Hey guys, Yoan AKA Aura here with my first tutorial that I import for you on malwaretips.com
So I noticed that lately, a lot of threads on different forums always asks for the same thing :
"How do I install Windows 7 ?"
"How would I go about installing Windows on my computer ?"
"Can I install Windows from a USB key ?"
"How do I reinstall Windows 7 ?"
Anyway, you get what I'm talking about. So I decided to prepare you a really simple tutorial that will cover the steps to follow when you want to install Windows 7 or reinstall Windows 7 (assuming that you're not using the Factory Restore feature of your computer). Ready ? Let's go !
Requirements
Prepare a bootable device with the Windows 7 installation .iso
So this part is for the people that wants to reinstall Windows or install Windows, but they don't have any Windows 7 installation DVDs. What we're going to do is that we'll create a Windows 7 installation DVD or a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows 7 installation from a Windows 7 .iso. There's multiple tools that will allow you to do the same thing such as UNetbootin, ImgBurn (burn to DVD only). In this tutorial, we'll use both Microsoft's official tool to either : burn that .iso on a DVD or make an USB flash drive bootable with it or YUMI Multiboot USB Creator. You can download Windows 7 to USB/DVD Download Tool here, and YUMI Multiboot USB Creator from here.
*WARNING : These tools CAN NOT be used with an external hard drive or your hard drive.*
Prepare a bootable device with Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool
The Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool also contains the steps to follow in order to create a DVD with the Windows 7 installation .iso or a bootable USB flash drive with it, if my instructions are not clear enough. After you've download the Windows 7 to USB/DVD Download installation program, execute it and install the program (the installation process should look like "Next", "Install", "Finish", easy no ?). Once the installation is done, execute the program (the icon should be on your desktop, also, using this tool required an account with Admin. Rights).
The first step will ask you to select which .iso you want to work it. Click on "Browse", go to the location where your Windows 7 installation .iso is located, then select it, click on "Open" and hit "Next". Now it will ask you what media you want to work with. Select whatever device you want to work with : if it's a DVD, click on the "DVD" button (NOTE : You'll have to use a standard 4.7GBs DVD to burn the Windows 7 installation .iso on it) or if it's an USB device, click on "USB Device".
-PICTURE-
Ta-da ! You know have a bootable Windows 7 installation media ! Now, let's launch the installation !
Prepare a bootable device with YUMI Multiboot USB Creator
The good thing with YUMI is that it allows us to create a USB pendrive with multiple boot on it, hence you could end up with a 8GBs Flash Drive with a Windows 7 installation setup, Ubuntu setup and Debian setup on it if you wanted too. After downloading YUMI, simply execute it and Accept the EULA. Now if your USB pendrive drive letter doesn't appear in the drop down list, check the Show All Drives? option. Select your USB pendrive (in my case, G:\ UDISK 2.0 and check the Format X: Drive (Erase Content)? option, where X: is the drive letter of your USB pendrive (Note : Once you check this option, it will be replaced by "We Will Fat32 Format X: Drive!"). This option will format your USB pendrive in FAT32 and prepare it for the .iso. In the next drop down list, you have to select the distribution that we'll put on our pendrive. In our case, the Windows 7 option is at the bottom of the list, Windows Vista/7/8 Installer. And the last step asks us to pick your Windows 7 .iso and to select it. Once all this is done, click on "Create" and then click on "Yes" to start the operation. Once it's complete, we'll be ready to boot from it and start the Windows 7 installation !
-PICTURE- (please click on the links as I reached the image list in this post, sorry about that)
Launch the Windows 7 Installation
In order to launch the Windows 7 installation process, you'll have to boot from the media on which you burned the Windows 7 installation .iso. Now this step will vary for everyone as every brands and models have their own way to do the following. Reboot your computer and hit the F key that will allow you to access your "Boot Menu" or "Boot Order". To find the right F key, you'll have to take a look at your computer screen when it displays your computer's brand logo. Around it, you should see some lines like "F2 = Boot Menu" or "F10 = BIOS", etc (the F key is most commonly F2, F8, F10, and F12). Look for these lines and look for the one that contains something along the lines of "Boot Menu" or "Boot order". Once you get in that menu, select to boot from the media that contains the Windows 7 installation, in this case, either your DVD or your USB flash drive. If you created your Windows 7 installation media properly, a black screen should appear with the lince "Windows is loading files" and a progress bar at the bottom.
