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AnswerWindows 7 install on USB drive

  • Sunday, April 12, 2009 6:28 PMck_windows Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
    Hi,
         I am not sure if this is right forum to post. Is it possible to install Windows 7 on an external USB drive?  I can't find any answer for this. I tried installing to an USB drive and got error message saying Windows 7 cannot be installed on USB drive.

    Thanks in advance,
    CK.

Answers

  • Tuesday, April 21, 2009 7:32 AMTHE C. Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     Answer
    Sorry this is not possible. Make it a great day.
    "In the End The Love You Take, Is Equal To The Love You Make"
    • Marked As Answer byck_windows Monday, June 01, 2009 5:14 PM
    • Proposed As Answer byTHE C. Monday, June 01, 2009 7:50 AM
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All Replies

  • Tuesday, April 21, 2009 7:32 AMTHE C. Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     Answer
    Sorry this is not possible. Make it a great day.
    "In the End The Love You Take, Is Equal To The Love You Make"
    • Marked As Answer byck_windows Monday, June 01, 2009 5:14 PM
    • Proposed As Answer byTHE C. Monday, June 01, 2009 7:50 AM
    •  
  • Saturday, May 02, 2009 2:36 AMSharif Mobileme Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     Proposed Answer
    Well the problems Windows 7 is not installing or showing the USB Drive in Installation is that Microsoft Windows Operation systems are designed for SATA AND IDE Hard Disk for installation and the maximum unit is Windows 7 cant be installed on a USB Drive. And again if you tried to install Windows 7 it will say an Error and close up. So the answer for your question is Windows 7 can't be installed on a USB Drive.



    Thanks
    Sharif Mohamed [Sherry,Wirelex,Naterey]
  • Sunday, September 06, 2009 12:11 AMjeffs248 Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
    yes, you can.  i did it today on my netbook and it works perfectly.  i am not a computer person, but i know enough to transfer the file to a usb using winrar, then extracting of the files onto the desktop, then running the setup application.  
  • Tuesday, September 08, 2009 7:52 AMTHE C. Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
    Hello jeffs248,


    Did you see the date of this thread? That is not the samething your saying, he is asking something totally different! The OP wanted to install Windows 7 onto a USB flash drive, install then run the windows from it, which is NOT possible! Make it a great day!










    "In the End The Love You Take, Is Equal To The Love You Make" (The Beatles last song from thier last album, Abbey Road.)
  • Saturday, October 24, 2009 5:06 PMKHolmesUK Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
    I have seen the date of both the original question and the replies, but just want to add it is definitely possible to both a) install windows 7 from a usb flash drive and b) install windows 7 onto a usb flash drive. I have been running windows 7 rc on my eee pc for 5 or 6 months now. It is installed onto a 16gb shdc card and runs acceptably. The eee is a 4g model. The only modification was to increase ram to 2gb.
  • Saturday, October 24, 2009 5:15 PMEnterpriseGUY Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
    Can you give us the steps you did to get Windows 7 to install on a USB drive??  Thanks.

  • Sunday, October 25, 2009 9:53 AMKHolmesUK Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
    I'll try and dig them out. From memory it involved getting win 7 install onto a 4gb bootable usb stick, which took some time, then install from there onto flash. Windows recognised but wouldn't install to a removable drive, so just prior to that stage of install there is a registry hack to the section pertaining to usbtor and 2 others. Like I say I wil try and find this today and let you know.
  • Sunday, October 25, 2009 10:31 AMTHE C. Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     

    Hello KHolmesUK,



    Maybe possible? Link: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/create-bootable-windows-7-usb-drive/, also this link: http://kmwoley.com/blog/?p=345  tell me if these work, then I will stand corrected! ;-)

    Hope this helps you. Let us know either way. Make it a great day!





    "And In The End The Love You Take, Is Equal To The Love You Make" (The Beatles last song from thier last album, Abbey Road.)
  • Tuesday, October 27, 2009 9:00 PMbugITs - technology news and updates Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
    i believe its possible and the above link can surely help you..
    |bugITs - technology news and updates || EUTS: Everything Under The Sun|
  • Monday, November 09, 2009 2:29 PMmarjo55 Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
    So do you think they have the wrong end of the stick... Sorry I just couldn't resist it!

    I am quite glad W7 gave me so much hassle - it has forced me to reacquaint myself with all of you in here, I forgot what interesting threads you have. I haven't had much timee or need to come in here since I moved from AI to RI and started studying psychology. I am thinking of uprading W7 HP to Pro so I can use XP mode. I opted for Home Premium this time because I hoped there would be less of the "Are you the administrator" ____. Oh dear what a mistake - it is even worse - instead of being treated like a malicious intruder W7 now treats me like a naughty 5 year old who has used her v-tech to hack into daddy's laptop. I could put up with 'Are you sure' but 'do you have permission' takes the biscuit.

    I don't expect an OS to be able to think but surely it could be programmed to see/count that there is only one user/administrator who is not sharing anything with anybody and if/when i do - I'll organise it myself with no help/interference from W7. I am fed up with it arguing with me. EG I want to send a zipped copy of the latest revision for editing - without closing the file and losing my place in 300 pages - but W7 refuses to allow this because SOMEBODY else might be using it. Even if there was anybody else to be using it it wouldn't matter - its a only a copy! HowToGeek has shown me how to fix this with HoboCopy but it involves using command prompt and making registry changes and I am a bit scared - it has been a while since I did anything like this and this is a brand new laptop - doing a system restore would undo all my installations and the customisations and changes that i spent a whole week making. But if I upgrade to pro they might be lost anyway - it depends how good Windows Easy Transfer turns out to be. 

    Anyway I have a sort of Quick Launch now so I don't need to completely reorganise my working methods that took 10 years to hone; these Windows developers should ask us what we think about it before they go changing our basic work tools. Thanks for all the help and support guys. It is a good job you are here, I have yet to experience Dell's customer support I can't find my service tag and the online registration site has been down all week.
  • Friday, November 13, 2009 5:20 PMkaybee328 Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
  • Monday, November 16, 2009 6:23 PMBillyinla Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     Proposed Answer
    Is it me are all you missing the original question "Is it possible to install Windows 7 on an external USB drive?" Keyword ON...He is trying to install Windows ON ,not trying to

    Create a Bootable Vista / Windows 7 USB Flash Drive   

    Create Bootable Windows 7 USB Drive

    • Proposed As Answer bybrianorme Tuesday, November 17, 2009 3:06 AM
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  • Tuesday, November 17, 2009 3:10 AMbrianorme Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
    I haven't attempted this but I don't see why this is not possible, if you can make your USB drive internal first. A laptop example: Remove the hard drive from your laptop, remove the hard drive from the external enclosure. Install you USB hard drive into your laptop. Install Windows 7 as a normal laptop install. Once the install is complete, replace all of the hard drives back into their original locations. Attach you USB drive and boot. Select your boot options, and you should be presented with the local hard drive, or the USB drive. Either option should work perfectly normal; at least on that particular machine.
  • Wednesday, November 18, 2009 9:31 AMsigorn Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
    I've tried popping open my external drive and installing it in my pc to install win7 but found that after making the drive bootable and a flawless install I get a 0x490 error when trying to boot. It happens right after loading the classpnp.sys driver but still happens when I renamed the driver to classpnp.bak so it wouldn't load. I'm not sure exactly what's going on because I tried to use boot logging and no boot log was created as well as there's no dump files. I had to use the recovery option to find the error. I'm going to try to research this error but for now if anyone knows anything more please pitch in.