Installing Windows 7 on formatted hard drive without disk

I am trying to install Windows 7 Home Premium; not Linux. I don't know much about it and I played games so I'd rather stick with Microsoft.

I do not have a DVD burner, but do have a Home Premium ISO file. I put it on an external drive and tried to boot via USB, but it just skipped over USB.

How I somehow "mount" or boot this ISO through the USB drive. Also I would like to keep the movies/music files I originally had stored on this same drive if possible.

you cannot ran/operate windows from a usb drive. How or what .iso file...how was it made (clone/backup or...). Or maybe it was just not proper done.

I am trying to install Windows 7 Home Premium; not Linux. I don't know much about it and I played games so I'd rather stick with Microsoft.

I do not have a DVD burner, but do have a Home Premium ISO file. I put it on an external drive and tried to boot via USB, but it just skipped over USB.

How I somehow "mount" or boot this ISO through the USB drive. Also I would like to keep the movies/music files I originally had stored on this same drive if possible.

Didn't mean to triple post. If a moderator could delete 2 of those? I can't figure out how.

Since you have an ISO for Home Premium, do you have access to another computer? If not, how do you intend to get the ISO image burned to a DVD? You say you already did that, but I suspect you "burned" it as a data disc instead of as an ISO image???

Even if you boot to a Linux DVD, you of course can't then use the DVD to burn an image at the same time, but you can run the USB Writer program on it to create a LIVE USB and then boot from the flashdrive to Linux and use that to burn the ISO "image" to a DVD.

If you can get access to a windows computer since that's what you are most comfortable with, then use it to "burn image" (NOT data nor audio mode) to the DVD.

Sorry, but I don't really know/understand what you are talking about. I have access to my mother's laptop, but it does not have any sort of CD/DVD drive. I have a friend who put a Windows 7 ISO on a USB thumb drive and "made bootable" using a program called Rufus. I changed USB to first boot priority in BIOS, but it skips right over USB to the next boot option. He had burned the ISO onto 2 DVDs for me (one with the files contained in the ISO, and one with the ISO imade itself I believe). When I try booting these, it doesn't give me the option to boot the DVD ("Press any key to boot from CD/DVD..." like usual). He also burned another DVD, which he said had all of the bare minimum files or drivers on it and to put that in while trying to boot from USB. It basically gave me all the same options as described in the following paragraph:

Another friend gave me a legit Windows 7 disk, but it is all scratched up and says it is corrupt when I try to install. All the other options on the disk are useless, as I do not have any sort of back up or system restore points anymore, due to formatting the C drive.

If it would be of any help, I can take pictures of the options I am given when booting the "bare minimum files/drivers" DVD, but it looked nearly identical to the options on the legit Windows 7 disk.

The manufacturer, ASUS, just tried to sell me a "system restore" disk I believe is what she called it for $50. I am unsure if she even knew exactly what I was talking about, and if this disk will even fix my problem. This is beginning to get very frustrating. I don't know what to do or where to go from here. Any more answers or ideas are welcomed and encouraged, as I am clueless.

But this is like your friends have given you a flat tire to fix your flat tire.

The System Restore disk is the usual cure as it sets the machine to the condition when you got the machine. Barring any hardware failures, that will fix it.

-> There are folk that forget that the optional USB DVDRW drive is just that. It's optional until you need it. To repair most PCs today you need that (for W7) and it's' about 25 bucks at Walmart.

Now before you think this is expensive, the minimum shop counter charge here is 150 bucks. You're doing yourself for less.

Is burning the ISO file to the CD or DVD as a single file. No, that won't work. It must be expanded or "burned as image" to the DVD. Otherwise it's like putting a zip file on a DVD and not expanding a zip file to put all the folders and files on it like should be seen. You must "burn image" to DVD.

If you want an ISO on a USB so it will boot, then go to pendrivelinux.com site and check out it's Universal USB Boot Installer. It's the easiest I know for windows users to have success in creating a bootable USB flashdrive.