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CHAPTER 2: Installation of Windows 7

May 31st, 2010 Peter Posted in Installation | No Comments »

CHAPTER 2 (Go to: INTRO CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4)

CHAPTER 2: Installation of Windows 7

After we purchased a license and a copy of Windows 7 DVD (read here on how to purchase a copy and a license), after we made sure that our PC is compatible with this specific OS (read Chapter 1 to find out how) we can start installing it. Make sure you have a backup of all your data if you are not installing it on a clean, empty system or you do not intend to empty your hard drive! Soon, we will speak about backups in another post; you will find it here.

TIP: Label every partition you may have before proceeding. This will help you indentify the partition where your current Windows OS is installed when installing Windows 7 (if you continue reading, you will know where this tip will be helpful). To do this, go to “My Computer”, right click (one by one) on every partition, click on “Properties” and type a name (label) for your partition. We use “System” for the partition where Windows is installed, and “Data 1”, “Data 2” etc for other partitions and HDDs.

Follow these easy steps to proceed with the installation:

Insert your DVD installation disk into your DVD drive. Make sure your PC starts (boots) from your installation DVD before your current operating system does, in other words, in the boot order options, your DVD drive is positioned before your hard drive. For this, we have to enter the BIOS of your PC and make some easy changes (if necessary, we have to check anyway). RESTART your PC and hit the access key to your BIOS. This is usually one keyboard button or combinations displayed on your screen when it starts, the most used is the keyboard button DEL, F2, F10 or F12, like in this example:

The next thing to do is to navigate in the BIOS until we find the BOOT options, this is the place where we will modify the boot order too. This is usually a separate menu, like you will see in the next example. Move your DVD drive in the list until it’s positioned before your hard drive. You can do this by moving the cursor with your arrows (buttons) from your keyboard on the DVD drive and pressing + or – (or sometimes F5/F6) from your numeric keypad to move it. When done, press F10 to save the changes and quit the BIOS.

Your system will start booting from your DVD drive and begin the installation of Windows 7. You will see some fancy graphics with some messages like “Setup is starting” or “Windows is starting” which will confirm that your BIOS settings where indeed correct. When the below window will appear, you will have to set your language options. “Language to install” will set Windows 7 language, for example if you set it to German, your Windows will be installed in German and you will have to use it in German. Note that this option is not always expandable, if your copy of Windows has no language packs included. Set the “Time and currency format” as needed, as well as the “Keyboard or input method” which will have to be set according to your keyboard’s language.

Click on “Install now”:

Accept the license terms by checking the box as marked below and then click “Next”:

The next window is a bit more complicated, but don’t worry, not that much, depends on you and what you decide. You can choose between 2 options, “Upgrade” and “Custom (Advanced)”. If you choose “Upgrade”, your current Windows will be replaced with Windows 7 keeping all your current settings, files and programs. Seems too good to be true, and indeed, sounds good, but in real life, this option is not recommended, anyway, not by us. This is the part where your incompatible software, drivers etc will be (usually) totally messed up, if you continue with this option. There are many technical reasons why this should not be used; this is why we won’t complicate your life with it at all. Think about the following scenario: if something goes wrong after the installation procedure using “Upgrade”, you will have to debug all the problems yourself, there is no guide for this just because there could be many and nobody can guess what those will be. We will move on with the second option, “Custom (Advanced)”. Sounds complicated, but it isn’t. Click on it as follows:

The next window will display all your hard disks and partitions you may have. If you followed our tip above, these HDDs and partitions will be labeled with the names you entered for every one of them. The goal is to format (erase) the partition where your current version of Windows is installed, to prepare your system for a healthy installation environment. This is very important for a long life of your Windows 7, and this is what the first option (previously mentioned) “Upgrade” cannot supply. The most encountered scenario is one HDD with one or two partitions. We will proceed, in our example, with the “two partitions” scenario. If you have more than 1 HDD in your system, select the one where you previously had installed your operating system, also by selecting the partition on that particular HDD. Usually, Partition 1 is the boot partition where your current Windows is installed on Disk 0. If there are more than 1 HDD in your system, these will be marked as Disk 1, Disk 2 etc, and every Disk will have its own partitions, marked as Partition 1, Partition 2. So, again, select the HDD and the partition where your current version of Windows is installed, and click “Drive options (advanced)”, then “Format”, then “OK”, wait for the partition to be formatted, and then click “Next”, like this:

