Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB device

Thanks for the post about pre installing windows with imagex.exe,
my current experiences with installing it on a fresh new drive are below.
(I won't put the output here to keep it short ;P)

The other thing I tried was to mount(Junction) C:\Users to another physical drive, and it worked :]].

Code:

DISKPART> list disk
DISKPART> list volume

DISKPART> select disk 2
DISKPART> create partition primary size=100
DISKPART> create partition primary 
DISKPART> for fs=ntfs quick label="7new"
DISKPART> assign
DISKPART> active

DISKPART> list volume
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     O                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1         System Rese  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy
  Volume 2     C   W7current    NTFS   Partition     59 GB  Healthy    System
  Volume 3     E   Users        NTFS   Partition    500 GB  Healthy    
  Volume 4         System Rese  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy
* Volume 5     D   7new         NTFS   Partition    120 GB  Healthy


DISKPART> exit
You could also use the graphical program diskmgmt.msc :]

When I rebooted I got bootmgr is missing press ctrl+alt+del to restart (of course a feature).
After installing you might (always) need to boot from DVD and
go to "Repair your computer" (at the bottom), select "Repair and restart" (and reboot,
again from DVD), select "Use recovery .... click [Next]" and
start "Start-up Repair" (at the top).
This worked for me in multiple times (I disconnected my old system drives).

The imagex installation number ?!
As there are different ISO's (install.wim) types the index number is not always the same that you want.
If you run "imagex.exe /info O:\sources\install.wim" you get a bunch of xml code,
in here is index number an what installation of windows that goes with it.
The starting tag is: <IMAGE INDEX="1"> (The index number we need) and yust above
is the closing tag </IMAGE> is the <DISPLAYDESCRIPTION>Windows 7 Home Basic...
I guess that's an easy one

Mounting the C:\Users to another drive
Before starting the "imagex" process I've mounted another drive to the D:\ (7New) drive
and changed the security-rights on the folder "D:\Users" and drive-user-drive (E:\).
I looked up the folder rights (C:\Users) on the currently active windows
and changed the "D:\Users" folder and "E:\" drive security-rights accordingly.
And mounted it to the folder D:\Users (use mountvol.exe or the GUI diskmgmt.msc tool).
After this I started the "imagex" process, surprisingly it work for pre installation of the windows.
After reboot the post installation of windows started and completed successfully
I can't say what it will do in the long run, I've also tried it with "C:\Programdata",
"Program Files.." these gave errors, properly because of junctions
that are required to be on the same drive.

Thx all, and good luck installing.

stupot65 said:

So if I delete my old windows 7 partition, will my new one still work? Because if I want a fresh install of windows 7 I could use this but I would then want to delete my old installation. Would that work?

Hello Stupot,

If this is for your Toshiba Satellite listed in your system specs, then you would want to do a factory recovery to reinstall your Windows instead. The link below from Toshiba can help show you how to if needed.

How to recover a Toshiba notebook with the HDD recovery procedure

Hope this helps, :)
Shawn

In that case, you could but it probably be easier to just do a normal clean install.

Clean Install Windows 7