Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB device

Kallb123 said:

I used the W7 dvd to go into command promt and did the bcd thing and it worked. it said
boot files created successfully
but i still can't boot into W7. it says
windows boot failure, insert system disk and press enter.

Later this evening i will try repairing the startup with the W7 disk.
I tried it before and what happens is that it starts to restart but it doesn't. it just stays at the shutting down screen. i can't move the mouse or anything so i think it crashes/freezes. it ALWAYS does this. whether its just before completeing install or doing this, the W7 installer always freezes before shut down. either that or it takes a long long time for W7 to shut down, which i guess isnt the case.

What can i do to get W7 bootable?

The partition where the boot files are located is not marked active. Boot using the Windows 7 DVD and when the first screen comes up presss shift+f10 for a command prompt. Use dir /a to verify that bootmgr is in the root of the volume that you imaged Windows 7 into. If not you need to bcdboot again. Open diskpart, list vol, and then sel vol the volume where you imaged Windows 7. Use act to make sure it's activated.

Kallb123 said:

shouldnt i be able to see bootmgr by looking in explorer from XP? ive checked and cant see it but i dont know if its a folder or file. can i also activate the partition in XP? i find it easier when i can have the internet behind it so i can see what to type.

That's the thing about GUI. Easy to use but hard to configure. You *might* be able to see bootmgr (it's a file) and no, I would not try to activate the partition in XP. Seems there are enough compatibility gotchas to make that an unwise choice. Re: seeing what to type -- do you have a printer?

Kallb123 said:

i activated the volume in windows XP and when i tried to start W7 it said
NTLDR is missing.
press ctr+alt+del to restart.
i though that was used up to XP? or so it says on many websites.
lol just read above post :P what to do now?
format hard drive and start again?
should i reactivate the xp volume (its a different hard disk)?

We don't want to activate the XP partition as the boot files are now handled by Windows 7. Activate the Windows 7 partition -- the one with the hidden bootmgr file in the root. Then we can work on booting XP with that.

baarod said:

You can do the bcdboot command if you change directory to where the DLLs that it depends on exist. I just found this out and hadn't yet added it to the tutorial. XP has some of the same DLLs as 7 but they're the wrong version for bcdboot. What you do is CD to the dir (h:\windows\system32 in the example) then run bcdboot with that as the current directory. That will cause bcdboot to pick up the right DLLs and it will work OK.

i've formatted and im installing again. can you explain this in more detail?

my XP is C drive - vol 5
windows 7 is E drive - vol 6
i have the image mounted on J

edit:
i started the the W7 dvd and opened cmd. after a few tries managed to get it to say boot files created successfully. so then i opened diskpart and selected the volume, then activated it. i turned the pc off by holding button for 5 secs (as ive said the restart/shutdown of the W7 installer always freezes) and when i started it back it went to windows xp still.
ive removed second monitor and 2GB ram (i now have 2GB not 4GB).
what is wrong??

Kallb123 said:

I unplugged everything I could grasp. Including:
2GB of RAM (out of 4GB)
Hauppagge TV Tuner
Keyboard + Mouse (replaced with PS/2)
Second Monitor
Floppy Drive
Memory Card Reader
And disabled anything that I didn't need in the BIOS (USB and 2.0 support)

Installation worked perfectly.
The TV Tuner doesn't work (it caused BSOD in XP also) and many people say that it is very unstable. I guess that was a waste of money. If your install fails try removing any of the above.


Windows 7 seems as though it will take over from XP since for me it has been awesome. One downpoint is that Company Of Heroes won't install properly, I have to use XP to play the game.

Glad to hear things are going well. I find it odd that Company of Heroes will not install correctly for you as it seems to be used to compare XP-to-Vista-to-7 performance on almost every website I've looked at. You have tried compatibility mode right? Want to post a screen shot of the error you're getting?