To install Windows 7 on a virtual disk, follow these instructions.
- Boot from the Windows 7 installation disc
- Press SHIFT+F10 to open the command prompt
- Start diskpart.exe
- If you already haven’t already created a vdisk that you would like to install Win7 on, create one (see previous post)
- Attach the virtual disk
> select vdisk file="C:\path\to\vhd"
> attach vdisk
> exit - Continue with the installation by selecting “Custom Install”
- Select the virtual disk (if you have formatted and named your disk, you will see that name now, otherwise you will have to consider the disk size)
- Install Windows 7
The installer will create a boot menu entry for your new Windows installation and your existing non-virtual installation. Unfortunately, they are (by default) both called “Windows 7”. Very helpful… The virtual installation will be the first entry in your boot menu and started by default. Once your installation is complete, you can fix this issue with the “bcdedit.exe” command line tool.
Open a command prompt as administrator and follow these steps:
> bcdedit.exe
This will give you a list of all boot manager entries. Find the one that refers to your VHD file and copy it’s ID – {current} if you are currently running your virtual installation and usually {default} if you’re running the physical installation.
> bcdedit.exe /set
You can also create copies of your bood menu entries and adjust them to, let’s say, point to a different VHD file.