Install Windows 7 Directly from Your Hard Drive

The traditional and common way to install an operating system in your computer using a bootable USB or optical disk. You can install both Windows XP and Windows 7 from a USB drive and a CD/DVD as well. But, if you want to install Windows 7 or Windows Vista in a computer which is already running with Windows XP, you can avoid the optical or USB drive. By having a copy of the installer at your hard disk, you can install the Windows 7 or vista directly from the hard drive.
Tip: Install Windows 7 from Usb Flash Drive.
This tutorial stands on the assumption that you are installing Windows Vista, 7 or 8 on a computer installed with Windows XP. The process I’m going to introduce does not work if you want to install the earlier version on a computer which is already running on a latest windows operating system.
The advantages of installing Windows 7 or Vista directly from hard disk

• The installation process is much faster than the same from a CD/DVD
• If you do not have any CD/DVD drive available, you can still try Windows 7 or vista in your computer

Let us assume that your existing operating system is Windows XP.
Read also: Install Windows XP From USB Flash Drive.

How to Install Windows 7 From Hard Disk

To setup the Windows 7 from your hard disk, follow the steps below:

1. Install a virtual CD/DVD drive in your existing system. So many applications are available there. I recommend Magic Disc virtual DVD/CD Rom as itis free and easy to use
2. Get the ISO image of Windows 7 or vista and mount it in the virtual CD/DVD drive
3. Now, copy the entire files from the virtual disk to any of the available drives. But keep it in your mind that the drive must not be the drive in which you want to install the Windows. Suppose, you want to install Windows in the D drive then copy the files in the drives except D e.g F:/Windows 7
4. Copy the bootmgr file and boot folder to your present root drive, generally C. By default, the boot folder is hidden. So, change the corresponding options in the Windows explorer to show the hidden files and folders as well as the system files
5. If you are using Vista then copy the file bootmgr to C (root directory)
6. Copy the file called as Windows7bootboot.sdi from F drive (as per as this example) to the folder ‘boot’ at the root drive. Similarly, copy Windows7bootbootsect.exe to the root directory itself
7. Now, create a folder under the root directory and give the name as ‘sources’
8. Copy the boot.wim file from F: >Windows7sources in the folder ‘source’ which you’ve just created
9. Once done, run the command prompt as administrator. For this, right-click on Start menu > Accessories > Command Prompt and select Run As… option. Select the user as Administrator by selecting the corresponding radio button(refer to the following screenshot)
10. Type the following command in the command prompt

    For Windows 7: C:bootbootsect.exe /nt60 C:

    For Vista: C:bootsect.exe /nt60 C:

    and hit the enter key

11. Now, you have to change the boot system partition name. You can choose any name that you prefer.You can do this by using the “label” command in the command prompt. For example: E: label mynewdrive. Remember the name you have put in the command prompt and restart you computer
12. The setup process will automatically start to run. In the upcoming option, you will see two options: 1) Install Windows 2) Repair my Computer. Chose ‘Option 2’
13. In the ‘WinRE System Recovery Options’ window open the Command Prompt
14. To format the E drive, type the command format c: /q. This will format the drive in FAT 32 file system
15. You can also format the drive in NTFS file system. To do so, type the command c: /q/fs:ntfs
16. You should be asked to enter the name of the partition. Enter it accordingly ( e.g mynewdrive) before the formatting process begins
17. Now, you can proceed as usual

If any type of problem arises then contact us or put your problems as a comment.