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Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB device

baarod
Published 26 Apr 2009
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How to Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB Device

information   Information

So far we've seen tutorials for installing Windows 7 in quite a few different ways. All of them require boot media like a DVD or USB key. All of them use the Windows 7 installer. All of them require you to upgrade or replace your existing Windows 7 installation. All of them are relatively slow. All of them are using technology designed by Microsoft for clueless end-users.

This method uses technology designed for advanced users; OEMs like Dell, big IT departments and experts like us. It doesn't require extra bootable media and it leaves your existing Windows install intact. It's fast, it's flexible and it's all command line suitable for scripting.


Let's start with the assumption that you've got a single hard disk with one big partition, it's not full, and you're already running some build of Windows 7 or Vista. If you've got more than one partition and can't figure out how to modify the steps in this tutorial to accommodate that please post a comment and I'll add the steps. The same goes for other hard disks. The only hard requirement is that you be running Windows 7 or Vista. We need to make room for the new Windows 7 install so we start by running DISKPART. Open Start, type diskpart and press Enter.

Code:
 
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7100
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: ORION7
 
DISKPART> lis vol
 
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     F                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     E                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 2     C   7            NTFS   Partition     16 GB  Healthy    System
  Volume 3     D   Data         NTFS   Partition    263 GB  Healthy
  Volume 4     G                       Removable       0 B  No Media
 
DISKPART> sel vol 3
 
Volume 3 is the selected volume.
 
DISKPART> shr minimum=10240 desired=16384
 
DiskPart successfully shrunk the volume by:   16 GB
 
DISKPART> cre par pri
 
DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.
 
DISKPART> for fs=ntfs quick label="7new"
 
  100 percent completed
 
DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.
 
DISKPART> ass
 
DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.
 
DISKPART> act
 
DiskPart marked the current partition as active.
 
DISKPART> lis vol
 
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     F                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     E                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 2     C   7            NTFS   Partition     16 GB  Healthy    System
  Volume 3     D   Data         NTFS   Partition    247 GB  Healthy
  Volume 4     G                       Removable       0 B  No Media
* Volume 5     H   7new         NTFS   Partition     15 GB  Healthy
 
DISKPART> exi
  • Select the volume to shrink from the list with "sel vol"
  • Specify the minimum and desired volume size in megabytes with "shr"
  • Specify your own label for the new volume with "for"
  • Make note of the drive letter of the starred volume after "ass"
Now crack open a Windows 7 ISO and extract the file \sources\install.wim. I just mount the file directly with CloneDrive: elby Free Software but your favorite ISO or archive program should be able to do this as well. Download imagex.zip, extract and open an elevated command prompt there.
Code:
D:\Mike\Desktop\work>imagex /apply e:\sources\install.wim 5 h:\
 
ImageX Tool for Windows
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved.
 
[ 100% ] Applying progress
 
Successfully applied image.
 
Total elapsed time: 7 min 8 sec
 
 
D:\Mike\Desktop\work>h:\windows\system32\bcdboot h:\windows
 
Boot files successfully created.
Now reboot and a few minutes (less than 5 on my box) later you'll be prompted for locale info and to create a user. Welcome to your new Windows 7 installation.

To toggle back and forth between this new installation and the original one use diskpart.
Code:
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7100
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: ORION7
 
DISKPART> lis vol
 
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     F                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     E   GRC1CULFRER  UDF    DVD-ROM     2413 MB  Healthy
  Volume 2     C   7            NTFS   Partition     16 GB  Healthy    System
  Volume 3     D   Data         NTFS   Partition    247 GB  Healthy
  Volume 4     H                NTFS   Partition     15 GB  Healthy
  Volume 5     G                       Removable       0 B  No Media
 
DISKPART> sel vol 2
 
Volume 2 is the selected volume.
 
DISKPART> act
 
DiskPart marked the current partition as active.
 
 
 
 

DISKPART> exi
  • Select the volume containing the Windows installation you want to start from the list with "sel vol"
Please post issues, questions or other feedback here.







Need more help? Try searching our extensive help and support site.
Loading
26 Apr 2009   #1
wguimb

 
Well done. This is the kind of technical information needed for some of the more advanced users. Good work.

My System SpecsSystem Spec

27 Apr 2009   #2
Romulinx2

 
Great Tutorial.

