Hey guys. Ive got a brand new laptop and would like to hear some advice on whether a windows 7 install is possible. Im committed to making it happen, even if it takes a ton of work. Id like to know though if a successful install is theoretically possible. The spec: cpu: Coffee lake intel gpu: Nvidia GTX 16xx discrete gpu Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics 630 ram: 8gb currently usb 3.0/3.1 (i believe its called the cannon lake?) storage: m.2 pci express nvme intel 660p other info: -no csm mode in "bios" -ive tried a win7 install using a usb install. it starts loading, but gets stuck at "starting windows" stage / the windows animation starts to play and freezes. -ive gotten a windows 8.1 installer to work as far as creating partitions, but get an "0xc0000005" error when files start to copy. -id happily settle for discrete only graphics, as long as i can bring my beloved windows 7 back to life thanks!
Windows 7 does not have native NVMe or usb 3.x usb drivers. You can check out this thread to see if it will help https://forums.mydigitallife.net/th...-kabylake-coffelake-ryzen-threadripper.76335/
Oh yes thats a pretty great thread, and i was going to use that tool but then "CSM must be enabled in BIOS" unfortunately i do not have the option. Do you think usb 3 is the cause for the freeze? What i mean is, is this where the install typically freezes without usb 3 drivers?
Forgive me but i am new to trying this on a brand new pc, so sorry for stupid questions. Those drivers on the winraid forum arent they for an already booted windows 7? I read somewhere you also need drivers for the boot enviorment as well. Also any suggestions for a good tool that adds selected drivers to the windows 7 iso? Ive tried things like the intel image creator and it gets stuck. Ive also played with DISM gui, and it seemed to go well, but the iso i created still failet to load past the windows animation.
wow thanks! ill be playing around with the code and the drivers, hopefully i run into some luck oh do i need to also intergrate the kb nvme updates into the install iso? or can i simply install them later on
You'll need the NVMe drivers in order to use your NVMe drive for Windows 7...you'll get install errors if you do not
aww ok thank you. so it needs to be a part of the windows 7 installer then. this is certainly a pretty big learning curve for me, i hope its not going to be all for nothing. because if it is, i would have rather spent all that time learning linux basics.
another option it to install the driver during the Windows 7 install using the F6 method, but having the driver loaded on the install disk is better
oh ok, i will actually do that instead then. my first priority is to get windows 7 installer to simply load past the windows logo where it currently freezes. as the lack of usb 3.x drivers is the current issue?
a lot of desktop boards have a setting in the bios which allows you to enable a ps/2 port in order to use a mouse/keyboard to install 7. Your not going to get this option with a new laptop. You might find that Windows 7 will install but your mouse and keyboard may or may not work. Install the usb 3.x driver along with the NVMe driver too. I think 7 will install, but you won't be able to do the oobe (out of box experience) during the personal set up stage without the use of a keyboard or mouse. Edit: "keyboard is missing, press enter to continue"
Ive played around with the script, but i may be making a mistake somewhere and not even noticing it, as still no luck with the boot. Does NTlite program do basically the same thing? Also Might i ask, why are homebrew iso's not allowed on this forum? It would of made things so much easier lol
I think you'll need to install the .XHCI Controller Driver which has the iusb3xhc.inf, iusb3xhc.cat and iusb3xhc.sys during the install using the F6 option. Attempting to use an .exe will not work during the install of Windows 7. I did this with a desktop so I'm not sure how well it will go using this method. I'm sure sshnedo will help you with that script
Oh yeah i definetly did not use .exe files. But thats got me thinking, what about installing windows 7 into a vm, then installing all the drivers, and then basically transfering the install to the actual drive and booting of it. Would this possibly be a solution? Im going to look into that f6 option.
It is certainly doable - I can confirm that I have done it recently on Clevo NB50TA notebook (i5-9400, H370, GTX1650). I was able to find most of them missing drivers except of GTX1650 one. In my case it is Max-Q Design version based on TU117 chip (VEN_10DE, DEV_1F91) and there are no Windows 7 drivers for that chip on nVidia's website. I was wondering if the existing drivers can be modified to be used with that chip or should we rather wait for nVidia to release driver for it (not sure if it will ever happen...)