Step 3: Replace the bootloader on Vista with the copy we obtained on step 1įirst, you need to boot to Windows Recovery Environment by booting to Vista bootable DVD or Windows 7 boot DVD.
You can just make a copy of them on the same computer.Ĭ:\windows\system32>xcopy /y /h bcdedit.exe They are the same two files on Vista machine in the same location that needed to be backed up before we overwrite them with the Windows 7 version. Step 2: Backup the current bootloader on Vista Note that the edition has to match on both Vista and 7, like 32bit of bootloader on 7 can only be used on 32bit Vista, or the boot will fail.
Now we have got a copy of windows 7 bootloader on the USB, and let’s move to next. Connect the USB drive (assuming connected to drive F:) and run the following command from dos prompt window.Ĭ:\windows\system32>xcopy /h /y bcdedit.exe f:\ Step 1: Get a copy of Windows 7 bootloader from a Windows 7 computer and save it to the external USB drive.īasically, we need to copy 2 files from a Windows 7 system, bootmgr from c:\ and bcdedit.exe from c:\windows\system32.
HOW TO COPY WINDOWS 7 DVD TO USB USING XCOPY UPGRADE
The trick is to upgrade the Windows bootloader on Vista to the version compatible with Windows 7, which requires 3 steps as follow: Can I native boot to that Windows 7 VHD on the same machine without having to boot to Vista first? Well, definitely!
Is it possible to do the same from a Windows Vista installed machine? For example, I have Windows Vista installed on the physical machine and I have Windows 7 installed on a VHD file. Now we now we can native boot to a Windows 7 installed VHD file, but it requires you have Windows 7 installed on the host computer.