How to Install Windows 7 or Windows Vista on Physical Machine Without DVD Media
A lot of Windows Vista and Windows 7 license has been sold media-less nowadays, where buyers only receive a piece of authenticated certificate with a genuine and legitimate product key printed on it. It’s especially true and almost a standard practice for MSDN and TechNet subscribers, or any beta participants, who wants early access to latest build release. Beside, many people now download the Windows DVD ISO image from BitTorrent using torrent file, instead of having to pay for the hard-copy DVD media to be delivered by post.
Thus a lot of people has soft copy of Windows installation file, normally in the format of ISO format. Normally, the ISO has to be written or burnt to a DVD disc, which can then be used to insert into DVD drive to start the installation of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Unless the ISO is been used to install in virtual machine powered by Microsoft Virtual PC, Virtual Server, VMWare or Sun xVM VirtualBOx, which can mount the ISO image as CD or DVD drive.
For user who doesn’t want to waste a DVD disc to burn the ISO to physical media, and does not have WinPE (Windows PE) startup disc, here’s a workaround method to install Windows Vista and Windows 7 into physical computer’s hard disk drive or partition (volume) directly with ISO without writing or burning to disc. The without-disc installation method is useful especially during beta and RC period of new operating system in the making, where the new build and new version is launching and publishing every now and then. This tutorial guide assumes that the new Windows 7 or Windows Vista will be installed and replaced the original existing operating system currently installed. The instructions can be modified slightly (mainly on hard disk partition used) to fit into need of readers who want to have a dual-boot, multi-boot, or simply just to upgrade install to new OS.
- Install a virtual CD/DVD drive on existing Windows operating system.
- Mount the Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation DVD ISO image using the virtual drive.
- Copy all files inside the virtual CD/DVD drive mounted with the ISO into any folder on any partition or hard disk drive not going to be used to install the Windows OS. For example, copy into E:\Windows7.
- Copy the bootmgr and boot folders nested inside the copied folder (i.e. \Windows7) to root directory of system boot drive, typically C:\.
Note: For Windows Vista, users may need to use this step: Copy the bootmgr folder from E:\Windows7 to C:\ root directory, copy E:\Windows7\boot\boot.sdi file to same folder in C:\boot folder, and then copy bootsect.exe from the E:\Windows7\boot\ folder to C:\ drive.
Note: boot folder in system boot drive is hidden system folder.
- Create a new folder named sources under the C:\ root folder.
- Copy the boot.win file inside \Windows7\sources folder to the source folder created in the system boot drive, normally C:\.
- Open a command prompt as administrator.
- Run the following command (change the C to your drive path letter if applicable):
C:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 C:
For Windows Vista users who copied bootsect.exe to C:\ root folder, use the following command instead:
C:\bootsect.exe /nt60 C:
A successful message is the command completes successfully.
- Change the name or label of the boot system partition local disk to BDCP or any name you prefer that easier to remember and type (in DOS command promot, use label command).
- Restart the computer.
- After booting up, the system will start the corresponding Windows installation process. Select the applicable language to install, time and currency format (regional settings locale) and keyboard or input method in the installation wizard dialog.
- On the next screen, user will be presented with option to Install Windows. DO NOT press on Install Windows button, instead, click on Repair My Computer link on the bottom left corner.
- In the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) System Recovery Options dialog window, click on Command Prompt to open a DOS Prompt window.
- Run the format command to format the primary hard disk or partition to clean state:
format c: /q
Note: /q switch, which perform quick format can be omitted to full format. And if existing hard disk partition is of FAT32 filesystem format, use format c: /q /fs:ntfs to convert the file system to NTFS while formatting. Before formatting begins, the command may prompt for hard disk drive or partition label name, if so, enter accordingly (i.e. BDCP).
- After format completed, start the Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation process again by manually running the setup.exe located in the copied. Note that the setup.exe is not the one located on boot system drive which copied at later step, as the boot drive has been formatted. For example:
E:\Windows7\sources\setup.exe
- Continue with installation procedures by following on-screen instructions as per normal practice.
It’s also possible to install Windows 7 or Windows Vista from USB flash drive or portable hard disk.
