Windows 7 Installation
Currently, minimum recommended specs.
1. 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit
processor
2. 1 GB of system memory
3. 16 GB of available disk
space
4. Support for DirectX 9
graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)
5. DVD-R/W Drive
The GUI-based portion of the
Setup program Like in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and unlike
previous versions of Windows, Windows 7 does not have a noticeable text phase
of the setup process, and it will boot directly into the Graphical User
Interface (GUI) mode.
After a few moments you will see the first prompt:
Press Next unless you want to change some regional settings for
the installation process.
Press the Install now< .strong> button.
Next, unless you're
upgrading an existing Windows installation, press the Custom (Advanced)
installation type button.
Note that in this case, the
Upgrade button is disabled because this specific installation if performed on a
new computer without any previous operating system on it.
Starting a Windows 7 installation, after passing the first
initial screens, you will get to the screen where you are asked which type of
installation you want to perform.
At that point you will need to
click on "Custom (advanced)", as this is a fresh installation of
Windows 7.
The next screen will ask you
where you want to install the system, meaning on what partition.
At
that point, you need to decide on one of the two options:
Install Windows on the entire
available disk space
Create a partition on the hard disk, and install Windows on
that partitionIf you pick option #1, then you simply click "Next" and
get done with it. The setup program will create a partition on the entire hard
disk and format it with the NTFS file system. It will then install Windows on
that partition.
However, if you pick option #2
you can then create the partition exactly as you want it.
Click on "Drive options
(advanced)". The screen will change and show you several new buttons:
New - to create a new partition.
Delete - to delete a specific partition - all data on that
partition will be deleted!
Format - to format a specific partition - all data on that
partition will be deleted!
Extend - to extend a partition beyond the barrier of
the physical disk, and to span the partition on more than one physical disk.
This is useful when you run out of space on that physical hard disk, and have
brought in a new physical hard disk that you wish to use. However, unlike using
that new disk as a totally new partition by itself, this disk (or part of it)
becomes a part of a partition located on the first disk. While useful in some
cases, this scenario might cause fault tolerance issues, because this
extended partition is NOT fault tolerant, and if something happens to one
physical disk, all the data on that extended partition becomes unavailable, and
data loss can occur.
To create a new partition click "New". In the
"Size" box, enter the size for the new partition. When done, click
"Apply".
The setup program will let you
know that it will create an additional partition on that drive. That partition
will be, by default, hidden, and contain the necessary files to boot the
computer. This partition will consume 100 MB of disk space.
Note: Actually, even if you do not manually create
the partition by using this procedure Windows will still create this partition.
However, since you did manually create the partition, Windows will tell you
that another partition will also be created.
You can now see the partition
you've created, and the hidden boot partition. In most cases, the partition on
which Windows will be installed is partition number 2.
Press "Format" to format the new partition.
You'll be warned that all data
will be deleted. That should pose no issue because the partition was just
created, and it is blank.
Installation will now commence
as usual.
Fact is that there's another way to manipulate partitions
during the Windows installation. This is done by using the DISKPART command.
This command is very useful for creating, extending, expanding, shrinking and
performing other tasks on partitions and disks. To get to it you need to press
SHIFT + F10 while the setup program is running.
