# Windows 7- Boot from External Drive?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-boot-from-external-drive/507146>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 21, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-boot-from-external-drive/507146 "2009-08-21T00:22:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-boot-from-external-drive/507146/1 "2009-08-21T00:22:51Z")

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As per the title, I have an RC Copy of Windows 7. Can any genius advise if I can load it so that it boots from an external drive rather than overwriting Vista?

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**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-boot-from-external-drive/507146/2 "2009-08-21T02:04:26Z")

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Generally there is no way to load it onto an external drive. This [link](http://runwin7fromusb.blogspot.com/2008/11/installing-windows-7-6801-on-vmware.html)is to a blogger that indicates he has a way around the limitation. Please note, I have not tried this myself and am in no way a genius.

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**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-boot-from-external-drive/507146/3 "2009-08-21T03:11:43Z")

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Thanks Cyros. At least you know more than I do.

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**Author:** ![Anomie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Anomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anomie)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-boot-from-external-drive/507146/4 "2009-08-21T07:43:48Z")

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Are we talking USB or eSATA, for the external drive? (The linked article specified USB).

I once installed Vista on an eSATA drive for troubleshooting purposes, with no difficulty. Does Windows 7 prevent this for some reason?

Also, if you can get to the bare drive by opening up your external drive’s case, you could plug it into a regular SATA port on your computer’s motherboard. That should allow you to install OK. Then just reassemble the external drive and select boot from USB in the BIOS.

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**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-boot-from-external-drive/507146/5 "2009-08-21T08:30:05Z")

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I know this isn’t directly what you’re asking, but you do know that, if you’ve got enough free space, you can put 7 in a new partition on your existing hard drive?

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**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-boot-from-external-drive/507146/6 "2009-08-21T16:40:23Z")

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I put the Windows 7 files on a USB thumb drive and used it to install onto an external eSATA drive … been dual booting XP and 7 for several months.