Windows 7 on the EEE PC 701? – No, we are not kidding [Netbook]
Raine over eeeuser has been to be install the Windows 7 onto the EEE 701. Now, the installation of Windows 7 on this EEE is not just-another-Windows7-installation on a netbook. The EEE 701 has a small 4GB SSD. The footprint of Windows 7 is over 8GB.
Update – New guide on how to install Windows 7 on Asus Eee PC 701
So, how to do it?
You will have to nlite the Windows 7 install. This means that you will have to take a lot of components out of the standard Windows 7 install to reduce to a much smaller foorprint.
To make you work easier, he Raine has been kind enough and has posted the configuration settings of his nlite install. This will reduce much of your work.
Here are the steps:
1. Vlite: Follow these Vlite settings
2. Install in a virtual machine. Clean the winsxs. Disable the indexing (makes it snappier) and compress drive (saves a lot of space). You can also delete the DVD Maker folder (since there is no dvd burner on this thing) and Microsoft Games (I don’t like them).
3. OPTIONAL: Use Vispa to set your desired settings (error reporting, scheduled task and so on).
RECOMMENDED: Disable hibernation (in cmd: powercfg.exe -h off) and pagefile. If you do so, reboot before ghosting.
4. Use Norton Ghost 8 to make the ghost image of it.
5. On your EEE, restore your image on the SSD
6. Reboot on WinPE (since the boot manager is broken) and enter the following in Command:
BCDEDIT /set {bootmgr} device boot
BCDEDIT /set {default} device partition=d:
BCDEDIT /set {default} osdevice partition=d:
This will fix the boot manager and allows Se7en to start on SSD. And yes, the d: is correct, Se7en uses two partitions.
Reboot
Note: Make sure you compress the drive after the install to regain 700-900MB
Commentary: The Windows 7 is running surprisingly nice on the EEE 701. The only issue is the unable to run the Windows Live messenger and its inability to get into standby with the SD card inserted.
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Haha interesting….. I don’t feel it will be worth they try though.
What is WinPE actually?
what is winPE and how to recover the image file from ghost 14?
winPE: windows preinstallation environment
i know how am i gonna get in?
[...] to see an obsolete netbook running the latest operating systems. After trying Vista and even Windows 7 on the EEE 701, I could not stop myself from trying Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix on it. So how does it [...]
well… nice tutorial… it has guided me, but.. i found an easyer way to install it, using acronis image… The main advantage it’s that it has it’s own “os” and you can boot before windows boot… so you don’t need any winpe or aditional commands.
Step 1 install in virtual machine win 7 tiny
Step 2 do the cleaning reccomented in the above (Install in a virtual machine. Clean the winsxs. Disable the indexing (makes it snappier) and compress drive (saves a lot of space). You can also delete the DVD Maker folder (since there is no dvd burner on this thing) and Microsoft Games (I don’t like them).
OPTIONAL: Use Vispa to set your desired settings (error reporting, scheduled task and so on).
RECOMMENDED: Disable hibernation (in cmd: powercfg.exe -h off) and pagefile. If you do so, reboot before ghosting.)
install acronis image, activate boot acronis or whatever the name is, and make an image.
Copy it on an usb stick…. pluck it in the eee, with previously installed acronis and in the boot, enter acronis .. it’s preaty easy from that
:)
Very nice. Thanks for hard hard work
How about the drivers?
@Ubuntu 9.10 netbook remix on ASUS EEE 701 : GadgetMix.com!::.. says:
November 9, 2009 at 1:05 am
[...] to see an obsolete netbook running the latest operating systems. After trying Vista and even Windows 7 on the EEE 701, I could not stop myself from trying Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix on it. So how does it [...]
I have ubuntu 9.10 netbook remix on my 701 and it’s fine i turned off all the fancy stuff and now it flies
I got my Eee 701 a few weeks ago and upgraded the RAM to 2gb.
Now im busy putting windows 7 on it, I’ve had Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook on it and now im running Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop/Laptop version on it but Linux OS are anoying and require alot of research for every little installation..
The CPU also runs at 630Mhz on a standard os (there is a fix for this on by downloading the linux program cpufrequtils), but with windows you can fix this more easyly by using eeectl (http://cpp.in/dev/eeectl/).
I started working on the Windows 7 image yesterday and been playing with it and playing with the VM’s, I’ve been having problems with the vLite installations but I could be deleting too meny componants xD… anyways I installed the full Windows 7 installation on a 16GB VM and i noticed that the full installation takes 9GB so im gonna see if I can downgrade that to 4GB otherwise im gonna start using vLite again!
I’ll probably be using Norton/Symantic Ghost to put the image onto my 701, ill leave a message here when I got it up and running!!
Paul
After hours of trial and error, and reinstalling vm’s I got it working!
