Windows 7 starter

bushmins

bushmins

bushmins

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Ive bought a netbook with windows 7 starter. Im going to do a fresh install of windows 7 starter but dont have any disks to do this with. I have heard that you can legitimately make a usb bootable windows 7 starter iso with an original windows 7 home disk. Is this true? I have seen a few tutorials but its slightly beyond me.

If this is legit can someone point me in the right direction on how to do this or where to find out the easy way to do it.

I have windows 7 home disk (for my other computer)
I have an 8 gig usb stick
I have the original windows 7 starter code on the bottom of the netbook.


Or maybe ill just install win xp? Since i have all the legit stuff for that.
 
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no it wouldnt work, unless you have the win 7 starter disc, whats the make/model of the netbook as they usually have a built in recovery to format itself
 
Hmm, that doesnt really relate to what i have read. Im fairly sure you can create a bootable USB with the win 7 disk then delete a file to get it to ask you what you want to install.
The windows 7 disk contains all versions of win 7, including starter.

What really pees me off is that the HDD is 320gb, but with the hidden partition i get under 220gb. Id rather get rid and start again.
 
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Yes you can do this with no problem, you may find that you will need to ring microsoft to get it to activate.

Microsoft also have a tool to make the USB stick Link

and the ei.cfg removal tool
 
It's easy. Rip your Windows 7 disk to a folder (on your desktop say) and delete the ei.cfg file. Use something like Imgburn to create an ISO from the folder and then use the Microsoft USB download tool to create a bootable USB drive and install on your netbook. Removing the ei.cfg file unlocks a version selection screen, choose Win 7 Starter and use the key on the bottom of the netbook :)
 
The not easy bit.

How do i rip my Windows 7 disk to a folder - just grab the files on the disk and pull them over?

I guess imgburn will give me instruction on how to turn the folder into an ISO.

Likewise with the Microsoft USB download tool?
 
Literally copy paste the contents of the dvd. Imgburn has an option on the start screen for Create Disk Image from Files or some such

The MS USB tool is pretty self explanatory, point it at your ISO and then at your USB drive (which needs to be 4GB iirc and will be formatted, so back up!). Go make a cuppa and Bob's your mother's brother
 
Hopefully its just putting the bootable iso onto the usb stick as i write this.

I think im going to owe you an internet beer... or maybe a bit of trust.
 
Aww, you know, its easy peasy ;)

Everything is running great. Just updating all the drivers from the ones on the Asus site.

Now a wonderful clean netbook. Thanks for your help, you not only saved me time but probably money as well. For a moment i was thinking i would have to buy a new copy of win 7 and an external CD drive!
 
Nothing like a fresh install :) My Lenovo S10e (bog standard Atom N270, 2GB RAM) ran Windows 7 Pro like a champ, even Office tasks on a 24" 1080 screen (which isn't possible eh Microsoft/Intel :rolleyes: :p)
 
Had some fun doing this... really! Got Arcanum, Avernum and Avadon running. Had to do a bit of reg editing to get the screen rez back up to 1024 x 768 and 1152 x 864 (which is needed for Avernum 4) after the fresh win 7 starter install.
Its a very sweet netbook, definatally recommend getting the red one since it was £20 cheaper than the other colours. Running Avast and Zonealarm with no problems. Using small icons and the smaller task bar so i can see whole web pages. Battery lift time is excellent, couldnt tell you how long it last since it hasnt run down yet!

Its also nice Asus have an easy to use driver download facility. Easy to get win 7 to choose the best drivers, just point it in the right direction and it picks the best drivers to install.

Thanks to d_brennen again for the help.
 
Urgh Windows 7 Starter, what a pointless OS that is. First thing I did when I got my netbook was install Windows 7 Home Premium
 
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No simple way to change the wallpaper, only limited to 3 tasks at once, honestly.

I can a Windows 7 Netbook Edition being pretty good but only aesthetically, if they took a leaf out of Ubuntu or Kubuntu's netbook versions
 
bushmins said:
Had some fun doing this... really! Got Arcanum, Avernum and Avadon running. Had to do a bit of reg editing to get the screen rez back up to 1024 x 768 and 1152 x 864 (which is needed for Avernum 4) after the fresh win 7 starter install.
Its a very sweet netbook, definatally recommend getting the red one since it was £20 cheaper than the other colours. Running Avast and Zonealarm with no problems. Using small icons and the smaller task bar so i can see whole web pages. Battery lift time is excellent, couldnt tell you how long it last since it hasnt run down yet!

Its also nice Asus have an easy to use driver download facility. Easy to get win 7 to choose the best drivers, just point it in the right direction and it picks the best drivers to install.

Thanks to d_brennen again for the help.
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No probs, glad to help but bushmins, seriously, ditch Zone Alarm. It's rubbish redundant crapware of the highest order and it isn't like the Atom has spare CPU cycles to begin with ;) With Avast! free you get web shielding and file system behaviour monitoring and Windows 7 itself has a perfectly acceptable firewall as well as modern routers being far more secure than when ZA became popular
 
Jay794 said:
No simple way to change the wallpaper, only limited to 3 tasks at once, honestly.

I can a Windows 7 Netbook Edition being pretty good but only aesthetically, if they took a leaf out of Ubuntu or Kubuntu's netbook versions
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7 Starter does not have an application limit and the wallpaper thing is hackable
 
Oh really I read that you could only use 3 programs at once? also I know you can change the wallpaper, but it isn't as simpe as right click>personalise
 
d_brennen said:
No probs, glad to help but bushmins, seriously, ditch Zone Alarm. It's rubbish redundant crapware of the highest order and it isn't like the Atom has spare CPU cycles to begin with ;) With Avast! free you get web shielding and file system behaviour monitoring and Windows 7 itself has a perfectly acceptable firewall as well as modern routers being far more secure than when ZA became popular
Click to expand...

Another good call. I was checking out the task manager and saw that zonealarm was chomping away at my ram. Ill ditch it.
 
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