Manually install Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8 and 7 in LEGACY BIOS mode (old BIOS / MBR)

3. Copy Windows installation files to desired hard drive or SSD

3.1. Use an MBR on the desired destination disk

Press "SHIFT + F10" to open the command prompt (cmd.exe) hidden in the Windows PE environment you are in. A black window will appear.

In this command prompt, launch the "DiskPart" tool which allows you to manage the partitions of your local disks (hard disks and SSDs).

Batch

diskpart

This will display:

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Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.1
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: MINWINPC
DISKPART>

In this "DiskPart" tool (hence the "DISKPART>" prefix which will be displayed each time), display the list of disks available in your case by typing the command:

Batch

list disk

In our case, we only have one hard drive.
Note: this command displays the list of your physical disks and not the list of partitions created on them.

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Disk ###   Status         Size     Free    Dyn  GPT
---------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
Disk 0     Online         80 GB      80 GB

Select the disk where you want to install Windows.
In our case, disk 0.

Batch

sel disk 0

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Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

If there is already data on it, delete all partitions on it by typing the command below.

Batch

clean

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DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.

Then, force the use of an MBR on this physical disk by typing the command:

Batch

convert mbr

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DiskPart successfully converted the selected disk to MBR format.

First create the 100 MB system partition used by Windows in Legacy BIOS mode installation.
Source: Boot to a virtual hard disk: Add a VHDX or VHD to the boot menu | Microsoft Learn.

3.2. Create the 100MB system partition required for booting in MBR mode

Batch

create partition primary size=100

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DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

Quickly format this partition in NTFS and name it "System".

Warning : this name is important. Do not change it.

Batch

format fs=ntfs label="System"

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  100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

Assign the letter "S" to this partition.

Warning : again, the choice of the letter "S" is voluntary. Do not change it.

Batch

assign letter="S"

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DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

Set this partition as "active" to indicate to your motherboard that it is through this partition that your computer will be able to boot into Windows (in Legacy BIOS mode).

Batch

active

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DiskPart marked the current partition as active

3.3. Create the partition where Windows is installed

Now that the 100MB system partition is created on your disk.
All you have to do is create a primary partition on the rest of this disk.

To do this, create the primary partition.

Batch

create partition primary

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DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

Format this partition as NTFS and name it "Windows 10" (for example).
Note: the name doesn't matter this time, so indicate the version of Windows you want to install or just "Windows" if you want.

Batch

format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows 10"

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  100 percent completed

DiskPart has formatted the volume.

Assign the letter "C" to this partition (for convenience).

Batch

assign letter="C"

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DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

Display the list of volumes available in your case and locate the CD/DVD drive letter corresponding to your Windows installation DVD.

Batch

list vol

In our case, our CD/DVD drive has the letter "D".

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Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
Volume 0     D   CCCOMA_X64F  UDF    DVD-ROM     5046 MB  Healthy
Volume 1     S   System       NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy
Volume 2     C   Windows 10   NTFS   Partition     79 GB  Healthy

Then, exit DiskPart to return to the command prompt (cmd.exe).

Batch

exit

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Quit DiskPart...

The command prompt (cmd.exe) prefix "X:\Sources>" reappears instead of the DiskPart prefix "DISKPART>".

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X:\Sources>

3.4. Copy Windows installation files to desired destination disk

Depending on your Windows installation DVD, the Windows installation image file may be in "WIM" format (standard format) or "ESD" format (compressed format).
To find out which file you have, use the command below, changing the letter "D" to the letter of your CD/DVD drive.

Batch

dir D:\sources\install.*

Plain Text

Volume in drive D is CCCOMA_X64FRE_FR-FR_DV9
Volume Serial Number is XXXX-XXXX

Directory of D:\sources

11-05-20  07:45     4,494,699,121 install.wim
               1 File(s)   4,494,699,121 bytes
               0 Dir(s)                0 bytes free

To find out which editions are present in your installation file (install.wim or install.esd), use this command:

Batch

dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:D:\sources\install.wim

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Deployment Image Servicing and Management and tool
Version: 10.0.19041.1

Details for image : D:\sources\install.wim

Index : 1
Name : Windows 10 Home
Description : Windows 10 Home
Size : 14,249,378,371 bytes

...

Index : 6
Name : Windows 10 Pro
Description : Windows 10 Pro
Size : 14,488,259,293 bytes

Locate the index corresponding to the edition you want to install.

Important : you must use the edition that matches your Windows serial number.
Otherwise, your serial number will not be valid.

If you used the "Hiren's BootCD PE" live CD and want to install Windows 8 or 7, you will notice that this command works too (since the "dism" command used is the one from Windows 10).

In our case, we will install the "Windows 10 Pro" edition by specifying the index "6" in the command below.

• /Apply-Image : allows you to apply the desired installation image.
• /ImageFile:D:\sources\install.wim : allows you to indicate the path to the "install.wim" or "install.esd" file present on the Windows installation DVD (which in our case has the letter "D").
• /Index:6 : allows you to indicate which edition you want to install (see previous image for the correspondences between the index and the desired edition).
• /ApplyDir:C:\ : allows you to indicate that the installation image must be deployed on the "C" partition in this case.
  Which corresponds to the primary partition created on your hard drive or SSD.

Batch

dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:D:\sources\install.wim /Index:6 /ApplyDir:C:\

Please wait while the Windows installation files are copied to your hard drive or SSD.

Plain Text

Deployment Image Servicing and Management and tool
Version : 10.0.19041.1

Applying the image
[======                     12.0%                          ]

Once the installation is complete, you will see the message "The operation completed successfully".

Plain Text

Applying the image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

Important : to boot Windows 11, 10 or 8.1 in Legacy BIOS mode, create the boot files in the system partition (with the letter "S" and named "System") using the command below.

Batch

bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f BIOS

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Boot files successfully created.

Warning : if you booted from the "Hiren's BootCD PE" live CD to manually install Windows 8, the "bcdboot" program (x:\windows\system32\bcdboot.exe) that will be used by default will be the one from the Windows PE environment of this live CD.
In other words, the "bcdboot" program that will be used by default will be the one from Windows 10.
However, you must use the one from Windows 8 so that the system files that will be created correspond to the version of Windows that you are trying to install manually.
To do this, use the command below rather than the previous one.

Note: the path "C:\Windows" in this case refers to your Windows 8 installation that you just deployed from the corresponding "install.wim" image.

Batch

C:\Windows\system32\bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f BIOS

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Boot files successfully created.

If you chose to manually install Windows 7 using the "Hiren's BootCD PE" live CD, you will need to use the "bcdboot" command a little differently, as the "/f" parameter does not exist.
To create the boot files in BIOS mode, you will therefore need to use the command below.

Batch

C:\Windows\system32\bcdboot C:\Windows /s S:

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Boot files successfully created.

Close the command prompt and the installer by clicking on the cross located at the top right.
Remove the Windows installation DVD from your CD/DVD drive and confirm the closing of the Windows installer by clicking Yes.

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Are you sure you want to cancel Windows installation?

If you used the "Hiren's BootCD PE" live CD, open the start menu and click "Restart" to restart your computer.