In the previous article, we introduced the new features of Windows 8 (hereafter referred to as Win8). One of the notable features is that Win8 starts to support booting on USB devices. This means that we can carry Win8 with us in the future. Although Win8 has not yet been officially released, we can also experience the new features of Win8 in advance.
Mobile Win8 Principle Analysis
The method of this article is to achieve the effect of the mobile system by starting the VHD file of the Win8 system in the mobile hard disk. First, we need to know some knowledge about booting the system from VHD, its startup process and the steps we need to do DIY are shown in Figure 1.
trouble. If you install Win8 to a mobile hard disk in VHD mode, it saves a lot of trouble:
1. Concise. The main system is a VHD file. After the new version comes out, you can complete the new version installation by simply replacing the VHD file.
2. Independence. The Win8 boot information and system configuration are all retained on the mobile hard disk. After installing Win8, it will not affect the original system.
3. Portable. You can toss Win8 on any computer that supports USB boot, and it is more convenient to show and share with friends.
Simple three steps, easy to make mobile Win8
Since mobile Win8 has so many benefits, let's take a DIY together.
Main tool preparation: (system and software download address:
Step 2: Add VHD boot entry for mobile hard disk
Decompress Win8 system image with decompression software, like decompression to "D: \\win8” directory, then copy the “d:\\win8\\bootmgr” file and the “d:\\win8\\boot” folder to the root partition of the mobile hard disk.
Run again “BOOTICE”, Switch to the “BCD Compilation” tab, select “BCD file in other locations”, click “Browse” and select the “boot\\bcd” file just copied to the mobile hard disk. Then click “&ldquo ; View /Modify & rdquo;, in the pop-up window click & ldquo; add & rarquo; Windows NT6.x VHD boot items & rdquo;, then add VHD boot according to the following settings:
target disk: current mobile hard disk
start Partition: Current mobile hard disk mobile primary partition (usually the first partition)
Device file:\\win8.vhd
Menu title: Start VHDwin8
Others use the default settings, select the newly created VHD boot menu, click “Set as default system &rdqu o;, last click “retain current system settings
Step 3: Install Win8 to VHD file, then copy to mobile hard disk
Everything is ready, only owe VHD. We only need Install Win8 into the VHD file, and after successfully booting it, you can copy it to the mobile hard disk and start it. Here is the operation method in Windows 7 system.
First put the Windows VHD auxiliary processing tool on the D drive. Use the system's "Disk Management" tool to create a VHD file of size 10GB or larger on the NTFS partition, assuming "D:\\win8.vhd". After the creation is successful, select the newly created VHD disk in Disk Management to complete. Initialize ”, then follow the prompts to create a primary partition on the VHD disk, pattern and activate the created primary partition.
Then restart the Windows 7 system and press F8 to select “repair the computer”, then open the “command prompt ”, enter “d:\\VHD_OneKey_2011.exe” and press Enter to start “Windows VHD Auxiliary Processing Tool", after launching the tool, select “mount/uninstall VHD", browse and select Previously created “D:\\win8.vhd”, and finally click “mount VHD" (Figure 4).
After mounting the VHD, enter "“d:\\win8\\sources\\setup.exe" at the command prompt; start the Win8 installer, select "Where do you want to install windows" (Where do you want to install windows” This step, follow the prompts to install the system to the previously mounted VHD disk, usually Disk 1 Partition1 (that is, the first partition of disk 1, disk 0 is the local hard disk, as shown in Figure 4).
The remaining installation can be operated according to the prompts of the screen. After the installation is completed, start VHDWin8 and enter the desktop, restart the computer and re-enter the original Win7 system, and copy “D:\\win8.vhd” to the mobile hard disk main partition. At this point, Mobile Win8 is built.
For users who do not want to keep Win8 files in this machine, you can start “BOOTICE” after Win8 installation is completed, switch to “BCD compilation” tab, select the machine's "boot" \\bcd” file, then click “View/Modify”, in the pop-up window, select the first "Windows 7" startup item to delete it, and then delete “D:\\win8.vhd” .
Now we only need to insert the mobile hard disk on the USB boot computer, and set the mobile hard disk to the first boot in the BIOS to use the mobile VHDWin8. When you enter Win8 for the first time on other computers, the system will prompt the user that the configuration file cannot be loaded. At this time, you can log out once and then log in again after entering the desktop.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that the Win8 system has improved the adaptability to different devices. After actual testing, the mobile Win8 installed on the AMD platform can be successfully started and used on the Intel platform computer. The two computer configurations are completely different. Now you can take it around and run around.