Do I have to put the Windows 7 disc in every time I boot the computer?

[zxzxyo]

I installed Windows 7 from a Windows 7 disc in the DVD optical drive, now Windows is installed, can I take that disc out now or does it have to stay in? If I can take it out, and then turn the computer off, do I have to put it back in every time I want to boot the computer up?

 

[Wolfshadw]

No. The purpose of installing Windows was to transfer the files from the disc to your hard drive. Your computer should now read the files on your hard drive and boot up from them without the disc being in the optical drive.

-Wolf sends

 

[zxzxyo]

So it does that automatically? In the BIOS I set it to boot from the optical drive, does it know to automatically change that to the hard drive now?

 

[mbreslin1954]

In BIOS there is usually a list of three devices to boot from, in priority of 1, then 2, then #3. If your CD or DVD drive is listed as the first boot priority, then usually your hard drive is listed as second. That way, when you turn on your PC and there is no disk in the optical drive, the BIOS moves on to the second boot priority device, the hard drive, and boots from that. This setup will delay each boot of your PC by a few seconds, so most people change the first boot device to the hard drive once they install Windows.

The only way for you to screw up your PC booting is if you selected the DVD drive to be the boot option for all three priorities, as in first priority, second priority, and then again #3. That means that the BIOS would never try to boot from anything other than the optical disk and you would never boot.

 

[Wolfshadw]

No, but not finding a booting disc in the optical drive, BIOS would go to the next boot device listed in order and will continue down through the list until it finds a bootable image (the hard drive). Optionally, now that Windows is installed onto the hard drive, you can go back into BIOS and change to boot priority to have the Hard Drive listed first.

-Wolf sends