What you need – A Desktop computer or Laptop computer with a DVD Drive, a name brand like Dell, HP or Lenovo best. Highly recommend Dell. Genuine Windows 7 Professional DVD
Estimated time – 1 to 2 hours depending on the speed of the computer.

We highly recommend Window 7 Professional or Ultimate. It’s more expensive but both have more features than all the other versions. The installation for Windows 7 is pretty much the same for all versions.

We are using a Dell Optiplex 745 for this demonstration.

Please remember if you miss booting into the BIOS or anything else just Press the Restart button or Hold the Power Button down for about 10 seconds and try again.

The BIOS –

First you need to make sure your BIOS settings are correct. The BIOS of a computer is a program on a small chip inside that controls how the computer starts up. It stands for Basic Input/Output System. It tests the hardware of the computer and loads the Operating System all in a matter of seconds when the computer starts up.

If you have a brand new computer, the settings should be correct. All computers have similarities in their settings but will not be exactly the same.

The BIOS of the computer is accessible only when you first start the computer in the very first screen that you see.

Every computer uses different keyboard keys to get into the BIOS, this one uses F2. When you press the power button of the computer keep pressing F2 right after until it goes into the BIOS. Some computers use the Delete key  while others use F11. The boot screen will tell you what keys it uses to get into what menu. This Dell computer shows you in the top right.

This is what the BIOS of this Dell looks like – You will use the keyboard arrow keys to move around and we will check the Boot Sequence to make sure that the DVD Drive is on the list, since we will be booting from it. Booting to a DVD Drive means that we are going to start the computer through the DVD Drive to install Windows 7 to the hard drive.

You can see a number 1 on Onboard SATA Hard Drive. The Space Bar controls whether a particular device is bootable. All you have to do in this situation is Press the Space Bar while it is highlighting the Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive. Select the Onboard SATA Hard Drive and Press the Space Bar to take off it’s number, this will keep it from booting.  Then press Enter to save the changes.

When you press Escape (ESC) to exit the BIOS, you have to choose Save/Exit and then Press Enter to Exit out.

Boot Menus –

Luckily even though this Dell is old, it has as Boot Menu. Most computers have this. It’s a menu that will give you Drive Options to boot into. We will use the Boot Menu since it’s easier. Make sure your Windows 7 DVD is in the DVD Drive. F12 is the Boot Menu button for this Dell. Keep pressing it when the computer starts and you will get the menu below.

Highlight Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive and Press Enter. You will hear the DVD spinning and you will see the message “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD”, Press Enter when you see this.

Windows 7 Installation –

First you’ll see this these two screens – the first one saying Windows is loading files and the other saying Starting Windows.

The main menu will come up. If everything is correct for your language and country Click on Next.

Click on Install now.

Check Mark I accept the license terms and then Click on Next.

Click on Custom (advanced).

The Hard Drive should be empty and we will need to Partition it, which means that we are creating the foundation for Windows 7 to be installed on it. Click on Drive options (advanced).

Click on New.

Click on Apply.

Click OK.

When it finishes Click on Disk 0 Partition 2 and then Click on Next.

This part will start copying files to the Hard Drive and then Install Windows 7 to it. Depending on your computer’s speed, this may take anywhere from 20 – 40 minutes.

Your computer will restart automatically right after.

When it restarts it should boot straight into the Hard Drive by itself. DO NOT BOOT BACK INTO THE DVD DRIVE. If it boots into the DVD Drive, restart the computer and adjust the BIOS settings so that the Hard Drive is number 1 or go back to the Boot Menu and choose Onboard SATA Hard Drive.  You will see these 4 loading screens.

Type in a user name and a name for the computer. They have to be different from each other then Click Next.

Type in a password. Make sure it’s a strong one, one capital letter, a character and some numbers.

Type in the Product Key. This is typically located on the DVD case or package somewhere.

Click on Use recommended settings.

Set your Time Zone, Date and Time and then Click on Next.

Your most likely at home so Click on Home network but choose Work network if you are at Work. After this Windows will start loading and you will see the Welcome screen.

Once you see the Desktop; the Installation is complete. Congratulations!!! You just installed Windows 7 Professional!!!