As most of you know, Windows 7 does not have built in USB 3.0 drivers, so normally you can't install Windows 7 from a USB drive if it is connected to a USB 3.0 port, and your fast USB 3.0 thumb drive has to install at slow 2.0 speeds. However I have figured out how to solve that problem. Create a directory anywhere named "winpe" and inside of this directory create a directory named usb3 and another directory named mount. Download the USB 3.0 driver. You can obtain it here: EDIT: I can't post links yet, sorry. Just go to the gigabyte website and look for the USB 3.0 driver for any of their motherboards. I would post the links to VIA, TI, etc but alas I cannot post links Although that driver is provided by Gigabyte for their motherboards, it should work on pretty much any motherboard or USB card based on Renesas/NEC. It works fine on my MSI p67a-g45. The reason I picked the Gigabyte driver is because it is the only one I can find that doesn't stick the drivers inside of an installshield package. Rename the file to have a .7z extension and open it with your favorite archiver. 7-zip, WinRAR, and WinZIP all work. Inside the zip, you'll want to navigate to usb3\Files\x86 for 32-bit, or usb3\Files\x64 for 64-bit. If you are using an All-in-One setup that includes 32-bit, just use the 32-bit driver. Take all 6 files from your chosen directory and extract them to the winpe\usb3 folder you created earlier. Next you'll want to grab the sources\boot.wim file from your Windows 7 ISO image or flash drive and put it in your winpe folder. Open an administrative console, navigate to your winpe folder, and execute these commands: Code: dism /mount-wim /wimfile:boot.wim /index:2 /mountdir:mount dism /image:mount /add-driver /driver:usb3\nusb3hub.inf dism /image:mount /add-driver /driver:usb3\nusb3xhc.inf dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:mount /commit Now just copy the boot.wim file from your winpe directory over to your sources folder on your flash drive, and you're ready to go! Connect to your USB 3.0 port and boot it up. My install time is down to about 5 minutes with my Patriot Supersonic USB drive and my OCZ Vertex 3 SSD.
Thank you for posting this! I'll be building a new system in the next couple of weeks and will want to try this out. I'll post if I'm able to get it working.
And you can do the same with the ASMedia ones - Code: dism /image:mount /add-driver /driver:usb3\asmthub3.inf dism /image:mount /add-driver /driver:usb3\asmtxhci.inf
I think you should mention. Image Index: 1 is Microsoft Windows PE (x86) ------------------- Image Index: 2 is Microsoft Windows Setup (x86) -------------------
You can also use Code: dism /image:mount /add-driver:"usb3" /recurse instead of individual driver add commands to add all drivers in a folder
sorry for my stupid question but just copying boot.wim from win8 and replace win7 boot.wim would not work?
Great post! Trying this for Asmedia drivers and getting errors Hi there, Great post! Trying this for Asmedia drivers and getting errors: ---------------------------------------------- C:\WinPE2>dism /image:mount /add-driver /driver:usb3\asmthub3.inf Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 6.1.7600.16385 Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385 Found 1 driver package(s) to install. Installing 1 of 1 - C:\WinPE2\usb3\asmthub3.inf: Error - An error occurred. The driver package could not be installed. For more information, check for log files in the <windir>\inf folder of the targ et image. Error: 2 The system cannot find the file specified. The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log C:\WinPE2> ---------------------------------------------- I found the Asmedia drivers in a System32 folder named: asmthub3.inf_amd64_neutral Which is mentioned in the log files, if that's a clue? Any ideas?
Without wishing to go too I thought I would mention you can integrate SATA controllers using the same methods above for those that have issues seeing their drives after booting unless I am mistaken HTH
Dont know about that but i installed from usb 2.0 stick under 5 minutes connected to usb 3.0 interface(obviusly 2.0 speed) on ssd drive runing gigabyte board and intel 3770k. We were all supriesed with speed so i dont see the point in slipstreaming 3.0 driver. But good info.
I think you have made a small mistake. Windows 7 doesn't support USB3 controllers out-of-box. Thats why you can't install Windows 7 if the media is plugged in in a USB3 port unless you have slipstreamed the drivers.
Is there a universal USB 3.0 driver I can slip into mine or will the Intel 3.0 drivers I did add only support intel?