Install Windows 7 on Alienware 15 R2

Hi all,

I am trying to install Windows 7 on an Alienware 15 R2 but it does not seem to be working. Dell did not seem to have any Win7 Drivers so I tried using Win8 drivers on a usb drive but that did not seem to work. Does anyone know what drivers are needed?

Thank you.

 

You would have to go driver by driver and find either the driver from the manufacturer.
Alternatively some times other Dell systems have the same component in another system where they do list it for an older system like Windows 7.

However why are you doing this? Often times the Operating system was designed around the times of certain CPU and chipset features.
Yes it will work indeed but it may or may not lack certain optimizations.
To avoid some flame war yes I know it works. However Windows 7 now has been out for a long time.
There doesn't seem to be a downside to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10.
Im a very very picky person and I have been running 8.1 and 10 on 17R3(s) and 15R1(s) with out issues.
I doubt there would be a huge benefit to trying to get Windows 7 running.
I assume people feel its more light weight there for it will run better when that simply is not the case.
I guess if you had some specific hardware or software compatibility things going on I guess I could understand this.

 

I doubt anyone can help you unless you explain your problem more clearly, but if you're having the problem described in this thread you can try following this tutorial. You may need these drivers.

Again, your post doesn't clearly describe what you're trying to do or what you need help with. But I can recount my experience finding Win7 drivers for the Alienware 17 R3 below. Some of it might be useful for you as well, even though you have a 15 R2.

First, the BIOS updates, Killer Wireless drivers, and touchpad drivers from the Dell website all worked for me. However, their graphics-related drivers did not. So I had to download the standard versions from Intel and NVIDIA respectively.

From what I can tell, all of the Alienware 17 R3 and Alienware 15 R2 models use the same Intel Graphics 530 drivers. You can find them here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25620/

The drivers for your dedicated GPU will naturally depend upon what GPU you have. I believe the Alienware 15 R2 can come with an NVIDIA GTX 965M, an NVIDIA GTX 970M, or an AMD Radeon™ R9 M395X. You can get the NVIDIA drivers here. I haven't had an AMD graphics card, so you'll have to google those.

Note, however, that issues will likely arise from using these drivers instead of Dell's. I get a blue screen related to nVIDIA drivers after starting my laptop roughly 50% of the time. This device was not made for Windows 7 so you'll have to decide if you want Windows 7 enough to deal with similar issues.

Honestly, if you're dead-set on using Windows 7 like I was, I strongly recommend returning your laptop and buying one that supports Windows 7. I regret my purchase and probably won't ever buy another PC from Dell.

 

I think I need the NVMe drivers for Win7. I found this hotfix, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2990941 ,which will hopefully help with the installation once I add it to my setup installation.

 

So you wont buy a Dell because their latest systems dont support "Windows 7"
This is the case with ALL manufacturers! Go look on HP, Clevo, MS, MSI, ASUS....
Typically speaking a product is going to have drivers for the OS that was out at the same time the product was released and newer.
I cannot think of any products that list their drivers for previous Operating Systems unless that product was on the market during the time of that OS. (i.e. that was the latest OS)
Now the individual hardware manufacturers often do have drivers for the system but it is on you to find them.
So your statement saying you regret buying a Dell right now during the times of Windows 10 because that model doesn't support Windows 7 is pure ignorance.
No system you could have bought around that same time would have lower OS drivers listed on their site.
Let go of the past man....
When an OS went through R/D and main development chip generations ago, the hardware is not going to be 100% optimal.
Sure it will work but there are technologies and features that the OS simply wont be taking advantage of.
No more service packs for Win7 as of 2013... Mainstream support for Windows 7 ended in Jan 2015... In less then 4 years there will not even be security patches for Windows 7.
Let it go... let it goooooo. LOL

 

Did you EVEN read my post?

I want to install Windows 7. If you can't help, then don't post.

 

Help is in the eye of the beholder...
My reply may not have helped you but forums and threads don't just help the OP.
There maybe someone some day that comes across this thread and my insights help him make a decision.

