Upgrade to Windows 7 on a Netbook without DVD player?

[jenbamin]

Hello Everybody
I'm new to this forum and hope I posted my question at the right place.

I just bought a month ago (in Switzerland) a Packard-Bell Dot m/u. Very nice little machine equipped with Windows Vista Home Premium in French. I benefit from the "free" (15 EUR handling fees) upgrade to Windows 7, I followed all the instructions and expect to receive the DVD (French version) some time soon.
Now comes the tricky part... my nice and neat Netbook does not have a DVD player!! And I have not seen it available as an accessory... How should I do then once I receive the DVD?
I do have another notebook with Vista Home Premium (English version) and a DVD player so I see 3 possibilities:
- Install Windows 7 on that other notebok (if language versions are not an issue) and keep the netbook with Vista
- Find some trick to save that DVD as a file (.ISO or something like that?), transfer it to the netbook with an external hard-drive and manage to start that file in some way on the netbook (isn't there some kind of programs that simulates a DVD player?)
- Cry because i've been fooled...

What are your thoughts?
Thanks
Ben

 

[logicearth]

Do you have a 4 GB or bigger thumb drive?
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html?filter

 

[Tews]

If it has any USB ports, you can always get an external DVD player... or get a thumb drive and use a friends machine to put the files on the thumb drive then run the setup.exe from there...

Welcome to Seven Forums...

 

[jenbamin]

Thanks for the quicks answers!
- I'll have to try the USB key drive thing
- Otheriwse I will resort to buying an external DVD player that works on USB port (somehow my brain had decided that external DVD players could be plugged in only on special proprietary connectors, so I did not even think there could be some normal USB connections.... duuuuh....)

 

[Tews]

Thanks for the quicks answers!
- I'll have to try the USB key drive thing
- Otheriwse I will resort to buying an external DVD player that works on USB port (somehow my brain had decided that external DVD players could be plugged in only on special proprietary connectors, so I did not even think there could be some normal USB connections.... duuuuh....)

Let us know how it comes out..

 

[lcg]

You can use A Bootable USB to make the USB drive bootable, and then copy the installation files from the CD, on another computer, to the USB stick. You can then install Windows 7 on the netbook from the USB stick

 

[bobkn]

Thanks for the quicks answers!
- I'll have to try the USB key drive thing
- Otheriwse I will resort to buying an external DVD player that works on USB port (somehow my brain had decided that external DVD players could be plugged in only on special proprietary connectors, so I did not even think there could be some normal USB connections.... duuuuh....)

Just a side note: the installation from a USB flash drive (even a fairly slow one) is quicker than from the DVD. If your netbook can boot from a USB flash drive, I recommend doing it that way.

(In the USA, 4GB flash drives are easily available for $12 or less.)