Installing a new operating system on a netbook without a CD/DVD drive should be an easy task thanks to Unetbootin, but when it comes to installing Windows 7, there are a few extra steps that need to be taken before you are able to get the latest Windows OS onto your netbook.

In this guide, we’re going to show you how to create a bootable USB flash drive using either Windows XP or Windows Vista, and then install the files onto the USB and then install Windows 7 onto your Netbook from USB.

You will need one USB flash drive, with a capacity of at least 4GB, a copy of Windows 7, a program to extract the contents of your Windows 7 image file, such as 7-Zip, and a computer running either Windows XP or Vista. Windows XP users will need to download an additional program, MBRWizard.

Before getting started, you need to make sure you can boot your netbook from a USB by going into the BIOS settings. This can be done on most netbooks by hitting F2 as it is starting.

Once you are in the BIOS settings, go to the Boot tab, and ensure that ‘USB HDD’ is included in the Boot priority order list. If it is, you should be able to boot from your USB flash drive.

Format The USB Flash Drive

First, we need to format the USB to get it ready for use. Right click the USB drive in your Explorer window and click on ‘Format.’ The file system you will be using is NTFS.

Windows XP users, if you do not see that choice in the drop down menu, follow this guide, to enable formatting your USB flash drive, using NTFS.

Activate The USB Partition

At this point, Windows XP users will put the program, MBRWizard to use. After you have downloaded the zip file, extract its contents to the C drive, then open the Windows Command Prompt. (Click the Start button, hit ‘run‘, type ‘cmd‘ and press enter.)

Using MBRWizard and the command prompt, you are going to be able to activate the partition, by typing the following commands:

cd\

cd mbrwiz2.0

mbrwiz list

You should now see, as in the screenshot below, your USB listed as one of the disks, in my case, Disk 1.

You will then type the following command:

mbrwiz /disk=X /active=1 (Where X is the number of your Disk)

When prompted with “Are you sure you want to set the partition(s) Active?“, answer Yes.

Windows Vista users will not need to download MBRWizard, but rather can go straight into the command prompt and type the following:

Diskpart

list disk

You will then need to identify your USB flash drive, again in my case, it is Disk 1, and type the following

Select Disk X (Where X is the number of your Disk)

List partition

Select partition 1

Active

You should then see the message: Diskpart marked the current partition as active.

Extract Windows 7

Navigate to your Windows 7 image file, and extract its contents to a folder named Windows7 in the C Drive. These files can be deleted once you are done.

Return to your command prompt window and type the following:

cd Windows7\boot

bootsect /nt60 X: (Where X is the letter of your USB drive – in my case G:)

You should then see the following:

The final step in getting your USB ready is putting Windows 7 on it, which is where unetbootin comes in.

Once you have the program installed, select Diskimage, and browse to your Windows 7 image file, and select the USB that you have prepared for the install, and click OK.

Unetbootin should take about 15 to 30 minutes to copy the files onto your USB.

Installing Windows 7

All that’s left to do is install your new OS. Plug the USB into your netbook, and start it up. When starting your netbook, you can select to boot from the USB by entering the Boot Menu. In my case, on the ACER Aspire One, I had to hit F12, but with some other netbooks, this can be done by hitting the ESC button.

Once you are in the Boot Menu, you can choose to boot from your USB flash drive, and will then enter the Windows 7 set up menu.

If you are upgrading from Vista, you should be able to preserve your program files and settings, but upgrading from XP is not possible. A clean install is necessary, but all of your files and folders will be preserved in a folder in the C drive, labeled Windows.Old.

If you’re not sure where to start once you have Windows 7 installed, check out the 15 Best WIndows 7 Tips and Hacks and 12 More Windows 7 Tips and Hacks.

Did you manage to install Windows 7 on your netbook? Let us know how it goes in the comments.

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Source: MakeUseOf.com

You are now running Windows 7, you read up on my previous posts relating to Windows 7 upgrade issues and downloading great desktop wallpaper for Windows 7 here. Now you want to pretty up your desktop up even more and load a new Windows 7 theme.

These Windows 7 theme files are everywhere! You will need to make sure that the file is suitable for Windows 7, then simply download and install. The themes we will cover are all featured on DeviantArt. Check them out and go grab yourself one that you like.

Let us know what your favorites are and if you find any others, let us know in the comments!

