I'm purchasing parts for my first desktop build and I'd like to avoid getting the disk tray to install windows if I can. I've heard you can download windows to a usb or external HDD and then install windows to a new HDD that way. Is this correct? or can I only turn the USB/external into the OS itself and have to keep it plugged in?
Yea you can. I've done it several times.
Just get an .iso for Windows 7 and use a bootable tool
You have different options on what tool you want to use.
Guide if you are unsure
Below are different tools
They all do the same thing. Just your preference I guess.
I always used Pendrive.
Pendrive
Windows USB/DVD Tool
Rufus
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Thanks mate!
I've always been a fan of Rufus myself, all easy stuff. You can do this with most any modern version of windows. Paul just did a vid about getting some keys cheap on a site and using them with usb installs. Like he said on his vid, things tend to work better with usb 2.0. This holds especially true if you are doing windows 7 install. Make sure to get a 2.0 usb stick and use a 2.0 port on the mobo to avoid headaches.
had a follow up question about this. Would It be ok to do to an external hard drive that already has stuff on it? or would I need an empty one?
I have never used Rufus but in most cases the medium needs to be completely wiped and set up to be a bootable install.
if possible, i would recommend to backup the data on the Hdd first.
If you have a 8GB usb stick, then i would recommend to use that as Windows 7 installation medium.
Rufus is realy a handy easy to use tool, for make a usb flashdrive bootable.
it will also copy the files from the windows iso directly to the stick if you select the iso.
So your stick will be ready for use.
I recently tried to install a copy of Windows 7 from a USB that I bought but when I get to the installation portion of it I am prompted with "A required CD/DVD drive device is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please inset it now." I know my HDD, SSD, and USB Flash (that has windows 7, installed by RUFUS) are detected because I checked them in the bios. I am using the 2.0 USB port off of the front panel. The only problem that I really hope ISN'T a problem is that the flash drive is 3.0 but it says it is backwards compatible to 2.0 ... I don't mind trying to return it and get a 2.0 flash, but that just seems silly.
EDIT: I am still not sure of the issue, but I burned a windows 7 install to a disk and am using that for the time being.
Like I have said. I have never used Rufus.
I always open up CMD and run diskpart
and enter these commands as follows:
list disk
select disk "x"
clean
create part primary
select part 1
active
format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows#64bit"
assign
exit
now my USB is ready to load an ISO on for windows install.
I doesn't always work when I use this process to install a linux distro though. I usually have to use universal USB installer.
Pretty much this process:
I think I understand the basic concepts of partitioning (separating hard drives into different pieces for different allocations), but I'm still not sure what it is exactly for or if I even need to do it. I have a 250Gb SSD that I want to install Windows 7 and maybe a few other programs that I use quite often and could benefit from SSD. I also have a 1 Tb for pretty much everything else. What my partition area looks like now is...
disk 0 partition 1 - 100Mb system
disk 0 partition 2 - 128Mb MSR (reserved)
disk 0 partition 3 - 232Mb Primary
disk 1 partition 1 - 931Mb Unallocated Space
Is this standard? do I need to partition from the "primary" to create an OS partition? how does that affect performance or is it just for a back up strategy if something goes wrong?