The answer to your question is simple...
You have to go one by one and find the Windows 7 drivers for each device on the manufacturers site or get them from other Dell models that have those parts but also have Windows 7 drivers.
Sometimes manufacturers do not post drivers for OEM products on their site and leave that up to the system makers to do. Those are more difficult to find. That is where you could go find another Dell model that has the same part in it and also had Windows 7. (low chances since Windows 7 has not been with Dell systems in a couple years now.)

Its a tedious trial search and try situation. No one is going to do it for you. There may be a post previously but chances are the drivers are now out of date.
Using Windows 8 drivers wont work as you saw because they are two totally different operating systems.

 

^^ I'm with DeeX on this one. The drivers will be hard to find because the O.S wasn't meant to be used on this system. You will need to go to each of the component's manufacturer sites and download the driver that you think should work and test it, then move on to the next one. You could look for someone in a different forum (or this one?) that has done it and has a list of drivers, but as DeeX says, chances are very high that those are outdated or the links are dead.

Good luck on the quest I know it'll be hard, but it seems achievable.

 

To install Windows 7 SP1 x64 on this machine you need the following:


1. You need Windows 8.1 (or Windows 10) installed on a regular HDD or SSD (SATA 2/3) drive.
2. You need to download the following drivers and extract them to the root of C:


- USB 3.0 Extensible Host Controller Drivers

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...Driver-for-Intel-7-Series-C216-Chipset-Family

- Intel RST Drivers (The ZIP file for x64, not the Setup.exe).

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...echnology-Intel-RST-RAID-Driver?product=55005



3. Launch the Windows 7 SP1 x64 installer via booting from USB or an external CD/DVD drive. Do not launch the installer within Windows itself.


4. During the setup, hard drive partitioning screen, you will get a USB Error/DVD Rom error. Browse on your C: to the USB 3.0 folder. This will get past this screen.

5. Once you are on this screen, you will need to load the SATA drivers. Press load drivers and choose the folder for the Intel RST drivers. Check the box to show drivers that are not compatible. Scroll to the very bottom of the list. Now this is from memory, but it's the 3rd or 4th one from the bottom of the list you need to select. Storage controller or something. (Sorry, been awhile). Alternatively, work your way up from the bottom to find the driver that works .

6. Once the right driver is selected, you will see your regular SSD/HDD show up in the list, delete partitions, click next.

7. Windows 7 will install perfectly fine.

8. Now here's the hard part. The drivers for Killer Wireless, Ethernet and Bluetooth, RealTek Card Reader should work fine. The things you will have problems with are Intel Video (at least I did) and some other items in the list. The webcam seemed to work fine though.


At this point I gave up. It was just an experiment to see if it would work, so this is a good starting point.

 

What about the following:

Intel Thunderbolt Controller Driver
Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework Driver
Intel Management Engine Interface Driver
Intel Chipset Device Driver
Synaptics Touchpad Driver
Kionix KXCNL Freefall Sensor Driver
Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver
Intel HD Graphics Driver
Dell Airplane Mode Switch Driver
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di Extras Driver

Not to mention a properly working:
Alienware Command Center
Alienware External Graphic Amplifier Software
Intel ThunderBolt Firmware Update Utility

Since you skipped all of those then those might not work properly or in the least bit be extremely outdated.

One might think "well I will just go get a Command Center from an older laptop's download page." Can't! They change the way the lights etc work between model years.
So say you go back to a system that originally came with Windows 7. (which might be the M17XR4 I know that the Alienware 14 which was 2013 came with Windows 8.)
That command center will not work with these newer systems.

So long story short. I'm sure you could go one by one through that list of drivers and find out the chipset types and get them from Intel.
However you might be stuck on certain Alienware specific drivers / software. (AW Graphics Amp, Command Center, Airplane mode, Sound Blaster, etc etc)
Plus not to mention the drivers you don't find, that do end up working, will be running some old Microsoft based driver from back in the day and you might be sacrificing something.

