Windows 7 isfree for now , and worksextremely wellon netbooks . That said , deploy the group O on these tiny laptops — specially low - end fashion model — can be daunting . Here ’s how to do it , the easy way :
https://gizmodo.com/windows-7-release-candidate-1-available-right-now-5240211
If the Release Candidate is any denotation ( and it should be ) , then Windows 7 will be anice upgradefor any Windows user . The fresh O , however , is a vast step up for netbook users . Vista is notoriously ill suited to netbooks ; a around the bend imagination hog that submit its users to never-ending dialog boxes and requires far too many clicks to do basic labor , it ’s kind of a nightmare to expend on a 9 - in laptop with a 1.5 - column inch trackpad .
https://gizmodo.com/windows-7-release-candidate-1s-best-surprise-new-featur-5226696
Windows XP has been afford a encouragement by netbooks , as its system requirements — more - or - less decided in 2001 — are more in line with the glasses hardware like the Eee PC and Mini 9 . But let ’s confront it : XP is nigh a decade previous . Its user experience is trumped by devoid alternative like Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Linpus , and it ’s not at all optimise for whole - land effort — especially tinny ones . This mean that on broken - end , SSD - based netbooks , it borders on unusable .
Hence , Windows 7 . It ’s perceptibly faster than Vista on low - spec machines , properly optimized for netbook hardware , and , most importantly , detached ( for now ) . affair is , installation is n’t quite as easy as it is ona regular personal computer — in fact , it can be a infliction in the buttocks : netbooks do n’t have videodisc drive , which think of you ’ve either have to get your men on an external drive or rush from a USB stick for a clean install . Furthermore , smaller SSDs , like the 8 GB units in popular versions of the Dell Mini 9 and Acer Aspire One , make a default option installation impossible , or at least impractically tight . Luckily , there are simple method to deal with both of these problems . allow ’s get started .
https://gizmodo.com/how-to-get-install-and-play-with-windows-7-pain-free-5129679
What You ’ll Need
• A netbook ( Minimum 1 GB of RAM , 8 GB store space )
• A 4 Gi or larger USB drive
• A Windows 7 RC Image ( details below )
• A Windows XP / Vista microcomputer or a Mac to organize the heartbeat drive
• For down - end netbooks , lots ( and loads ) of time
beget Windows 7
download Windows 7 is a firearm of bar . Just navigate tothis pageand download the 32 - chip variation . You ’ll need to get a free Windows springy ID if you do n’t already have one , but this take in about two minutes .
Microsoft will then give you your very own Windows 7 License Florida key , valid until June 1st of next year . ( Although after March 1st , it ’ll drive you to the bound of saneness by shutting off every two hour . But that’sa unlike story , and March is a long room off ) . Microsoft will then offer up your ISO through a nifty little download coach applet , complete with a “ resume ” mapping . There are way to sidestep this , but do n’t : you ’d be surprised how hard it is to keep a single HTTP connexion alive for long enough to download a 2.36 GB single file .
https://gizmodo.com/windows-7-rc1-will-auto-shut-down-every-two-hours-mont-5240677
gear up Your Flash Drive
This is the annoying part , but it ’s not necessarily that difficult . Here are some guide , by OS ( some linked for length):•Windows XP•Windows Vista• Mac OS X ( good manners of Ubuntu , queerly enough ):
1 . Open a Terminal ( under Utilities )
2 . Run diskutil lean and determine the gadget node assigned to your New York minute media ( for instance /dev / disk2 )
3 . Run diskutil unmountDisk /dev / diskN ( interchange N with the platter number from the last mastery ; in the previous object lesson , N would be 2 )
4 . Execute sudo dd if=/path / to / downloaded.iso of=/dev / diskN bs=1 m ( replace /path / to / downloaded.iso with the path where the simulacrum file is site ; for example , ./windows7.iso )
5 . tend diskutil eject /dev / diskN and slay your newsflash media when the command completes ( this can take a few hour on slower drives )
As some commenters have point out , you could also make a split second drive bootable with utilities likeLiveUSB Helper . Once you ’ve done this , you may mount your Windows 7 ISO with a utility program likeDaemonTools Lite(For Windows ) orMountMe(for Mac ) , and just copy over all the single file to your freshly - bootable drive .
get Your Install
Ok ! Now you ’ve got a bootable flash drive , and you ’re ready to jump installing . It should go without saying , but once you set off this process , you ’ll lose all survive data on your netbook , so you should back up any important files before going through with anything from here forward .
Insert your USB drive and reboot your netbook . As soon as your BIOS screenland flashes , you should see instructions for a ) changing your netbook ’s boot rules of order or b ) entering its BIOS frame-up . In the first situation , simply assign the USB drive as the first boot machine . In the second , navigate through your BIOS preferences until you obtain a “ Default Boot Order ” Sir Frederick Handley Page , and do the same matter there .
From there , you should see the first Windows 7 installation screen door . Anyone with a 16 GB or larger computer memory twist in their netbook can just follow the instruction until the installation completes , and skip the next step .
—
If your SSD is smaller than 16 GB , or if you just require to save some distance , do what they say , but only until the first reboot . After the Windows 7 installer has restarted your computer , you ’ll take to modify the boot order again . Do not allow installation to keep on ! Manually exchange the boot order to prioritize the USB drive again , just as you did at the beginning of the facility .
contraction !
Once the Windows 7 installer has copied most of its system Indian file to your parkway , you ’re plump to tighten them up with Windows ’ trusty sure-enough “ Compact ” command . Here ’s what you do , as described byElectronic Pulp :
Choose “ Repair ” at the Windows 7 Setup screenland , go to “ Command Prompt ” and go into the follow code :
d : ( or whatever drive varsity letter is assigned to your SSD)cd windowssystem32compact.exe d :* . * /c /s /i
And await . And wait and wait and look . This can take anywhere from eight hour to two sidereal day , so you ’ll need to set your netbook down in a corner and block about it for a while . [ notice : compact so many of your scheme files does have a performance cost , but in solar day - to - day use of goods and services , it ’s negligible ]
Once this is done , reboot the netbook again and let it persist in the installation as normal . That ’s it !
All said and done , an 8 GB SSD should have virtually 2 GB of free space left — not much , but enough to influence with . And given that most netbooks total with inbuilt , flush SD expansion slot , and that mellow - capacity SD card are passing affordable , having a small amount of space on your tooth root drive is n’t at all prohibitive .
There are other ways to slim down a Windows 7 install — namely by using programs like vLite , which canstrip out some of Windows ’ fatdirectly from the ISO — but Windows ’ built - in single file compressing is the loose way to bosom Windows 7 onto your skimpy 8 GB SSD .
Setup and Customization HelpWindows 7 runs fairly well out of the boxful , but as with any new Windows facility , you ’re going to involve to download some driver to get things work properly . Vista drivers commonly do the trick , but sometimes workarounds are necessary . gratefully , most popular netbooks have spawned helpful buff forum , many of which have active Windows 7 subforums . Some of the best :
•Aspire One•ASUS Eee Pc•Dell Mini•MSI Wind•HP Mini - tone
How ToMicrosoftWindowsWindows 7
Daily Newsletter
Get the best technical school , science , and culture intelligence in your inbox day by day .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
