Install via mounting but don't want boot loader?

zigzag3143 said:

what we have here is a failure to communicate.

We most definitely do.

zigzag3143 said:

when you look at the win 7 file you are in an OS. double click the setup file tell it where you want to install it. I think if you are having trouble understanding this maybe its the way I am explaining it and it might be of more use to you if someone other than me gave you a hand

I'm well aware I can double click the iso whilst I'm in another OS, but doing so will create a boot loader on that OS's partition and subsequently create boot entries. This is the whole point of the thread, to avoid this occurrence.

Mickey Megabyte said (to which you said was also possible), if I understand him correctly, I could copy the Windows 7 iso contents (in other words, the setup files) onto a partition on another drive, disconnect the XP drive I used to copy the iso files over and then install Windows 7 from the other hard drive.

Now, given that I've disconnected the XP drive and the other hard drive (with the Win7 files on) has no OS, how is it even possible to run those files?

I'm pretty certain this is impossible, but somewhere along the lines no one is picking up this point, as if I leave the XP drive connected, Windows 7 will still create a boot loader/entries.

copernicus said:

To do what he wants to do he needs a second source to install from. Disconnect HDD 1 so W7 install doesn't see it. But with no OS on hdd2, you can't start the installs process.

Precisely, but everyone is telling me to click on the install files...

copernicus said:

Seems like a lot of hassle for not wanting to burn a dvd and use easybcd to edit the boot manager.

Yes, it is, but I was just wondering if it was even possible. As I state in my original post, I am sure it's not possible but someone on these forums might know different.

copernicus said:

You can try extracting the iso into the second partition of HDD 2, setting it as active, disconnect HDD1 and see if the setup will start on first boot. It's essentially doing the USB install. The only issue is that all your boot stuff for W7 will be on partition 2 of HDD2

Thank you, I'll try that next time I have time or am installing Windows 7.