Bios wont recognise my partitioned drive with the windows set up on it

[Pedroc1999]

I have a Windows 7 32 Bit mini pc (SPO-Book Turo) It has 4Gigabytes of installed memory but windows will only use 3.The mini pc hasn't got a CD drive.I have put my windows installation files on my second partition of my 1000 gigabyte drive. My BIOS will not identify that the windows set up is on it what so ever.I am trying to install Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit.

any help will be appreciated...

 

[Pedroc1999]

Has anyone heard of this happening before?

 

[DavidE]

From what you said and what is in your specs, it sounds like you are trying to install Win 7 x64 from an external USB hard drive and can't.

Does your Bios support booting from a USB flash drive?

If it does, try installing from the USB flash drive.

Take a look at this SF tutorial by gregrocker.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

 

[Pedroc1999]

ok i will try tonight

 

[Saltgrass]

I would think if you are going from a 32 bit to a 64 bit version of windows that you need to be able to boot to the install media.

If you do not have a dvd drive, the USB flashdrive is an option.

 

[Pedroc1999]

can i ask if i make another partition on my external hard drive mentioned above, and format it to ntfs if i could then run the installer onto it and would my bios recognise the external hdds partition

 

[gregrocker]

No WIn7 will not install to an External HD.

Why do you want to do this?

I'd just delete all partitions and create new or let the installer do so during reinstall. Unplug all other HD's and peripherals first.

 

[Pedroc1999]

i dont want windows to install the OS on the partition, i want to have the installation files on the os so i can then install onto my internal hdd. Anyway i cant delete all partitions because that hdd has all my personal stuff on it

 

[DavidE]

Is there some reason you have not tried creating and using a bootable USB flash drive for installing FROM?
If you do not have a USB flash drive, can you get one - buy or borrow one?

When installing Windows it is best to:
- Have only 1 HD connected - the HD where Windows is being installed TO
- Have the minimum number of peripherals connected during the install - usually only the keyboard and mouse
- In this case you would also need the USB flash drive you are installing Windows FROM

With the approach you are trying to use installing FROM the USB HD, you risk losing data on the external USB HD.

I'm no expert, gregrocker is the best installation expert.

I think there was a misunderstanding in using the USB HD for installing Windows FROM / TO.

I would wait for further advice from Greg before continuing with the approach you are trying to use.

The link i gave you in post #3 has all the instructions for creating and installing from a USB flash drive.

 

[Pedroc1999]

thank you for the link and i also think there was a bit of a misunderstanding

 

[gregrocker]

You need a bootable installer for both installation and repairs. It is not correct to run the installer from an OS, as it won't even put WIN7 on C as it does when booting an installer.

You should also have all of your files backed up at all times, to external, DVD, another HD or the cloud - you get 7gb of free storage on Skydrive with each Windows Live ID.

 

[DavidE]

Hi Greg, how are you?

I think there is still some confusion.
I don't think pedroc1999 is trying to install Win 7 while running Win 7.

I think pedroc1999 wants to use an external USB HD as the bootable media to install Win 7.

There is no DVD drive available, so that is not an installation option.

Can someone use an external USB HD as the bootable media to install Windows 7?
If so, can the external USB HD be "configured" as a bootable device without any loss of current data on the HD?

 

[gregrocker]

Hi David. I wasn't sure but figured he'd say straight out he wanted to install from External if that was the case.

There are plenty of resources online when you google "Install Windows 7 from External HD" however I cannot vouch for any of them.

The problem is that the entire external HD needs to be formatted and made bootable for this purpose unless you use a boot manager to make only one partition of the drive bootable which is way more trouble than it's worth.

If I had an empty external HD and no other choice I'd probably try UltraISO Software To Create Bootable USB since it is the one method that never fails with a flash stick.

Otherwise there's the manual method: USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create - Windows 7 Forums

 

[DavidE]

There are plenty of resources online when you google "Install Windows 7 from External HD" however I cannot vouch for any of them.

The problem is that the entire external HD needs to be formatted and made bootable for this purpose unless you use a boot manager to make only one partition of the drive bootable which is way more trouble than it's worth.

If I had an empty external HD and no other choice I'd probably try UltraISO Software To Create Bootable USB since it is the one method that never fails with a flash stick.

Otherwise there's the manual method: USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create - Windows 7 Forums

I never tried this approach (Ext USD HD) and you can't vouch for it, so... maybe someday i might try it but with the understanding of what you said...i trust your experience more than mine.

Sounds like you are saying the ext HD or partition will be formatted possibly losing important data if the OP wants to use it as the install media.
Hopefully the OP understands this risk.

i would get a USB flash drive to avoid the risks

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, formatting removes all data so it should be backed up first.

4gb flash sticks are $5 with free shipping on buy.com.