The following window may or may not appear, or could appear somewhere else in the installation procedure (further reading will clear this up)! Depending on your installation DVD, license and version of Windows you purchased, you may have to select the version you have a license for. If you purchased a license for version “Home Premium”, select “Windows 7 Home Premium”, if not, select the one you purchased. Note that licenses for “Home Premium” will not work for “Professional” or “Ultimate”. Also note that in our example we will use the x86 version of “Ultimate”, which is exactly the same as the x64 version (regarding their installation). There are also distributions of specific versions that do not incorporate all the versions of Windows 7, not like in our example which has all the versions; in this case this screen may not appear and you can move on to the next step. Click “Next” after you have selected the purchased license:

Wait until Windows finishes this step. The progress of this step will look like the one in the picture below. Your system may reboot several times until is completed. No user input is required:

The following window may or may not appear (further reading will clear this up)! In the case your second, third etc partition was freshly created before you started installing Windows 7, the below window (disk checking) may appear. If not, it will not appear. But if it does, don’t press any button(s), let Windows do its job!

Your system probably restarted several times, at least once, and it’s asking for a user name. Enter one, this will be the first user created by Windows. It can be your name, your pet’s name, or anything you desire. Note that this user will have administrative privileges by default! Then, click “Next”:

Set a password for this user. You can skip this step by simply clicking “Next”, but it is recommended to enter a password. A password hint is also required, which will appear the first time you type a different or erroneous password when you login. Don’t type your password as your hint!

Now you will have to type your Windows product key (license). The message says that “you can find your Windows product key on a label included with the package that came with your copy of Windows. The label might also be on your computer case. Activation pairs your product key with your computer.” In Windows 7 the license label is placed on the back of the Windows Insert card located under the clips inside the DVD case. The reverse side contains license label, which looks like the image below. Insert the product key here, make sure “Automatically activate…” is checked and click “Next” (you can skip this part by simply clicking “Next” without typing any product key, but this is not recommended, you may forget to type it at a later time even if Windows warns you from time to time, and you could be locked out after the trial period expires and you do not activate Windows)

Click on “Use recommended settings”. This option will update your Windows every time an update is available and will configure your Windows optimal usage:

Set your time zone and click “Next”:

If your network adapter (hopefully) was automatically installed along with your Windows 7, your network settings must be configured in this point. You have 3 options to choose from: “Home network”, “Work network” or “Public network”. Each option will automatically configure your security settings according to what you click on. If you’re at home, click on “Home network”, if you are at work, click on “Work network”, and if you are somewhere else, a place which you do not visit to often or a public place, in short a place you do not trust, click on “Public network”. This window may appear every time you connect to a different network for the first time. “Home network” gives you less security, while “Public network” will configure Windows with stronger security and “Work network” is somewhere between the two settings. There are, of course, good and bad parts in every one of the options. The stronger your security settings are, the more protected you will be in front of threats of all kind, but you will also have limited access and rights, you will not be able to execute various operations and tasks. We could not recommend any of them more or less, because security is something delicate and depends on several things (like where you connect to the internet), but we select almost all the time “Home network”. This option covers all major security holes and gives you plenty of rights to do almost anything you need. Click on the one closer to your needs:

You may have to configure “sharing” in your network. This particular step will only be helpful if there are other Windows 7 systems in your network. Usually, another password to remember is not a good idea for us, and the same password as the user’s you entered before is also a bad idea. We usually skip this step, because sharing can be configured at a later time if needed, when needed. So, proceed by clicking “Skip”:

That’s it! You have successfully installed Windows 7! Log in to your account and proceed to the next chapter. Remember, you installed Windows and just Windows; you may also need to install drivers and other software in order to make your system a fully functional one for your needs. Also, you may need to configure your new operating system in order to get the most of your system.