Since installing Windows 7 on my Acer AspireOne, I’ve had several people ask me how they can do it, too. While this is not something I’d recommend for people who want to squeeze every last bit of performance from their little computers, putting Windows 7 on a netbook can be a fun little activity to do on a rainy weekend. And, luckily, a recent tool from Microsoft makes this super easy to do.
Disclaimer: This process will work best if you have purchased Windows 7 through the Online Microsoft Store and downloaded the .iso file.
So, without further delay, here’s how you can make your .iso file into something a little more usable.
- The first thing you’ll need to do is download the USB/DVD Tool from Microsoft here, and install it on your system. The tool will run without a hitch on WinXP, Vista, and Windows 7.
- Once the software is installed, it’ll place an icon on your Desktop. Open the application and select the source .iso file.
- Next, select the destination. This can be either a DVD drive, or a USB stick. If you’re using a USB stick, it will need to be at least 4 Gig in size. Anything less and the application will reject it.
- If you’re using a USB stick, the system will confirm it’s okay to format the memory, otherwise you’ll be asked to enter a blank DVD into your DVD burner.
- Finally, the application will copy the files. The USB stick or DVD will be bootable.
That’s all there is to it. Now you can have your system boot from the drive, and you can install Windows 7 on your netbook … or any other computer that’ll boot from DVD/USB-stick.
Some people have mentioned some concerns about running Microsoft’s latest and greatest OS on something as tiny as a netbook, and I’ll admit it takes a little tweaking in order to make the system snappy. That said, so long as you have at least a Gig of RAM, you can install Windows 7 without too many hassles. Naturally, the more RAM you have, the better. As for the CPU performance, I’ve been able to run Photoshop CS and Visual Studio .NET 2005 without too much lag. That said, Excel 2003 seems to have some trouble when working with files containing a lot of calculations, VLOOKUPs, or Pivot tables.
Note: The USB/DVD Tool does not limit us to Windows 7′s iso file. If you have an Ubuntu, Vista, WinXP, or OS X iso file, you can make it bootable with this tool.