Reinstalling Windows 7 via BIOS on a laptop. How to change Windows on an old BIOS

Hello, my dear readers!

If you've ever installed a new operating system, chances are you've simply updated it. For example, from “seven” to “eight” and so on. Yesterday I tried to install the OS from scratch, and I had to do it through the BIOS settings. The matter requires care, but everyone should know these aspects. Today I will tell you how to reinstall Windows via BIOS, and different ways and from various media.

What is BIOS and what does it have to do with it?

If you explain in simple words, then BIOS is a set of small programs that control the operation of your hardware in your computer. It is available on any PC, whether desktop or laptop. Without knowing the purpose of this or that section in it, I strongly do not recommend changing anything in it yourself. In the worst case scenario, you can simply burn the iron in your car.

For example, turn off the fan on the video card and that's it. The service will no longer help you here. But you still have to interact with the BIOS. Especially with the section that is responsible for the boot order from an optical drive, hard drive, flash drive or other device. This is necessary when installing the OS from scratch.

How to enter BIOS

Everything is very simple. This is done without a disk or flash drive. First, you need to restart your laptop. Or your desktop PC. As soon as the motherboard loading screen appears, you will see a picture like this.

Pay attention to the line that I indicated with an arrow. The default key is there DEL, and if it is pressed when such a screen appears, then you will immediately be taken to the BIOS. However, there may be other keys, for example: DELETE,F10, F11, F12, F1, F2, F3, Esc. Moreover, on some motherboards, these settings can be called up not with one key, but with a combination of them. Here are the most common ones: Ctrl+Alt+Esc, Ctrl+Alt+Ins, Ctrl+Alt+S, Ctrl+Alt+Del, Ctrl+Alt, Fn+F1, Ctrl+Ins, Ctrl+Alt+Enter. You should see a window like this.

If this doesn't happen, it means you did something wrong. Try again.

Preparing for installation

Before installing the OS, you first need to download and burn it. Which version of Windows you prefer is up to you. I will only give links to distribution kits on:

Windows 7.
Windows 8.
Windows 10.

To download images you will need program for downloading torrents. Just install it and download the distribution online. If this download method is not convenient for you, I suggest Alternative option. This page has software that will help you download Windows and burn it to disk, just scroll to the bottom of the page and click here.

If you still decide to use torrents, then you will need another software to burn ISO. UltraISO. It will help you create a bootable disc or flash drive. Install it and open it.

Important: After downloading the distribution, be sure to check it for viruses, for example using Comodo Internet Security.

Let's imagine that you decide to install the operating system from a disk (don't forget to prepare it in advance). Open UltraISO and select the image of the downloaded system.

You can also do this through the menu " File».

Everything that is on the OS image should be displayed in the program window.

Next, paste it into your optical drive clean block. Make sure that there is not a single scratch on it, otherwise it simply will not be readable. Then in the menu " tools"Click on this line.

You will see a window with a choice of drive, burning speed and the OS file itself.

Then simply press the button Write down" and wait for completion. That's it, you just created it yourself boot disk.

Don't want to install the operating system from the DVD? I'll tell you how to do this with via USB flash drives!

Immediately insert it into the USB port and scan for viruses using AVG AntiVirus Free. Next, do the same with the UltraISO program until you select the “ tools" Now you select the “” section and click burn image there hard drive.

In the sign that appears, select “ Yes"and wait for the end. But now you can start recording. Once the process is complete, you can remove the flash drive and proceed to installation.

Setting up BIOS for booting from media

Now let's set up the system. We go into the BIOS. You have already read above how to do this. The fact is, my dear readers, that the BIOS itself can be of two types. Award and AMI. And in each of them the setting will be different. I have written instructions for you so that you do not get confused.

Award BIOS – setup for booting from disk

As soon as he appeared blue screen settings, click the second line where it says - Advanced BIOS Features.

Then in the second line (First Boot Device) click Enter and select your optical drive.

In the second line (Second Boot Device) do the same, but select the hard drive (Hard Disk).

AMI BIOS – setting for booting from disk

Here the principle is the same, but the course of action is slightly different and the interface is nicer.

