Windows 7 installation help for Intel Skylake and Kaby Lake laptops

This guide is for those who doesn't like their new laptop with Windows 10 shipped and would rather use the good old Windows 7. There are many reasons to not like Windows 10, for me mostly the ugly appearance! In my opinion the 24 years old Windows 95 has better look, while Windows 7 shines 100 times more, giving more premium feeling for the laptop.

The 24 years old Windows 95,

A quick look of Windows 95, running by a Pentium Pro machine...

Now look the Windows 10 in a fancy modern expensive laptop,

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In 1995 as a little kid for Windows 2020 I imagined a visually very fancy, shiny, moving, interactive interface. Instead we've got this garbage.

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Damn… shocking, or? The old-world Windows looks so much better than the new candy crush operating system! Windows 10 basically already ruins our laptops by it's appearance.

And here is how Windows 7 going to look like,

Windows 7 the most succesfull Operating System ever running in a recent hardware

So, do you get the difference? Furthermore, others are concerned about privacy, telemetry, adware, forced updates, windows store, the must use of apps, lack of usable start menu and more. Unfortunately, these are quite real problems, which makes many of us frustrated! So either you tweak your 10 to make it more like 7 or install Windows 7. I say doesn't matter how many tweaks you do for 10, it won't be like Windows 7. Not mention when you do all those tweaks carefully for your Windows 10, the major half year updates will nullify your work! So I simply not mess with 10, instead I take SSD out, another SSD in and I start installing Windows 7.

Windows 7's maximum hardware support:
Basically all laptops with;
-Intel 6th Generation (Sky Lake) processors are compatible.
Laptops with
-Intel 7th Generation (Kaby Lake) processors are working with modded IGP driver, but Asus and some special brands might have missing touchpad driver.
Laptops with
-Intel 8th Generation (Kaby Lake Refresh) processors tends to be compatible with modded IGP driver, but some model can have touchpad driver issue.
Laptops with
-Intel 8th Generation (Coffe Lake) processors, currently uncompatible because lack of IGP and motherboard drivers. Once someone mods the needed drivers, Windows 7 will work!

Installing Windows 7:
Unfortunately, if you try to install Windows 7 for a recent laptop, you probably facing problem with “Load Driver & Missing CD/DVD drive device driver” right after the start;

It is actually an USB 3.0 driver issue
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This error will prevent to install Windows 7. I’ll explain how easy is to overcome of this unwelcome problem. Tested with,
- Dell Inspiron 7559 (6th Gen. Intel Skylake I7-6700HQ),
-Dell Inspiron 5577 (7th Gen. Intel Kaby Lake I5-7300HQ),
- Lenovo Ideapad 310 (7th Gen. Intel Kaby Lake I3-7100U),
-Many similar laptops by other users.

Solution:
Actually there are many ways to solve this problem, but the easiest is to use the ASUS EZ Installer tool and it automatically adds USB 3, USB 3.1 and NVMe drivers. It can create a USB installer from DVD, ISO, or update an existing USB installer with support for modern tech. It is very easy to follow this little program, just a few clicks and your Windows 7 installation media pendrive is done. It is not specific to ASUS and adds no ASUS branding. If for some reason you would fail to make your install pendrive, follow my older guide;

Spoiler: Old guide +extra (drivers, integrating the Simplix Pack)

Optional step;

Spoiler: Downloading drivers

Before we start fixing that error, i would recommend to search and find Windows 7 drivers for your hardware. Most importantly the WIFI driver will be needed, because without you will not be able to connect to the internet in your freshly installed Windows 7. Additionally i used to pre-download also the Chipset, the IGP, GPU drivers. For example at Intel.com, AMD.com, Nvidia.com or at your laptop’s manufacturer website.

