Boot from a VHD using Windows 7

Yanze said:

What do you mean by that? How do I reset my VHD VirtualOS configuration?

You have to run Sysprep after doing a clean installation


The VHD boot support for other OS like XP or Vista is crippled since the framework is missing, probably until an RTM Win7 release...For now you can only boot Win7 from a VHD while using Windows 7

after following the tut.....i tried to install windows 7 from it's iso within the system but got this error message saying:




pls help me guys.....i wud be so thankful to u

kranika said:

after following the tut.....i tried to install windows 7 from it's iso within the system but got this error message saying:

pls help me guys.....i wud be so thankful to u

You can only do this by booting from the DVD, you cant install to a VHD from within windows

thanks for correcting me........i'll try dvd install...

Thaks a lot steven

I was able to get VHD_Boot on my Windows Boot Manager but is does not boot properly.. It always goes to Startup Repair.

Do I need to have OS pre-installed on the VHD before doing this?

I'm also not very familiar with VirtualOS configuration. I just followed the procedure on step 1 link and go on with this procedure after it.

Appreciate your help..

Can a windows 7 booted from a VHD see my other HDD's and partitions?

EnitSirk said:

Do I need to have OS pre-installed on the VHD before doing this?

I would think so otherwise how would you "Boot the VHD" if its doesnt contain any bootable MBR or BootSect or OS?

if you dont have a vhd with an os, you can run windows 7 os and create a vhd using diskpart and install to that. dual boot is done automatically for you. follow the tutorial on this site.

i have the vhd with me, but i run xp , can i boot of it using a vista boot disk floppy??

EnitSirk said:

Do I need to have OS pre-installed on the VHD before doing this?

MrChris said:

I would think so otherwise how would you "Boot the VHD" if its doesnt contain any bootable MBR or BootSect or OS?

I don't think you need a pre-installed OS.

Have done this:
In VMWare I created a hard disk with 100 Gb. Only pre formatted with NTFS. No OS installed. Then I have booted Windows 7 installation DVD and follow the instructions to install into VHD.

After installation Windows 7 boots from VHD file. On hard disk there are only: Folder "boot" and files "bootmgr", "win7.vhd" and "pagefile.sys". Perhaps whilst installation the MBR was changed.