Run Windows 7 (and other NT 6.x versions of Windows) from Grub4Dos's RamDisk
(fixed-size VHD + Grub4Dos + FiraDisk)


Official discussion thread at reboot.pro

Discussion thread at msfn.org



INTRODUCTION


Applies to the following versions of Windows out of the box:


Summary of the method:


Advantages of the method:

Ease of use and servicing of created infrastructure.
You can boot your VHD from HDD at any time if you need to make any changes to the image.
Windows's native VHD logic is used in that case.
If you need to boot it from RAM you do it with Grub4Dos.
All you have to do is select the corresponding menu entry at boot time.
This way it's really easy to move, copy or delete your images.


Requirements to amount of RAM accessible by Grub4Dos:

You MUST have enough RAM to load your VHD image into it.
Grub4Dos can only use contiguous memory regions (without "gaps").
This will be discussed in detail in the section
Determining the amount of RAM accessible by Grub4Dos.
After loading of your VHD into memory there has to be enough RAM left for Windows and the applications to work.




CONTENTS

Files
Installing GrubDos
Determining the amount of RAM accessible by Grub4Dos
Installing Windows to VHD
Adding bootmgr and shrinking the VHD
Installing FiraDisk