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Fresh HDD installed, unable to install OS

jjr87
By jjr87
Sep 18, 2010
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  1. Hi,

    Just installed a new HDD, and am trying to boot up Windows 7 from an external HDD. Upon powering up the machine, I changed the boot option to 'USB drive' and normally this would work as it has in the past, but now all I'm getting is a blinking cursor/underscore and nothing ever happens.

    I used PowerISO to extract the files onto my external, and the icon changes to confirm that it does in fact work..
    I am wondering if I need to change something around in the BIOS or if it has something to do with the external's formatting (FAT32)

    Anyone know what could be wrong?
     
    Sep 18, 2010
    #1
  2. mike1959

    mike1959 TS Evangelist Posts: 1,031   +53

    Windows 7 installation

    You will need to format your drive for Windows 7, in NTFS. The system will look at the first device in the 'Boot sequence' or 'Boot order' in your BIOS, so you need to arrange the order to suit what you want to boot from. The system will look at the first in the list, and if nothing bootable is there, it goes down to the next one on the list. My normal order of Boot devices is; CD/DVD, Onboard SATA.
     
    Sep 18, 2010
    #2

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