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I have 2 partitions on my hdd

  1. With WORKING windows XP.
  2. Empty, simple data storage.

Morver I have Win7 iso image.

Is there any option to install windows 7 from internal hdd, just by copying files and launching setup.exe? If so please specify where to copy? How to launch?

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3 Answers

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Yes, as long as you have a working Windows installation with the same architecture (i.e. 32 or 64 bit) as the one you're trying to install, just extract your iso to any folder or use a virtual drive to mount it and run the setup.exe.

When you're asked whether to upgrade or do a custom install, choose the latter which allows you to do a fresh install on any partition. Windows installers since Vista copies all necessary files to the destination before it reboots the system, so it doesn't really matter how you access the original setup files.

I installed my Windows 7 this way so I know it works. music2myear's method is useful if your Windows XP is not working though.

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May I have 2 windows on the same machine , but different partitions? Or this is not a good practice? – JakeTheFish Dec 14 '11 at 14:56
Why not? Many people do it this way when a new version of Windows first came out. Microsoft has always support this kind of practice when it became technically possible. – billc.cn Dec 14 '11 at 15:31
@JakeTheFish: "two windows on same machine" is called "dual booting". Searching on this phrase will yield lots of information and many how-to guides. – horatio Dec 14 '11 at 17:03
Yeah. I'v unziped ISO image and installed WIN7 from setup.exe. Right now there are 2 windows systems. – JakeTheFish Dec 15 '11 at 6:14
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up vote 3 down vote

you can mount the ISO with many free tools that are available. there was a similar post over on serverfault check it out here

This describes mounting an iso image (which essentially creates a "virtual drive" as if you had the CD in a drive. Then you can simply do your install (setup.exe) from there.

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up vote 1 down vote

You'll probably want to try one of the Installing Windows 7 From USB Thumb Drive tutorials that are all over the internet. I'd recommend the MaximumPC one myself.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_install_windows_7_usb_key

But there are plenty out there: https://www.google.com/search?q=install+windows+7+from+usb+drive

Ok, once again Google has the solution:

It's complicated, but apparently possible. A lot of manual editing of boot configuration.

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Thank you for your answer. But this is what I am looking for. I meant I have 2 partitions on single HDD. I need to install WIN7 really fast, and I don't have time to run to shop and buy USB > 4gb. Therefore I need to install it from HDD partition. – JakeTheFish Dec 14 '11 at 14:11
You are going to need to either get a flash drive or burn a dvd, the dvd option, is likely faster. – Ramhound Dec 14 '11 at 14:34
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