How to install Windows without external media?

Agatnet2021-05-24 20:52:20

linux

Agatnet, 2021-05-24 20:52:20

We have:
a non-UEFI computer with two HDDs.
One is Linux. The second one is empty.
There is no ISO image of windows
CD, no flash drive, Internet is available.
Is it possible to put windows on the second HDD? Not in a virtual machine, but on real hardware?
===
Can in a virtualka, and to clone a virtualka on HDD. So it is possible? What about a hardware mismatch?

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8 answer(s)

Dmitry Roo, 2021-05-24
@xez

A whole quiz.
I would try to create a small partition for the installer on an empty hdd (somewhere at the end), upload the installation image to it and boot and install from it.

CityCat4, 2021-05-25
@CityCat4

What is this, an exercise in ingenuity? Because usually in such cases they go to the nearest DNS and buy a flash drive for 200 rubles. And do not compost Moscow.

SuperNickname, 2021-05-25
@SuperNickname

Just unzip the iso image to disk with an archiver. An NTFS partition automatically has a pointer to the bootmgr file in the boot sector, which the installer then launches. All my life I have been setting it up this way, tk. from an internal drive, the speed is almost always higher than via usb. (usb 3.0 flash is faster than hdd, but ssd is getting faster and most people only have hdd+usb 2.0).
If you do not want to unpack the image, you can install directly from iso, but only on mbr markup. Extract grldr from the grub4dos archive to the root of the disk, write a boot entry (or rename grldr to bootmgr), write to menu.lst:

title Windows Installer
set ISO=/windows.iso
ls %ISO% > nul  && partnew (hd0,3) 0x00 %ISO% > nul
map %ISO% (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)

grub4dos will write to the partition table the information that the 4th partition of the hdd starts from the sector where the iso file starts (it must be defragmented).

Dmitry, 2021-05-24
@Tabletko

Install over the network from another computer or create a virtual machine and throw a RAW disk into it and install it on it.

Sergei Nazarenko, 2021-05-24
@nazares

Question:

How to install Windows without external media?

Answer: With the help of internal media.
ZYZH you can force grub to boot from iso as an option and install Windows
https://habr.com/en/post/118472/

Hemul GM, 2021-05-24
@HemulGM

I forwarded the disk to the virtual machine and put the axis there. Everything is working. True, I did it on Windows through Hyper-V

Alexey Dmitriev, 2021-05-25
@SignFinder

Deploy WDS on a neighboring computer and install Windows over the network via PXE

Artem @Jump, 2021-05-25
curated by the

How to install Windows without external media?

By network. Boot from the installation image on the network and install.