If you are a regular reader of IntoWindows, you probably have come across our how to install Windows 7 Using USB Drive article, a very detailed guide to installing the latest Windows 7 from a USB flash drive. But, what if you don’t have a DVD or USB to install Windows 7? Here is our solution.
So you can continue this guide in keeping these three points:
# By using this guide you will be able to Install Windows 7/Vista, even if you don’t have a DVD drive on your PC.
# You can also use this guide if you don’t have a 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.
Also read: how to clean install Windows 10 from USB
Installing Windows 7 without using a DVD or USB
In this method, we install Windows 7 on a clean partition like the normal DVD boot method. The only change is that we don’t use a DVD in this guide. Please follow the below instructions carefully and don’t skip any steps to make things quickly!
Step 1: Download the Windows 7 ISO files from Microsoft. I hope you have already downloaded one.
Step 2: Download and install Virtual Clone Drive (free) from here. We will use the Virtual Clone Drive to mount the ISO image of Windows 7.
Step 3: Firstly, go to the directory where you have saved the 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.
Step 4: Go back to My Computer (or Computer) and then double-click on the Virtual Clone Drive icon to start the Windows 7 installation process.
Yes, you are installing Windows 7 without a DVD or USB drive!
Step 5: Next, follow the normal Windows 7 installation procedure to finish the installation. Your computer may restart several times during the install process. Worry not, everything will go fine.
You can also refer our Windows 7 installation procedure guide if you have doubts about the installation.
Below is 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
helpful55 says
What kind of install is this. How would I go to my computer if my computer has no OS?
Smith says
Can I install W7 on c drive using mounting method. Will mounting work after computer restart during installation process. After installation, data on other drives will remain or not
Krizmarc says
Hi just like to ask if you can help me install w7 on a virtual desktop w/out dvd or usb, Im having the same error. Tia
ARIF ULLAH says
Using Virtual Clone Drive, I have mounted Windows 7’s ISO. It then installed Windows 7 perfectly, on the primary partition; in other words, I don’t have any other partitions and it installed Windows 7 as the only OS.
If you’re hesitating as to whether this will work for you, it most likely will.
VICKS says
when i do this will it remove my documents and stuff?
ross says
After installing windows defender 32-bit offline into my pen drive (2GB), all files in my pen drive wiped out!
roopesh says
what to do with ”windows old” folders ?
it is taking too much disk space?
Corrine says
YES!! Finally someone who explains it well!! I’ve been looking like a mad woman everywhere on how to do this, finally someone who seems to know what he’s talking about!! Thank you so much! I will now proceed to install windows 7! (Because I finally get it!) *does happy dance*
Mark says
I’d like to create a USB flash Win7 recovery-install device. However, However, I don’t have any Win7 install DVDs, as my copy came pre-installed on a laptop. Lenovo says their create “factory recovery” won’t work on a USB stick, only on an external DVD/hard-drive. The factory recovery drives on the laptop have only *.wim files. Running the recovery program produces 4 *.swm files on the external media. Any way to create a flash install from all this?
Alex says
Works !
I mounted the ISO onto the Virtual Clone Drive (Daemon tools also works) running on Win XP and installed Win 7 (32 bit) on a different partition. If the installation successfully finishes the stage one (copying files) of the entire process, you should not have any problem at all. After this, it restarts and continues on its own to stage two (expanding files), from here on everything happens in the Win 7 environment and the mounted ISO is no longer accessed nor needed. Couple more restarts and its done.
Chris says
Would it be possible to install windows 7 to a windows created software raid using this method?
Would that work?
Wan says
Can I use this to download windows 7 from scratch over my already existing windows 7 os on this notebook?
I don’t need a partition then right?
I want to use the key of my already existing windows 7 os when I do so.
Thanks for your answer.
david says
Sure you can install over windows xp, however you would need service pack 2 or higher version of windows xp to install. I would recommend win to flash software for installing windows 7. It will make the pen drive bootable and you would not have the dirty installation which this method would do.
CaTa says
Can I use these steps to install over a Win Xp?
Ravi says
The method two will work properly untill computer restarts but when it restarts the software virtual clonedrive will be disabled so it will not work after it restarts. May be ur computer must need disk or usb at that time. because installation of os is not complete and older os was formatted by u. So, try this method on ur risk. It may work or not for ur machine b’caz its all depended on bios setup. So,plz take care using method 2.
teknik says
Hi,
copy whole mounted win7ult dvd on d: (not c:)
type in cmd:
reagentc /boottore >NUL (restart automatic)
in winRE go to comman prompt and type
D:\GRMCULFRER_EN_DVD\sources\setup.exe
Rob says
Ok, followed the steps for formatting my external hard drive, in the process of doing that as we speak. I have the win7 iso file on my computer. i have daemon tools if that helps. I do not have a win7 bootable disc or cd/dvd drive. i have a hp mini which has win7 already on it. tryin to boot win7 from usb on my bro’s laptop that has vista on it. i made the mistake of formatting the recovery drive on his laptop and now it won’t boot vista, it tells me that the boot mgr is missing. Am I completely SOL? How do I mount the win7 iso file onto the usb external hard drive and make it bootable for his laptop? Making the usb bootable steps helped out a lot, thanks.
