Step By Step Notes On How To Install Microsoft Windows 7

This step-by-step notes help you to how to install Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate. This notes are also similar for other versions of Windows 7 such as Home Premium.

           The best way to install Windows 7 is to do a clean install. It is not difficult to perform a clean installation. Here is the complete guide on how to install Windows 7. So,are you ready to install Windows 7? Read the guidance on how to approach this installation and make sure that you have copy of Windows 7 is properly copied.Lets get start it.

                                          For any OS installation, we must 1st plan on the installation process. As when you run the Windows 7 Setup program, you must know the information about how to install and configure the OS. Thorough planning can make the installation of Windows 7 more efficient which will helping you to avoid potential problems during installation. A good knowledge of the configuration options will also help to ensure to properly configured your system.  
Planning on Installation

For any OS installation, we must 1st plan on the installation process. As when you run the Windows 7 Setup program, you must know the information about how to install and configure the OS. Thorough planning can make the installation of Windows 7 more efficient which will helping you to avoid potential problems during installation. A good knowledge of the configuration options will also help to ensure to properly configured your system.

                                  Here are some notes you should take into consideration when you going for Windows 7 installation:

• 1st check System Requirements
• Check your Hardware and Software Compatibility
• Determine your Disk Partitioning Options
• Then complete a Pre-Installation Checklist

Minimum recommended options for Windows 7:

• 1 GHz 32 or 64-bit processor
• 1 GBRAM
• 16 GB of free disk space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with at least 128 MB graphics memory (for enabling the Aero theme)
• DVD-R/W Drive/Pen drive and USB port
• Need internet access (for activating and get updates)

32-bit or 64-bit Version?

You need to decide whether to install the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 7. The Windows 7 installation disc package includes both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Basically, the 64-bit version of Windows handles large amounts of random access memory (RAM) more effectively than a 32-bit system. So if you plan on using Windows 7 on a computer with more than 3 GB or RAM, I would strongly suggest to use the 64-bit version. Most programs designed for the 32-bit version of Windows will work on the 64-bit version of Windows, and if they don't, you can always use Windows XP Mode.

Note: Either way, you cannot use an existing 32-bit version of a previous OS to perform an in-place upgrade to a 64-bit version of Windows 7, and you'll need to format and install a fresh copy. Also, you cannot use an existing 64-bit version of a previous OS to perform an in-place upgrade to a 32-bit version of Windows 7.

Type of Installation

Basically, there are 2 approaches to installing Windows 7:

1. Upgrade (In-place upgrade) - This option replaces your current version of Windows with Windows 7, and keeps your files, settings, and programs in place on your computer.
2. Custom ("fresh" installation) - This option replaces your current version of Windows with Windows 7, but doesn't preserve your files, settings, and programs. It's sometimes referred to as a clean installation for that reason.

As always, a fresh installation is much better and I strongly recommend taking that track. Even if you've got an existing Windows XP/Vista OS on your computer, I would strongly recommend that you format it and install a fresh copy of the OS.

Beginning the Installation Process

Windows 7 DVD is bootable. In order to boot from the DVD you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD-ROM/DVD-ROM.

Step 1- Boot From the Windows 7 DVD. For knowing how to select first boot device follow this link.http://winuxtips.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-select-first-boot-device-at.html 

Step 2 - Place Windows 7 DVD in your DVD-rom drive and start your PC. Windows 7 will start to boot up and you will get the following progress bar.

Step 3 - The next screen allows you to setup your language, time and currency format, keyboard or input method. Choose your required settings and click next to continue.

Step 4 - The next screen allows you to install or repair Windows 7. Since we are doing a clean install we will click on "install now".

Step 5 - Read the license terms and tick I accept license terms. Then click next to continue.

Step 6 - You will now be presented with two options. Upgrade or Custom (Advanced). Since we are doing a clean install we will select Custom (Advanced).

Step 7 - Partitioning Step 8 - Windows 7 starts the installation process and starts copying all the necessary files to your hard drive as shown on the image below.
The next step is to choose where you want to install Windows 7. This is probably the most important part of the entire installation, so you need to be very careful here and make the right choices.

We only have a 20GB unallocated space on our disk, so we have no dilemma. However, it is possible that you may have other partitions from previous installations present, or you may have created a custom partitioning setup before starting Windows 7 installation using a third-party partitioning software, like GParted. We will soon this discuss in greater detail. For now, let us create our Windows 7 partitions.
Inexperienced users can simply highlight the unallocated space and click Next. The partitioning layout will be created for them. However, we want to explore additional features. To this end, we need to expand the Drive options (advanced).