Most commonly you will need the following Windows 7 drivers;

- Intel Chipset driver from Intel’s website,

- Intel HD Graphics (Skylake) from Intel’s website,

- Intel HD Graphics (Kaby Lake) from here (this is the latest 21.20.16.4821 modded by me) or alternatively mod your own driver,

- Nvidia Geforce driver from Nvidia’s website,

- Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for Windows 7 from Intel’s website,

- Intel® Wireless Bluetooth® for Windows 7 from Intel’s website.

Fixing the issue by integrating the USB 3.0 driver into the Windows 7 installation media:
- Create your Windows 7 installation media with Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool. Follow this little program it will manage your Windows 7 disc or .iso file onto a Pendrive.

Optional steps:

Spoiler: Make a fully updated Windows 7 installation media -Only for advanced users!

1. Download the latest Simplix Pack
2. Integrate Simplix Pack into install.wim with the following command:
UpdatePack7R2.exe /ie11 /WimFile=C:\install.wim /Index=4
(or Index 1,2,3,4.. For example Ultimate is Index 4) (Correct also the location of your install.wim)
To check Index numbers exactly, use this command:
Dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:MEDIADRIVELETTER:\sources\install.wim

This way you will not need to install any Windows updates!

Spoiler: Add PCIe/NVMe drivers

Like if you have a Samsung 960 Evo PCIe/NVMe SSD, you will also need to integrate NVMe drivers into your installation media..
1. Download the necessary NVMe Driver,
2. Integrate with Embedded Utility Windows Image Tool or if that cannot complete the job use NTLite. (Note with these tools you can also integrate the necessary USB 3.0 drivers and skip the next step).

- Than d ownload Windows 7* USB 3.0 Creator Utility. Unzip all to a location, then run “Installer_Creator.exe”and give the location of your Windows 7 pendrive.

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After more minutes of work, it will say “update finished”! It means you done this simply process right and you are almost good to go to Install Windows 7!
If for some reason you would fail above to integrate the necessary drivers or you just looking for an alternative way to do, you can also use the Windows 7 image updater or the Embedded Utility Windows Image Tool.

Lastly disable Secure boot and enable Legacy instead of UEFI in your laptop's bios. If you are having trouble to enter the bios google how to do on your laptop. Like in my Dell i had to press F12 after power-up, on my Lenovo I had press a little button on the left side near the USB connector.
After these two correct bios settings, boot from your Pendrive and you will be pleased to see you are able to install Windows 7!

Earlier you could not reach this screen​

Final part:
When you have the running Windows 7 on your laptop, I recommend install Simplix Pack so you will not need struggle with Windows updates. Than install drivers in the following order; Intel Chipset --> Intel IGP --> 2nd GPU if you have --> WIFI adapter -->Bluetooth --> Other drivers.

Good working Windows 7 on my laptops:

Windows 7 and Skylake


Windows 7 and Kaby Lake​

Enjoy!

Oh and youtube copy guys do not forget to reference for my guide and ask my permission!

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I have modded the latest Intel HD drivers (march 2017) for my HD630 Kaby Lake and it works great!
This is from an earlier Intel driver;
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...os-owners-lounge.793376/page-99#post-10457890

 

Awesome! I would love to get your recently modded driver. Or if you could share how to do it? It will be even more needed for next generations Intel CPUs...

 

Sure, working nightshift, but tomorrow I'll send the .inf file. I have written comments inside the file what I change so I can remeber till next time. But so far I modded 2 version of HD drivers and they work fine. Hope Intel doesn't find out, or they may stop it...

 

The much anticipated guide. Thanks you made it! I remember it was problem to me as well how to install 7. it is still the best Windows yet!

 

PM sent, just copy the file over the old .inf file. This is for DriverVer=03/09/2017,21.20.16.4627

 

+rep
Keep up the fight against the Redmond Morons

 

Just installed the latest simplix update pack 17.4.15 and it works fine, no nag about unsupported processor. I think it installed 7 security updates, so it seems we can still use windows 7 security updates on our Kaby Lake's even after micro$oft decision to end support for Kaby and Ryzen last month.

