Install Windows Using a Linux Computer Without a USB Drive (With Video Tutorial)
Installing Windows Using a Linux Computer Without a USB Drive (Video Included)
A few days ago, a group member bought a HUAWEI MATEBOOK GT 14 with an Intel Ultra 5 125H, which came with a Linux system pre-installed. He asked me for help installing Windows.
His biggest pain point was not having a USB drive, so he couldn’t boot into a PE system via USB.
To be honest, installing an OS without a USB drive is like eating without chopsticks—it’s possible, but inconvenient, and there’s no need to make things so hard on yourself.
However, faced with this reality, I couldn’t help but wonder: Could I modify the Linux system directly, without any external peripherals, to install Windows?
So I started brainstorming and experimenting, and it turns out the answer is yes.
Below, I’ll use Ubuntu as an example and walk through how to install Windows using a Linux system.
What Do You Need?
Since we’re working with a Linux system, we naturally won’t use Windows software. However, some resources can be obtained online. We need to download the following files:
- A Windows ISO installation image
- A WinPE system ISO image
Both of these are very easy to find. If you don’t know where to download them, you can search for my article “Windows Full Version Systems | Hardware Drivers | Clean PE Download Address Collection” on the official account homepage.
This step can be done entirely using the browser on your Linux system.
Please note: When downloading a PE system, be sure to choose one with a small size. The reason will be explained later.
(The PE system I used is a modified version of WePE by Lv Liaoliao, about 300MB.)
Getting Started
After downloading, I simply placed both files on the Ubuntu desktop.
Here’s the core of this operation: Modify the EFI partition boot of the Linux system to boot into WinPE.
Double-click the PE system’s ISO file. Ubuntu will extract the ISO directly into the current folder, releasing all its contents and storing them there.
Let’s assume the folder containing the extracted files is called PE.
Next, we need to obtain the operation permissions for the EFI partition under Linux.
Due to the fundamental differences between Linux and Windows, Linux partitions exist as mount points within folders. In other words, the EFI partition appears as a folder in the Linux file manager.
When logged in as a regular user, we don’t have permission to modify the contents of the “EFI folder.” We need to open the Ubuntu file manager with root privileges.
Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open the terminal.
Enter the following command in the terminal:
1 | |
nautilus is the name of the Ubuntu file manager.
Press Enter to open the Ubuntu file manager, then enter your administrator password to proceed normally.
Now you are operating files with the highest privileges.
Next, in this boot folder, find the folder named efi and open it. You’ll see an EFI folder, which contains the entire contents of the EFI partition.
Press Shift+Delete to permanently delete this folder. At this point, the Ubuntu system’s bootloader is gone. You must immediately add the PE system’s bootloader. Otherwise, if the computer loses power now, there will be no bootable system.
Open the extracted PE folder, select all its contents, and copy them into this “EFI partition.” (In practice, this means copying to the /boot/efi folder.)
That’s it. Close all software and restart to boot into the PE system.
In the PE system, use DiskGenius to easily locate the Windows installation ISO file saved in the Linux file system (ext4). From there, you can proceed with the rest of the installation as you see fit.
Reflection
Why did I mention downloading a smaller PE system at the start?
Because the EFI partition is very small. Ubuntu’s default EFI partition is only 1.1GB, while Windows’ default EFI partition is only 300MB. Different Linux systems have different EFI partition sizes, so choosing a small PE system is necessary to fit it into the EFI partition.
Why can’t we place the PE system’s WIM file and EFI boot files separately?
- First, we cannot modify the Windows boot configuration file (BCD) under Linux.
- Second, we cannot directly shrink the system partition under Linux, nor can we create partitions that Windows (specifically, Windows’ bootx64.efi) can read (such as FAT32 or NTFS partitions).
- The only existing EFI partition is FAT32, which both Windows and Linux can read and write. So we can only perform limited operations using the existing partition.
What is the significance of this technical article?
It has no great significance. Installing an OS without a USB drive is like eating without chopsticks—it’s possible, but inconvenient.