and click the add record button, then specify the WinPE tab at the bottom, and then enter the "New volume" in the name field, and in the path line determine the location of the boot.wim file.

After the recording is added, we simply reboot the computer or laptop. At that, the standard setting of the "seven" starts.

Installing Windows 7 using the command line

Again, this option can not be used when the initial system has damage or errors. But in case of restoration it will do.

When you start Windows, press the F8 key (standard method, unlike Windows 10) and select the troubleshooting line from the menu (the first one in the list). In the additional parameters, we specify the same, then in the language selection window we use what is needed, and we proceed to restore the system, where we select the command line.

In the console we write two lines:

• X: \> windows \ system32> E;
• E:> setup.exe

Do not be afraid to make a mistake. The letters of disks in DOS and Windows do not match. In extreme cases, you will simply get an error, after which you will need to correct the corresponding symbol, but, as a rule, it is not required. Well, then the process starts, no different from the standard. Note, in this case, you do not even need to reboot the system.

Installing on top of any system using the BOOTICE utility

Now suppose that we need another installation of Windows 7. A formatted hard drive is there. The catch is to create a bootable device in the form of a HDD partition.

The BOOTICE utility is designed to emulate the continuation of the installation of Windows 7 by creating and overwriting the boot sector (for this, the bootmgr folder is in the unzipped distribution).

To start the installation, you need to change the MBR boot record to GRUB4DOS. But here you need to consider one feature. The fact is that the utility requires the creation of the loader manager name no more than five characters (letters).

Rename the bootmgr file to GRLDR, and then run the utility itself. In the menu, a new entry is immediately visible, so there we put a tick (destination disk), and then press the change installation button and in the configuration we select save to disk. It remains only to reboot the device, after which the installation of Windows 7 will be activated. Installation from the hard disk will follow immediately. As a rule, problems should not arise.

Installing Windows 7 on an external hard drive

But, despite all the nuances of installing the "seven" on the hard drive, some users try to install the system on removable media, in particular USB-HDD. What to say? This is fundamentally not true!

The question is: why create problems on an equal place? From any USB device, loading is much slower than from a hard drive. The external drive itself (hard drive) is subjected to a stronger physical impact and is not immune from the occurrence of failures and errors. Nevertheless, "especially gifted" users will have to use (at least) a virtual machine. And many of these "geeks" have no idea what it is.

Of course, for the rest, you can say that any virtual emulation, for example, using WMWare or the same built-in Hyper-V module can be implemented quite simply. But in fact the automatic settings are not limited to. Here you will have to set the parameters corresponding to the system configuration. And absolutely all those who argue that a virtual machine with the operating system installed in it can be created in a couple of clicks and in five minutes. Nothing like this!

Possible errors and failures

Now the most sad thing. What if the Windows 7 installation does not see the hard drive? Issues of equipment failure are not considered in principle. The external hard drive must be enabled in the BIOS, as well as the boot priority from the main device.

If there are problems with the file system, you can always use a command such as sfc / scannow or chkntfs x / c (if you selected C as the system drive). Well, if the hard drive "fell", there's nothing to be done. Have to change. Although ... Many experts advise first to use the program HDD Regenerator, supposedly remagnetizing the surface of the disk, but this method is hard to believe.

On the other hand, and when installing the system on an external drive without utilities such as ImageX, included with the package of Windows AIK, you can not do. In addition, the PWBoot module does not recognize Cyrillic symbols at all, but it works by the command line type. So is this worth doing?

And that is not all! When the selection of several simultaneous settings begins, you will have to choose between the standard VHD container format and the conventional removable device. It is believed that the VHD format is read faster, but the problem of including this type of media is precisely the use of BIOS settings. And when switching from BIOS to UEFI (which is not always supported), the problem can be much greater. However, for Windows 7 installation can be performed by any of the above methods. But in most cases you will not be able to format partitions.

Thus, the conclusion suggests that the simplest is the ideal solution. Using the specific methods with the creation of boot sectors, the regular user will not be used. It's obvious. But the technique of updating the system looks much easier, but it also has its own shortcomings. In general, it is better to make a "clean" installation, having previously copied the necessary information to another medium.