Mike says
To do a CLEAN install, booting into the Setup (PE) environment on a computer with no DVD and no usb boot options do the following.
1. Prepare the drive. You can take the primary hard drive out of the computer and using an external adapter and another functioning computer create your partition, make sure it is active.
2. Extract the contents of the installation ISO to the root of the HDD you just created the partions on. You now have a HDD with a primary, active partition and all of the files from a windows 7 DVD which will be bootable.
3. Install the HDD back in the target computer. Boot, install windows.
4. Cleanup, use EASYBCD to remove the setup entry from teh boot menu and remove all setup related files and directories from the root of C:
Farhan says
This method can only work when your upgrading your vista to windows 7. if you follow this method and choose custom installation then windows 7 install on your system drive and files of your previous version of windows copied to folder named “windows.old”. So this method is not useful and you need a DVD or USB drive to install a clean copy of windows.
Karan says
Hi Guys,
This method works perfectly, I prefer using Virtual Clone Drive, as Daemon Tools doesn’t seem to be compatible with Win. 7 Download the .iso file, mount it using V. Clone Drive and start the installation process, everything will go perfectly. I’ve upgraded my PC to Win7 from Vista both x64 using this method. Good Luck!
Tony M says
Great treat m8;)
candice says
where on the microsoft site can i find the windows 7 iso files?
luke says
Can you boot it from the Hard Drive? [upgrading] please let me know [email protected]
musthafa says
Worked perfectly for me, though I used Alcohol 120% which i already use. Mounted the iso file and ran the setup and installed into a new partition and it ran smoothly with no hiccups.
Thnx for this awesome article. You save me some trouble.
Nathan says
I just figured out how to do a home network between my netbook and desktop. Now I’m using the DVD drive on my desktop to install 7 on the netbook. It wasn’t hard to figure out and its going along very nicely.
The only bummer was that I’d have liked to repartition my hard drive but you can’t do that if you start the install while windows is running.
Dan says
could someone explain for me:- in the deamon tools method how it resumes after a restart?
Answer says
Why would you want that? Every Mac got a DVD-Drive…
Mac OS X Doesn’t work on a PC, except for the hacked, illegal version, wich is very unstable.
Why? Because the OS is locked to Certain Hardware.
If It detects other hardware then those in a Mac, it will cancel the installation.
SoftwaresLoaded says
Hi, Nice Tutorial, Bigup to you..
But i was wondering if we can install MAC OSX without using USB/DVD
Can you please direct on how to install MAC OSX with just an .iso file.??
Stacman says
“That’s your fault pal.
You should’ve read the entire thing, and created a partition.”
That’s right! Make a new partition, format it, and install the new OS on it. If you try to install on the C partition your mounted image will go away upon formatting and installing the new files. By making a new partition and installing there you can later wipe the C partition and reclaim the space.
Imtiaz383 says
Oye dude. Sorry to interrupt. Before i proceed to the final stpe of installing windows 7, i have a 15Gb usb drive(Actually my Phones drive) and was wondering to not make the same mistake screwing my computer that lost its boot manager after it failed installing Windows 7 at the final step. So i thought to make a Recovery disk, rather than a dam Drive that is costly buying 16 of them of high capacity, my phones Drive is 15gb….i use it for all the types of cmd commands you give for making it into drives and stuffs..and all was successfull…but this time, i need something better and backup of my windows. SPACE REQUIRED: 8.75GB’s. Location: External drive..my simplest result i could think of is, Cloning my usb drive into a DVD drive JUST like the “Virtual clone drive” that cloned a space of memory into ROM and DVD. So now, can you help me make my PC vista 32bit “Toshiba Recovery Wizard” identify my USB(phones drive lol) as a DVD drive?????Please reply me in mail fast, because i’m running out of holiday time..so i thought i could try out the new system in multi-boot.
Challu says
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
Rob says
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!
admin says
@Shyam
Windows XP to Windows 7 direct upgrade is not possible.
shyam says
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 ??
Richard says
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:
“https://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.
Hari says
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
Dennis says
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!
Ricky says
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?
admin says
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.
admin says
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.
John says
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.
John says
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?
Alec Dawson says
“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.
WARNING says
WARNING – THIS WILL OVERWRITE YOUR CURRENT OS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alex says
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
anonymous says
This is an upgrade. If you want a clean installation you need a dvd or a usb drive
WARNING says
WARNING THIS WILL INSTALL OVER YOUR CURRENT VISTA INSTALLATION.
mason says
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?