How to do a clean install of Win7 on NVMe PCIe SSD (Samsung SM951 in Precision 7510)

I don't know if someone also did a walk-trough this. I found a couple of info about that all over the internet but nothing worked for my 7510.

The main problem is that Win7 doesn't support USB 3.0 or NVMe PCIe drives. Which is quite a bad combination.

What you need:

1. USB 3.0 flash drive
2. Win7 SP1 ISO or installation files
3. Windows USB/DVD Download Tool (http://wudt.codeplex.com/)
   
4. Samsung driver (http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=wk_149537_1)
5. Intel USB 3.0 driver (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25476/Windows-7-USB-3-0-Creator-Utility)

What you do:

1. Insert your flash drive and start the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool
2. Choose the Win7 ISO file and let the Download Tool install the setup on your flash drive. It will automatically make the flash drive bootable.
3. Start the Intel USB 3.0 driver Utility, choose the drive letter of the flash drive and let it integrate the USB 3.0 driver into the Win7 setup.
4. Extract the Samsung driver to the flash drive as well. You can open the downloaded sp71553.exe with i.e. 7Zip and extract the content (nvme.* files) to a new folder on the flash drive.
5. In BIOS choose Legacy Boot (not UEFI) and SATA mode to AHCI (not RAID or the other thing).
6. Shutdown, make sure the falsh drive is plugged in and reboot the notebook.
7. During the Dell Logo Screen press F12 to open the boot menu.
8. Choose USB flash drive (or something similar) to boot from the flash drive with the Win7 Setup
9. Choose your language, say install now, say yes to the legal stuff and say custom install.
10. Now the setup can't find the NVMe PCIe drive to install on...
11. Click on load driver and browse to your flash drive and where you have copied the Samsung driver to before.
12. Load the Samsung driver and now you see the Samsung NVMe PCIe and choose to install Win7 on it.
13. Let the setup finish and be amazed how fast it goes

This way is especially nice because you don't have to deal with including drivers and packages into the Win7 setup using DISM on the command line.

Background info: Despite the infos on the Dell site (i.e. using RAID and UEFI) and the other stuff on the internet it seems that this is the only procedure that works. There is also an official install package from Microsoft (KB2990941) which should add NVMe support. It seems though that this destroys the USB 3.0 driver from intel in the setup if you include it with DISM. Or the Intel Rapid Storage Driver (RAID) destroys the USB 3.0 feature.

Hope this helps some of you guys here who like clean installs.

Soko

 

Thanks a lot! Was figuring it out slowly, but loading/ using the Samsung nvme drivers on the setup USB stick instead of Intel Rapid Storage was the final detail I still needed!

 

Adding one more post...Got caught by another "gotcha", after the "technical" installation of Windows 7 Pro was OK.

I found out that Windows was NOT activated. I had used a non-DELL Windows 7 Professional ISO, and had missed the fact that apparently only reinstallation media of the manufacturer effectively use BIOS-embedded activation...

First located software that pretended to be able to show manufacturer-specific product keys embedded in the BIOS. It actually DID, but when I tried to enter that key in the Windows Activation wizard, it was not accepted (told me it contained invalid character).

Luckily found this link elsewhere in the forum: http://dellwindowsreinstallationgui...and-recovery-program-windows-vista-7-version/

(very long and detailed explanation and procedures, but just small part of it was relevant for this particular situation)

In a nutshell: it contains a procedure where you have to download a piece of software, and settings exported from (other) BIOS-embedded activated DELL systems. Then just run the software from the commandline, and it will "restore" the OEM activation to your own system (if you chose the correct OS version, and your own DELL system supports this kind of activation)

 

As I have most Dell Windows 7 Reinstallation DVDs to hand I updated the "Dell Windows 7 Home Premium with SP1 64 Bit", "Dell Windows 7 Professional with SP1 64 Bit" and "Dell Windows 7 Ultimate with SP1 64 Bit" to June 2016 including SP2 (the convenience rollup), added USB 3.0 support and NVMe:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/windows-7-sp1-iso-download/
Dell OEM SLP still works on eligible systems.

The procedure for acquiring up to date Dell Windows 7 Reinstallation Media is quite cumbersome but I have done my best to document it here:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationgui...reinstallation-dvd-into-a-reinstallation-usb/