Mount Virtual Disk in Windows 8.1 pro

[KaminKevCrew]

I need to install windows 7 on an older PC. I have an ISO downloaded (I got it from one of the tech support people at microsoft after providing my product key, so it's a real one.) I've searched several places, and they all tell me that I should have virtual disk support natively on Windows 8.1 pro, but I can't find an option for it anywhere! I've tried right clicking, and looking at the ribbon in the top of windows explorer after selecting it (options suggested by two different places) and neither works. I don't know what to do at this point, since I'd really rather not install any third party software.

[dragoon20005]

I need to install windows 7 on an older PC. I have an ISO downloaded (I got it from one of the tech support people at microsoft after providing my product key, so it's a real one.) I've searched several places, and they all tell me that I should have virtual disk support natively on Windows 8.1 pro, but I can't find an option for it anywhere! I've tried right clicking, and looking at the ribbon in the top of windows explorer after selecting it (options suggested by two different places) and neither works. I don't know what to do at this point, since I'd really rather not install any third party software.

it will be under the Disk Management under Computer Management

 

there will be an option to mount virtual disk

[Smurfinater]

disk management is for virtual hard drives, not virtual cd's/dvd's as in your case with the ISO. 

 

If you just want to burn it there is no need to mount it, and you CAN burn it native. What you do is right-click the ISO file then mouse over send-to, then select your DVD-RW drive. If there is a blank disk it will write to it, if it is not blank or empty it will ask you to insert a blank disk.

 

if you need to view and/or work with the actual contents, just right-click ISO file, mouse-over "open with" then select explorer then it will open it it as if where a folder, then you can do whatever you need with those files.

 

if you need, or perfer to make a bootable USB check this link out: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool it is the official method, and software from microsoft. 

 

good luck!

[KaminKevCrew]

 

 

if you need, or perfer to make a bootable USB check this link out: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool it is the official method, and software from microsoft. 

 

good luck!

The last one is what I needed, I was trying to make a bootable USB drive... Thank you! (Be aware, the official microsoft one seems to have been removed, so you might need to download it from somewhere like Cnet.

[Smurfinater]

The last one is what I needed, I was trying to make a bootable USB drive... Thank you! (Be aware, the official microsoft one seems to have been removed, so you might need to download it from somewhere like Cnet.

Your Welcome, my apologies I posted the link wrong apparently try this now.  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool. that is the instructions and download link on that page. again my mistake for not proof-reading. 

[KaminKevCrew]

Your Welcome, my apologies I posted the link wrong apparently try this now.  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool. that is the instructions and download link on that page. again my mistake for not proof-reading. 

That one works! I spent about 4 hours last night trying different things, trying to get it to work after I saw your post (I got the USB DVD download tool) but the issue that I'm having is that I can't figure out how to run the bootsect.exe properly to create a proper bootable sector on my USB drive.

 

It may also have to do with the fact that I'm using an LGA 775 system, but I don't think that's the problem.

 

I think that the issue is that these things don't like to work on Windows 8 systems, which is really quite frustrating. If anyone has ever successfully created a bootable USB drive within Windows 8 (For windows 7, not another copy of 8) that would be amazing. (For the record, I'm running Windows 8.1 pro)

[Smurfinater]

use this, i know you dont want to use third party but its very simple to use, and i use it all the time on windows 8.1 pro. The software is called Rufus. its legit, and its open source, and trusted by professionals like myself. Here is a link for instructions and download: http://www.tweakandtrick.com/2014/07/bootable-usb-drives.html. the download link is the blue "rufus" word in the instructions. good luck! and let me know if you need any more help, if not mark it as best answer

[KaminKevCrew]

use this, i know you dont want to use third party but its very simple to use, and i use it all the time on windows 8.1 pro. The software is called Rufus. its legit, and its open source, and trusted by professionals like myself. Here is a link for instructions and download: http://www.tweakandtrick.com/2014/07/bootable-usb-drives.html. the download link is the blue "rufus" word in the instructions. good luck! and let me know if you need any more help, if not mark it as best answer

I'm in the process of getting rufus to write the iso to my flash drive (I only have one... I should really get several at this point...) anyway, I tried burning an image to one of the DVD's I had laying around, and that didn't even work. Although I suspect that may be due to it being a double layer DVD disc, which I don't think was supported for windows 7. If Rufus comes through for me, your answer will definitely be marked as best!

[TDP_Equinox]

I'm in the process of getting rufus to write the iso to my flash drive (I only have one... I should really get several at this point...) anyway, I tried burning an image to one of the DVD's I had laying around, and that didn't even work. Although I suspect that may be due to it being a double layer DVD disc, which I don't think was supported for windows 7. If Rufus comes through for me, your answer will definitely be marked as best!

If rufus fails, try UNetBootin

[NannerBeans]

Download poweriso and then use it to extract your iso and then just copy the extracted files to a flash drive. You can also burn the iso to a dvd r instead. 

[KaminKevCrew]

I think it may have to do with my using a 64GB USB3 drive to try to boot off of? I keep getting a message that says "DISK READ ERROR OCCURED" and I don't know why that would be. I've tried multiple USB slots, and none of them have made a difference. I'm currently running Ubuntu on the computer, and it starts up fine, so the problem isn't with the hard drives.

 

That being said, I've tried burning an ISO as well as the USB drive, so I am completely at a loss. 

 

Also, now that I think about it, I installed Ubuntu with the same USB drive, so the drive should work on that motherboard. 

 

Could it have to do with the Ubuntu install? 

Is there a specific format that the drive needs to be formatted to? It's currently in NTFS.

 

Edit: I just tried to use this motherboard to install Windows 7 onto one of the drives that goes in that computer, figuring that would sort out my issues. When I go to use the USB drive to install windows, I get a message that says "error: missing driver" or something to that effect. Anyone know what that is about? This is after I used Rufus to set up the USB drive. I got the same error with the DVD disc too. 

 

When I ran Rufus, I did a bad sector check, and the whole thumb drive seems to be fine. Not sure what the issue could possibly be.

Thanks for any help!

[KaminKevCrew]

use this, i know you dont want to use third party but its very simple to use, and i use it all the time on windows 8.1 pro. The software is called Rufus. its legit, and its open source, and trusted by professionals like myself. Here is a link for instructions and download: http://www.tweakandtrick.com/2014/07/bootable-usb-drives.html. the download link is the blue "rufus" word in the instructions. good luck! and let me know if you need any more help, if not mark it as best answer

Eureka! It turns out that the Nforce 790i Ultra Doesn't like to boot using an NTFS formatted USB drive. Good to know! I ended up using Large FAT32, and she started right up!