&*"%^*%*£ stupid windows ......

[shoes]

Right...

Trying to install windows 7 on a netbook with no dvd drive. why oh why is it so god damn hard to make a bootable windows 7 usb drive?!? I'm frankly getting so pissed off with this that i'm tempted to install ubuntu on it (which, incidentally is as simple as copying the files to the usb drive!) and telling by brother to shove it.

Even microsoft's own tool is a crock of the proverbial, it won't see my usb drive regardless of how i format it.

I've tried a few other tools, none of which produce either bootable or complete drives.

The netbook sees the drive no problem, and I have just managed an xp install with no problem on another netbook, so it's not the drive.

Drive is a western digital passport 110gb

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Regards

A jerked off mac user who's not used to problems

 

[gdavies]

pop round when you like an i will sort it for you

 

[shoes]

Cheers dude - just attempting an install over pxe at the moment, will let you know if I need to come to see dr gav

 

[gdavies]

no worries

 

[db]

funny you should bring this up, as i had to create a windows 7 USB boot stick for the first time ever yesterday.. it couldn't have gone more smoothly!

1) downloaded MSDN windows 7 ISO.
2) patched it with eicfg_removal_utility to make it a "choose your version" installer.
3) downloaded the official microsoft windows 7 USB/DVD download tool and installed it.
4) stuck 8GB USB stick in, formatted it as FAT32 (quick format, natch).
5) ran aforementioned microsoft tool.
6) followed 4 simple steps.

i was well impressed with how smoothly it went! soz, i know that doesn't help you at all..

the microsoft tool even formats the USB stick for you, incidentally, so i suspect the problem lies with the USB stick.. perhaps the assigned drive letter is clashing with something else? it's defo 4GB or larger, yeah?

oh, and have you got .NET installed? and the windows image mastering API? basically, read through the link above and make sure you've got everything you need..

 

[shoes]

cheers db - I shall have a go tonight.

One thought which did occur to me, the drive I am using is a SATA USB hard drive, not a flash drive.

I used the USB/DVD download tool which wouldn't see the drive formatted as NTFS or FAT32 (I had to create a 32GB partition to format as FAT32 and left the rest of the drive unallocated) and the tool still wouldn't see it.

Perhaps need an 8gb usb flash stick rather than a HDD?

Install of win xp went absolutely fine using a similar technique.

Cheers for the info!

 

[db]

cheers db - I shall have a go tonight.

One thought which did occur to me, the drive I am using is a SATA USB hard drive, not a flash drive.

I used the USB/DVD download tool which wouldn't see the drive formatted as NTFS or FAT32 (I had to create a 32GB partition to format as FAT32 and left the rest of the drive unallocated) and the tool still wouldn't see it.

Perhaps need an 8gb usb flash stick rather than a HDD?

yeah, i'm pretty sure it needs to be a USB flash drive! as i say, worked flawless for me, using an 8GB microSD card i had lying around (i have loads of them as they seem to come free with everything these days) stuck in a USB adapter..

 

[shoes]

Also has anyone ever done a PXE install using a router? I managed to disable DHCP on the router and then isolate the network (PC + Netbook only) and then set up the DHCP server in win tftp, although the netbook would see the network it claimed it had received no DHCP offers

 

[Andreas Rex]

Trying to install windows 7 on a netbook with no dvd drive. why oh why is it so god damn hard to make a bootable windows 7 usb drive?!?

I needed to do this a year or so ago and came across WinToFlash. It was the easiest thing in the world to use and worked first time. Have used the prog a few times since and never had a prob. All of the above seems rather convoluted!

 

[db]

Also has anyone ever done a PXE install using a router? I managed to disable DHCP on the router and then isolate the network (PC + Netbook only) and then set up the DHCP server in win tftp, although the netbook would see the network it claimed it had received no DHCP offers

i'd start a new thread for this tbh.. i've only ever done PXE booting on corporate networks, where everything was preconfigured, and even that was a bit of a faff so i reckon you need a dedicated thread where everyone can stick their oar in!

 

[shoes]

Also has anyone ever done a PXE install using a router? I managed to disable DHCP on the router and then isolate the network (PC + Netbook only) and then set up the DHCP server in win tftp, although the netbook would see the network it claimed it had received no DHCP offers

i'd start a new thread for this tbh.. i've only ever done PXE booting on corporate networks, where everything was preconfigured, and even that was a bit of a faff so i reckon you need a dedicated thread where everyone can stick their oar in!

Back in the day I was installing images over networks using norton ghost which worked really easily, however a lack of image and floppy drive on the netbook ruled that out. I was looking for a crossover lead to connect the machines together but had to use a router as I apparently don't have any crossover leads.

 

[db]

haven't you got a microSD card knocking about you can use just for this? i've got loads lying around, cos they come free with every phone i've had for the last few years - i thought you'd be in the same boat!

that's all i used - an 8GB microSD card in a USB adapter.. you only need a 4GB one though, i think..

 

[shoes]

Ah yeah i have loads of those, but no USB adapter (the macbook has one built in ). Reckon I could use my digital camera?

 

[db]

Ah yeah i have loads of those, but no USB adapter (the macbook has one built in ). Reckon I could use my digital camera?

ah, good point.. i suppose i wouldn't have a USB adapter if it weren't for the fact one came with the missus' R4 for her nintendo DS! i don't suppose it's the sort of thing people have unless they have a specific need..

i'm pretty sure you could use your phone, though.. when you mount that, it appears to windows as a straight-up USB drive innit..

saying that, i'm sure you could create the boot drive easily enough.. whether you could boot from it or not, i'm not so sure :/

 

[wmrcomputers]

I agree with Andreas - Win2Flash works great for me, although I just use an external USB DVD drive nowadays for netbook installs - faaaarrrr easier!

 

[shoes]

NTLDR is missing........ FFS!

Meanwhile, the mac continues to work fine....

 

[gdavies]

shoes pop round when your ready and i will sort it for you

 

[shoes]

Finally got it sorted using andreas's software and db's suggestion of an SD card (the one from my phone). Discovered that by changing a setting in the BIOS i could get the machine to boot from the integrated SD card slot, and after 3 or 4 attempts at making an install SD card from various ISOs it installed brilliantly (and very quickly too).

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[gdavies]

Just made my own bootable usb stick too but i didn't use the windows utility here is how i did it.
pressed the start button and typed in cmd then pressed ctrl+shift and enter
once the magic black box where your mouse no longer works i typed in the following.
dam its the 80's all over again, no i jest i typed the commands that are seperated bye a line below
DISKPART "Press Enter"
LIST DISK "Press Enter"
now time to select the disk, yep with no mouse cursor that will touch dos, so you see which number on the list matches your usb pen drive size, time to select that drive so its number 1 then the command goes as follows.
SELECT DISK 1 "Press Enter"
CLEAN "Press Enter"
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY "Press Enter"
SELECT PARTITION 1 "Press Enter"
ACTIVE "Press Enter"
FORMAT FS=NTFS "Press Enter"
ok step in the kitchen turn the kettle make myself a coffee, watch a series of penn and teller and on to the next command
ASSIGN "Press Enter"
EXIT "Press Enter"
now keeping that black magic box open i then inserted the said windows disc i wanna put on to a usb stick and time for the next command
D: "Press Enter"
Yep d was the letter of the disc drive, now the next command
CD BOOT "Press Enter"
BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 F: "Press Enter"
yep the udb drive was letter F: now onto the next part
ah wait i just need to copy the contents of the disc over to that said drive and now all done.