What format does a HDD that was an externaL one, need to be in, to work in Win7 HP?

Hi,

I have finally made a bootable USB to install Win7 HP onto a HDD thats in a laptop,

I got it to boot from the USB but when i try installing to the hdd the 'Next box is grayed out so couldn't continue,
When i click 'show details' it says 'Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The delected disk is of the GPT partition style"

I formatted the ehdd to NTFS as i read thats whats needed for win7?


So what partition does it need to be?

Do i have to take the HDD out of the laptop to partition properly?

thankss

 

I don't know your hardware/software specs, but I found this general answer for you from Microsoft.

 

Thanks but i finally got it, the fault was the other partition the small one (128mb) needed deleting not thee main 500gb one



but now as im using a bootable usb with win7 HP then before it gets to "completing installation" it then automatically restarts, so the problem is it restarts and then just boots in the usb, so runs the win7 installation from the beginning again

so now when it restarts i go back to BIOS and make it boot from the HDD, but when it goes back to win7 install it stays on 'completing installation " and dooesnt go any further

i underzstand this is because it cant find the win7 install data to finish but if it boots back to usb it will just start the hole installation again!

how do i get it to fully install? remember there is n0o dvd drive just the hdd and bootable usb

 

Believe your conflicto is in attempting to install from a USB to another... should you install the Hardisk into the laptop and will run installation as usual... good luck!

 

^^ is could be right considering we don't know exactly what steps you are taking. Wipe the laptop HDD clean and start over.

Your setup should look like this:

1. Use a free program like ImgBurn to extract the downloaded ISO to a partition or drive on which you are not going to Install Windows 7.
2. Make sure you have around 16GB of free space on the partition you wish to install Windows 7.
3. Go to the folder where the ISO is extracted.
4. Run Setup.exe and Follow the instructions.
5. The installation Runs Like Usual.
6. If you installed windows on a partition where another version of windows was already installed, Just Delete the Windows.Old folder by using Disk Cleanup.
7. You have a new build of Windows.

That should do it have fun :wink:

 

pretty sure you wouldn't need the usb once it has copied over the files needed to complete the installation

 

thanks guys,

Jona, am i right in thinking your suggesting i use the 500gb hdd (was external) and plug it to a different laptop then upload the win7 DVD files (extracted with imgbrn) to the usb, then put it back in the sata port of the asus laptop and run from there, i assume booting from the hdd?
- but will it automatically start installing win 7 from the hdd when i boot from the hard disk?

how do i do point 1: extract the iso to a drive im not installing win 7 too?
i have imgbrn but there is no option to do this, or that sounds suitable?
do i need two partitions on the hdd then? one for thi iso file, and the other for it to install win7 too?

how can i follow your stepswhen the asus laptop doesnt boot, as win7 didnt install fully, as explained above.
So icant go through your steps when i dont have a desktop to work with, it doesnt boot into win7 due to incomplete install

 

Could someone please help with this?
im selling the laptop soi need to get win7 installed on the hdd a.s.a.p

thank you

 

I am really at a loss as to what you want/need to do here, but here is my (quick) input:

Download the Microsoft USB Boot Tool (free):


See:
Microsoft Store


Plug an empty USB drive with at least 8GB capacity into the system - run the tool you just downloaded - point it to the ISO file for the Windows O/S you want to install - let it finish creating the bootable USB for you.


With the above successfully completed;

Go into the BIOS of the computer you want to clean install Windows to. Select 'Boot from internal HDD (or SSD)', save BIOS and shut down the system (let it reboot back into the BIOS to ensure your changes get saved...).

With the system off;
Plug in the USB drive (into a USB 2.0 port - don't use a 3.0 USB port - it will fail...).
Turn on the system and interrupt the boot process (F10, esc, F8 - depends on your specific system...) and select a One Time boot option to boot from the USB drive. You will not go fully into the BIOS for this one time option...

Install Windows - when it needs to reboot, it will automatically boot from the HDD/SSD when it does.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

 

it worked!!!
thank you so much tiller

 

Glad to be of help (I didn't really have time to read all the previous posts actually).

Sometimes guessing and answering is better than ignoring the post, huh?


Take care.