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Windows 7 Installation - the installation time has been reduced but updates
are twice as long... |
Welcome to my series of Windows 7 Installation tutorials.
Some of the things that I will cover are:
- Hardware - What Microsoft recommends.
- What you can expect for your money.
- What you can or can not do with Windows 7 /Windows 8
So lets look at the hardware - MS says:
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So you have the hardware, now do you have the Operating System?
Preparation -
You need to consider your resources, do you have a computer to load it on by
itself or will you be doing a
Dual Boot, or maybe in a emulation such as Virtual
Machine by VM Ware?
Your first step is make sure the minimum hardware requirements are met.
Troubleshoot, repair, maintain, upgrade & secure...
With this! |
At first Microsoft was saying that Windows 7 (Win 7) would need a platform
(processor) that was at least 2 GHz and two gigs of memory. As you can see from
the list above 1 GHz processor and 1 Gig of ram will do. I have installed
this on my T-30 Laptop, it has a P4 2.5GHz processor and 1.5 Gig of ram. It will
run but the computer struggles until the Operating System is optimized.
The screen shots are from a fresh install on a VM Ware emulator, the VM
(Virtual Machine) has two 2.4 GHz processors and 1 Gig of ram, 16 Gig of hard
drive space, network, and sound card.
Windows Seven /Windows 8 Installation -
Then you start the computer (system) with the DVD in the drive.
You will see -
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Pick you Language, time, currency, and location -
Then press the install button.
And away we go... My install on a SSD and in to a VM (Virtual Machine) took
about 20 minutes, a lot better than the previous versions of Windows when
installing.
Next the EULA, you have to agree to or the install will just sit at this
screen.
Next pick you installation either normal or custom, I have done both and the
actual install time was close to the same, 20 or so minutes.
Next pick you drive and set the partition size, this install was
on a VM and
I had set the drive size to 16 Gig - which is the minimum install size, I would
recommend that the actual partition be at least 30 gig, if you have the room 45
would be better.
Then the install program starts the file transfer and decompression...
Moving along, if you notice there are 22 screen shots, this is about one item
per minute.
Just about complete, notice the green bar, about 75% done. You will also
notice the screen flash a couple of times while the installation process tests
different video drivers. I had my speakers off and didn't notice any sound, next
time I will turn them on.
First of two restarts, long ways from the Win 98 days of multiple restarts!
(More tips and techniques in
the Windows 7 Ultimate Guide
this guide is useful for Windows 8 also.)
Getting close to being done.
Setting up the services.
Continuing the installation.
Enter the name of the primary user and name your computer.
Enter a password and a hint.
Enter the Product key.
Select your level of protection provided by Microsoft.
Set you time zone, adjust the time and date if needed.
Select your type of network, Home, Work, or Public.
Second restart.
Windows 7 Installation complete ready to use.
As I said the install took a little over 20 minutes from the DVD start to the
last screen you see. As I work through the OS customizing and tweaking the way I
like the desktop look and the underlying functions to work the way I am used to
you can follow along.
After upgrading my T-30 IBM Laptop (see
How to
upgrade your Laptop) I decided to retry the Dual Boot for XP and Windows 7.
The Win 7 OS is very responsive and fast. Not bad for a six year old laptop.
You will find more information about your
Windows 7 Installation in the Windows 7 Ultimate Guide.
Update 11/02/13
A few notes:
Why does Windows 7 and 8 install so much faster than previous versions of
Windows? Because the installer program makes a RAM drive with any memory over 1
GB, the more memory you have in your computer the larger the RAM drive, thus
making the install that much faster.
When you update your new Operating System do it the first time before turning
off any services. Once you turn off any service the update program will try to
update that service even though it is disabled, then it will go through the
"Updating your system" procedure and will fail on those services that are
disabled, then it will "roll back" those updates that failed. It will do this
THREE times before it gets the hint that the services are disabled.
Update 07/16/14
One of your first tasks is to create a backup image of your Windows 7
Installation. To this you can use the built in kludge Microsoft gives you (I
tested it, sometimes it works - sometime it doesn't) or you can use an
alternative such as the Microsoft discontinued Ghost program or something like True Image, the problem is you have to have a way to start the computer with
out using the internal mass storage (the hard drive or SSD - Solid
State Drive). Normally you would use an ERD (Emergency
Repair Disk) however the Microsoft ERD does not have a program to
create an image. You can have the program you would use on another mass storage
device but why go through that hassle when you can make your own
custom ERD with the program on it?
Update 03/19/15
At this time I have loaded Windows 8 on two computers and two VM Ware
virtual computers. Other than the "touch screen menu" that comes with Windows
8 standard and is a choice in Windows 8.1 (upgrade version) it is basically
the same as Win 7. With that said if you have a computer that has less than a
Core 2 DUO Intel? processor and less than 2 GB of
memory Windows 8 will not load let alone run. My current philosophy is to wait
for Windows 10 (which is now in Beta testing) and see what MS brings to the
table. I wonder if it will be as easy as the Windows 7 Installation...
Update
04/01/16
Well Windows 10 is out, some computer manufactures are
offering it with a downgrade to Windows 7, numerous people I have contacted do
not like Windows 10 (ok for their phone but not their computer, eh?) and most
have already gone back to Windows 7 or plan to in the near future. I have a copy
and have loaded it on my laptop, not a very user friendly Operating System,
customization of the OS took almost four hours searching for each setting I use
to get the maximum memory for programs and the minimum for the OS. Time will
tell but as far as I am concerned this is strike five... Yer OUT MS!
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