The first one reminds me of Woodstock – no, I am not that old. I went to Woodstock in 1994 at the height of my childhood and had a great time. Maybe I don’t remember everything that happened out there but my fond memories of backstage Rave Stock and that 22 foot tall… Um yeah I digress, check out this Woodstock theme.

Next up for those users who want to love the Mac way of life so much but cannot commit themselves to the dark side, check out TerraNova that emulates the Mac dock as you can see below:

The next one by Oliver182 is titled Alternative for Windows 7 and it certainly is! It is colorful and I particular like the red, black and white integration.

The next one is VERY cool and is now sitting on my desktop. It is titled Water bomb and Windows 7. It depicts a mushroom cloud explosion in water on your desktop. The overall colors of this one are gloomy but hey, maybe it’s good when you are in an exploding mood!

And next to last we have an awesome Windows 7 theme called 7x Dark Transformation Pack. Check it out.

This one is very detailed, check out the other options and how the internal folders look. You will also see information embedded in the desktop like the current date and time. These are awesome additions to any theme!

Microsoft not only offers some free themes but a method to modify your own themes as well. The free Windows 7 themes provided by Microsoft are available here and there sure are a lot of them!

These are just a few of them, visit the site to see all of them.

If you are interested in modifying your themes that you have downloaded, check out the instructions below provided directly from Microsoft:

To change parts of a theme

1. Open Personalization by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type personalization, and then click Personalization.
2. Click the theme that you want to change to apply it to your desktop.
3. Do one or more of the following:
   • To change the background, click Desktop Background, select the check box for the image that you want to use, and then click Save changes.
   • To change the color of window borders, click Window Color, click the color that you want to use, adjust the intensity, and then click Save changes.
   • To change the sounds for the theme, click Sounds, click an item in the Sound Schemes list, and then click OK.
   • To add or change a screen saver, click Screen Saver, click an item in the Screen saver list, change any settings that you want to change, and then click OK.

   Your revised theme will appear under My Themes as an unsaved theme. If you want to revert to your custom theme later, make sure you save it.

Do you have other Windows 7 theme resources, tips/tricks or anything that we might be interested in? Well then send them our way in the comments – what are you waiting for?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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Source: MakeUseOf.com

You know Microsoft, when you setup a big Windows 7 booth across the street from the Japan Linux Symposium you’re just asking for trouble.

[Thanks, Mitch W.]

Filed under: Software

Linus Torvalds gives Windows 7 a big thumbs up originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: Engadget

Syncing your Zune in Mac OS X, running Word in Linux, giving Linux a go within Windows 7: just a few of the things you can do with virtual machines. And setting one up isn't just easy—it's free.

The word virtualization conjures images of the dank nerd lairs, populated by lonely network admins, scattered with miles of gray wire, grimy PC towers, processed food packaging and tiny tumbleweeds woven from human hair. It sounds like the domain of the software nerd, the Gentoo jockey, and most importantly, not you. Today, though, virtualization has become mainstream: modern software makes running virtualized operating systems amazingly easy, and undeniably useful.

Intimidating erminology aside, here’s what desktop virtualization means today: You can run just about any OS, Mac OS X excluded, inside any other OS. Ubuntu in Mac OS? Sure. Windows 7 within Windows XP? Why not? Windows ME within Snow Leopard? Nobody's going to stop you, I guess! And these aren't patchy, half-assed experiments we're talking about here—these are fully-functioning installations that'll connect to USB peripherals, access the internet, share files with your host OS, and run almost any software, short of 3D games. You can set up as many of these things as you want, and delete them in a matter of seconds. It's pretty great, is what I'm trying to say.

Best of all, virtualization is now something you can try—and stick with—for free, thanks to software like Sun's VirtualBox. It's a free download on any platform, and it does its job spectacularly. Here's how to get started.

What You’ll Need

Free hard drive space: VirtualBox is going to create a simulated hard drive (a hard drive image, to be specific) inside your current OS’s file system. In other words, you’ll need to have space handy to hold a standard OS install, plus whatever apps you’re planning on using on the host system. 10GB is enough to play around with in most cases.

Lots-o-RAM: As efficient as modern virtualization is, running one OS inside another isn't going to be easy on your hardware. The easiest way to ensure good VM performance is to have plenty of RAM, such that both OSes—your host and your guest—can have more than their minimum recommended amount of RAM.

