Installation - Feeling Lost

Hi everyone,

So my school burned me an installation DVD of Windows 7. I want to install it on my DVD-drive-less PC. I have a DVD drive & USB drives on my laptop. I scoured the internet for tutorials on how to do the DVD to USB thing, finding out I need a .iso file. My installation DVD has no .iso file. So I attempted the following tutorial:

How to Create a Bootable ISO from Windows 7 Installation Files:
Bootable ISO - Create from Installation Files

My student DVD has none of the following files:
Windows 7-HP-Retail-en-us-x64.exe
* setup1.box * setup2.box

Though, it does have a setup.exe. Do I follow the aforementioned tutorial with setup.exe instead of Windows 7-HP-Retail-en-us-x64.exe, setup1.box, and setup2.box?

If not, how in the world do I begin to install Windows 7 on my DVD-drive-less PC (other than buying a DVD drive)?

Here is the tutorial for creating the bootable usb drive
USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create
method one if you alreay have an iso
method two explains how to do it from an installation dvd

Thanks for the quick reply

I bought the copy. They gave me a key.

Pauly said:

Here is the tutorial for creating the bootable usb drive
USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create
method one if you alreay have an iso
method two explains how to do it from an installation dvd

Thank you for the help.

Method one: I have no ISO
Method two: The warning says the following:
You can only create a 32-bit Windows 7 USB key from within a 32-bit Vista or Windows 7.
You can only create a 64-bit Windows 7 USB key from within a 64-bit Vista or Windows 7.

I'm doing all of this from Windows XP SP2.

win7clutz said:

amelie said:

Thanks for the quick reply

I bought the copy. They gave me a key.

?????

I bought the copy for $15. They indirectly gave me a key. They sent me an email to sign up for the following: ODU Computer Science. Through there, I was able to receive my key.

Try running the Setup File from the Xp desktop using the same bit version. If it will run, choose Custom install and point it at the XP partition.

If not, format your USB stick primary FAT32 and copy the installation files into the root of the stick exactly as they appear on the DVD when you explore it.

Restart the computer and tap the F-key given on first bootup screen for Boot Menu. Flash stick will be listed under Hard drives.

If this fails, create the ISO for the same version as your OS you are working in, then write it to formatted flash stick using UltraISO trial version Bootable tab.

Thanks for the help. This whole thing has been a nightmare for me...

gregrocker said:

Try running the Setup File from the Xp desktop using the same bit version. If it will run, choose Custom install and point it at the XP partition.
.......
.

I attempted running the Setup file from my XP PC, and it wouldn't run. It said something about needing at least SP2.

gregrocker said:

..........

If not, format your USB stick primary FAT32 and copy the installation files into the root of the stick exactly as they appear on the DVD when you explore it.

Restart the computer and tap the F-key given on first bootup screen for Boot Menu. Flash stick will be listed under Hard drives.
...........

I did what I could. Formatted USB FAT32 (is "primary" important? "FAT32" was the only option in the dropdown menu). When I restarted, I hit F12 for the Boot Menu, chose USB Flash Device; following was a blank screen for about 20 seconds.

gregrocker said:

.........

If this fails, create the ISO for the same version as your OS you are working in, then write it to formatted flash stick using UltraISO trial version Bootable tab.

How do I create the ISO? I attempted copying the DVD as ISO through Nero 7, but I was not allowed the option for some reason.

Bootable ISO - Create from Installation Files

If XP is telling you that it might be willing to run Win7 Setup except for SP2 being absent, then I would install SP2, better yet SP3 to be up to date:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

You can't really expect XP to do much without at least SP2, and SP3 has it rolled in.