Windows 7 Install W7 from external DVD drive

[trevorwhatever]

I only have an external firewire dvd drive and wondered if there's a way i can install Windows 7 from it. I don't want to overwrite my current XP installation and lose my programs and settings, so would like to install it onto a sepatate hard drive.
Does anyone know if this is possible please?

 

[Chuts]

If the win7 dvd will boot from the firewire drive then you should be able to install it. Try it and see.

 

[trevorwhatever]

The drive isn't recognised when i try to boot. Was hoping there was a way i could change a setting somewhere to enable it to be recognised before anything else, if you know what i mean?

 

[ComputerGeek]

You can but it is not recommend installing an OS to an external hard drive as they are generally used for storage and backup.

If you install it to an external drive, you will need to make sure it is always plugged in and powered on or you may encounter issues when you turn or or restart your computer.

If your hard drive is big enough, i would just make a second partition and install Win7 on it so you can dual boot to which ever OS you choose.

 

[trevorwhatever]

I actually want to install FROM my external DVD drive onto an internal hard drive. The problem is that the DVD isn't recognised at the boot stage. Can i change the boot settings so that it is?

 

[morrig]

On boot press f12,usually the one,this gets you to set-up,then select boot order,mine is set to boot from cd drive then hard drive C,also make sure in your computer sees said drive.
Bye the way you do mean a external hard drive,not Dvd drive
As to read from external usb or Dvd-cd,they will write to memory,as in some linux etc pared down Os's,where's a full Os needs to write to hard drive.I fink?

 

[trevorwhatever]

I understand how to change the boot order. The drive isn't listed as an option. All i want to know is if there is a setting where i can enable the drive to be recognised from the boot menu?

 

[ComputerGeek]

If you have the image on an external and want to use that instead of a DVD, you should be able to start the install within windows, and just select clean install (advanced). NOTE: you will have to extract all the files from the image and run setup.exe

If you do it this way, you won't be able to do anything with the C: as far as reformatting etc. because thats where it writes the temp files, so you will have to have another partition created.

After selecting clean install, just select the partition where you want it to install and go from there.

 

[lostinmind1]

ok to instal from a EXTERNAL DVD DRIVE! when booting up you need to go into BOOT MENU not BIOS sometimes it will be f10 or f12 once in go to dvd drive you should see your external dvd drive press enter then press any key to boot from dvd drive. I hope this helps you boot w7 from an EXTERNAL DVD DRIVE and not EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE.