Booting Windows7 on FAT32

[Win7Junkie]

First question - Is it possible at all?

Second - I am trying to achieve this. All I did was created a booted my system with 1st HDD that had Win7. I have additional 2 HDDs. One has stripped down version of Win7 created using vLite. 3rd HDD has a FAT 32 partition. I copied all the files from 2nd HDD that has stripped down version of Windows7 to 3rd HDD that has FAT32 partition. I used 'Beyond Compare' for that. Then shut down the system, removed 1st and 2nd HDD and booted the system on 3rd HDD. Of course it did not boot then I loaded my Win7 installation DVD and clicked on repair and braught it into command prompt. There I provided following commands:

cd X:\Windows\Boot
bootsect /nt60 C:
A message was shown, that a new bootsector for FAT32 is written.

Then I took the DVD out and tried to boot it on HDD that is FAT32 but I get the error saying No Disk Found. Dows anayone has any idea hwo to resolve this?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Win7Junkie

 

[logicearth]

Why FAT? No I have not tried installing Windows on FAT since 98.

 

[Win7Junkie]

There are few softwares in my company that run only on FAT32. We already did the same successfullly for Vista.

 

[WindowsStar]

What software? I am extremely curious.

 

[Win7Junkie]

Can we please focus on how to achieve this on Windows7. We were able to do that for Vista but facing issues with Windows7. Any help is appreciated.

 

[gregrocker]

What are the issues youre encountering?

I am running Win7 bootable nstaller and all my tools from a flash stick formatted FAT32, but never tried installing on that format.

What was Vista performance on FAT32?

 

[Win7Junkie]

When I boot Win7 of the 3rd HDD that had copied Win7 files while booting I get an error saing NO DISK FOUND.

 

[seekermeister]

I will leave the finer points to the others, but to start with, does the BIOS see the FAT32 harddrive, and is it set to first boot priority?

 

[WindowsStar]

Can we please focus on how to achieve this on Windows7. We were able to do that for Vista but facing issues with Windows7. Any help is appreciated.

I am trying to help you with this issue. Knowing which software is extremely helpful.

 

[gregrocker]

When I boot Win7 of the 3rd HDD that had copied Win7 files while booting I get an error saing NO DISK FOUND.

You booted Win7 and attempt to install to 3rd HDD formatted FAT32, it copies the files but then fails with NO DISK FOUND?

 

[Win7Junkie]

OK Let me make this simple. Before even we look into FAT32 problem I think the issue is on a step before. I am creating a trimmed version of Windows 7 for my client. In this process everything goes well till I create the trimmed version on a DVD and it also boots from the DVD. But the requirement is to copy the trimmed version OS files to a server and then it will be downloaded at some other location. I am facing an issue once I copy the trimmed os files on a hard drive using 'Beyond Compare' it no longer remains bootable. Any idea behind such behavior of Windows 7? Any help is highly appreciated. I hope this simplifies. I guess once we pass this then we might get a clue to boot those files on FAT32.

 

[Win7Junkie]

OK Let me make this simple. Before even we look into FAT32 problem I think the issue is on a step before. I am creating a trimmed version of Windows 7 for my client. In this process everything goes well till I create the trimmed version on a DVD and it also boots from the DVD. But the requirement is to copy the trimmed version OS files to a server and then it will be downloaded at some other location. I am facing an issue once I copy the trimmed os files on a hard drive using 'Beyond Compare' it no longer remains bootable. Any idea behind such behavior of Windows 7? Any help is highly appreciated. I hope this simplifies. I guess once we pass this then we might get a clue to boot those files on FAT32.

 

[WindowsStar]

You want it to boot from the Network? Or you want to copy it to a hard drive from the network and then boot that hard drive?

 

[Win7Junkie]

Yes I just want to copy all the OS files on a hard drive and boot from that hard drive. I used a tool called as 'Beyond Compare' for that. But as soon as I boot from that hard drive nothing happens. It seems like even Beyond Compare tool is failing to copy few files or Windows 7 has something inherent that prevents to boot from copied files. We did this process for Vista and we dint run into any issues.

 

[WindowsStar]

I use Beyond Compare all the time, I am sure it is working correctly. The problem is that Beyond Compare cannot copy, partition information, MBR etc.

The instructions below are for USB drives but work for a hard drive as well, I have done this many times. I would get a blank drive and follow the instructions completely even doing the NTFS format. Then test that drive, make sure it boots and loads Windows 7 the way you want. If that is good then follow the instrcutions and re-build the drive formatting with FAT32 format. This way if you run into problems you will know it is directly related to FAT32 because that will be the only part that changed.

You can try the following:

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide/

 

[Win7Junkie]

Yes you are right. The steps you suggested worked fine for NTFS but not for FAT32. For FAT32 its says
Non-System disk or disk error
replace or strike any key when ready

 

[logicearth]

Create a 100 MB NTFS partition to hold the boot files like Windows 7 currently makes?

 

[Win7Junkie]

In my hard drive I have 32GB for FAT32 and rest 218GB for NTFS. Should I change it?

 

[WindowsStar]

Yes you are right. The steps you suggested worked fine for NTFS but not for FAT32. For FAT32 its says
Non-System disk or disk error
replace or strike any key when ready

I have not been able to verify from Microsoft however it looks like Windows 7 will only boot from NTFS. This may have to do with how Microsoft completely changed Windows 7 and the boot process. You may be able to create the 100Mb boot partition and then put the custom Windows 7 Install on a separate partition as FAT32??? Boot the 100Mb partition and have the install run off the FAT32 partition. I have not tried that so I have no idea if it will work. However doing all this may still result in a Windows 7 install that was installed from FAT32 but put on the target drive as NTFS.

Again if you could shed some light on what requires FAT32 you may find that there are workarounds for your issue or someone has a wonderful solution. Many of the people here have been working with computers for a long time some for 40 years. We may have seen your particular problem or had experience with it in some form.

 

[Win7Junkie]

OK while I am trying your solution all I can share is our client is a computer manufacturing giant. In their assembly line they have some legacy applications that supoort only FAT32. They can't afford to change that as its implemented worldwide. Our project is to provide trimmed Win7 OS piece to them that should boot on FAT32. I hope that helps.