Easiest way to install Windows 7

Just thought I would drop a line and let everyone know I successfully installed Windows 7 by just mounting the disk image with Magic ISO/Magic Disk and it was extremely simple and installed flawlessly....

 

want an even easier way?

- extract all files inside of iso (use winrar, etc) to a usb thumbdrive
- insert thumbdrive into aa1, restart aa1, press f12 and select USB boot

thats it.

 

I guess I should have mentioned I only have a 1gb thumbdrive :cry: I was still rather impressed with the simpilcity of just mounting the disk image and installing on my new partition...

 

I agree I installed it this way and it worked great too. And it is the easiest way to install it.

Installing through USB is definately NOT easier than just mounting the image and installing it that way.

 

but using a USB thumbsrive does insure a clean install.

 

yes but the thumb drive has to also be partitioned properly!

 

Huh? What he meant was using the thumbdrive to store the Win7 setup files... not install the OS on the thumbdrive hehehe. Actually Tankster is correct in saying that the USB method is easier. No need to mount anything, just extract the ISO to the thumbdrive.... boot from USB and setup of Win7 will run. This is needed when you want to install Win7 as a stand alone OS and not dual boot into anything else. Upgrade method insures alot of problems, so that is not recommended at all. Cheers.

 

ahhh k

 

Actually you dont need to boot from USB to ensure a clean install. And in the beta stages, you've gotta be pretty careless to install it as a stand alone OS with no dual booting. as long as your partitions are there, installing win7 from within winxp is flawless and easy. Only tools that are needed to install on a partition is daemon tools or similar. Then its just a case of running the CD then everything runs through for you and is simple.

How this is considered harder than finding a USB stick, extracting all the files from the ISO, waiting for 10+ minutes just for the files to copy across to the USB. Turning off the computer and booting from usb (an action less capable pc users will be uncomfortable with), creating partitions (in which one wrong move can cause a whole load of mess!) etc etc by some users is beyond me.

I have done a lot of work with computers in the past 4-5 years and I have also learnt to be more open minded with other peoples opinions especially when everone has their own and knows what they prefer... But running win7 from within XP is what I would recommend to a beginner as its very hard to go wrong. From within XP its not gonna let you install it onto the wrong drive. Whereas booting from USB its very easy to accidentally install over their current drive and lose a lot of stuff.

Just my opinion anyway

 

i wouldn't think its a good idea for anyone besides a tech enthusiast, who knows what they are doing, to be running win7 until it is finished.

what needs to be clarified is that if you want to dual boot win7 with xp (or any other OS), mounting the iso works great, and has worked great for a very long time with just about any version of windows/linux/etc. If you want to do a clean install, using win7 as your only OS, thumbdrives are the way to go.

 

Like I said, the USB method is when you DONT want a dual boot system. Like mine, I'd rather have one OS on my netbooks. I'm experienced enough in working with PC's(all the way back to a 10mhz IBM PC) to know that Win7 is stable enough to be my main OS. Also, there are a number who have linpus and would want to get rid of it for Win7, again USB is the way to go.

Here's a simple comparison of the most common method using our AAO:

1. Download ISO, Burn ISO to blank DVD-R(W) using external DVD burner...... req: External DVD drive, DVD Burn software like NERO
2. Download ISO, Extract to USB Stick using Winrar..... req. Winrar or any freeware app & 4gb USB Stick
3. Download ISO, Mount to a virtual DVD Drive using ISO mount software..... req. Daemon tools, Magic ISO etc etc and an existing OS like WinXP making upgrade and dual boot as your only option.

 

I guess I should have been more specific in my first post...I already have my Windows XP tweaked to my liking so I wanted to have another partition to play around with Windows 7 (I really am impressed with 7 and never really cared for Vista at all) and Eventually I would like to try out Linux mint, Ubuntu or some other linux distro on my separate partition.

So case in point is that I planning on dual booting and keeping XP as my primary OS for at least the time being and think the virtual mounting in XP option is the easiest way to do so because I have commitment issues and did not feel like committing to Win 7 as my only OS, although so far am I am extremely impressed with how well 7 runs on my little AAO.

Thanks to everyone for there feedback...I think I have read every post on the forum and I never remember reading about dual booting another OS by virtually mounting install disc in XP...