Installing Windows 7 On A Netbook With No Optical Drive

Over the weekend I successfully installed Windows 7 RC to my Dell Inspiron mini 10v.

Before getting into how this is done, here are the problems I encountered, plus a few answers to some quick questions.

Problems encountered

None.

Seriously, I’m not kidding. The installation went thru without a hitch. Everything installed smoothly, there were no hiccups with any hardware detection and there isn’t a single thing that’s not working. Everything is running as it should, with some stuff running better than it did with XP.

Wonky issues

Only one very minor issue. The "Starting Windows" screen does not display on startup of the OS. This is because it can’t display on a 1024×576 resolution. What this means is that while the OS is loading your screen blanks for about 5 to 20 seconds, then Windows 7 starts once the video driver is loaded.

Like I said, very minor. It doesn’t impede OS operation whatsoever in any way.

Things missing

There are only two things missing that I had in XP, and the only reason I’m missing them is because I haven’t downloaded the appropriate utilities from support.dell.com just yet:

1. Hotkey management to disable the wi-fi.
2. Horizontal/vertical scrolling with the trackpad.

Both of these items are software controlled. I haven’t gotten around to installing the proprietary software from support.dell.com at the moment.

Per point 1, what I’m referring to is the ability to press Fn+F2 to disable the wi-fi card.

Per point 2, this is where you touch/drag the right/bottom edges of the trackpad to scroll with, similar to a traditional mouse wheel. For the time being I’m using Page Up/Down for my vertical scrolling and have no need for horizontal scrolling.

Interesting side note: On entry of my Dell Service Tag (located on the bottom of the netbook) at support.dell.com, Windows 7 32-bit is a choice for operating system drivers and utilities – even though this unit never shipped with that OS. Interesting, eh? This means that not only is it confirmed that Win 7 is supported on the Dell mini, but the proprietary software will work as well. Very, very interesting to say the least.

System Performance

Shockingly good. You’d think with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom mobile processor and 1GB of RAM with a 5400rpm hard drive that Windows 7 would run as slow as molasses. Not true. In fact it runs about the same speed XP did. In some instances even faster.

In addition to that, I now have more battery options for power profiles to get even more life out of the 6-cell battery. Incredible. Simply incredible.

Oh, and yes, Aero interface does work. Again, incredible. Just a tiny bit choppy, and I mean really tiny.

One more note on installation: Absolutely no extra drivers were needed. The only things I’m missing are noted above. My netbook was literally up and running after the OS installation was complete. Everything is supported.

It is also reported that on other makes/models of netbooks, everything is supported on those too. So no matter if you run a Dell, Asus EeePC, MSI Wind, HP Mini Note or whatever you choose, Win 7 will work. I say this with absolute confidence.

Preparing to install Windows 7

Before diving into 7, you need to backup your existing system recovery disc.

If you buy a Dell mini (even if refurbished), you are supplied with a Windows XP Home Edition CD. The first thing to do is to "flash" that just to make sure that in case anything screws up, or if you just don’t like Windows 7, you can reinstall XP easily.

I covered this completely in this article. All it takes is one USB stick of at least 1GB, a computer with an accessible CD/DVD drive, a Windows XP recovery disc, and one freeware app called WinToFlash. Again I will note that everything, including all instructions and where to get WinToFlash, is covered in this article.

Once finished "flashing" XP to USB, attempt to boot from that stick to see if the recovery process starts. If it does, you’re good to go and can proceed to go on to the next step.

What to do if you don’t have an XP recovery CD

Your only option is to create an image of your hard drive and back that up to an external USB drive. For this you will need to boot from a USB stick and then backup to a larger USB drive. Using the Acronis True Image software product, this is possible and is supported on many release versions including 9, 10 and 11.

It is totally worth it to spend the $50 for Acronis True Image to backup your XP if you don’t have an OEM recovery disc, because otherwise you lose it.

I cannot stress this enough.