VirtualBox: This is the virtual machine software, or the program in which all of your virtual OSes will run. You may’ve heard of clients like VMWare or Parallels, but these are either paid or have limited platform support. VirtualBox is a free, cross-platform alternative. Getting it is just a matter of downloading the correct version—there are Windows, Mac and Linux editions—and running an installation wizard.

A guest OS: Installing an OS as a virtual machine is almost exactly like installing an OS natively, albeit slightly easier. In other words, you'll need a full, licensed version of your OS, in whatever form you can get it. Downloaded ISO images will work right out of the box—this is how most Linux distributions will come packaged—while OSes on a CD will work too, including your Windows install discs. If applicable, you'll still need to enter license keys—as far as Microsoft is concerned, this is a fresh installation of an OS.

Installing Your Virtual Machine

I’ve chosen to install Windows 7 within OS X Snow Leopard for this guide, because this will be a common usage scenario, and because the processing of installing an OS in VirtualBox is nearly the same no matter what host/guest combo you’re. If you’re installing Ubuntu 9.04 within Windows XP, for example, you can still follow along. Anyway, here you go:

Installing Guest Additions

VirtualBox supports so-called “Guest Additions” in some OSes, which are essentially sets of tools and drivers that make the virtualization more seamless. If they’re available, you’ll want to install them: the guest OS will adjust to your screen resolution properly, your video performance will be smoother (and in Windows XP and Vista, possibly accelerated), filesharing will be simplified, copy and paste will work between OSes, and in some cases, you’ll even be able to run individual programs as native windows in your host OS

That's called "Seamless Mode," and if you're running Windows inside Mac OS or Linux, you may as well try it out. It's not quite perfect—the Start Menu stacked atop the Dock is a little awkward—but this way you don't have to switch between entire desktops just to switch from one app to another. It's a cool effect, at the very least.

To install Guest Additions, click “Install Guest Additions” under the “Machine” menu while running your virtual machine. Guest Additions should appear in your guest OS as an optical disc, which should contain an installer. Run it, then restart your virtual machine. Once Guest Additions are installed, you can access Seamless Mode from the VirtualBox menu, under “Machine.”

Shared Directories

Copy and paste will often work between the host and guest OS, but if you're planning on using your guest OS for productivity or downloading any kind of media, a shared folder is the only real solution. In the bottom right corner of a running virtual machine, you should see a small folder icon. Clicking it will bring up a shared folder creation dialog. Select where on your host OS your shared folder should be—it can be an existing directory, like your "Music" folder—and check the box to make it "Permanent." On your guest machine, the shared folder will show up as a VirtualBox shared directory in your local network.

(Note: I’m getting reports that some people running Windows 7 guest machines have trouble finding the network share. You may have to map a network drive manually—just right-click "Computer" anywhere in Windows—the Start Menu works fine—and select "Map Network Drive." Choose whatever drive letter you'd like to give your directory, then enter "\\vboxsvr\myshare" as the folder path, where "myshare" is the name you've given your shared folder in virtualbox.)

Connecting USB Devices

One of the most common reasons for installing a virtual machine is to circumvent some kind of driver incompatibility. VirtualBox recognized most of your computer’s inbuilt components, like sound cards, extra storage or webcams, and can use them automatically. For most USB devices, though, you’ll need to tell it when to take control.

In most cases, this just means making sure your device isn’t in use by your host OS (a flash drive will need to be unmounted, for example), and clicking the small USB plug icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. This will bring up a list of available connected devices; simply click the one you want, and you’re good to go.

Odds and Ends

Virtualizing isn't just a good way to get around some kind of nagging compatibility problem, it's a fun way to wile away a few hours experimenting with weird new OSes. Setup is just about the same no matter what you're installing, so there's really no reason not to try some of the more esoteric software out there—anything with an ISO available for download will do. For a taste, try the Haiku Project—a revival of the long-dead BeOS, or see what the hell FreeBSD is.

If you have more tips and tools to share, please drop some links in the comments-your feedback is hugely important to our Saturday How To guides. And if you have any topics you’d like to see covered here, please let me know. Happy virtualizing, folks.

Filed under: Things I found in the Interwebs by Jeremiah | No Comments »
Source: Gizmodo