Boot from a VHD using Windows 7

How to Boot from a VHD using Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

Windows 7 and Windows 8 includes support for creating, mounting and booting from VHD images but not many seem to know how to use this functionality to boot VHDs at boot time... I will detail the steps required to have another OS bootable using Windows 7...

This tutorial will show you how to setup Windows 7 or Windows 8 to boot from an existing VHD (Virtual Hard Disk).

All Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 (except Windows 8 RT) editions support booting from a VHD.

You must have either Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8 Pro, or Windows 8 Enterprise installed on the VHD to be able to boot from the VHD.

   Warning

If you do not have a good knowledge of how to reset your VirtualOS configuration like HAL type and driver configuration then your VHD will fail to boot. It must be cleaned of VirtualOS configuration correctly before Windows can boot your VHD!!

Step 1: If you have not already, create or attach an existing a VHD using the tutorial below.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/566-virtual-hard-disk-create-attach-vhd.html


Step 2: Open an elevated command prompt.


Step 3: Copy and Paste this command below and press Enter.
NOTE: Substitute VHD_Boot in the command below for what you want to be displayed as the name in Windows Boot Manager.
bcdedit /copy {current} /d "VHD_Boot"

If the command succeeds, BCDEdit displays a message similar to the following:


The entry was successfully copied to {CLSID_Number}

Take note of the CLSID number as you will need this during the next step

Step 4: Then type this command below and press Enter.
NOTE: Substitute C with the drive letter your VHD is on, and substitute disk1 with the name of your VHD file.
bcdedit /set {CLSID_Number} osdevice vhd=[C:]\disk1.vhd

Step 5: Thats it, You can now boot VHDs using Windows 7
To confirm the settings simply type bcdedit

If your VHD is configured correctly You can reboot and select the extra boot-option to boot from your VHD

   Warning

VirtualPC VHDs can not be used for booting with Windows because VirtualPC uses a Pentium 3 HAL and this prevents them from being used as boot media, You can however use this Tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/566-virtual-hard-disk-create-attach-vhd.html and create then mount a VHD for use with VMWare Workstation....

You simply set VMWare workstation to use a Physical Disk, you can then Install a separate OS onto this mounted VHD for use with Windows.​

   Tip

You Must reset your VHD VirtualOS configuration like HAL type and driver configuration or your VHD will fail to boot!!! It must be cleaned of VirtualOS configuration correctly before windows 7 can boot your VHD!!

   Note

There are still many bugs associated with VHD booting with Windows 7 at this time, I suspect Microsoft will be releasing a new Version of VirtualPC that's able to manage this entire process of creating, installing and booting separate VHDs at boot-time easily and without so many problems

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Create a Windows 7 VHD at Boot to Start with from Boot
• How to Create a Windows 8 VHD at Boot to Dual Boot with Windows 7 or Vista
• How to Unattach and Delete a Virtual Hard Disk in Windows 7
• How to Create and Attach a Virtual Hard Disk in Windows 7
• How to Fix Missing Vista Hard Disk Partition Letter in Windows 7
• How to Use Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor
• How to Convert a VHD File to a ISO File
• How to make Windows Boot Manager Boot an ISO from your Hard Drive
• How to Create a Bootable ISO from an Older ISO
• How to Create a VHD of a Physical Hard Disk in Windows 7
• How to multi boot with Partition or VHD using WIM ImageX

 

[z3r010]

Great work Steve

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Steven.

I've been wondering what you were working on for the last day or so. Good Work!

Thank you!













Later Ted

 

[Brink]

Very nice Steven.

 

[garysgold]

Good job Steven. Going to have to give that a try. Thanks.

Gary

 

[dmex]

Good job Steven. Going to have to give that a try. Thanks.

Gary

Heres another way of creating a bootable VHD..

1. Boot Windows 7 DVD
2. Choose Windows Repair
3. start CMD
4. Run Diskpart
5. Create vdisk file=c:\windows7.vhd maximum=100000
6. select vdisk file=c:\windows7.vhd
7. attach vdisk
8. exit Windows Repair (without Reboot)
9. Install Windows 7 to this surfaced VHD
10. Reboots and boots Windows 7 from VHD

UPDATE

See tutorial here - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2953-virtual-hard-drive-vhd-file-create-start-boot.html

 

[kenshen]

boot from vhd build 7000

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/625-boot-vhd-using-windows-7-a.html?ltr=B sry if this is the wrong thread i follow the guide excatly but no boot menu entry all i get is a error message

 

[johngalt]

You *do* have a VHD that you are trying to boot from, right?

 

[kenshen]

yes

 

[Yanze]

Tip
You Must reset your VHD VirtualOS configuration like HAL type and driver configuration or your VHD will fail to boot!!!
It must be cleaned of VirtualOS configuration correctly before windows 7 can boot your VHD!!

What do you mean by that? How do I reset my VHD VirtualOS configuration?

 

[dmex]

What do you mean by that? How do I reset my VHD VirtualOS configuration?

You have to run Sysprep after doing a clean installation


The VHD boot support for other OS like XP or Vista is crippled since the framework is missing, probably until an RTM Win7 release...For now you can only boot Win7 from a VHD while using Windows 7

 

[kranika]

after following the tut.....i tried to install windows 7 from it's iso within the system but got this error message saying:

pls help me guys.....i wud be so thankful to u

 

[dmex]

after following the tut.....i tried to install windows 7 from it's iso within the system but got this error message saying:

pls help me guys.....i wud be so thankful to u

You can only do this by booting from the DVD, you cant install to a VHD from within windows

 

[kranika]

thanks for correcting me........i'll try dvd install...

Thaks a lot steven

 

[EnitSirk]

VHD_Boot goes to Startup Repair

I was able to get VHD_Boot on my Windows Boot Manager but is does not boot properly.. It always goes to Startup Repair.

Do I need to have OS pre-installed on the VHD before doing this?

I'm also not very familiar with VirtualOS configuration. I just followed the procedure on step 1 link and go on with this procedure after it.

Appreciate your help..

 

[spacesurfer]

Can a windows 7 booted from a VHD see my other HDD's and partitions?

 

[MrChris]

Do I need to have OS pre-installed on the VHD before doing this?

I would think so otherwise how would you "Boot the VHD" if its doesnt contain any bootable MBR or BootSect or OS?

 

[spacesurfer]

if you dont have a vhd with an os, you can run windows 7 os and create a vhd using diskpart and install to that. dual boot is done automatically for you. follow the tutorial on this site.

 

[conqrr]

i have the vhd with me, but i run xp , can i boot of it using a vista boot disk floppy??

 

[unawave]

Do I need to have OS pre-installed on the VHD before doing this?

I would think so otherwise how would you "Boot the VHD" if its doesnt contain any bootable MBR or BootSect or OS?

I don't think you need a pre-installed OS.

Have done this:
In VMWare I created a hard disk with 100 Gb. Only pre formatted with NTFS. No OS installed. Then I have booted Windows 7 installation DVD and follow the instructions to install into VHD.

After installation Windows 7 boots from VHD file. On hard disk there are only: Folder "boot" and files "bootmgr", "win7.vhd" and "pagefile.sys". Perhaps whilst installation the MBR was changed.