Windows 7 Installing Windows 7 from an external CD drive?

jackofcourse

New Member
Hello. I'm after a bit of assistance and thought this place may be the best place to come.

I have purchased an Acer aspire 3935 and will receive a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it is released.

The problem being that my laptop doesn't have a CD drive. I was wondering whether it is possible to install an OS from an external CD drive?

Thanks for any and all help!
 
Yes you can as long as the bios permits booting from USB, then there shouldn't be any issues.

If it permits booting from USB you could also install from a USB stick - example here.

Maybe someone else can chip in?
 
Thanks for your reply. Will I know I can pick up a copy of Windows 7 from PC World when it is released so working from the CD will probably be the easiest way for me.

How can I find out if the bios permits booting from USB?
 
Thanks for your reply. Will I know I can pick up a copy of Windows 7 from PC World when it is released so working from the CD will probably be the easiest way for me.

How can I find out if the bios permits booting from USB?

When you boot up the laptop there should be a notification as to which key to press to enter 'Setup', usually 'Del' or 'F1' or similar. In the bios menu there will always be a 'Boot' submenu that lists boot order or devices. Normally with a laptop this lists the HDD and the CD drive. There you should be able to also select a USB device to boot from if it is attached and then move the device to the top of the boot order.

Here is a tutorial for making a quick bootable Linux stick which will test if the laptop is capable.
 
Back
Top