To install almost any operating system from the very beginning, you must configure the computer's input/output system (BIOS) to change the boot priority. You will install the operating system from optical storage media, that is, from (CD/DVD) or from a flash drive, you must set it correctly BIOS settings, believe me, it's not difficult. So, for this to happen in the BIOS, you will have to change the BIOS settings yourself, so that when you turn on the computer, booting from a CD or flash drive is prioritized, and then from the hard drive. Let's take a closer look at everything.

BIOS: boot from disk or flash drive

When you turn on your computer, the first thing you do is test the equipment for functionality, in simple words it kind of tests itself, this is the so-called procedure (POST), then the baton is passed to a special program (MBR), which selects from which partition on the hard drive to boot operating system, so before this choice we must boot from a CD or flash drive.

How to enter (BIOS)? If by some miracle you still have instructions for motherboard, then it is definitely written about it, if not, then when you turn on the computer we look at the inscription on the monitor, it may look like this: Press DEL to enter SETUP, that is, in order to enter the (BIOS) you need to while the inscription on the monitor is lit, press the key several times .

The inscriptions may be different, there may not even be any inscriptions, this should not confuse you, in most cases these are the F2 or Delete keys, less often F1, even less often , F11, F12 So, immediately after turning on the computer, press the F2 or Delete key and do not release it until we get to the BIOS. You should succeed and such a window should appear in front of you on the monitor. This is the window Ami BIOS, we will look at setting it up here. If the window is different, then this is - Award BIOS, we will look at its settings below.

Ami BIOS

Award BIOS

Ami BIOS

For many who will do this all for the first time, and do something wrong, important information will be given, if you have changed parameters unfamiliar to you, you need to go to the (Exit) tab, it is located from the (Boot) tab to the right after the (Tools) tab ) and is underlined in red in the photo. Next, you need to use the arrows on your keyboard to the Load Setup Defaults item, and press Enter, then go to the menu.

Load Setup Defaults will apply the default settings (BIOS), and they will be the same as they were before your experiments, select OK and the settings will be reset to default, remember this.

After all these necessary digressions, let's return to the main topic and the first photo. We need the Boot item, use the arrows on the keyboard to select it, press Enter and then go to the Boot Device Priority item.

At this point we see that the first boot device is set to HDD, use the arrows to highlight the first item 1st Boot Device and press the Enter key.

In the Options item we need to select your drive (CD/DVD) using the arrow and press Enter and it will automatically become the first device

You should get it as shown in the photo.

Now all we have to do is save our settings and exit (BIOS).We press the Esc key on the keyboard and exit this menu, then use the arrows to move to the Exit item and press Enter, we are asked if we want to save our settings before exiting, we agree and press Enter.

The computer should reboot and if you have a disk with the Windows XP or Windows 7 operating system in your CD-DVD drive, the installation of the operating system should begin.

BIOS Award

Now let's look at - Award B IOS. In its main window we need the itemAdvanced BIOS Features, select it using the arrows on the keyboard and press Enter.

We need the First Boot Device item, which is responsible for the first boot device, now as we see such a device is a hard drive (HDD-0), select it and press Enter

Do you want to install Windows 7 on your computer or laptop, but don’t know how? It's not as difficult as it seems. Although the first time, of course, will be difficult. But, once you figure it out, you will become a real “IT master” and will be able to independently install Windows 7 on any computer or laptop.

Before installing Windows 7, print this page. This will make your task much easier. After all, during Windows installations 7 there will be no Internet access. The only exception is when you have a second PC, laptop or smartphone, from which you can, if necessary, access the site again and see what to do next.

When is Windows 7 installed?

You bought new laptop or computer. Everything is clear here. In most cases, laptops or PCs either do not have any operating system at all, or do not have the one you need (for example, the ancient MS-DOS).
You didn’t like Windows 10 or 8, and you want to install the good old “seven”.
There was a malfunction, a virus or ransomware advertising banner was caught, the computer or laptop does not turn on, etc.

Let's dwell a little on last point. If problems occur with your computer or laptop, do not rush to reinstall Windows. Firstly, reinstalling the operating system is done as a last resort when other methods have not helped.

Secondly, remember that after installing Windows, all data is erased for at least local disk S. And these are all your programs: browsers, video players. And you will have to install everything again.

Thirdly, there are no guarantees that reinstalling Windows will help solve the problem. But the files on local drive C will be deleted permanently in any case.