You now have the option to create new partitions, format them with a desired filesystem, change the size of existing or newly created partition (Extend), or delete them. The Load Driver function is usually necessary if you want to create more complex setups like RAID, but this is currently beyond the scope of this tutorial.
We will create a new partition. According to official system requirements, Windows 7 needs 16GB of free space. However, you can do with less. The minimum recommended space for a partition where you want to place Windows 7 is 10350MB. Eventually, the installation itself will take approx. 7GB.
Just for your information, here's a snippet of what would happen if you try to install Windows 7 on a partition that does not meet the minimum expected size limit:

This does not mean your installation won't succeed. It might, but why risk it?
We will create a 14GB partition:

Windows 7 installer will now tell you that it will have to create an additional partition for the core system files. This will be a small primary partition ahead of your newly created one.

This is what it looks like:

Important technical bits to pay attention to!

We now have a system partition and a primary partition, plus some free space. In purely technical terms, there is no such thing as a partition of the type system. There are only two types of partitions: primary and logical. The above-mentioned partition is a primary partition.
In total, there can only be up to four primary partitions on any physical disk. Windows 7, by itself, creates and uses at least two primary partitions. If we created another partition in the free space, it would too, become a primary partition.
Some quick math, this means that if we want to have more than two Windows 7 installations side by side, we don't have enough partitions available.

Recommendation:

Use a third-party partitioning tool to create a partition layout beforehand. This will allow you to place Windows 7 files on a logical partition, saving yourself the precious commodity of wasting primary partitions on what is essentially non-system data. We will see this example in a separate tutorial.

If you're using ONLY Windows 7 to create a partition layout on your system, then you should just create a partition with a sufficient size to hold the Windows 7 data files and nothing else. The system partition will be added. Leave the handling of any unpartitioned, free space after the installation.

Step 9 - It will go through various stages of the setup and will reboot your system few times.

Step 9 - When your PC reboots it attempts to boot from DVD as its the first boot device. Do not press any key during the boot prompt so Windows 7 will continue with the installation by booting from the hard drive.

Step 10 - After the reboot your computer will be prepared for first use.

Step 11 - At this stage you need to choose a user name and computer name. Click next to continue. The user account you create here is the Administrator account which is the main account for your Windows 7 that has all the privileges.

Step 12 - Choose your password and password hint just incase you forget your password and need to jog your memory.

Step 13 - You can now type the product key that came with Windows 7 and click next. If you do not enter the product key you can still proceed to the next stage. However Windows 7 will run in trial mode for 30 days. You must therefore activate Windows within 30 days otherwise you can not access your computer after 30 days.

Step 14 - Help protect your computer and improve Windows automatically. Choose Use recommended settings.

Step 15 - Review your time and date settings. Select your time zone, correct the date and time and click next to continue.

Step 16 - Select your computer's current location. If you are a home user then choose Home network otherwise select the appropriate option.

Step 17 - Windows will now finalize the settings for your computer and restart.

Step 18 - After the final restart Windows 7 will start to boot up.

Step 19 - Finally you have the logon screen. Just type your password and press enter or click on the arrow to logon to Windows 7 for the first time.

Step 20 - After you have logged on to Windows 7 for the first time, you will see similar desktop to the image below. At this point you can start using your computer. However it may not be fully configured. You need to make sure that all the hardware is detected correctly and the necessary device drivers are installed. This can be done from the device manager.

Step 21 - To go to device manager click - Start Menu -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Device Manager. You will see all your hardware listed as shown on the image below. You need to check if you have any yellow exclamation marks next to the name of the devices, similar to "Multimedia Audio Controller" on the image below. This indicates that the driver has not been installed for this device.

At this stage you can install the driver for this device. To do so, Right Mouse click on Multimedia Audio Controller -> Update Driver Software...

Step 22 - You can choose to "Search automatically for updated driver software" or "Browse my computer for driver software". If you have the driver CD or if the driver is on a USB drive then choose "browse my computer for driver software". Window 7 will search and install the driver from the CD or you can locate the driver manually.

Once you have removed all the yellow exclamation marks from the device manager your Windows 7 configuration would be fully complete.

Step 23 - Finally check if you have successfully activated Windows 7. Click Start Menu -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> System. You will get a window similar to the image below. Towards the bottom you will see Windows is activated followed by your product ID. This shows that your copy of Windows 7 is fully activated.