Well, I finally did it. I installed Windows. Scary. But, in my limited time playing with Windows 7 (Win7 for short), I FRIKKIN' LOVE IT. It's all the functionality of XP (which I don't hate, just dislike) with the beauty of Vista (which I hate, but all the laptops in the house run). Since I can't install OSes on said laptops, I had to use the ancient Dimension 3000. I had heard it didn't work, but pssh, it does.
Let's get started, shall we? Please note these instructions should basically work for all desktops, notebooks, and netbooks with the Win7 requirements.
First, let me note I made no modifications to the original hardware. The only change was a new HDD, but it was the same type of HDD (Western Digital 70GB) that I salvaged from an old Gateway, which I had been running Ubuntu on. Speaking of, it would be a good idea to have a LiveCD with GParted on it. I had to use my Ubuntu 8.10 CD to format the partition as NTFS. If you want to dual-boot, or are going to use the entire HDD that has a non-Windows/older Windows OS on it, you will have to (re)format it has NTFS.
Ok, the instructions I used are at: http://ping.fm/pgfIN which gives you the lowdown on shrinking the ISO to fit a 2GB flash drive. Now, the install article it links to says you *have* to use a 4GB flash drive, but my 2GB worked fine. (Note: In Vista, when preparing the flash drive to be bootable, you must run PEtoUSb.exe/the .cmd they tell you to run as an administrator)
Ok, once your HDD is properly formatted and your 2GB+ drive is ready (no need for the "backup" drive), you're ready to install! Shut down the Dimension, plug your drive in, and restart. Quickly press F12 when the option is given, and select the USB option. Follow the installation instructions, but when it restarts, you do not have to boot to the drive, just let it restart normally. Now, when it asks for the network type, choose Public, since Home hangs (at least for me). Once you log in, you will notice that you can't change the resolution, it's stuck at 640x400 (I believe). No matter! Fire up IE8, and search "Dimension 3000 drivers". Click the first link (the Dell website), scroll down to "video", and select the first driver. Choose to run, and it will self-extract (the default location is best). Go to said location (C:delldrivers), and click setup. It will fail, but when the dialog box that asks you if it installed correctly pops up, choose to reinstall. Click through the wizard, and restart.
Woo! Once you've restarted you will be in Win7 at a comfortable 1024x768 resolution! Well, that's it, it's that simple!
Until next time,
The Geek Next Door
Let's get started, shall we? Please note these instructions should basically work for all desktops, notebooks, and netbooks with the Win7 requirements.
First, let me note I made no modifications to the original hardware. The only change was a new HDD, but it was the same type of HDD (Western Digital 70GB) that I salvaged from an old Gateway, which I had been running Ubuntu on. Speaking of, it would be a good idea to have a LiveCD with GParted on it. I had to use my Ubuntu 8.10 CD to format the partition as NTFS. If you want to dual-boot, or are going to use the entire HDD that has a non-Windows/older Windows OS on it, you will have to (re)format it has NTFS.
Ok, the instructions I used are at: http://ping.fm/pgfIN which gives you the lowdown on shrinking the ISO to fit a 2GB flash drive. Now, the install article it links to says you *have* to use a 4GB flash drive, but my 2GB worked fine. (Note: In Vista, when preparing the flash drive to be bootable, you must run PEtoUSb.exe/the .cmd they tell you to run as an administrator)
Ok, once your HDD is properly formatted and your 2GB+ drive is ready (no need for the "backup" drive), you're ready to install! Shut down the Dimension, plug your drive in, and restart. Quickly press F12 when the option is given, and select the USB option. Follow the installation instructions, but when it restarts, you do not have to boot to the drive, just let it restart normally. Now, when it asks for the network type, choose Public, since Home hangs (at least for me). Once you log in, you will notice that you can't change the resolution, it's stuck at 640x400 (I believe). No matter! Fire up IE8, and search "Dimension 3000 drivers". Click the first link (the Dell website), scroll down to "video", and select the first driver. Choose to run, and it will self-extract (the default location is best). Go to said location (C:delldrivers), and click setup. It will fail, but when the dialog box that asks you if it installed correctly pops up, choose to reinstall. Click through the wizard, and restart.
Woo! Once you've restarted you will be in Win7 at a comfortable 1024x768 resolution! Well, that's it, it's that simple!
Until next time,
The Geek Next Door
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