The thing that always makes me laugh a little is that DOS is still useful as a command line language.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
04 May 2009   #3
raj1402

 
Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by Romulinx2 View Post
Great Tutorial.

The thing that always makes me laugh a little is that DOS is still useful as a command line language.
installing an most advanced OS using command in DOS is something great!!!
My System SpecsSystem Spec
.


05 May 2009   #4
Luciak

 
Problem with second system
Hi.

Let me start from the beginning.
I've downloaded Windows 7 RC 7100 wrom MS site.
I burned it to DVD and tried to instal but I was getting error every time (0x80070002).
So I searched the web to solve the problem and found Your solution.
I followed it step by sep and everything was great.
But after using imagex when I was trying to use the command "bcdboot ..." I got error.
It was offcourse because I was using Win XP at that time.

So I found a sollution (at least I thought so).
I restarted my PC, poped in the Windows 7 DVD I burned earlier and when the setup started I hit "Repair the system".

Everything was going ok, Windows 7 was found and repaired. Than it started with no problem but as it occurred - my "previous C" partition was kind of disabled (screen from diskpart below).

So what do I do to enter my Win XP partition and not lose data from it (I have some files there that would be nice if I could recover them).

Please help...

Screen:
My System SpecsSystem Spec
05 May 2009   #5
baarod

 
Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by Luciak View Post
Everything was going ok, Windows 7 was found and repaired. Than it started with no problem but as it occurred - my "previous C" partition was kind of disabled (screen from diskpart below).

So what do I do to enter my Win XP partition and not lose data from it (I have some files there that would be nice if I could recover them).

Please help...
Open diskpart and lis vol again, I'm assuming that vol 1 is the old XP. If it is just sel vol 1 and ass. That will assign a drive letter to vol 1.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
06 May 2009   #6
Luciak

 
Quote:
Open diskpart and lis vol again, I'm assuming that vol 1 is the old XP. If it is just sel vol 1 and ass. That will assign a drive letter to vol 1.
Thanks for the answer. Currently I am at work so don’t have possibility to try it.

But I am curious about one more thing – will that partition be visible in boot loader?
Or will I have to use bootcfg command?

OK - I will see when I get home and try
Last edited by Luciak; 06 May 2009 at 07:46 AM..
My System SpecsSystem Spec
06 May 2009   #7
baarod

 
I'm honestly not sure about that, Luciak. I'm guessing that it will not be visible in the bootloader but I'm sure we can add it if you'd like...
My System SpecsSystem Spec
06 May 2009   #8
Luciak

 
Wow - had some problems but finally I booted my old XP

Your advice was very good and worked but as You also predicted, XP partition was not visible in bootloader.

As I assigned the letter to my old XP partition I wanted to change it back to C:
And I did - but it cost me faliure in Windows 7 boot and no boot for XP.
So I was a little bit crushed.
I was fighting with it for few hours but it was worth it
Finally I managed to add boot sequence for XP and I have learnt a lot bcdedit commands

But it's working

And my question is - can I somehow clean the bcd?
Because as I understand it it is still in the system, just not visible from XP.
Am I right?

EDIT:

Ok - I managed to clean it with easyBCD.


EDIT II:

I have a little comment to the quote below, according to my recent experience.

Quote:
The only hard requirement is that you be running Windows 7 or Vista.
You can do this operation also under Windows XP. The only difference will be tah You will not do whole operation in CMD.

When You will get to this point:
Quote:
D:\Mike\Desktop\work>imagex /apply e:\sources\install.wim 5 h:\

ImageX Tool for Windows
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved.

[ 100% ] Applying progress

Successfully applied image.

Total elapsed time: 7 min 8 sec
You will not be able to do this step:

Quote:
D:\Mike\Desktop\work>h:\windows\system32\bcdboot h:\windows
So what You have to do is to use EasyBCD to make Your new Windows 7 installation bootable.
Very helpful here is this thread:
How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP
Start from point 7. of Method II and just adjust it to Windows 7 instead of XP.

Hope it will help someone to avoid the problems I had
And once again thanks for support.
Last edited by Luciak; 06 May 2009 at 04:06 PM.. Reason: Found the answer, Have some comments
My System SpecsSystem Spec
06 May 2009   #9
baarod

 
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.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
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