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How To Install Windows 7 On Almost Any Netbook
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How To Install Windows 7 On Almost Any Netbook |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
05/16/09
I may experiment with Windows 7 at some point, but to be perfectly honest, though I'm sure the OS runs nicely on a netbook, I'll bet dollars to donuts that XP is still the better choice for running the older apps (especially games) that are most ideally suited for these low-end machines.
05/16/09
Really? Really? Are you seriously saying that the steps outlined in this article is the easy way to install Windows 7 on a netbook? No way. No fucking way.
Now, this is NOT meant to start a flame war--although undoubtedly somebody is gonna jump in and rant--so first a full disclosure. I am a Mac user unfamiliar with Windows installation procedures. So when I read all these (what sound to me to be) bizarre steps, I'm serious when I ask, is this REALLY what it is like for a Windows user--Terminal? diskutil? device node? sudo, dd if=? compact.exe d:\*.* /c /s /i? Crap almighty, what in the hell are you talking about? This sounds to me to be far from easy.
Please somebody tell me this is not a normal procedure for Windows installation. And if there is a HARDER way to install Windows, I really do not want to know about it.
05/16/09
05/16/09
And given that such drives are priced starting way under $100--as little as $65-ish--why would you not just buy a USB DVD drive? Seems to me to be a required "accessory" for a DVD-less netbook.
05/16/09
Create a second partition, download / install Daemon Tools or Alcohol, download the iso, mount it in the virtual drive, tell it to install on the second partition... wait ~30 minutes... you're done, you've now got a dual boot XP / Win7 netbook.
A lot of people with the budget netbooks aren't going to have USB optical drives, even at $65 that's still a fairly significant portion of the <$300 cost of these systems. Also keep in mind that this is still a Release Candidate, not the retail product, this isn't really meant for average users, it's meant for techies who aren't afraid of jumping through a few hoops and possibly having to do some troubleshooting.