Installing from a Hard Drive


  1. Posts : 5
    Vista
       #1

    Installing from a Hard Drive


    So I been trying to follow this guide, but it hasn't been working. I set the computer to boot from usb and then it will just sit there. I tried with an empty flash drive and it would say no bootable table or something similar, so it does detect my hard drive having something bootable and fails.

    So far, despite following the directions, when I try to boot from the external hard drive it just hangs there and the screen never opens (unless I need to really wait a really long time).

    It seems the missing detail is likely that I have to make the hard drive bootable.


    However, so far, all the guides that talks about making them bootable requires to clean the drive (well flash, but I guess hard drives requires that too). That defeats one of the biggest selling points in this guide, no need to delete any files (also to note, I seperated the hard drive into two partitions as directed, the cmd only see them as one). So how does one make it bootable without clearing all the files.

    Update: How to make your external HD bootable It seems that it should work for that person, I don't understand what is my problem. When I try to boot from USB, it just hangs there and the Windows7 setup never appears.

    Another thing to note that this laptop is a dell 1520 which is powerful enough for the 64-bit, though currently I think it is on 32-bit vista.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 17,796
    Windows 10, Home Clean Install
       #2

    DarkGhost89 said:
    So I been trying to follow this guide, but it hasn't been working. I set the computer to boot from usb and then it will just sit there. I tried with an empty flash drive and it would say no bootable table or something similar, so it does detect my hard drive having something bootable and fails.

    So far, despite following the directions, when I try to boot from the external hard drive it just hangs there and the screen never opens (unless I need to really wait a really long time).

    It seems the missing detail is likely that I have to make the hard drive bootable.


    However, so far, all the guides that talks about making them bootable requires to clean the drive (well flash, but I guess hard drives requires that too). That defeats one of the biggest selling points in this guide, no need to delete any files (also to note, I seperated the hard drive into two partitions as directed, the cmd only see them as one). So how does one make it bootable without clearing all the files.

    Update: How to make your external HD bootable It seems that it should work for that person, I don't understand what is my problem. When I try to boot from USB, it just hangs there and the Windows7 setup never appears.

    Another thing to note that this laptop is a dell 1520 which is powerful enough for the 64-bit, though currently I think it is on 32-bit vista.

    Go into Bios, change boot order from: Boot from hard drive to boot from DVD. You get to bios by tapping an f key Usually f2 or f12. check your manual. You tap the key at boot up before you get to windows logo Is that what you did?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 5
    Vista
    Thread Starter
       #3

    I went into bios and set it to boot from USB... I don't see why I want to boot from DVD. I'm trying to install from Hard Drive from a downloaded ISO (and extracted as the guide said) of Windows 7 64-bit version that I got from the university's account on MSDNAA.

    Currently, if I restart with my hard drive attached, it would just sit there, flash this "_" thing on the upper left corner.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 17,796
    Windows 10, Home Clean Install
       #4

    DarkGhost89 said:
    I went into bios and set it to boot from USB... I don't see why I want to boot from DVD. I'm trying to install from Hard Drive from a downloaded ISO (and extracted as the guide said) of Windows 7 64-bit version that I got from the university's account on MSDNAA.

    Currently, if I restart with my hard drive attached, it would just sit there, flash this "_" thing on the upper left corner.
    Did you burn at the slowest speed?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 5
    Vista
    Thread Starter
       #5

    richc46 said:
    DarkGhost89 said:
    I went into bios and set it to boot from USB... I don't see why I want to boot from DVD. I'm trying to install from Hard Drive from a downloaded ISO (and extracted as the guide said) of Windows 7 64-bit version that I got from the university's account on MSDNAA.

    Currently, if I restart with my hard drive attached, it would just sit there, flash this "_" thing on the upper left corner.
    Did you burn at the slowest speed?

    I'm not trying to install from a burned dvd. I'm trying to install from an external hard drive per directions of the linked guide. X_X

    So far, it's not working and I can't figure why except the software itself. However, boot from 64-bit shouldn't be the cause unless I have to boot from a dvd if my current set up is 32-bit.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1,797
    Windows 7 Ulti. x64
       #6

    DarkGhost I have read the tutorial that you say you are following and see no mention of setting to boot from usb, I do see something about mounting using dameon tools lite? Do you have a partition set up on your laptop for win7 or are you installing ontop of another os such as xp or vista?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 5
    Vista
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Just making sure... you mean this link right? USB hard drive a bootable Windows 7 install disk

    I clicked on it and it does go to that link... It does say daemon tool lite in there. However, it does say boot from USB. The title of the thread itself says "USB hard drive a bootable Windows 7 install disk." The bottom of the post. Step 7 said "Now take your USB drive and tell the PC to boot from USB. The Windows 7 setup should appear."

    I'm not sure sure the second half mean. What's setting up partition? Do you mean like a space on my internal hard drive. I'm trying to do a clean installation (I have to anyways since I'm trying to go 64-bit). However, I can't even get to the part of the clean installation option since when I try to boot from the laptop, the windows 7 screen never appears.
      My Computer

  8.    #8

    I have never gotten an external USB drive to boot Win7 installer. It should act as a USB flash drive if you format the drive primary and load in the files, or write the ISO to it using Ultra ISO trial version's Bootable tab, but I can only get one of those methods to work on flash stick.

    Use a flash stick and try formatting it primary in Disk management, then loading the installer files into root. Now use the BIOS boot menu F-key given on first bootup screen (usually F10 or F12, sometimes ESC) and look for the flash stick under Hard Drives.

    If this method fails, then use Ultra ISO bootable tab to write ISO to flash stick after formatting it first.

    You can also extract the ISO files to the desktop and run Setup from there to install to another partition or over itself. However you'll not be able to format first.
      My Computer


 

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