Therefore, first, try to look for other solutions to restore your PC or laptop. For example, the following articles may help you:

You can also always look for other articles on this blog or through Google/Yandex.

Preparing to install Windows 7 OS

The first thing you need to do before installing Windows 7 on a laptop is to copy all important information. At least from local drive C. After formatting, all data on it will be erased.

If you bought new computer or laptop, you can skip this step. In all other cases, this is a prerequisite!

Therefore, save all files, documents, pictures, audio tracks and videos from your desktop and from the “My Documents” folder. It is also recommended to look at the local drive C - important information is also written to it quite often. Where to save? On a disk or flash drive. Another option is to upload files to online services (Yandex.Disk, Google Drive, etc.).

By the way, sometimes you can copy some programs along with the settings. For example, bookmarks and passwords from the browser you used.

The second point to make is to determine which Windows bit depth 7 You need x86 or x64. Everything is very simple here. If you have 4 GB installed on your laptop or computer random access memory(and more), then you need to install Windows 7 x64, and if less, then x86.

Why is that? The fact is that the x86 version does not see 4 GB of RAM. The maximum that it shows is 3.25 GB.

How to find out the amount of RAM? If you have a new computer, look in the documentation. And if it’s a laptop, then the characteristics are indicated on its case (or on the box).

If you already have Windows installed, then the amount of RAM can be viewed as follows:

The third point that must be completed before installation is to record the digital copy of Windows 7 to a disk or flash drive.

If you already have a boot disk (bought or given in a store along with your PC), then skip this step.

Burning a DVD is easy. After all, you've probably already recorded films, music, games? This can be done through Nero, Alcohol 120% and other programs.

As for the USB flash drive, there are some difficulties. Therefore in in this case I recommend reading -.

Where to get the image or installation disk Windows 7? Can be purchased in store or online.

And the last thing you need to do before installing Windows 7 is to prepare drivers for your laptop or PC. Driver discs are usually included with your computer. If you have them, then you can skip this point.

Laptop owners are not provided with disks, so you need to install drivers from the manufacturer’s official website (search by the name of your model).

If you skip this step, you may be left without internet. After all, you need to install a driver for it. USB ports may also not work. That is, a mouse. And in the end you will have to go to a friend or acquaintances and download the drivers from them.

This completes the preparatory process. Check again that you have saved all the important data, then connect a USB flash drive or insert a DVD with the Windows 7 installation image and restart your laptop/computer.

Setting up BIOS for installing Windows 7

Perhaps setting up the BIOS is the most difficult stage for most users. Especially for beginners.

In addition, the difficulty here is that the BIOS versions may differ on different PCs and laptops. And the buttons to enter the BIOS too. As a result, some users cannot even enter the BIOS. Therefore, to avoid problems with this, let’s consider in detail what needs to be done and how.

So, when you have prepared everything, restart the computer, and immediately when the screen turns on, repeatedly press the Del button (for PCs) or F2 (for laptops). If you did everything correctly, you will see the BIOS screen. Something like this:

Or this:

There are 4 devices displayed here – First Boot Device (first), Second (second), etc. By default, the first one is the hard disk (Hard Disk or HDD). And you need to put the CD-ROM (disk) or USB-HDD (flash drive) on the first line - depending on which device the seven will be installed from.

How to do it? On a PC, you usually need to highlight the first item, press Enter and select the desired option from the drop-down list.

On laptops, the device boot priority can be changed using the arrows or F5-F6 buttons. Control keys are usually located on the right or at the very bottom of the BIOS screen.

When you select the desired device (CD-ROM or USB-HDD) in the first item First Boot Device, be sure to save the settings and then exit the BIOS. Which save button? This is also written at the bottom of the screen (usually F10).

If you have BIOS UEFI ( a new version), then simply drag the desired icon (disk drive or flash drive) to the first place with the mouse and click “Exit” in the upper right corner.

After this, the laptop or computer will reboot and the installation of Windows 7 will begin.

If all this is too complicated for you, there is another option to configure booting from a disk or flash drive without going into the BIOS. For this you can. But this method only works on new PCs and laptops.

Step-by-step instructions for installing Windows 7

Immediately after rebooting, you will see a black screen with a single line.

Here you need to press any button - for example, Space.