What you need:
1. A computer that can support Virtual Machine software.
2. 3GB+ USB memory stick.
2. Software: Windows 7 Disk/ISO, Virtual Software, RT7Lite, Norton Ghost Server, Hiren Disk ISO or Norton Disk ISO and Hiren Disk Bootable USB or Norton Disk Bootable USB.
Steps:
Step 1. Install Windows Virtual PC (VMware/VirtualBox are also good).
Step 2. Install RT7Lite ( http://www.rt7lite.com/ ).
Step 3. Make sure you have an .ISO file created of your Windows 7 disk.
Step 4. Start RT7Lite and Browse for ISO, then select you’re ISO and also an OS folder that you would like RT7Lite to use to edit your ISO with…
Step 5. After RT7Lite has finished loading the Tasks tab will activate. Activate the Components and Bootable ISO options (you may also activate the others if you wanna make more tweaks to your installation).
Step 6. Go to components and remove as many as you can using RT7Lite, including:
-All the Accessories you won’t use.
-Most of the drivers ( You can get the drivers after installation from windows update and under XP downloads from the ASUS website http://support.asus.com/download/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us ).
-All the Languages (except your own).
-Also remove most Network components.
-Don’t touch the services (remove them after installation).
-Go through the system options and remove as many as you can, read before remove.
Step 7. Create Bootable ISO.
Step 8. Create a VM with 1x16GB Fixed HDD and 1x4GB Fixed HDD.
Step 9. Mount your new Windows 7 ISO onto your VM and install it to the 16GB HDD.
Step 10. Activate Windows. Clean the winsxs. Disable the indexing and compress drive. You can also delete the DVD Maker folder and Microsoft Games. Disable pagefile (Computer Properties/Advanced/Set pagefile to none).
Step 11: Start Disk Manager and shrink your main partition to 4GB on your 16GB HDD.
Step 12. Create Ghost, I used Norton Ghost Server 11.5 and ran it from my computer, then mounted the Hiren Boot DVD 10.4 ISO (which also has Norton Ghost 11.5.1 on it, Norton can be found in Backup option) at start-up of my VM.
Start Ghost Server and create a copy/partition session, use Ghost with network (make sure your network is activated on your VM) run 2 sessions: make a copy of the 2 partitions on the 16 GB VM HDD. (Don’t compress!)
Step 13: Now recover the first partition of 100MB (System Reserved) using Ghost Server and your Hiren ISO onto your 4GB VM HHD, make sure you recover it as a partition size of 13MB. (This will give you 83MB more on you main drive).
Step 14: Start-up your VM on your 16GB HDD again and start Disk Manager, create a new partition on the 4GB HDD which uses the rest of the memory on the disk. (Partition 1: System Reserved 13MB, Partition 2: The rest)
Step 15: Using Ghost Server/Hiren ISO recover the other main partition onto the second partition which you just created on the 4GB HDD.
Step 16: Remove the 16GB HDD from your VM options and make your 4GB VM drive your main drive. Mount your Windows 7 ISO at start-up and start repair/cmd (don’t allow windows to repair itself) and enter the following in Command:
BCDEDIT /set {bootmgr} device boot
BCDEDIT /set {default} device partition=d:
BCDEDIT /set {default} osdevice partition=d:
Step 17: Now restart your computer and run the 4GB at start-up, clean the HDD using Disk Cleanup tool from windows, I also recommend you use portable CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds )and RED ( Remove Empty Directories, http://www.jonasjohn.de/lab/red.htm ) and you may also remove Windows Services by starting cmd and enter the following in Command:
sc delete ‘Service Name’
This will all help the performance of your Eee PC.
Step 18: Now you’re ready to install Windows 7 on your Eee PC, create a ghost of the whole 4GB disk on your VM and then make a Hiren boot USB to recover it onto your Eee PC, copy you’re newly made ghost file onto your Hiren boot USB and just run a local recovery onto your Eee PC HDD. (You can also recover it from your computer via your network back to your Eee PC or via a second memory stick if your main USB is not large enough but local is faster)
Step 19: after installation you will notice that Windows 7 is automatically installing the Eee PC system drivers and you have lost a lot of memory because of this… regain a lot of memory by starting cmd and Disabling hibernation in cmd: powercfg.exe -h off.
Lol I dunno were I find the time, I’m definitely using RT7Lite to make an image for my computer!
Thanks for the detailed instructions
Hi,
Anyone know why I keep getting Code 39 error on my Realtek HD sound and Webcam drivers?
I can’t seem to find the cause of the problem and the reg fix that people have posted on the internet doesn’t work either…
It’s anoying to have everything working apart from the sound and webcam xD, I even got office 2010, a virus scanner and windows live messanger on this little thing…
Oh yea and a great acpi driver for your Eee PC is this one: http://gecko.me/?acpifix
Paul