Burning Windows 7 to a DVD

1. Download the Windows 7 Beta 1 .ISO file.
2. Download ImgBurn
3. Install ImgBurn on your PC

   

4. Open ImgBurn and click Write image file to a disc

   

5. Click the Browse for file icon

   

6. Locate the Windows 7 image and click Open

   

7. Click Write

   

8. ImgBurn will now create your DVD
   

   

9. If you get the following error and are using a laptop, don’t worry: this is normal.

   

10. ImgBurn will notify you when the disc is successfully burned and verified

    

11. Verify your DVD works before booting from it to install Windows 7. Do this by going to Computer, double clicking on your optical drive’s icon, and double clicking on setup.exe. The Windows 7 install tool should load.

What if you haven’t got a DVD burner or just don’t want to hand over an entire machine to Windows 7 beta testing? Are you stuck? Nope! You have two options:

Option #1 - Dual boot

Lifehacker has a good post on how to do this.

Option #2 - Go virtual!

Why give over an entire PC to a single OS when most are powerful enough to run two OSes side-by-side. To do this download and install Microsoft’s free Virtual PC 2007. Once you’ve installed it run the application and it will guide you through creating a new virtual machine.

Most of the default settings will work for you but when asked for the operating system, pick Windows Vista, and when asked about virtual hard disk options, create a new virtual hard disk. Then, from the Virtual PC Console select the virtual machine you created and click on Start. As soon as the virtual machine fires up, click on CD from the menu and choose Capture ISO Image … and select the Windows 7 .ISO and click Open. Now click on Action and then Reset to kick off the Windows 7 install process.