If this message does not appear, it means that you did not save the BIOS settings. Check them again. If everything is fine there, then either you did not write the bootable USB flash drive correctly, or the disk is damaged and the computer/laptop does not see it (the disk drive may not be working).

After clicking the button, you will see a black screen with the inscription “Windows is downloading files...”.

Wait for the system to copy everything. After this, a new window will appear on the screen. Select Russian language and click “Next”.

In the new window, click the “Install” button.

If there are several recorded on a disk or flash drive Windows versions 7 – You need to choose the right one. We have already figured out the x86 and x64 bit depth, so decide for yourself here. As for the version, it is better to choose “Maximum”. Although there is almost no difference between it, “Home”, “Beginner” and “Professional”, so this is not so important. Select the desired item and click “Next”.

Agree to the license terms (check the box) and proceed further.

Choose the full installation.

A window will open asking you to select a partition for installing Windows 7. But here it’s worth going into more detail.

How to partition a disk during first installation?

If the installation is performed on a new computer or laptop (i.e. for the first time), then you will see only one line - “Unallocated disk space”.

And in this case, you need to split the hard drive into 2 partitions - local drive C and D (more is possible, but this is not necessary). To do this, select this line, click the “Create” button, indicate the disk size (in megabytes) and click the “Apply” button.

Don't know how much 50 GB is in megabytes? Write a number at random - for example, 50000. And then see what volume the system will show for the created partition. If it turns out too little, select it, click the “Delete” button, and try again, specifying a larger number.

For normal Windows works 7 you need to create a special partition with a capacity of 100 MB where you will store boot files. So when the next window pops up, just click OK.

When you specify the required volume for local drive C and create it, “Partition 2” will appear. This is him.

After that, select the “Unallocated space” line again, click “Create”, and then the “Apply” button. After this, local disk D (“Partition 3”) will appear.

If you forget to do this, then after installing Windows 7 there will be only one local drive C. And partition D will “evaporate” into thin air. You'll have to reinstall Windows again. Therefore, before moving on, make sure that the “Unallocated Space” option is no longer there.

To install Windows on local drive C, select “Partition 2” and click “Next”.

If you reinstall Windows 7, then the following window will appear on the screen:

In this case, you need to select “Section 2” and click the “Format” button. This will delete all data on it. When the formatting process is complete, select this section again and click “Next”.

By the way, if you want to distribute the volume differently between local drive C and D, you can delete them and create them again, specifying a different size. How to do this is written in the previous paragraph. But remember: in this case, the information will be deleted on the local drive D too! As a result, your PC or laptop will be clean, as if you had just bought it. Therefore, perform this procedure only if you have saved all the necessary files.

Continue installing Windows 7

So, you were able to partition your hard drive or format it before installing Windows 7 and clicked the “Next” button. After this, the operating system will begin to install. Wait until the files are copied.

After this, the computer/laptop will reboot and you will again see the familiar black window with a single line.

Under no circumstances press anything on the keyboard, otherwise everything will start all over again.

After this, the computer or laptop will reboot a second time.

Well, the main thing is already behind us, all that remains is to fill in some fields:

Indicate the username and computer name (if you plan to play games, it is better to write in Latin).
You don’t have to set a password - in that case, just move on.
If you have a digital copy, you also don’t have to specify the activation key (usually Windows 7 is activated automatically when you connect to the Internet). To skip this step, click Next. And if you bought a disc, then enter here the code that is written on the sticker.
Here it is recommended to select the “Delay decision” option (you can change these settings later).
Select your time zone, specify the time and click “Next”.
If Windows automatically finds drivers for the Internet, then in the new window select “Home Network”.
Wait while the desktop setup is completed.
Congratulations – you have just been able to install Windows 7 on your laptop or computer yourself.

What to do after installing Windows 7?

First of all, reboot your laptop or computer, go into the BIOS and change the device boot priority back. That is, put the hard drive (Hard Disk or HDD) in first place, and lower the CD-ROM or USB-HDD to second or lower.

Also, after installing Windows 7, the Internet and USB connectors may not work. This is because there are no drivers. Therefore, at the next stage you install them.

This is exactly why you need to prepare everything in advance. necessary drivers before installing Windows 7. Especially on the Internet. After all, how will you download them if you don’t have access to the network?

And one more nuance - when you turn on your computer or laptop, you may see two Windows 7 (during boot).

