Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB device

How to Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB Device​

   Information

So far we've seen tutorials for installing Windows 7 in quite a few different ways. All of them require boot media like a DVD or USB key. All of them use the Windows 7 installer. All of them require you to upgrade or replace your existing Windows 7 installation. All of them are relatively slow. All of them are using technology designed by Microsoft for clueless end-users.

This method uses technology designed for advanced users; OEMs like Dell, big IT departments and experts like us. It doesn't require extra bootable media and it leaves your existing Windows install intact. It's fast, it's flexible and it's all command line suitable for scripting.

Let's start with the assumption that you've got a single hard disk with one big partition, it's not full, and you're already running some build of Windows 7 or Vista. If you've got more than one partition and can't figure out how to modify the steps in this tutorial to accommodate that please post a comment and I'll add the steps. The same goes for other hard disks. The only hard requirement is that you be running Windows 7 or Vista. We need to make room for the new Windows 7 install so we start by running DISKPART. Open Start, type diskpart and press Enter.

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7100
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: ORION7
 
DISKPART> lis vol
 
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     F                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     E                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 2     C   7            NTFS   Partition     16 GB  Healthy    System
  Volume 3     D   Data         NTFS   Partition    263 GB  Healthy
  Volume 4     G                       Removable       0 B  No Media
 
DISKPART> sel vol 3
 
Volume 3 is the selected volume.
 
DISKPART> shr minimum=10240 desired=16384
 
DiskPart successfully shrunk the volume by:   16 GB
 
DISKPART> cre par pri
 
DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.
 
DISKPART> for fs=ntfs quick label="7new"
 
  100 percent completed
 
DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.
 
DISKPART> ass
 
DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.
 
DISKPART> act
 
DiskPart marked the current partition as active.
 
DISKPART> lis vol
 
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     F                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     E                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 2     C   7            NTFS   Partition     16 GB  Healthy    System
  Volume 3     D   Data         NTFS   Partition    247 GB  Healthy
  Volume 4     G                       Removable       0 B  No Media
* Volume 5     H   7new         NTFS   Partition     15 GB  Healthy
 
DISKPART> exi

• Select the volume to shrink from the list with "sel vol"
• Specify the minimum and desired volume size in megabytes with "shr"
• Specify your own label for the new volume with "for"
• Make note of the drive letter of the starred volume after "ass"

Now crack open a Windows 7 ISO and extract the file \sources\install.wim. I just mount the file directly with CloneDrive: elby Free Software but your favorite ISO or archive program should be able to do this as well. Download View attachment imagex.zip, extract and open an elevated command prompt there.

D:\Mike\Desktop\work>imagex /apply e:\sources\install.wim 5 h:\
 
ImageX Tool for Windows
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved.
 
[ 100% ] Applying progress
 
Successfully applied image.
 
Total elapsed time: 7 min 8 sec
 
 
D:\Mike\Desktop\work>h:\windows\system32\bcdboot h:\windows
 
Boot files successfully created.

Now reboot and a few minutes (less than 5 on my box) later you'll be prompted for locale info and to create a user. Welcome to your new Windows 7 installation.

To toggle back and forth between this new installation and the original one use diskpart.

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7100
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: ORION7
 
DISKPART> lis vol
 
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     F                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     E   GRC1CULFRER  UDF    DVD-ROM     2413 MB  Healthy
  Volume 2     C   7            NTFS   Partition     16 GB  Healthy    System
  Volume 3     D   Data         NTFS   Partition    247 GB  Healthy
  Volume 4     H                NTFS   Partition     15 GB  Healthy
  Volume 5     G                       Removable       0 B  No Media
 
DISKPART> sel vol 2
 
Volume 2 is the selected volume.
 
DISKPART> act
 
DiskPart marked the current partition as active.
 
 
 
 

DISKPART> exi

• Select the volume containing the Windows installation you want to start from the list with "sel vol"

Please post issues, questions or other feedback here.

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Setup Windows 7 to Boot from a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)
• How to Create a Windows 7 VHD at Boot to Start with from Boot
• How to Do a Upgrade Installation with Windows 7
• How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7
• How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 Installation USB Key
• How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP
• Install Windows 7 Without Using Any External Device
• How to Use Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Windows 7

 

[trembuzz]

Didn't knew that this was possible at all, nice trick, thanks!
Quick question, is it possible to use this method to install a second instance of Windows within the same partition as the existing one? Or when deploying the image it overwrites everything previously on the target drive? Otherwise, I would have to continue doing so with the normal installer.