This is also a reason why if you’re shopping for a netbook, buy Dell because they do come with the XP recovery disc and a complete separate driver disc as well. I know this first hand because mine came bundled with 4 discs. XP Home, Drivers, Microsoft Works 9 and an additional Dell disc for other utilities. I’ve got it all with no fear of having anything lost that would make my netbook unrecoverable, OS-wise. Dell definitely does it right the first time in this respect.

What you need for installation of Windows 7

1. A DVD copy of 32-bit Windows 7 RC

Don’t have one? Get it on a torrent download. Don’t worry, it’s not illegal since Microsoft did wide-release this to the public. I have to instruct to get it from torrent because Microsoft does not allow it for download-direct any longer, and it’s the only place to download a file of that size as it’s rather large.

The edition must be 32-bit because no netbook at present has a 64-bit processor.

WARNING: Exercise caution when downloading torrents and make sure you are downloading from a trusted source. If you feel too uncomfortable doing this, then I can completely understand why you would refuse to do so. However this does not mean you can’t buy a copy of Windows 7 in late October 2009 and follow the steps laid out here as they will work with RC or the retail version once released.

Remember: You don’t have to buy a full edition because you have a qualifying upgrade product, that being your existing Windows XP. Purchasing the Upgrade edition will save you $80.

2. A Microsoft Windows 7 Product Key

This is the alphanumeric sequence needed to activate the operating system. If it’s already in use by someone else, don’t worry because you can still use it in the RC edition. I’ll speak more on this in a few moments.

3. One 4GB USB stick

Windows 7 is DVD-sized, so you’ll need a stick big enough to accommodate it. 4GB works. Anything less isn’t enough.

Installing Windows 7

Once you have "flashed" Windows 7 on to your 4GB USB stick, the next step is to boot from USB on your netbook.

On a Dell mini, you can choose to boot from it by quickly pressing F12 repeatedly when the computer starts. This will bring up a menu asking you what media you want to boot from. Bear in mind the USB stick must be plugged in before you start the computer so it is recognized when you go to the boot menu.

On other netbooks, you are either given a boot menu choice, or alternatively you can enter the BIOS to select USB as the "first" boot device, then restart with the stick inserted.

During the first part of the installation procedure you will be asked what partition you want to install Windows 7 on. It’s most likely true there will be two partitions. One that holds XP currently; the other being a several-gigabyte partition that apparently seems to be there for no reason.

It’s there for a reason.

Being that the netbook has no optical drive, this partition (which can be as large as 80GB in size) is where XP recovery files are stored. No, it is not a System Restore partition although it does act like one. It contains things like installation files and so on, so if XP ever had an irreparable OS failure, this is where it would reinstall XP from since there is no optical drive present in the system.

If you have an XP recovery disc or have imaged your drive completely, it is completely safe to delete both these partitions. Unless you are upgrading XP to 7 (which you would be with a purchased retail upgrade license but not with the RC), there is absolutely no reason to keep either partition. You are safe to delete them because you have a backup already and don’t need it.

The second thing you will notice is that when you allow Windows 7 to have the whole drive, it will also create two partitions very similar to the way XP had it. It is almost as if Windows 7 "knows" it’s on a netbook and is following suit the same way XP does. This is okay. I do recommend letting Windows 7 partition the hard drive in whatever way it sees fit for optimal operation.

It could be that 7, detecting there is no optical drive, purposely creates the secondary smaller partition for recovery purposes. But that’s just a guess. Either way, let 7 do what it wants in this respect.

The rest of the installation is basically sitting and waiting for it to complete. Make sure to have your Product Key ready when it wants it. There are no complications otherwise. Your video, sound, network, wi-fi, Bluetooth and everything else will detect easily – at least on a Dell it will.

Why does Microsoft allow product keys to be reused in the RC of Windows 7?

Because they’re all free to begin with. Any purchased license you buy afterward will have a different registered product key. This is why the freebie keys can be used and reused as many times as you want within the RC evaluation period.

What happens when the RC Product Key expires?