The first one was installed by you, and the second one was saved in hidden section(“reserved by the system”). However, the extra line can be deleted. To do this, do the following:

Ready. After the reboot, the second Windows 7 will no longer exist, and you will not see the operating system selection menu.

If you have any questions, ask them in the comments.

If you download an ISO image with a Windows distribution and even burn it correctly to a DVD or create a bootable USB flash drive using the same UltraISO, almost no one has any difficulty. Many people have difficulties with the second stage, directly installing the operating system from a disk or flash drive on a PC.
I know of three ways to start installing Windows.
1) the simplest and most unreliable is to open the image through a virtual drive with Windows already running and start the installation, but there are many factors that can interfere and give an error at some stage of such an installation.
2) Insert the flash drive we created into USB connector or a DVD with Windows into your drive, no matter what version, Windows 7, Windows 10, even Win95. This works for everyone. Then, when you turn on the PC, call BOOT menu, this is a list with the media from which we need to boot, select the media we need and press ENTER. You can read more about how here.
3) It differs from method 2 only in that we indicate what we want to boot from not through the boot menu, but in the BIOS of our device.
In this article we will talk in detail about how to install Windows from a flash drive via BIOS or boot Windows 7 from a BIOS flash drive.

Booting Windows 7 from a BIOS flash drive

Installing Windows from a flash drive via BIOS begins by calling the BIOS menu or also called Setup, this is most often done with the Delete button immediately after turning on the laptop or computer, press continuously until you see a blue screen with some text, but it happens that you need to press another button, this is F2 or F10 or Esc. You can try all the options until you see the desired result, or you can read a text like “Press DEL to run Setup” in the welcome window of the mother firmware, it tells us that to get into the BIOS you need to press DEL.

And so, after we got into the BIOS SETUP UTILITY, we look for the Boot tab and use the arrows to go there. We need the Boot device Priority line

The logic here is simple: the higher the device is in the list, the higher the priority in the download queue. That is, the top one in the list is loaded first, and so on in turn until the system boots.

And so, using the arrows, select the first drive in the list and press ENTER, we see a list of all possible devices from which the computer can boot.

If we want to select loading the BIOS via a USB flash drive, then select USB interface, this is Removable Dev or something with the text “USB” included, or if the flash drive is already inserted, the name of the flash drive manufacturer will be written. If you need to select a DVD drive, then as a rule this line begins with the words CDROM: or DVDROM: or it can also be written by the manufacturer of the DVD drive.
If you have made your choice, then press ENTER and in the same way select the second device in turn, the second on the list should be your hard drive on which Windows will be installed. If the BIOS does not see the flash drive, then try inserting the flash drive into another USB connector and do everything all over again.
In order for all changes to be saved in the BIOS Setup, before leaving, you need to go to the Exit tab and select the Exit & Save Changes line and press ENTER.

After this we can Windows bios install via USB flash drive or dvd drive. Not everyone has a bios with a blue screen anymore. In 2017, you can increasingly see a new generation BIOS, it is more graphically thought out, there are pictures of icons for a clear association, if you are not good at English, so as not to make a mistake. But essentially all the settings are the same.
Attention!- after our changes to the BIOS, now the computer will always boot first from the flash drive, then from the hard drive, so it is important when installing Windows after the first stage of installation, when the laptop or PC reboots, YOU NEED TO HAVE TIME TO PULL THE FLASH DRIVE FROM USB connector, or remove the disc from DVD-Roma. Otherwise, the first installation stage will be repeated endlessly.
Now we know how to configure the BIOS to install windows from a flash drive. And having with us a bootable USB flash drive with an image of WINDOWS 7 or 10, we can easily install or reinstall the OS on any device.
Attention! Some builds already have default settings for Chrome browser, the start page leads to search engine go.mail.ru. Everyone has the opportunity to change the search engine to any other.

Now you can independently install Windows 7 recorded on a USB flash drive. Just follow the step by step instructions. From the installation procedure begins professional work with a computer. It is assumed that the installation will be carried out with flash drive. Flash drive or hard drive for installing bootable Windows image 7, must be at least 8Gb in size.