This looks interesting. I'd like to create a dual boot with Vista x64 and Windows 7 x64 capable of accessing files on an external HDD from both OS's. The original files (video of various formats) were created with Vista. I can take ownership within Windows 7 but this will mean ownership issues every time I switch OS's. I'm not a "novice" but can't think of a work around for this to work sans the ownership issues.

Any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated.

You may give ownership and permissions to a built-in security entity, like the administrators group or the "everyone" group. Those have standard, predefined SIDs shared among every Windows instance and will be recognized right away, without needing both systems steal permissions from each other every time.

Cool! I didn't know how to do this before. I haven't partitioned and installed Windows 7 yet but if I can get this idea to work I'll be testing both OS's for speed. Thank you.

 

[trembuzz]

Didn't knew that this was possible at all, nice trick, thanks!
Quick question, is it possible to use this method to install a second instance of Windows within the same partition as the existing one? Or when deploying the image it overwrites everything previously on the target drive? Otherwise, I would have to continue doing so with the normal installer.

I believe this for a new partition only as there would be issues if installation was to a partition already running windows.

I hope someone in the know answers this better than I did as I'm pondering the same question before copying large files to an external HDD if it's unnecessary.

 

[Alejandro85]

Didn't knew that this was possible at all, nice trick, thanks!
Quick question, is it possible to use this method to install a second instance of Windows within the same partition as the existing one? Or when deploying the image it overwrites everything previously on the target drive? Otherwise, I would have to continue doing so with the normal installer.

I believe this for a new partition only as there would be issues if installation was to a partition already running windows.

I hope someone in the know answers this better than I did as I'm pondering the same question before copying large files to an external HDD if it's unnecessary.

Thanks. I have this doubt too, if it would delete everything or not. Maybe it merits a test in a virtual machine, where nobody cares if it goes awfully bad.

 

[trembuzz]

Thanks. I have this doubt too, if it would delete everything or not. Maybe it merits a test in a virtual machine, where nobody cares if it goes awfully bad.

I haven't used a virtual machine since vista was in beta release. I was going to use one to test Win 7 but then acquired a new machine with the OS already installed so didn't have to. That would definitely give you your answer though. I think I used VMware.

 

[ommadawn]

Is it not possible to create an extra primary partition if one has the 100 MB system reserved primary partition?

I have seen a remark in one of the pages stating "you cannot have more than 4 primary partitions"
I have only 2 (the 100MB system reserved and c: where my current win7 is installed)

But , after typing "cre par primary"
I am getting the error message from diskpart:
Virtual Disk Service error:
There is not enough usable space for this operation.

 

[Alejandro85]

Is it not possible to create an extra primary partition if one has the 100 MB system reserved primary partition?

I have seen a remark in one of the pages stating "you cannot have more than 4 primary partitions"
I have only 2 (the 100MB system reserved and c: where my current win7 is installed)

But , after typing "cre par primary"
I am getting the error message from diskpart:
Virtual Disk Service error:
There is not enough usable space for this operation.

Most likely that's due to all existing partitions ocuping the whole disk space, leaving no free site to anything new. The default Windows install does so by default. You should shrink your C drive to make space for a new one.

 

[ommadawn]

I don't get it. I already freed 16GB for the new partition, so i do have the space, i can create other logical partitions without a problem, it's the primary type that is refusing

 

[LSB2000]

How can I do this on a Compaq Windows Vista laptop and I've tried this but it doesn't work. {And I'm no computer whiz}

 

[VolvoKS]

I hope u will see my reply here

First of all, is it the same to install Windows to an SSD/ HDD using the same way but without the step of 'set vol' and 'shr'? Or I can do the steps in disk management directly?

Second, I have to mount the install.wim file or the whole iso? I am wondering why there are so many files in the iso but only install.wim is needed. Also, I can't find install.wim in the iso file but install/2/3.swm and some install_WINDOWS 7 **Version**.clg instead.

Third, what the number 5 in 'D:\Mike\Desktop\work>imagex /apply e:\sources\install.wim 5 h:\' represent?