 

Unfortunate people believes they've to use their new hardware with that crapware virus. Fortunately Windows 7 still working, everything more pleasant immediately as installed.

 

Just ordered my new Dell Inspiron 15 5577 gaming laptop, so excited how Windows 7 will handle it .

 

Thanks guys, especially for steberg who provided the latest modded Intel IGP driver which works solid and stable. Windows 7 is great, especially after Windows 10...

 

I am very interested to get your mod. Can you send me, please. Also need to learn how to install driver if signature is invalid?

 

I adjusted the guide with adding PCIe/NVMe drivers and integrating Simplix Pack into the Windows 7 image. It is useful, because Windows 7 with Samsung EVO 960 PCIe SSD is awesome, blazing fast!

 

Am very interested in your modded inf file. Can you send me PM, please. Many thanks.

 

@rhinoceros PM sent with .inf file.

 

Hello steberg, I'm also interested in your modded inf file. Can you send me PM plz?
thanks a lot!

 

You can read now straight at the Intel's communities how to make Win7 driver. This also means some smart guy showing the trick directly to Intel. I Hope for Coffee Lake we can figure out a different trick to install drivers...

 

I was linked to this guide since I am trying to install Win 7 64 bit on a HP Pavilion, with 7th Gen. Intel Kaby Lake I3-7100U processor, preinstalled with Win 10.

I had a problem installing via USB (device drivers missing story) so I installed as a dual boot via DVD to a new partition. The install went fine, apart from the system complaining that 'Partitions on the disk are not in the recommended order'.

I have since installed Wi-Fi, graphics and chipset drivers (chipset I did after Wi-Fi and graphics, because I couldn't find them at first). I am now stuck, with non-working USB ports and Bluetooth. Going through this guide, I see the recommendation to slipstream Windows 7* USB 3.0 Creator Utility in the USB install.

Looks like I did a few things in the wrong order (ie chipset first, not last), so I'm happy to redo the installation. Can one of the guys here explain how I should prep the DVD install to ensure functional USB ports, or is it only going to work with a USB install? And finally, how am I going to get Bluetooth going - I installed drivers from the Intel site but there is no sign anywhere of the Bluetooth device.

Edit: after further reading and now understanding the process better, it appears that I can slipstream the Intel USB driver utility with the Win 7 install USB (since I will install from within Win 10) as a dual boot. Is my understanding of this correct? If so, my only problem seems to be the BT driver - it seems that is allied somehow to the Wi-Fi driver but I haven't yet figured that out.

 

Yes, you must slipstream USB 3.0 drivers into the installation media. I recommend to use pendrive, because slipstream to DVD is more difficult. Also if you want to use Win 7 and Win 10 in separate partitions, it would be wiser first install Win 7 than 10.
With Bluetooth driver I also struggled once, but figured out first I need to install the correct Wireless driver, than the bluetooth. Actually I just checked my device manager and I see I have the standard Microsoft bluetooth emulator installed, so might the solution was not to install any bluetooth driver.

 

Thanks for your input Atom Ant - I was hoping you'd pick this post up.

I have Win 10 already installed, so I'd prefer to just add Win 7, unless that is likely to create a problem (is this the cause of the message 'Partitions on the disk are not in the recommended order' when I first tried it?).

The link you have given is to a wireless driver different to what I initially installed (I used v19.60.0 PROSet64 Win 7), so hopefully this is where I went wrong with Bluetooth.

I'll have a chance to try this install tomorrow, once I've prepped the USB. I'll let you know what happens.

 

Still battling to create the USB tool. The Win 7 USB download tool doesn't work -at the end of the process I get the "Unable to run Bootsect" message. I've tried it a few times now, using Diskpart to [prep the USB (16GB), but I get the same result. Maybe the copy of the Wi 7 USB tool I found is dodgy.