Steps to install Windows 7 from a USB flash drive

Download the latest version of the Windows 7 operating system maximum

At the moment, Windows 7 maximum x64 is one of Microsoft’s successful developments, along with the almost retired XP and the increasingly popular Windows 10. It is stable and ready to fulfill user requests of any complexity. On this moment Windows 7 holds first place in terms of the number of downloads and users.

To create a flash drive with an image of Windows Seven, we recommend using the official utility from the corporation that produces and maintains the Windows OS.
Advantages Windows Utilities 7 USB DVDs
1. Simple and intuitive clear interface programs
2. Designed specifically for creating boot images Windows Seven operating systems
3. Completely free utility only 2.6 Mb in size.

How to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows utility 7 USB DVD:

Download the utility from the official website using the link above. Install Windows 7 USB DVD on your computer following the installation wizard. And we launch the utility about Microsoft. In the main program window that launches, you need to select an iso image, we see two buttons for creating bootable Windows 7.

First button "Browse" for browsing and selection iso image Windows 7 x64.
The second and last button is “Next” to go to the next menu.

And so we select the downloaded system image and press the button number two (Next)

In the next window you need to select the media type for the image and there are already three buttons:

"Start over" to go (return) to the previous menu, to select the Windows Seven installation image.
"USB Device" to proceed to selecting a flash drive or portable hard drive where the image will be installed.
"DVD" to go to select clean DVD disc, where the system image will be installed.

We are interested in button number two "USB Device" click and move on to the next step.

Insert a portable hard drive or flash drive into USB input on the computer. All information from the USB drive during Windows boot to the flash drive, it will be permanently deleted!

Choose defined by the system drive and press the button "Begin Copying" to start copying Windows files to a flash drive.

In the next window, the Windows 7 USB program asks for permission to format a flash drive or portable hard drive. We agree and click “Erase USB Device” to delete all information from the flash drive. Having formatted the flash drive, the installation of the bootable Windows Seven OS will automatically begin. After successful completion of copying Windows files, the program will remind you of this in the next window with the message Bootable USB device created successfully

Close the program with the “Close” button in the upper right corner. Bootable USB flash drive ready with Windows 7.

Changing BIOS settings to select boot from a flash drive

In order for the system to boot from a flash drive, you need to set it to BIOS parameter priority launch from external storage. To do this, when you restart the PC, at the moment when lines with information about technical specifications computer, press the Delete and F2 keys repeatedly. Other options for key operation are also possible, for example on different laptops you need to press the Win+F12, F10 buttons. The result of pressing the correct key will be the appearance of a window.

After that, in the menu that appears, you need to look for the “Boot” option, which changes the boot priority of the operating system. The word can serve as a guide "Boot". The boot device is selected using the Up/Down arrows on the keyboard. The first position is placed on the Flash drive with the name of the flash drive on which you installed Windows Seven, and by pressing the F10 key you must exit the BIOS, answering “OK” (“YES”) to the question about saving all changes “save configuration and exit?”
At this point, work with the BIOS is completed, and if everything was done correctly, and the flash drive with the operating system to be installed is inserted into the USB drive, then after rebooting the PC the following window will appear.

Installing Windows 7 from a USB flash drive with boot via BIOS

Here you need to press an arbitrary key, which will start the installation process.
In the next dialog box, select the system language. By clicking the “Next” button, select “Install” in the next window.

Then you should check the box next to the line indicating acceptance of the terms of the agreement, and click on the “Next” button. In the next interface window, make a choice - “full installation”.

Then you will need to select the partition in which to install the system. By clicking the mouse, you select the desired partition, and then click the “Settings” link, clicking on which will open a window with disk partitioning tools, where you should click the “Format” link. This action will result in a warning.

After confirming your choice by clicking the “OK” button, the process of formatting the logical partition will begin, upon completion of which you will return to the last window. Clicking on the "Next" button initiates the unpacking process installation files, followed by their installation. The installation progress can be observed by the filling of the green bar at the bottom of the window, as well as by the green checkmarks appearing next to each line at the top of the window. After installation is complete, a message will appear indicating a reboot, which can be done immediately by pressing the corresponding button or waiting for the automatic reboot after 15 seconds.

IMPORTANT POINT!

When you restart the PC, you need to enter the BIOS again and change the initial boot from the flash drive to “Hard Disc”. And save the changes, otherwise the installation will start from the very beginning.