Im sure I could too get Windows 7 working. I personally could probably find all of the drivers that were out there. I would imagine I would get stuck on some Dell specific things. The next question is, What for?
What is the benefit? What am I sacrificing by doing so? I'm guessing people still think that Windows 7 is more lightweight thus must run faster etc.
That is simply not the case. Windows 8 and Windows 10 are just as lightweight if not more light weight as it is not all Aeroed up.
Don't like Windows 10? Use Windows 8.1 with "Start8" I have used that for years. It makes the start menu "EXACTLY" like Windows 7.
Plus again Windows 7 lacks some of the coding that takes advantage of newer chipset and processor technologies / features.

There was a point in time where keeping Windows XP was counter productive.
Actually that's a good example. Windows XP would be much more lightweight. Why not try and install that on one of these Alienwares? Exactly.

Scott said it "At this point I gave up. It was just an experiment to see if it would work"

 

When I looked at doing this on a 17 r3 (three)--and later abandoned the idea for the reasons cited by DeeX--my first step was to go to the Dell downloads for a 17 r2 (two) and download drivers from there where I thought there might be overlap. I would also suggest looking at the details page for the 17 r3 (three) drivers to verify that win7 is not included, because ISTR it appearing there at times.

If I was approaching this fresh my first task would be the appropriate Intel HD driver, which I "assume" is available from intel directly. If this OS installed properly I would try to get the Intel HD going next.

As said, there's a lot of small stuff that likely won't work at all. My impression after looking at it was that installing win7 on this machine was going to be a lot like installing linux on it--a lot of effort and lost functionality.

I settled on win 8.1 and like it BETTER than win7 in many ways. Ummm, not the stupid charms bar, though.

 

As I mentioned in my last post for anyone looking to get the exact start menu as Windows 7. Start8 is great!
There is also a Start10. This would resolve your charms gripe if you went to Win10. If you are worried about the media hype surrounding privacy issues, there are toggles to make the privacy just like Windows 8.

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
https://www.stardock.com/products/start10/

 

I finally got Windows 7 running on my M15R2.

The Intel downloads did not work for me, so I used similar drivers from Gigabyte. I had recently installed a Gigabyte Z170 motherboard and downloaded the Win7 drivers for the SSD and NVMe drives. I used those drivers and was able to install Win7.

I had a problem with the USB 3.0 drivers as it kept freezing the installation screen so I install those after I installed Win7. Those drivers were probably corrupted.

This is what I did
==============
1. Used SSD and NVMe Win 7 drivers from Gigabyte Z170 motherboard when prompted on installation screen
1a. All drivers were on data(secondary) hard drive including the lan/network driver
1b. mouse/touchpad did not work so i used keyboard to tab and select options
2. After installation completed
2a. go into device manager and install driver for the LAN/Network card
3. run windows update, install updates and restarted ( 2 or 3 times to get all updates)
4. ***cannot install USB drivers without intel drivers
4a. downloaded and installed "Intel Driver Update Utility Installer.exe", which allows downloading Intel GPU and USB drivers (this will find the correct drivers for the PC)
4b. installed Intel GPU drivers (need to do before installing USB)
4c. Installed Intel USB 3.0 drivers (restart necessary???)
5. Install all other drivers (I downloaded some M15 and M17 R3 Win7 Drivers and let windows pick the best drivers)
6. Installed Apps
7. Running Windows 7 on M15R2 with no problems

Thank you all.

 

Did you get the Touchpad to work?
Did you get Command Center to work?

Any chance you could run Firestrike and post the score??

 

1. Windows 7 installed basic touchpad driver.

2. I have not installed Command Center

3. Fire Strike score: 8 313

Graphics score
9 653
Graphics test 1
46.01 FPS
Graphics test 2
38.58 FPS
Physics score
10 295
Physics test
32.68 FPS
Combined score
3 569
Combined test
16.60 FPS

 

I was able to install Command Center and the Synatpic Touchpad driver from the M15R2 Windows 8.1 downloads.

I tried installing some other 8.1 drivers which caused my machine to be unusable. I restored from a image backup.

No more playing with drivers. I am happy with my machine.

 

Still on Windows 7?

 

This is great info. I'd encourage the OP to do a step-by-step report and really get the rep!