And there you go ! You now started the Windows installation process. From there, let's see what we have to do !
Windows 7 Installation
The first step is easy. Simple select the language for Windows (you can only choose the language that comes with the .iso or DVD you have, if it's exemple a German Windows 7 installation DVD, the only language available for the installation will be German. Windows 7 Ultimate allows you to switch languages after the installation). You select your current time and currency format and your keyboard layout (all of these option should have the right values automatically by default, if not, just modify them to the right values).
-PICTURE-
Do you really need an explanation for this step ? Just click on "Install now" already !
[You might have noticed the "Repair your computer" at the bottom left corner. It's normal, a Windows 7 installation .iso / DVD can be used to attempt to repair a defective Windows system. I'll cover this in another tutorial]
-PICTURE-
Again, another easy and common step in every installations. Check the "I accept the licence terms" checkbox and click on "Next".
-PICTURE-
Ah ha ! This step is a little bit more interesting. Here, you have the choice to perform an upgrade from your current Windows system (Windows XP) that will keep all your files, settings, programs, etc. or the "Custom" option to install a new copy of Windows, a fresh start. Don't be too afraid by the "(advanced)", it's really simple. A 12 years-old kid could install Windows by himself. In our case, we'll click on "Custom (advanced)".
-PICTURE-
Now, this is the most interesting part of the tutorial, this is where people have the more questions. But you'll see that after I explain what to do here, you'll be able to do it with your eyes closed.
Okay so let's see what we have here. I only have one option on where to install Windows, on my "Disk 0 Unallocated Space". Disk 0 means that it's the first hard disk drive plugged in your computer on the SATA0 part. Unallocated means that it has not been formatted yet and therefore, have no file system attributed to it. In my case, I would just click "Next" and go on with the installation. This means, that Windows will install it self on my 50GBs hard disk drive (HDD), but it will also format it to a NTFS file system at the same time.
For the people that want to REINSTALL Windows completely or install it to their SSD or HDD. What you will do is that you will select the partition where you current Windows system is installed. USUALLY, it should be on "Disk 0 Partition 2". Why "Partition 2" ? Because usually your "Partition 1" contains a system partition for your HDD or SSD, so I suggest you to not touch it and leave it. After you have selected the partition on which you want to install Windows, you'll have an option called "Drive options (advanced)". Click on it, then you'll get the same menu that you see in the picture below. For now, I'll not explain all the options. The only one that interest you is "Format". If you click that option, it will format (erase everything) on the current partition you have selected. If you are reinstalling Windows and that you're done with your old Windows system, click that option to delete Windows from that partition. Let the format operation run and once it's done, you can go on by clicking "Next".
-PICTURE-
There, we just started Windows installation. Your computer will reboot a few times during that process. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING and leave it till it hit the next step in the picture below (Computer's name).
-PICTURE-
Here you'll enter your username (this will be your Windows username and the name of your user profile) you want to have. The computer name will automatically adjust itself to the chosen name and add "-PC" at the end, like in the screenshot. However, you're free to change the computer name to whatever you like.
-PICTURE-
In the next step, you'll have to enter a password for your user account on Windows. I suggest you to get a decent password with at least one capital letter, two numbers and at least 8 to 10 characters long. We never know who could want to get on your computer. You can also add a little "hint" that will be displayed when you miss your password when trying to log in to help you remember it. Try to not make it too obvious, obviously (see what I did here ?).