So I gave up with this tool and used Rufus - the ISO installs to USB (I selected GPT partition scheme for UEFI), but when I try to slipstream the Intel USB utility it hangs at "Cleaning up mount directory" - I left it alone for 45 minutes to see if it would complete, but no luck. This is the log:

Beginning patch process...
Accessing ./sources folder for install.wim & boot.wim
Detecting if 64-bit or 32-bit...
Windows image is 64 bit
Detecting windows image edition...
Edition is Windows Professional
Creating mount directory
Determining number of images
Number of images detected: 3
Mounting install.wim image:1
Adding USB 3.0 Drivers to install.wim image: 1
Unmounting and committing install.wim image: 1
Mounting install.wim image:2
Adding USB 3.0 Drivers to install.wim image: 2
Unmounting and committing install.wim image: 2
Mounting install.wim image:3
Adding USB 3.0 Drivers to install.wim image: 3
Unmounting and committing install.wim image: 3
Mounting boot.wim image:1 WinPe
Unmounting and committing boot.wim image:1 WinPe
Mounting boot.wim image:2 Windows Startup
Adding USB 3.0 Drivers to boot.wim image:2 Windows Startup
Unnmounting and committing boot.wim image:2 Windows Startup
Cleaning up mount directory

Can you suggest what I can try next?

 

Unsure what is going on by you, maybe try a different clean Windows 7 ISO from a different source. Is your pendrive in ntfs file system? Also try NTLite, it is very professional. The free version is enough and gives also the opportunity to slipstream the necessary drivers. At the end it will create an ISO and you can burn that to the pendrive.

 

So I finally got Win 7 Pro installed, dual booting with Win 10.

Found some very useful drivers on the MSI site, and then bunch of other drivers from Intel directly and from Softpedia. Anybody need links, just give a shout.

Everything on the system is now working, I'm just trying to get the Synaptics touch pad drivers but the only exe I could find is packaged by Dell, I installed it and it does nothing. I also got a cab file that I've tried to work with and install but I think that's too much for my brain, so I'd appreciate some help with that.

EDIT: Installed older Synaptics drivers that work, so all good now...

 

Glad to know you have worked out. Soon you will see Windows 10 not even needed, 7 does everything better

 

Thanks for the assistance Atom Ant. All I need to do now is apply updates at some point, so I'll probably investigate the Simplix pack, unless you have a better suggestion.

 

And here comes my dell inspiron 5577 with Windows 7 installed:


Everything perfect, no issues like others with Windows 10. Like chrome browswer stuttering with hardwer accelaration for them

 

@Phoenix, @Papusan and @Mr. Fox: If anyone is interested in slimmed win 7 x64, give this a try http://www.nomaher.com/forum/index.php?topic=3350.msg27956#msg27956
It is made by scarface using harkaz's guide to slipstreaming Win 7 and trimming WinSxS. ISO size is 2.5GB, anyone interested can try it.
EDIT: @Papusan: if you hate w10 move to this W7.

 

It's really nice to see this guide. I recently purchased a new mid range laptop from Pcspecialist and it only came with Windows 10. I didn't buy Windows 10 and decided I would install Windows 7. Their tech support told me it wouldn't work, or would fail because it wasn't supported. Their comments were vague and I didn't believe a word of them. I asked them for advice and they refused saying it wasn't supported (fair enough). But they said the install froze on ''Starting Windows (7)) because Windows 7 was not supported. They were really trying to discourage me from Windows 7.

However, I discovered that it only failed because the installation environment of Windows 7 had no USB 3 support. This is why if you have a USB 2.0 port, you can switch the installer DVD to use that and it might work.

I figured out everything that was mentioned in this guide and was going to write up my own one, but I knew someone else here would have figured all of that out and done one already, then I found this guide after a search. I knew it!

