Question

Installing Windows 7 onto netbook with no optical drive

Asked by: jason1178

Hi folks,

Is there an easy way to install Windows 7 on a netbook when no optical drive is available?  Can an ISO be created from the disk and copied to a Flash drive using the normal methods?

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Asked On
2009-10-24 at 14:25:07ID24841001
Tags

Windows 7

,

Sony VAIO

,

no optical drive

Topics

Windows 7

,

Microsoft Windows Operating Systems

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
12

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Answers

 

by: ack154Posted on 2009-10-24 at 14:36:34ID: 25654478

 

by: jason1178Posted on 2009-10-24 at 14:40:18ID: 25654493

ack154,

I know you could do it that way with Vista and I'm able to Google on my own. Since the retail Win 7 disks just dropped I do not know if MS has done something to make copying hard.  So what I am really asking for is a firsthand report of "yes, it still works" before I embark on the project.

 

by: vahiidPosted on 2009-10-24 at 14:42:57ID: 25654506

I have personally upgraded a couple of Vista machines by simply 'copying' the DVD content to had drives and then running them from the drive just to make the process faster and it worked great.

There seems to be a problem with using xcopy to copy files from DVD for the big WMI file, so just use robocopy and you should be good to go.

 

by: jason1178Posted on 2009-10-24 at 14:44:56ID: 25654512

>> upgraded a couple of Vista machines by simply 'copying' the DVD content to had drives

Thanks vahiid.  I assume an external drive was used?

 

by: vahiidPosted on 2009-10-24 at 14:46:10ID: 25654518

Nope, i copied to C:\W7 directory since i was upgrading. If you want to format your C: drive then either use a different partition or an external drive.

 

by: jason1178Posted on 2009-10-24 at 14:53:03ID: 25654536

>> Nope, i copied to C:\W7 directory since i was upgrading.

Interesting!  I didn't think that would work.  Thank you, this is good info to have.

I will be using an external since the upgrade is from the Win7 RC and a format is required (I think).

 

by: vahiidPosted on 2009-10-24 at 15:07:22ID: 25654578

Works for sure. The reason I was doing this was because it was a remote install, with no access to the physical computer. I downloaded the ISO from Microsoft, unpacked to C: drive and let it roll.

 

by: jason1178Posted on 2009-10-24 at 20:00:32ID: 25655348

Windows 7 RTM USB/DVD Download Tool:

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Windows-7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool-Download-142182.html

That's what I was hoping for.  An MS-centric way to handle the problem.

 

by: jason1178Posted on 2009-10-25 at 17:54:07ID: 25659204

Experts, thanks for your assistance.  I'm going to mark my own post above as the "solution" because that tool was really easy to use and worked for my install.

I will be granting the full points to you all though, because your advice is valid and would have worked under other circumstances.

 

by: jason1178Posted on 2009-11-23 at 21:33:07ID: 25894367

Update.  Apparently MS has pulled the ISO Tool for some stupid reason or another.  If anyone is reading this, please follow the Expert's suggestions and not mine.

J

 

by: jason1178Posted on 2009-11-23 at 21:34:27ID: 25894371

Update to the update.

The ISO tool can still be downloaded from CNet

http://download.cnet.com/Windows-7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool/3000-18513_4-10972600.html

 

by: jason1178Posted on 2010-01-22 at 13:15:38ID: 26384430

Update to the update to the update.

The tool is back on the MS site from the original link

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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