Related Articles
- Hack to Install Windows 7, Vista or Server 2008 On Computer or Virtual Machine with Less Than 512 MB RAM Memory
- Install Windows Vista in Virtual PC 2007 without DVD media or DVD-ROM Drive
- Try Out and Install Windows Vista in Virtual Machine with Virtual PC 2007 and VMWare Server
- How to Install Windows 7 or Vista from Bootable Portable USB Flash Memory Key or Hard Disk Drive
- Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit (x86 and x64) Maximum Supported RAM Physical Memory Limit
- Clean Install Windows 7 With Upgrade Media and Product Key on Formatted or Empty Blank Hard Drive
- How to Uninstall and Remove Windows 7 or Vista Leaving Windows XP on Dual Boot System
- Patch to Use and Install Windows Vista on Computer with Only 256MB Memory
- How to Select Any Edition or Version (SKU) of Windows 7 to Install From Single Edition DVD Disc Media or ISO
- Trick to Buy and Install Full Retail Windows Vista at Upgrade Price Even Without Existing Old Windows CD
Entries (RSS)
October 28th, 2009 01:56
1. bootmgr is a file, not a folder
2. This method doesn’t work (from Windows Vista); the computer boots back to Vista at step 10.
October 27th, 2009 01:25
[...] media disc to install Windows 7 or Vista on another remote computer, where it’s possible to install with Windows 7 or Vista ISO without burning to DVD on local computer where ISO file is saved. If it’s impossible or cannot install Windows 7 or [...]
August 13th, 2009 05:44
I’ve experimented with this – could be very useful at some point. Didn’t want to change my existing system so I attached an extra disk, divided it into two partitions, put the boot section on the first, and the installation files on the second, removed my system disk after stage 10 and rebooted. At first it failed but then I realised I’d forgotten to mark the first partition active. I therefore did that with the aid of a DOS diskette from the bad old days, and the disk booted up beautifully. I followed stages 11 to 15 and Windows 7 began to install and everything looked rosy, but then… Installation stopped and showed a message insisting that dvd/cd rom drivers necessary for the installation were missing and I should insert a disk or USB stick with these drivers!!! Didn’t indicate which drivers they should be but there was no way around it, so I had to abort the installation. Weird, since the installation isn’t going to use the optical drive. I removed that completely to be sure and tried again but still got stopped at the same point. Nobody else seems to have experienced this problem. So the reboot before the format obviously manages to load CD drivers from the old system before formatting if you are writing your new system over the top of your old one, but since I was trying to avoid that, and writing to an otherwise empty disk Windows couldn’t find the drivers. Any idea what to do here? Is Cdrom.sys enough? I could put that on a diskette.
May 27th, 2009 03:51
I can’t get this to work.
I keep getting the existing bootmgr only option is MSDOS, VISTA or older OS…
Only Vista worked before and the same is true now…. Did I miss a step?
May 17th, 2009 06:36
WTF..this is way too complicated.. ARE YOU SERIOUS? THERE ISN’T AN EASIER WAY?
May 14th, 2009 01:32
Erm..I have a bit of a nasty situation here. When I run C:/boot/bootsect.exe/nt60 C: it says:
“Could not read the existing bootcode from this volume. No bootcode was successfully updated” What seems to be the problem?
May 10th, 2009 10:53
Will this work for windows 7 RC?
April 20th, 2009 22:35
Can not find a bootmgr folder in the windows 7 folder.
My machine wont complete setup
“BOOTMGR is missing” is the only msg i get
March 18th, 2009 18:52
I just realised that i dont want to format my main partition. is there any way to undo the change of the booting? cos i cant boot normally now!
thanks
March 4th, 2009 12:33
Chris:
I’m just guessing that you ran the bootsect command while on the C: drive. Perhaps try running the command by first changing to the drive containing the virtual DVD, going to the boot folder there and then running the command to modify the C: drive. So if your DVD is at drive F: then do these commands:
f:
cd \boot
bootsect.exe /nt60 c:
This will avoid any access denied error messages caused by the inability of bootsect to lock the C: drive to make changes.
March 4th, 2009 12:18
I have used this method successfully for Vista, Win7 and Win Server 2008. In step 15, when you run setup.exe, make sure you run the one in the sources folder as directed. (There is another, smaller setup.exe file at the root of that drive. I made the mistake of running it instead. You do get an installtion to start, but it will quickly give you the error “A CD/DVD drive device driver is missing…” So just follow the instructions given.)
