Installation from USB HDD

[darkhorn]

My motherboard has an ability to emulate USBs as CD/DVD or Floppy Disk. I want to install Windows 7 from my external HDD. I'm moving files to my USB HDD and setting BIOS to emulate it as DVD bu it won't work. What I'm missing? (Note: My DVD rom is not working)

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

Did you mark the partition on the external HD Active?

 

[darkhorn]

Hi,

Did you mark the partition on the external HD Active?

You mean to boot my computer from my external USB HD? Yes, I'm pressing F8 during BIOS start and I'm choosing it.

Also it is formatted as NTFS.

 

[SIW2]

Wait a minute - you are using XP - you will find 7 very different.

There's an extra step .

Open cmd prompt, cd to the 7 files/ mounted .iso
and issue bootsect /nt60 command to the USB drive.

Bootsect.exe is inside the 7 folder Boot e.g. :

I: (Drive letter of WiN 7 iso virtual drive e.g mounted with Power Iso, or Daemon tools)

CD boot

bootsect /nt60 K: (Replace K: with your USB drive letter )

 

[darkhorn]

Wait a minute - you are using XP.

There's an extra step for that.

Open cmd prompt, cd to the 7 files/ mounted .iso
and issue bootsect /nt60 command to the USB drive.

Bootsect.exe is inside the 7 folder Boot e.g. :

I: (Drive letter of WiN 7 iso virtual drive e.g mounted with Power Iso, or Daemon tools)

CD boot

bootsect /nt60 K: (Replace K: with your USB drive letter )

Already done. Gives me error. something like hmm... corrupted...

 

[darkhorn]

bootsect /nt60 K: (Replace K: with your USB drive letter )

For what is that? Where it mades a change? What is the purpose?

should I emulate my external USB HDD as HDD or DVD. Or just I have to boot from by external USB HDD. I'm pressing F8 in BIOS and I'm starting it.

 

[SIW2]

What is corrupted?

 

[darkhorn]

What is corrupted?

a minute ago I tried again. I started my USB HDD normally, I got an error: A disk read error.

Then I emulated it as a normal HDD, and I got this error: BOOTMGR image is corrupt. The system cannot boot.

 

[SIW2]

Bootsect Command-Line Options

It says nt60 is for Vista - but is the same for 7.

 

[zigzag3143]

Install win 7 from USB drive

My motherboard has an ability to emulate USBs as CD/DVD or Floppy Disk. I want to install Windows 7 from my external HDD. I'm moving files to my USB HDD and setting BIOS to emulate it as DVD bu it won't work. What I'm missing? (Note: My DVD rom is not working)

First let me welcome you to sevenforums.

We need a bunch more information to be able to help you. If you fill out "my system specs" in user CP it would help. Im sure there is a tutorial on how to do this in the tutorial section. Did you dl an image of win 7 to install from? Is it 32 bit or 64. The install ashould be from an image not a bunch of files and folders.

Waiting for information

Ken

 

[SIW2]

If you are using the function that "emulates" a cd/dvd drive - you need the .iso on there - not the extracted files.

The .iso image should already be bootable.

 

[darkhorn]

7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culfrer_en_dvd.iso
32 bit
What do you mean by "dl"?
What do mean by "from an image", my DVD-ROM is dead.
I followed this tutorial: How to Make/Create a Bootable USB Flash Disk Windows Vista Installer - UnlockForUs

Do I need to remove my backup folder in my external HDD? (I don't want to reformat it)
Note: it is NTFS formatted.


Edit: I'm accesing to the DVD image by DAEMON Tools Lite.

 

[SIW2]

If you were going to use a dvd to install - you would burn the .iso image (that you already ) directly to the dvd.

Extracting the files would not work.

If you are "emulating" a dvd drive - then obviously, the .iso image file needs to be on the device - not the extracted files.

However, you should be able to boot the usb drive , without emulation - the fact you can't - and you are are getting corruption messages, indicates something is - corrupt on the external HD.

 

[zigzag3143]

7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culfrer_en_dvd.iso
32 bit
What do you mean by "dl"?
What do mean by "from an image", my DVD-ROM is dead.
I followed this tutorial: How to Make/Create a Bootable USB Flash Disk Windows Vista Installer - UnlockForUs

Do I need to remove my backup folder in my external HDD? (I don't want to reformat it)
Note: it is NTFS formatted.


Edit: I'm accesing to the DVD image by DAEMON Tools Lite.

dl=download, by image we mean *.iso. IN your case it would be 7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culfrer_en_dvd.iso
the tutorial is great and will work if followed.
Are you going to install to an internal drive? If so you dont need to do anything to your backup folder.
Its always best to do a clean install, not an upgrade.

Let us know if you need anything else.
We are glad to give you as much help as you need.

Ken

 

[darkhorn]

Windows Boot Manager

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem
1. Insert your Windows installation disk...
bla blah blah
bala bla
bla

File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0x000000e

Info: An error occured while attempting to read the boot configuration data.

bla to contune blah to exit
​

 

[darkhorn]

It works from my internal HDD. (I faced the Windows 7 installation window)
But not from external usb hdd
Anyway, I'll use the internal HDD to install it.
Thanks for the help!

 

[mtp]

Exactly the same problem

I am having exactly the same issue trying to boot from a USB HDD (same errors)