Planning the Installation
As with any OS installation, we must first plan the installation
process. When you run the Windows 7 Setup program, you must provide
information about how to install and configure the operating system.
Thorough planning can make your installation of Windows 7 more efficient
by helping you to avoid potential problems during installation. An
understanding of the configuration options will also help to ensure that
you have properly configured your system.
Here are some of the most important things you should take into consideration when planning for your Windows 7 installation:
- Check System Requirements
- Check Hardware and Software Compatibility
- Determine Disk Partitioning Options
- Complete a Pre-Installation Checklist
Microsoft states the minimum recommended specs for Windows 7:
- 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
- 1 GB of system memory
- 16 GB of available disk space
- Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)
- DVD-R/W Drive
- Internet access (to activate 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 (read my "
How to Install Windows XP Mode on Windows 7" article).
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:
- 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.
- 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.
This article will focus on a fresh installation of Windows 7. Please read my "
How to Upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7" and "
Upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7" articles for more information on those paths.
Beginning the Installation Process
When installing on a physical computer insert your Windows 7 DVD
media into your DVD drive and reboot your computer. If you're asked to
press a key to boot from DVD or CD, press any key. A black window will
appear momentarily while the DVD content is read.
Note: These screenshots are taken from a Windows 7
Ultimate installation performed on a virtual machine running on VMware
Workstation. I will be using an .ISO file mounted on the VMs CD/DVD
drive.
Next, a
Starting Windows screen will appear.
Note: If the Windows installation page doesn't
appear and you're not asked to press a key to start from DVD or CD, you
might have to specify that your computer uses its DVD or CD drive as the
startup device.
The Installation Process
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:
Click "Next" unless you want to change some regional settings for the installation process. Hebrew users should read my "
Installing Hebrew on Windows 7" article.
Click on the "Install now" button.
Note: If you're using the installation media to
repair an existing installation of Windows 7 you should also read my
latest article on the Windows Recovery Environment.
Next, accept the license terms and click on "Next".
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.
The next phase is to pick the installation partition. Since this
computer has a new hard disk that hasn't been formatted before, you will
only have the option to create a new partition on it.
If you don't want to specify a specific partition to install Windows
on, or create partitions on your hard disk, click Next to begin the
installation. If you already have another existing partition with enough
free space and want to install the Windows 7 on that partition to
create a multiboot configuration, select the partition you want to use,
and then click Next to begin the installation. If you want to create,
extend, delete, or format a partition, click Drive options (advanced),
click the option you want, and then follow the instructions.
Since I don't need to perform any additional task I will just click
on the "Next" button. The installation process will then create a
partition on all the available disk space, and format it.
The setup process will now begin to copy files from the installation DVD media to the hard disk.
Process could take a while depending on the type of hardware your
computer uses. In my VM test sample I've used for this demo, the entire
process finished before I could finish writing the previous 3
paragraphs, so it could be pretty quick.
The computer will reboot, and the next thing you'll see is the prompt
to set the user's and computer's name. By default, the computer's name
will be username-PC, where username is the username you've entered.
Note: The user you're creating will be the only user
currently available on the system. Like Vista, the built-in
Administrator's account is disabled. Read my article on
how to enable the Windows 7 Administrator's account article for more information.
Click on "Next".
Enter the user's password. Remember this password, as it will be the
ONLY user on the system, and unless you create an additional user or
enable the built-in administrator account, if you forget this password
you'll need to crack it to gain access to the system. The best option
would be to choose a complex password made of at least 7 characters or
more (something like Pssw0rd or MYpa$$w0rd). You must also enter a
password hint.
Click on "Next".
Next, type in your product key. If you do not have the product key at
hand you can still click "Next", and proceed with the installation. You
will be asked to enter the product key after Windows is installed.
Choose what sort of protection your computer gets. The recommended
settings are best for someone that doesn't plan to hide their computer
behind a corporate firewall (and even then, in some cases, this would be
the best option). If you plan to install a 3rd-party firewall later you
can opt to be prompted later. Note that this setting will also have
effect on how the computer uses the Microsoft Windows Update (Automatic
Updates) features.
Choose your time zone and location and click on "Next".
Select your network location type. This setting can be changed later,
but do note that choosing a profile will have effect on the Windows
Firewall and sharing settings. Click on "Next".
Windows will finalize the settings and your desktop will appear.
This concludes the Windows 7 installation. Next, you would probably
want to update your computer with the latest hotfixes and/or patches
from Microsoft.