Thanks for the technique.
January 29th, 2009 03:34
Hey i have question about step 8 and 9.
when i enter C:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 C: into cmd, i get an unsucessful message but when i enter C:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 C:BDCP i get a message to do something but i don’t what do can u explain those steps more clearly?
January 27th, 2009 04:15
THERE IS AN EASIER WAY!
If you have it installed on a secondary machine, say one WITH a DVD drive, EASILY winclone the entire boot camp partition to an external harddrive, connect the HD to the computer without a drive you wish to install windows 7 on, partition using boot camp, then restore the Winclone image to the partition, there you have it, a perfect copy of your already installed Windows 7 on a new machine, works easily, and saves time!
~cp
January 25th, 2009 09:20
January 12th, 2009 01:36
You definitely do not need to have a USB key big enough to hold Windows 7. Just use GParted to shrink the C:\ partition by ~10GB and create a new NTFS partition with the free space, then go back to windows and run setup.exe from the mounted iso. Tell it to install in the second partition. If it hasn’t done so automatically, add an entry to boot.ini for the second partition Win7 install. You now have a dual boot of your current OS and Windows 7.
January 11th, 2009 18:32
WTH. it says BOOTMGR is missing after formatting drive C:
Now my laptop won’t boot :C
January 8th, 2009 10:09
@Greg,
Can you install win7 from Vista x64? I know you can’t go the other way but I was wondering if you can install win7 using vista x64.
January 6th, 2009 02:28
in fact, i found this method to be simpler than installing from usb stick. no matter what i did, my msi wind u90(XP Home) wouldn’t start from the stick.
method described above went pretty smoothly up until step15. %) the setup just wouldn’t start from where it was supposed to (disk e: in this case), because it seemed it needed some install files on disk c: (which is waaaay strange). ofcourse they weren’t there since you need to carpet-bomb disk c: in step14
so, i just copied install files to disk c: (after it’s been formatted) and ran setup AGAIN FROM DISK E:
somewhere in the end of installation win7 said it was unable to update system disk (or something like that), and after a couple of
minutes of doing nothing it returned to Windows Recovery Options Screen. There it’ll it allow you to “repair the bootsector and restart”. don’t hesitate, do it. After restart, setup will pick up where it’s left and continue installing devices. Ten minutes after that i had a fresh windows7 on an msi wind
January 5th, 2009 17:00
[...] Via | My Digital Life [...]
December 25th, 2008 20:31
I installed Windows 7 from a mounted virtual drive into a second new formatted partition with no problem. Just ran it from the virtual mounted drive and after it copied the files, it restarted and found the drive to finish installation. I then sent the ISO over my home network to my other computers and did the same thing, easily.
Now I am faced with a more complicated install for a third partition where I want to test Vista 64 bit. It is not possible to install 64 from a 32 bit environment, even virtually. My plan is to create a small sliver parition to hold the install files, then copy them either virtually or over the partition wall into the sliver partition, go into that partition and run the Setup file to start installation to a third newly formatted Vista 64 partition. I used this method once before to install Vista onto my C:partition from a sliver partition created just to run the Install from, then kept it as a recovery partition.
December 25th, 2008 20:31
Why not just use a bootable USB stick, its much quicker to setup and easier too.
December 25th, 2008 20:24
Once before I installed Vista from a sliver partition into which I copied the files from a virtually mounted Vista Install ISO. I installed onto my C: drive by going into the new sliver partition and running the Vista setup file from there. I saved the sliver partition to use as recovery.
My problem right now is trying to install 64 bit Vista Ultimate using a virtual drive, since my other two OS (7 and Vista) are both 32 bit and it is not possible to install 64 bit from a 32 bit environment.
My solution is to copy the files from a virtual drive to a 4th sliver partition, then go into that partition and run Setup telling it to install to my new formatted 3rd partition. This way nothing is installed from 32 bit, as the files are run from a partition made only for that purpose.
Using this method I’m not even sure virtual is necessary since I could un-rar the ISO from one of my other drives and copy the files into the new partition to be run from that partition. What you think?
December 24th, 2008 22:47
Has anybody tested this procedure?
I own a 1GHz Pentium II Notebook without DVD or CD-Drive and WITHOUT option to boot from USB.
Maybe this is the right method to install Windows 7?