Installing Windows7 on an XP machine from usb stick

[Joe_Fox]

Still having about as much joy as a leper in an arm-wrestle. Duzza, I've added loads of Dell drivers to the USB but get the same error. Tried the windows tool to but that is a pile of shite as well: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool#ms_help_topics_at4

Why does it have to be so hard!

 

[Joe_Fox]

Ok, think I should completely start again on this.
Just to reiterate, I have a Windows7 .iso file (I have 64 bit version and 32 bit version), I have a 4GB usb stick, I have a target laptop and another laptop already with windows7 on it.
I've tried using flashboot (suggested by Durham) but I didnt get too far - once it tried to install it failed asking for drivers.
I've downloaded loads of drivers and added them to the usb stick that had the bootable stuff on it (after using flashboot) but still no joy.
Is there anything else I can try?

 

[SJN-Fox]

I'm sure that this shouldn't really be an issue, but, were you trying the 64 or 32 bit version?

 

[Steven]

http://maketecheasier.com/boot-and-install-windows-7-from-usb-flash-drive/2009/01/23

 

[Durham Fox]

Ok, think I should completely start again on this.
Just to reiterate, I have a Windows7 .iso file (I have 64 bit version and 32 bit version), I have a 4GB usb stick, I have a target laptop and another laptop already with windows7 on it.
I've tried using flashboot (suggested by Durham) but I didnt get too far - once it tried to install it failed asking for drivers.
I've downloaded loads of drivers and added them to the usb stick that had the bootable stuff on it (after using flashboot) but still no joy.
Is there anything else I can try?

The problem is a driver for the laptop not being present in the standard list MS make available at install. How you get to that point makes absolutely no difference to the problem. It will still be an issue however you try and install windows.

You need to put the drivers somewhere windows will let you see them at install. The best bet is on a CD as you already discovered it won't let you browse the HDD (as its probably the SATA driver that's missing). It won't let you browse the USB stick, I'm not sure why but you might want to try putting them in a folder not just in the root of the stick.

 

[Joe_Fox]

Any particular name of the folder?
Would it be worth putting the drivers on the HDD? If so where?
Also, how about adding the drivers to the .iso file - is that possible?
Cheers.

 

[Matt_B]

just borrow a USB cd drive, it would be much quicker.

 

[Durham Fox]

just borrow a USB cd drive, it would be much quicker.

How would it? Surely it would be slower.

 

[Joe_Fox]

Argh! Is Windows7 really worth it? XP aint too bad is it really.

 

[Durham Fox]

Have you tried installing the 32 bit version? It may be that some drivers aren't available in 64 bit for that machine.

A quick google reveals most people have issues with the VGA driver and the touch pad driver with Win 7 installation on that machine.

 

[spionfox]

Argh! Is Windows7 really worth it?

IMHO, yes.

XP aint too bad is it really.

Well, it's better than Vista or ME or 98SE but the problem is the older it gets the more the question of security fixes (or lack of them) becomes an issue.

I'd stick with it. Win7 is the best version of Windows yet IMHO.

 

[Matt_B]

How would it? Surely it would be slower.

No, because installing from a CD would be done by now, instead of all this faffing about.

 

[Durham Fox]

No, because installing from a CD would be done by now, instead of all this faffing about.

How would it be any different?

 

[Matt_B]

How would it be any different?

from what I cam gather, the problem seems to be the laptop reading the USB stick when trying to install due to it being a disk drive? Surely if he burnt the ISO to a disc on his other laptop and ran it as a bootable CD in a USB cd drive it would be as painless as any other installation? I realise I may have missed something vital in his predicament though.

 

[Durham Fox]

from what I cam gather, the problem seems to be the laptop reading the USB stick when trying to install due to it being a disk drive? Surely if he burnt the ISO to a disc on his other laptop and ran it as a bootable CD in a USB cd drive it would be as painless as any other installation? I realise I may have missed something vital in his predicament though.

Which you have :icon_bigg Windows doesn't have an essential driver in its install database required for Joe's laptop. The iso image is the same whether its on a USB stick or a DVD so it won't fix the problem. It will be slower overall as read times are much slower from DVD than USB.

 

[Joe_Fox]

Tried it - same problem. Just out of interest, what would installing it from DVD do differently to installing it from .iso?

 

[Matt_B]

Tried it - same problem. Just out of interest, what would installing it from DVD do differently to installing it from .iso?

I assumed the problem was that halfway during the installation it couldn't find the driver to carry on reading from the USB stick, a problem it might not have had with a disc. I've never had an install fail because of drivers missing before, is this a new feature of 7?

 

[Macky]

I've never seen an install fail like that because of a missing fecking driver. The kernel isn't dependant on them, so the install itself should surely complete. In fact, I'm not even convinced that he's trying to install Win7. Joe, does your computer have a couple of slots on the top of it? Big enough to take a slice of bread?

 

[Durham Fox]

I've never seen an install fail like that because of a missing fecking driver. The kernel isn't dependant on them, so the install itself should surely complete. In fact, I'm not even convinced that he's trying to install Win7. Joe, does your computer have a couple of slots on the top of it? Big enough to take a slice of bread?

:icon_lol:

I've seen it quite a few times.

 

[SJN-Fox]

Looking at various entries on the web, there seems to be no problems putting W7 on a d630. Are you sure that the ISO is complete?