-PICTURE-
The next step is where you're going to enter your Windows product key to activate it. Enter your product key, and uncheck the "Automatically active Windows when I'm online" checkbox. Why ? Because if you check this box, you're given a certain time to activate your Windows online. If that time pass, you'll have to call Microsoft directly to activate it. So enter your product key (the product key for the version of Windows you are using can be the same for the 32-bits version or 64-bits version) then hit "Next". In my case, because I'm installing Windows in a VM (Virtual Machine), I'll just hit "Skip". Then means that my Windows will not be activated and I'll lack certain basics Windows features.
-PICTURE-
The next step asks you to pick the type of settings you want to apply to your Windows Updates.
The first option will automatically install every updates that are being found without asking you (both important and recommended).
The second option will automatically install the imporant updated only (security patches and fixes for exemple).
The third option will not set anything and you'll have to decide later on (after the installation) what settings you want for your Windows Updates.
Personally, I recommend selecting the second option (important updates only) as most of the recommended updates are not needed and will only bloat your Windows. You can however at anytime, browse through the available recommended updates for your Windows and pick which ones you want to install.
-PICTURE-
Another easy step, select your current timezome and hit "Next".
-PICTURE-
This is the final step of your Windows installation. It will ask you to select the type of the network you're connected to. There's three different types, each one will set different settings for your Windows network settings. I'm pretty that most of you will install Windows at home (of course) on your own network. So you should select the first option "Home network" then let it connect to that network and set the settings.
-PICTURE-
Et voilà, you're done !
You've successfully installed (or reinstalled) Windows 7 on your computer or laptop from a DVD or a bootable USB flash drive !
From there, I assume you know what to do. The first thing to do will be to go see if there's any Windows Updates available, if there is, install all the important ones, reboot your computer, and you'll be really done.
The End
I hope this tutorial helped you guys, and like the usual, if you have any questions, you want me to work or elaborate more on a certain point I covered or didn't cover in this thread, feel free to comment below or send me a PM.
Thank you !
So I noticed that lately, a lot of threads on different forums always asks for the same thing :
"How do I install Windows 7 ?"
"How would I go about installing Windows on my computer ?"
"Can I install Windows from a USB key ?"
"How do I reinstall Windows 7 ?"
Anyway, you get what I'm talking about. So I decided to prepare you a really simple tutorial that will cover the steps to follow when you want to install Windows 7 or reinstall Windows 7 (assuming that you're not using the Factory Restore feature of your computer). Ready ? Let's go !
Requirements
- Windows 7 installation .iso (the version you want, it can be Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate or Entreprise)
- The product key for the Windows 7 version you're going to install
- Either a :
- DVD : If you want to burn the .iso on a DVD (needs to have at least 4GBs of space)
- USB flash drive : If you want to create a bootable USB flash drive with the .iso (needs to be have at least 4GBs of space)
Prepare a bootable device with the Windows 7 installation .iso
So this part is for the people that wants to reinstall Windows or install Windows, but they don't have any Windows 7 installation DVDs. What we're going to do is that we'll create a Windows 7 installation DVD or a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows 7 installation from a Windows 7 .iso. There's multiple tools that will allow you to do the same thing such as UNetbootin, ImgBurn (burn to DVD only). In this tutorial, we'll use both Microsoft's official tool to either : burn that .iso on a DVD or make an USB flash drive bootable with it or YUMI Multiboot USB Creator. You can download Windows 7 to USB/DVD Download Tool here, and YUMI Multiboot USB Creator from here.
*WARNING : These tools CAN NOT be used with an external hard drive or your hard drive.*
Prepare a bootable device with Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool
The Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool also contains the steps to follow in order to create a DVD with the Windows 7 installation .iso or a bootable USB flash drive with it, if my instructions are not clear enough. After you've download the Windows 7 to USB/DVD Download installation program, execute it and install the program (the installation process should look like "Next", "Install", "Finish", easy no ?). Once the installation is done, execute the program (the icon should be on your desktop, also, using this tool required an account with Admin. Rights).
The first step will ask you to select which .iso you want to work it. Click on "Browse", go to the location where your Windows 7 installation .iso is located, then select it, click on "Open" and hit "Next". Now it will ask you what media you want to work with. Select whatever device you want to work with : if it's a DVD, click on the "DVD" button (NOTE : You'll have to use a standard 4.7GBs DVD to burn the Windows 7 installation .iso on it) or if it's an USB device, click on "USB Device".
