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I downloaded the .iso of Windows 7 and would now like to install it as my main OS. However I can't because I don't have a DVD Burner, a 2+ GB USB Drive, or a external HDD (or extra HDD). So how can I install Windows 7?

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  • I would recommand buying a DVD burner, it's now under 30$.
    – Michael B.
    May 24, 2009 at 23:21
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    I suggest using WDS, if not. it belongs on superuser ;-)
    – Nick Kavadias
    Nov 7, 2009 at 1:12

5 Answers 5

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Is the system running an existing version of Windows? Then you should just be able to extract the contents of the iso (say with winrar or virtual clone drive) to another partition and run the setup.exe. Here's a guide.

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  • FYI, yes, Win7 allows upgrade installs over Vista and prior versions of Win7. See blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/04/07/…
    – quux
    May 25, 2009 at 0:31
  • Cool, didn't know that ^^
    – Oskar Duveborn
    May 25, 2009 at 1:46
  • I did the upgrade from Vista to 7 and every single one of my programs worked. I figured a few wouldn't, but everything went without a hitch. Thanks Oskar Duveborn!
    – Kredns
    May 25, 2009 at 12:57
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Spend the $10 on a 4gb Thumb Drive. there is a point where common sense needs to kick in. Alternatively, iirc VMWare has an unsupported option to mount a physical drive, you can install to that, then change your boot drive in the bios.

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You could do it via PXE booting, but that requires at least one other computer on your network. It would also take you several hours to set it up.

USB sticks are cheap; you should be able to get a 4GB or 8GB stick for just a few euros. Much cheaper than spending all your time trying to set up a PXE boot environment for a single installation.

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You can install it on a virtual machine by mounting the .iso file as a DVD drive. I don't know if that's an option, but I always do it this way.

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  • I want to actually install it on my system. I'm going to edit my question to include this. Thanks.
    – Kredns
    May 24, 2009 at 23:13
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  1. Copy whole mounted win7ult dvd on D: (not C:)

  2. Type in cmd:

    reagentc /boottore >NUL (restart automatic)

  3. In WinRE go to command prompt and type

    D:\GRMCULFRER_EN_DVD\sources\setup.exe
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