Installing Windows 7 in a (QEMU Copy-On-Write) format is a common task for virtualization environments like
bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /rebuildbcd.qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 4096 -smp 2 -drive file=Windows_7.qcow2,format=qcow2 windows 7 qcow2 image install download
If you already downloaded a .qcow2 file (e.g., win7_pro.qcow2): Installing Windows 7 in a (QEMU Copy-On-Write) format
Look for virtual size, disk size, and cluster_size. Cause: The QCOW2 image has no bootloader or was corrupted
Why 40GB? Windows 7 with updates and a few apps can easily exceed the official 16GB minimum. Sparse allocation means it uses only real space as needed.