Installing W7 *to* a USB HDD or flash drive

[PhilT]

I want to have a Windows 7 installation that can be booted from a hard disk in a USB caddy or a USB flash drive / SHDC card. So I am installing to a USB connected drive.

I have created a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows 7 install DVD contents on it, so I am in a position to install to the Netbook hosting the USB hard disk. I have also (for reference) created a VHD on a different Windows 7 machine and set it up to boot from that, on the internal HDD.

The W7 installer will not install directly to a partition on my external HDD, because it is connected by USB or Firewire (err message "Windows cannot be installed to this disk"). I can't "just ignore" the warning, as suggested by some, as the Next button is inoperative.

If I create a virtual hard disk (VHD) on a partition on the external HDD I am again warned by the Installer that it can't be installed to the VHD as the "computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk". If I ignore the warning and press Next (only works for the VHD option) I am told "Setup was unable to create a new system partition....See the setup log files for more information"

I can at that stage use the Installer tools to Format the VHD etc.

So I'm stuck - where do I find the installer log files and how can I move forward to get a bootable installation on a USB connected drive ?

 

[chuckr]

I want to have a Windows 7 installation that can be booted from a hard disk in a USB caddy or a USB flash drive / SHDC card. So I am installing to a USB connected drive.

I have created a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows 7 install DVD contents on it, so I am in a position to install to the Netbook hosting the USB hard disk. I have also (for reference) created a VHD on a different Windows 7 machine and set it up to boot from that, on the internal HDD.

The W7 installer will not install directly to a partition on my external HDD, because it is connected by USB or Firewire (err message "Windows cannot be installed to this disk"). I can't "just ignore" the warning, as suggested by some, as the Next button is inoperative.

If I create a virtual hard disk (VHD) on a partition on the external HDD I am again warned by the Installer that it can't be installed to the VHD as the "computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk". If I ignore the warning and press Next (only works for the VHD option) I am told "Setup was unable to create a new system partition....See the setup log files for more information"

I can at that stage use the Installer tools to Format the VHD etc.

So I'm stuck - where do I find the installer log files and how can I move forward to get a bootable installation on a USB connected drive ?

No moving forward here,

unless you're an extremely talented programmer...

Can't be done.

Microsoft says so...

Do Linux on a stick.

 

[Antman]

What is the intended purpose for this method? Use an eSATA housing.

P.S.
Thanks for the XP link ChuckR.

 

[PhilT]

I'm certainly not making claims to be a talented anything, TBH !

Just found this guy who claims progress, with screenshot to match.

 

[PhilT]

What is the intended purpose for this method? Use an eSATA housing.

Objective is to run Windows 7 on a netbook with a small SSD drive. Only USB ports available.

 

[Antman]

He's launching a VM. Not the same thing. Requires the VM software on the host.

 

[PhilT]

I don't see where realtebo says he's launching a VM, just launching Windows 7 from a VHD which is as you say not the same thing. Confused.

 

[Antman]

Windows Virtual Hard Disk | Imaging | Windows 7

 

[PhilT]

thanks, downloading it now to watch.

FWIW I now have the USB stick booting into the W7 boot manager from where it will run the Windows Memory Diagnostic OK, but the Windows boot option fails on "Windows failed to load because the NLS data is missing, or corrupt".

 

[Antman]

Good luck. You are duty bound to report your results, positive or negative.

 

[PhilT]

Good luck. You are duty bound to report your results, positive or negative.

naturally. Looks like the booting area bcdedit etc needs the focus having watched the video. Shame they didn't show it working at the end !

 

[whs]

Did you check whether your netbook BIOS let's you boot from a USB attached disk?

 

[Antman]

Did you check whether your netbook BIOS let's you boot from a USB attached disk?

.
.
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...FWIW I now have the USB stick booting into the W7 boot manager from where it will run the Windows Memory Diagnostic OK, but the Windows boot option fails on "Windows failed to load because the NLS data is missing, or corrupt".

 

[whs]

Antman, I guess I was asleep on the wheel. Thanks. Getting too old for this stuff.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Objective is to run Windows 7 on a netbook with a small SSD drive. Only USB ports available.

In that case, you don't want to be researching ways of install Windows TO a USB flash drive...you want instructions on how to install FROM a USB flash drive. This is a common practice now, and is how most people are getting Windows 7 on their netbooks.

You can quickly prepare the drive to boot the installer, so it looks and acts identically to the DVD...except faster.

 

[whs]

There are several links on the web how to install from a USB drive. Here is one of them: ( Creating Bootable Vista / Windows 7 USB Flash Drive at Kevin’s Blog ).

 

[PhilT]

In that case, you don't want to be researching ways of install Windows TO a USB flash drive...you want instructions on how to install FROM a USB flash drive.

I'm not sure how you leapt to that conclusion, as I don't want to install to the SSD on the Netbook but to a removable drive.

Also I said in the OP "I have created a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows 7 install DVD contents on it, so I am in a position to install to the Netbook hosting the USB hard disk." so I've been there, done that.

Meanwhile, back at the matter in hand, I have set up a partition with two VHDs on and imaged both with W7 Ultimate using imagex (as per the video linked above). When connected via USB both of these crash and restart during the OOBE, either on the netbook or on an HP desktop.

Both will however boot if the SATA hard disk is plugged direct into the HP rather than via a USB adaptor. However I didn't want to do that as I thought (corrections welcome) that the initial OOBE would config Windows to match the hardware which ideally I need to be the Netbook not the HP.

On a separate partition I installed W7 Basic with the disk in the HP, which will boot and run from the HP internally. Next step is to see if that will boot via USB as it's been through the OOBE etc ......

and the answer is "NO", when connected via USB the boot process fails and restarts for the three types of install I have - imaged VHD, imaged partition and partition with installed W7 that works when hard disk conected via SATA direct rather than via USB-SATA bridge.

It is as if just as the coloured balls start flying the system resets the USB interface and loses its own boot drive. ISTR reading about this in XP and some hacks to prevent it. Anyone ?

 

[DeaconFrost]

I'm not sure how you leapt to that conclusion, as I don't want to install to the SSD on the Netbook but to a removable drive.

If you read the line I quoted, you'll see where I got that conclusion. It had already been said, and has been know through XP and Vista that it won't run at a usable state, even if you can get it to boot from an external USB drive, so that's a moot point anyway. You're performance will be bad, to the point you'll wonder why you even bothered....assuming you ever get it working anyway.

 

[PhilT]

Progress ! PWBoot.exe snake oil works

After booting to the VHD via a SATA connection and running through the OOBE I ran the PWBoot.exe (Portable Windows Boot ?) "patch" and was then able to replug and boot into Windows via the USB/SATA cable. Progress, at last.

I think PWBoot just applies a number of registry tweaks, which are also documented separately. Next step is to try the manual approach. I can see in the reflection it's just rebooted after setting a paging file, it's still alive.

 

[aem]

Is the issue of putting w7 onto a USB and installing from USB solved?

I got some info from a document i read that tells u have it's done.