- If you pick the DVD, on the next step, just click on "Begin Burning" and wait till the operation is complete.
- If you selected an USB device, select your USB device in the drop down list (look for your USB device attributed letter), select it, then click on "Begin copying" and wait till the operation is complete.
-PICTURE-
Ta-da ! You know have a bootable Windows 7 installation media ! Now, let's launch the installation !
Prepare a bootable device with YUMI Multiboot USB Creator
The good thing with YUMI is that it allows us to create a USB pendrive with multiple boot on it, hence you could end up with a 8GBs Flash Drive with a Windows 7 installation setup, Ubuntu setup and Debian setup on it if you wanted too. After downloading YUMI, simply execute it and Accept the EULA. Now if your USB pendrive drive letter doesn't appear in the drop down list, check the Show All Drives? option. Select your USB pendrive (in my case, G:\ UDISK 2.0 and check the Format X: Drive (Erase Content)? option, where X: is the drive letter of your USB pendrive (Note : Once you check this option, it will be replaced by "We Will Fat32 Format X: Drive!"). This option will format your USB pendrive in FAT32 and prepare it for the .iso. In the next drop down list, you have to select the distribution that we'll put on our pendrive. In our case, the Windows 7 option is at the bottom of the list, Windows Vista/7/8 Installer. And the last step asks us to pick your Windows 7 .iso and to select it. Once all this is done, click on "Create" and then click on "Yes" to start the operation. Once it's complete, we'll be ready to boot from it and start the Windows 7 installation !
-PICTURE- (please click on the links as I reached the image list in this post, sorry about that)
Launch the Windows 7 Installation
In order to launch the Windows 7 installation process, you'll have to boot from the media on which you burned the Windows 7 installation .iso. Now this step will vary for everyone as every brands and models have their own way to do the following. Reboot your computer and hit the F key that will allow you to access your "Boot Menu" or "Boot Order". To find the right F key, you'll have to take a look at your computer screen when it displays your computer's brand logo. Around it, you should see some lines like "F2 = Boot Menu" or "F10 = BIOS", etc (the F key is most commonly F2, F8, F10, and F12). Look for these lines and look for the one that contains something along the lines of "Boot Menu" or "Boot order". Once you get in that menu, select to boot from the media that contains the Windows 7 installation, in this case, either your DVD or your USB flash drive. If you created your Windows 7 installation media properly, a black screen should appear with the lince "Windows is loading files" and a progress bar at the bottom.
And there you go ! You now started the Windows installation process. From there, let's see what we have to do !
Windows 7 Installation
The first step is easy. Simple select the language for Windows (you can only choose the language that comes with the .iso or DVD you have, if it's exemple a German Windows 7 installation DVD, the only language available for the installation will be German. Windows 7 Ultimate allows you to switch languages after the installation). You select your current time and currency format and your keyboard layout (all of these option should have the right values automatically by default, if not, just modify them to the right values).
-PICTURE-
Do you really need an explanation for this step ? Just click on "Install now" already !
[You might have noticed the "Repair your computer" at the bottom left corner. It's normal, a Windows 7 installation .iso / DVD can be used to attempt to repair a defective Windows system. I'll cover this in another tutorial]
-PICTURE-
Again, another easy and common step in every installations. Check the "I accept the licence terms" checkbox and click on "Next".
-PICTURE-
Ah ha ! This step is a little bit more interesting. Here, you have the choice to perform an upgrade from your current Windows system (Windows XP) that will keep all your files, settings, programs, etc. or the "Custom" option to install a new copy of Windows, a fresh start. Don't be too afraid by the "(advanced)", it's really simple. A 12 years-old kid could install Windows by himself. In our case, we'll click on "Custom (advanced)".
-PICTURE-
Now, this is the most interesting part of the tutorial, this is where people have the more questions. But you'll see that after I explain what to do here, you'll be able to do it with your eyes closed.