You will be able to enjoy Windows 7 free of charge until late February/early March 2009. After that the system will nag you consistently to buy a copy of Windows 7 and shut down your computer every few hours (yes that will happen) until you buy one. You have two options here:

1. Go back to XP (which I guarantee you won’t want to do, but can if you wish).
2. Buy a Windows 7 license online. The OS makes this easy to do.
3. Go back to XP, buy a retail upgrade license of 7, and upgrade via the USB stick method.

If you’re wondering whether to choose 2 or 3, here’s how to decide:

If Windows prompts you to purchase an upgrade license for $119, do it because that’s the cheapest price you’ll get.

If Windows prompts you to purchase a full license of 7, that’s $200 and would definitely hurt the wallet just to keep your OS running. If that’s the situation, put XP back on the netbook and buy a retail Upgrade license for $119. That’s $80 less. You’ll get all the same perks. Make sure to not buy anything more than Home Premium Edition because it’s absolutely not required on the netbook. Remember, as said before, your XP is a qualifying product for the upgrade, so it will work. The only thing you have to do is make sure XP is on the netbook and that’s easy enough with your imaged copy via Acronis or a USB XP reinstallation.

Thinking of cracking Win 7 RC in Feb/Mar ’09? Don’t.

I’m sure that when the Win 7 RC evaluation period expires the torrents will be chock full of ways to crack the RC version of 7 so you don’t have to purchase it. I strongly recommend against this. Why? Because eventually it will render your computer unusable, possibly immediately upon use. I don’t advocate cracking software, much less an operating system. It’s illegal, I will never tell anybody to do it, and worst of all it can end up in a busted computer with an OS that doesn’t work. And you definitely don’t want that.

Here’s the worst case scenario if you decide to crack Win 7 RC – and this is very possible:

The crack you download has a high risk of being programmed by a joker in which the crack will do internal hardware damage to your netbook. You, expecting a nice easy way to keep your Win 7 running, discover the crack did nothing but break the OS completely. Upset, you say to yourself, "Okay, I guess I’ll just put XP back on here." So you do. But it doesn’t work. The crack you had previously physically damaged the hard drive. Possibly overheated the RAM. Or any number of other things.

You will not know any of this when you download the crack – and that’s why you don’t do it.

Do not, repeat, do not crack Win 7 RC when the RC expires in February/March ’09. Buy a license. Spend the $119. Yes, I understand this it’s roughly one-third to one-half the cost of the whole netbook, but the money is saved in the increased battery life and free updates from Microsoft (which you won’t get with the crack).

I’m not trying to make Microsoft any money here, I swear. But I have witnessed those who thought they could save a buck by cracking Windows XP only to have a busted computer afterward. Sometimes it took months, other times days, other times minutes. But in all instances, it broke the computer. And I will never recommend that to any audience.

Stay legal if for the only reason to keep your netbook running right.

Final Notes

7 vs. XP

Since running Windows 7 on the netbook, I can say with absolute confirmation that this beats the ever-lovin’ crap out of XP in every way. WinXP is a capable OS and there’s nothing wrong with it. If you like it on your netbook, stick with what you have. But as for an OS that just allows you to get more things done and takes full advantage of your netbook’s capabilities, Win 7 is the only way to fly. I have no doubt of this whatsoever.

You might be able to get a recovery CD from the OEM

If your netbook did not come with an OEM XP recovery disc, you may be able to get one free of charge simply by calling the manufacturer who made it. If the $50 price tag of Acronis True Image doesn’t set right with you (and I couldn’t blame you for that), try calling. You might get lucky and get a OEM disc mailed out to you free of charge.

Yes, Win 7 does run as good as you’ve heard

This is not a "patched Vista" as many have speculated. I use Win 7 both as my primary OS on my big-box PC and now my netbook.

I do not miss XP whatsoever. Everything I need to do is done easily in 7.

Also, consider this: I’m running 7 on a 1.6GHz mobile CPU with 1GB of RAM and a decidedly slower 5400rpm 160GB hard drive with shared (gasp!) video memory on a Intel GMA 950. My 7 works on this and does so in a way that allows me to do everything I want on it. If you have computer specs that are at or above that, you can run Windows 7 easily. It is nothing short of shocking the minimal hardware requirements necessary to run this OS.