Installing Windows 8 Directly From Hard Drive

If you are having a netbook or desktop that you wish to install Windows 8 into, but do not have a DVD drive or USB port for whatever reason, you can follow the steps that are explained below. This method will allow the user to boot and install Windows operating system directly from the hard drive. To do this, you will have to plug the hard drive into another computer, prepare the hard drive, place it in your PC and then install the Windows 8 OS as usual.

Preparing The HD With Windows 8 Setup

• Connect the hard drive to another computer. 
• Format the hard drive to NTFS (Quick format works fine). 
• Copy the following files from Windows 8 ISO of DVD. 

Boot, Sources, Bootmgr

Making the Hard Drive Bootable 

• Using Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7 or Windows 8, open Command prompt as Administrator. 
• Type in the following commands (replace x with what applies to your HDD) 

Diskpart, list disk, select disk X, list partition, select partition X, active, exit, and X:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 X:

• You may now Exit and Shutdown the PC. 

If you are working on a 32-bit system and you wish to install 64-bit Windows 8 Os, you may get issues running the last command. The solution to this issue is to use a Pc that has the 64-bit version of Windows 8 OS. If you have 32-bit Windows 8 DVD, you may copy bootsect.exe from it and then replace the 64-bit one.

Booting and installing Windows

Place the hard disk back to the target machine. Ensure that BIOS is configured to boot from hard disk. If everything is okay, you will see the blue Windows logo and setup will load. You may then install Windows 8 as usual, but make sure you do not format the hard drive this time; otherwise, it will delete the setup files of Windows 8 too!

Final Steps/Housecleaning

• Once Windows 8 is installed, edit the boot menu after installing Windows. 
• Press the Windows and R keys together, type msconfig in the Run line and press Enter. 
• Click on the Boot tab that is located at the top. 
• Click on the OK button and then select Exit without restart.

These are the steps to Install Windows 8 directly from the hard drive of your computer. For further help, you may contact our tech support team.