Okay so let's see what we have here. I only have one option on where to install Windows, on my "Disk 0 Unallocated Space". Disk 0 means that it's the first hard disk drive plugged in your computer on the SATA0 part. Unallocated means that it has not been formatted yet and therefore, have no file system attributed to it. In my case, I would just click "Next" and go on with the installation. This means, that Windows will install it self on my 50GBs hard disk drive (HDD), but it will also format it to a NTFS file system at the same time.
For the people that want to REINSTALL Windows completely or install it to their SSD or HDD. What you will do is that you will select the partition where you current Windows system is installed. USUALLY, it should be on "Disk 0 Partition 2". Why "Partition 2" ? Because usually your "Partition 1" contains a system partition for your HDD or SSD, so I suggest you to not touch it and leave it. After you have selected the partition on which you want to install Windows, you'll have an option called "Drive options (advanced)". Click on it, then you'll get the same menu that you see in the picture below. For now, I'll not explain all the options. The only one that interest you is "Format". If you click that option, it will format (erase everything) on the current partition you have selected. If you are reinstalling Windows and that you're done with your old Windows system, click that option to delete Windows from that partition. Let the format operation run and once it's done, you can go on by clicking "Next".
-PICTURE-
There, we just started Windows installation. Your computer will reboot a few times during that process. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING and leave it till it hit the next step in the picture below (Computer's name).
-PICTURE-
Here you'll enter your username (this will be your Windows username and the name of your user profile) you want to have. The computer name will automatically adjust itself to the chosen name and add "-PC" at the end, like in the screenshot. However, you're free to change the computer name to whatever you like.
-PICTURE-
In the next step, you'll have to enter a password for your user account on Windows. I suggest you to get a decent password with at least one capital letter, two numbers and at least 8 to 10 characters long. We never know who could want to get on your computer. You can also add a little "hint" that will be displayed when you miss your password when trying to log in to help you remember it. Try to not make it too obvious, obviously (see what I did here ?).
-PICTURE-
The next step is where you're going to enter your Windows product key to activate it. Enter your product key, and uncheck the "Automatically active Windows when I'm online" checkbox. Why ? Because if you check this box, you're given a certain time to activate your Windows online. If that time pass, you'll have to call Microsoft directly to activate it. So enter your product key (the product key for the version of Windows you are using can be the same for the 32-bits version or 64-bits version) then hit "Next". In my case, because I'm installing Windows in a VM (Virtual Machine), I'll just hit "Skip". Then means that my Windows will not be activated and I'll lack certain basics Windows features.
-PICTURE-
The next step asks you to pick the type of settings you want to apply to your Windows Updates.
The first option will automatically install every updates that are being found without asking you (both important and recommended).
The second option will automatically install the imporant updated only (security patches and fixes for exemple).
The third option will not set anything and you'll have to decide later on (after the installation) what settings you want for your Windows Updates.
Personally, I recommend selecting the second option (important updates only) as most of the recommended updates are not needed and will only bloat your Windows. You can however at anytime, browse through the available recommended updates for your Windows and pick which ones you want to install.
-PICTURE-
Another easy step, select your current timezome and hit "Next".
-PICTURE-
This is the final step of your Windows installation. It will ask you to select the type of the network you're connected to. There's three different types, each one will set different settings for your Windows network settings. I'm pretty that most of you will install Windows at home (of course) on your own network. So you should select the first option "Home network" then let it connect to that network and set the settings.
-PICTURE-
Et voilà, you're done !
You've successfully installed (or reinstalled) Windows 7 on your computer or laptop from a DVD or a bootable USB flash drive !
From there, I assume you know what to do. The first thing to do will be to go see if there's any Windows Updates available, if there is, install all the important ones, reboot your computer, and you'll be really done.
The End
I hope this tutorial helped you guys, and like the usual, if you have any questions, you want me to work or elaborate more on a certain point I covered or didn't cover in this thread, feel free to comment below or send me a PM.
Thank you !
