Installing Windows 7 Without Using DVD/USB Drive [Method 2]
Posted January 14, 2009 – 5:51 pm in: Windows 7, Windows 7 TweaksThree days back I blogged a guide “How to install Windows 7 Using USB Drive” which has got much attention and applause from Windows 7 users. Readers are sending many mails asking me to write a guide on “Installing Windows 7 without using a DVD or USB Drive”. So after reading those mails I am starting this guide. I hope this guide will help many users to install Windows 7 on their PCs and Netbooks.
So you can continue this guide in keeping these three points:
* By using this guide you will be able to Install Windows 7/Vista, if you don’t have a DVD drive as well.
* You can also use this guide if you don’t have a 4GB USB stick. If you have a 4 GB+ USB drive then try out my “Install Windows 7 using USB drive” for a quick installation.
* We are not using either CD/DVD drive in this guide so you can even use this method to install this method for Netbooks.
There are two ways to install Windows 7/Vista without using A DVD or USB. The first one is using VPC (Virtual PC) and the second one is mounting an ISO file using free tools like Daemon tools or Virtual Clone Drive.
Method 2: Installing Windows 7 without using a DVD or USB via direct method
In this method we install Windows 7 on a clean partition like the normal DVD boot method. Only change is we don’t use a DVD drive in this guide. Please follow the below instructions carefully and don’t skip any steps to make things quickly!
1. Download the Windows 7 ISO files from Microsoft. I hope you have already downloaded one.
2. Download and install Virtual Clone Drive from here.
3. Firstly, go to the directory where you have saved Windows 7 ISO file. Right-click on the ISO file, select Open with and then select “Mount files with Virtual Clone Drive” to mount your ISO file.
4. Go back to My Computer (or Just Computer) and then double-click on the Virtual Clone Drive icon to start Windows 7 installation process.
Yes, you are installing Windows 7 without a DVD or USB drive!
5. Next, follow the normal Windows 7 installation procedure to finish the installation. Windows may restart during the install process. Worry not, everything will go fine.
You can also refer my “Windows 7 installation procedure” guide if you have doubts about the installation.
Below is the another way of installing Windows 7 without using a DVD or USB:
Method 1: Installing Windows 7 Without Using a DVD or USB via Virtual PC method
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Tags: Install Windows 7 without DVD, Windows 7 installation
19 Comments
When I try this method exactly as you’ve explained it, I am given this error.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b42/mason4300/W7B_error.jpg
I am trying this from Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit. I am trying to install the W7 Beta 64-bit to a secondary drive. Is this happening because I am trying to install the 64-bit OS from a 32-bit OS?
WARNING THIS WILL INSTALL OVER YOUR CURRENT VISTA INSTALLATION.
This is an upgrade. If you want a clean installation you need a dvd or a usb drive
Hello, thanks for this very useful guide! I did all of the steps and my files were all transfered to Windows 7. Now, when I want to switch back to Vista, what exactly do I have to do so that I don’t have to reinstall everything over again?
Thanks in advance!
- Alex
WARNING - THIS WILL OVERWRITE YOUR CURRENT OS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“WARNING THIS WILL INSTALL OVER YOUR CURRENT VISTA INSTALLATION.”
That’s your fault pal.
You should’ve read the entire thing, and created a partition.
Can someone help me. Has someone tested installing windows 7 with virtual drive clone. ( when i tried the virtual drive did not boot after restart) can some one help?
Hello everyone never try method 2 it doesnot work. it doesn’t work because once the installation process restarts it does not work. i have tried it in both daemon tools pro and virtual drive clone. it doesn’t work. Don’t bother trying.
Hi John.
It’s sad to know that this method is not working for you. But, it doesn’t mean that this method doesn’t work. I have been installing all the builds of Windows 7 using the same method and also with the same tool. This method works 100% as there are many users who have installed Windows 7 using this method itself.
I have been trying this method for my notebook with no optical drive. It boots up, but when it gets to expanding files it say windows can not complete the installation because some files are missing or may be corrupt. I’ve redone everything 4 times with no success. I had this error when I installed Vista and found a dirty dvd to be the problem, but this one I can’t fix. Any Ideas?
Jamie, as you have tried four times already, I don’t say that you have been doing something wrong. You are doing everything correct but it seems you DVD which you are using to copy files to USB stick might be the culprit.
Yo, what do u do when u have to restart? my PC just freezes on where it stopped, like the periods still go which means its downloading. is that only cuz the upgrade is slow, or is it because i need the DVD or something?
I installed Windows 7 Build 7100 from an XP partition onto another blank partition and method 2 worked wonderfully. When I tried to install Windows 7 Build 7100 64 Bit version the same way (on a 64 bit computer) I always get an error saying I am trying to install an incompatible version of the OS. Do you know what is wrong? Can it be done? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks a lot for the instruction. It did not work for the first time, but second time I tried, it worked perfectly. May be first time I opened several application, may be that could be the reason.
Hari
For those trying to install a 64 bit Vista/Win 7 OS from a 32bit OS - It can’t be done by this method. The setup files and suport utilities on the 64 bit DVD are complied to be run from a 64 bit windows OS only.
Therefor the only option is to do a clean install generally by booting from a DVD or alternativly from a usb stick as per tweakwindows other excellent and simple guide:
http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide/
Incidentally, if your computer bios supports it, you can use the exact same method as the usb stick guide to boot from a memory card reader via a memory card (such as a SD card). I used this method to put win7 RC on my Eee 900 using a 2 gig SD card I had lying around.
Will this method work for installing win 7 my mounting the image on XP ?? mine is not working..its giving me a error “Windows Setup cannot find a location to store temporary files.To install Windows,make sure that a partition on your boot disk has 685 MB of free space.” even when my C: drive (XP) is still 21GB free.Also the drive where I want to install win 7 is 58GB free.
So what’s the problem ??
@Shyam
Windows XP to Windows 7 direct upgrade is not possible.
Method 2 works great, I hooked up my external HDD with the installation files on it and installed on an empty partition of my netbook. I now have dual boot XP and W7 :D.
You indeed have to make sure you install it on a different partition than the one with XP. Mounting is not necessary, you can also extract the files out of the .iso file and place them in a folder on your XP partition.
I’m already thinking about throwing XP off my netbook and using W7 only!
wow…..this method rocks…i was using XP on my HP mini 1129TU and i just installed the Virtual Clone Drive in XP, then copied the iso to my c drive in XP, and mounted it…ad clicked on istall and seleted “Customs” Method….it got installed seamlessly on the same partition…and i have no issues…in the last 6 hours…
Thanks for the wonderful tip.
Challu