Booting Windows 7 from a VHD on a flash drive?

j3tech

I have a Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) file on which I have installed windows 7 through the use of a virutal machine.
I have that VHD file on my 16GB Flash Drive.
I want to configure the BCD file to boot the computer directly to that VHD.
I know that VHD files can easily be set to be a boot device with the VHD on C:\ drive.
But how do I do this on a flash drive?

[My goal is to create a portable windows 7 that i can plug into any computer and boot up windows 7]
Yes, I know i'm crazy...don't hate. It can be done. I've used it before.
Where I am right now: I have been able to get to the point of having the Starting Windows boot screen from the VHD but right after the orbs come together to form the windows logo...it just reboots (no bluescreen)
Okay. I was just able to get EasyBCD to do its thing correctly...It aims directly at the VHD file, Shows me the menu of boot items. [There is one that I made (Windows 7 Portable)] Then it does the Starting Windows Screen, and THEN it just crashes...I am suspecting a driver issue, remember: I want to be able to put this on any computer...

Answer
Probably can be done. Flash drives have to be made bootable. You can set your BIOS to boot them before other media (CD, Hard Drive, etc.) but that doesn't mean they will just boot. Google around - there are plenty of freeware tools that will partition and install the proper files needed to boot a USB device. Just Google "make flash drive bootable". Your question suggests you know how to create bootable VHDs - so just put all the necessary files on the drive once it has a truly bootable partition.

Need help with my portable hard drive!?

Reckinshop

I have a Wester Digital 1TB portable hard drive. I have always used it with my Mac with no problem, I can plug it in and go through all my files in finder. My problem is when I plug it into a windows PC tried with (Windows 7 and XP) it doesn't show up. I know the ports are fine in the PC because my flash drives, mouse, keyboard, act. work through them. Is there a way to make my hard drive work over PC?

I never partitioned it either so it is the same as it came out of the box except iv added movies, music, papers, act. to it.

Answer
Since you used this in your mac it partitioned it to a file system that only the mac can see HFS. You can try reformatting the hard drive using NTFS so that both systems can see the contents of the drive.

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Will doing a custom install of Windows 7 affect my partitions?

NicholaiC

I want to do a custom install of Windows 7 Ultimate instead of upgrade, i have my disk partitioned twice where i have very important files. I do not have the resources to store them on a portable drive so i want to know if doing this custom install will delete the information in my partitions.

Answer
During the install process you will be presented with a list of partitions that currently exist on your hard drive, and will be asked to select where to install Windows to.
As long as you pay attention, identify your partitions (according to their different sizes) in this list, you will have no trouble selecting the right partition to install to. The other partitions will not be touched.
So make sure all your data is stored on one partition, know its size, know the main partition size. This is where you will be installing Windows. It is best not to have valuable data on this partition, so move it to the other partition.
During the install make sure you choose the right one, and you should be just fine.

Will windows 7 screw up system recovery?

Rob F

I currently have windows xp on my laptop and I was thinking about giving windows 7 a go just to try a change. Now with my windows xp sp 2. When i turn on my laptop i can hit F11 and it returns my laptop to the day i bought it. (very useful!!) It is a gateway laptop. Now my question is if i install windows 7 will it take this feature away from me?

Thanks a lot.

Also does anything know if i can use my external drive to install linux and run it off the external drive?

Answer
There are two partitions on your hard drive. The small one (usually around 5GB or so) is the recovery partition. As long as you don't delete or format that partition when installing WIndows 7, you'll be fine. You can install any operating system on any storage device (portable hard drive, sd card, usb stick) just as long as your motherboard supports booting from an external device. If it does, install away!

It's not a "hidden" partition. You can easily delete it if you don't know what you are doing! When you install any OS it shows all partitions on the hard drive. Make sure you choose the only obvious one that has your current OS and all of your data (I'm assuming you already backed everything up?)

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how do I make my portable hard drive bootable?

portable hard drive partition windows 7 image

gabe

if there is a way to just copy the windows 7 partition on my computer to it, that would be preferable. I don't have the install disk, because my laptop never came with one.

Answer
First off, you CANNOT run a Windows operating system on a USB external hard drive. You can clone a mirror copy of it or create a backup on the drive. Secondly, you would need to set up boot from a USB device in your bios IF the motherboard supports it.

Can i use a windows 7 home premium installation disc on an eternal drive on my mac?

Drew

I would like to run windows 7 home premium on my mac using bootcamp, however i only have 40 gb of space left and therefore i do not want to partition my drive. what i would like to do is buy a copy of windows 7 home premium and install it on an external drive, that i would simply plug in and restart to run windows. is this possible, and if so how do i do it?

Answer
You can use a Virtual Machine. Try VMware
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
It does require you to sign up, don't worry it is free.
It will allow you to install Mac, Windows and Linux/Unix onto a portable hard drive.

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How can I connect my two laptops, what cable do I need to buy? What else will I be needing?

portable hard drive partition windows 7 image

Fordis

How can I connect my two laptops, what cable do I need to buy? What else will I be needing?

1. Lenovo R60, bought year 2005, currently running Windows 7
2. Asus F5R, bought year 2006, currently running Vista Basic

If connected, can I manipulate the other's hard-drive, like formatting it, partitioning it, installing OS there, etc, etc..?

Also, can I share the internet connection running there on the other laptop while the two are interconnected (USB Broadband, wifi)?

Answer
Not exactly sure how you currently have them connected. If you want to connect them so that you can use the other computer remotely... like run a program... burn a disk... move the mouse around... then I can help ya out..

You can install a free program called Team Viewer. There are Two versions... The MAIN which requires a full install... and The CLIENT... which is just a portable .exe (no install).

To Use Program:
On the computer you wish to control remotely... the run the client and it will display a USER IS and Password... just enter those numbers on the MAIN computer after running Team Viewer and a Remote Link is created allowing you to control the other computer. Very simple and easy.

You can install the MAIN full install program onto both programs if you want...

I've used this program to connect to computers in other countries (I"m a PC Tech)..

http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx?pid=google.tv.s.us&gclid=CP79v_r22rgCFQHZQgod0CYAqg

_________________________________________________________

If you just want to connect two side by side computers without using Internet... then you will need to get a CROSSOVER Ethernet cable... just plug it in and each computer will appear as a storage drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=crossover+ethernet+cable&N=-1&isNodeId=1

Can a portable hard drive be formatted as a bootable USB?

rubixmaste

I know that Flash USB's are capable of being formatted into USB's that the computer can boot from the BIOS, but can the same be done with a Portable hard drive such as one from Western Digital (the passport types) ? And if so, will it completely work?

Thanks in advance!

Answer
yes, it will work perfectly. but there are procedures to be done. follow the steps

** creating a windows vista/7 bootable USB drive

* this can only be done using machines with vista or 7

* run command prompt as administrator

c:\diskpart

DISKPART> list disk

DISKPART> select disk 1 (assuming usb drive is disk 1)

DISKPART> clean

DISKPART> create partition primary

DISKPART> select partition 1

DISKPART> active

DISKPART> format fs=NTFS (this will format the usb drive)

DISKPART> assign

DISKPART> exit (this will exit diskpart command)

* insert windows vista/7 into ODD

c:\cd d:\boot

c:\boot\bootsect /nt60 g: (assuming usb drive is named g:)

* use windows explorer to copy all windows vista/7 files and folders from CD

* restart PC to be configured and locate BIOS setup & change the boot sequence to USB drive as priority

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