I used 99% of the same tools and created a Windows 7 Boot 4GB Usb Pendrive. Then I installed SP1, a few hotfixes, and then the Convenience Rollup for Windows 7 SP1 which some say is more like an SP2. It would be easier to just Slipstream everything into one DVD but I couldn't be bothered.

When it came to the Drivers CD that came with my laptop, they enjoyed making the Autorun say ''Not supported''. Sure this may have been done for safety reasons, but it seemed they were really trying to make me believe that the drivers could not work with Windows 7. I just browsed the CD and installed directly, then there was no ''this Operating system is not supported''. Those messages were built into the GUI of the driver install software. Some of the drivers did not install because of dependencies like Net etc. This is why installing SP1 and the Rollup are useful.

All in all being told that Windows 7 cannot run on my new Laptop was nonsense, and I knew it. Now my laptop is running Windows 7 SP1 on the SSD, it's lightening fast, and has none of the Windows 10 Bloat.

I did notice the thread here about a modified Windows 10 install where someone had removed all of the bloat from the Iso though.

Edit:

I had trouble getting my Intel HD620 working. The Drivers would not install, even the ones that intel released to support Windows 7. I was about to edit the inf when I came across this video. After I followed those simple instructions, my HD 620 installed perfectly.

 

Hi everybody, thanks for this valuable info.

I managed to install W7 on my new X1 Carbon 5G. The only driver missing seems to be the Intel Chipset. In the device manager, it shows up as (translated) "PCI Communication Controller", Hardware ID 9D3A.

Any ideas why the Intel driver is not working in my case?

Thanks!

 

This is extremely optimised version of W7 created by scarface and harkaz w/o telemetry and Dism like Rebase software developed by Harkaz himself. Includes all drivers w/o any crap.
http://www.nomaher.com/forum/index.php?topic=3350.msg28229#msg28229
@Phoenix @Papusan @hmscott @Mr. Fox @saturnotaku @Aikimox

 

But it takes forever to download it... Wish there was a faster host for the ISO file...

 

I downloaded it using Slow or free download. It downloaded at ISP advertised speed of 10 Mbps.

 

Don't have a license key for Windows 7. I do have one for W10 Enterprise, so the lite version of that, which is linked in the thread you posted, is of interest.

 

Its a pro version.

 

Have you already installed Windows 7 SP1, rollup patch (sort of SP2), and reenabled the blocked updates? On my laptop, I just got them from the Windows 10 Driver CD, browsed and installed directly from there. You should either try the Driver CD that came with your laptop directly, or use the information on it to source the Driver.

 

So, I tried the version that @Vasudev linked. Worked fine-ish (still needed to install USB 3.0 drivers after install), except for one big problem. After some (admittedly half-assed) searching, it seems there is no such thing as Intel SST audio drivers for Win 7. SST is totally useless IMO, but I haven't had any joy trying to get any other driver (read: non-SST) to work. Anybody know of a work around? I could just use my USB DAC 24/7, but that's not entirely convenient

 

Do you mind telling me what exactly is Intel SST? I thought it was speed shift or something.

 

Intel SST audio has nothing to do with speed shift.

It is an absolute sack of crap audio device that is mostly found on tablets (and pcs where the manfacturers are too cheap to include a real soundcard)
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/smart-sound-technology.html

 

Thanks. Looks like they promise Dolby and HD capabilities and I see no drivers.
Check this thread out and try installing the lenovo's version of SST https://communities.intel.com/thread/92149

 

Have my doubts that those drivers would work (seems they're made for Atom type processors)

Honestly, I'd rather ditch the SST crap altogether - it does nothing useful for me on Win 10 - and figure out how to use regular ol realtek HD audio drivers (or similar) instead.
Probably the only (practical) option is to use a USB/bluetooth device

I did restore my Win10 so I can't really try anything out atm anyways. If I can find a better option for audio, I might try Win 7 again.
I also totally forgot that you can't do anything on Win 7 without having to reboot

 

Guys,

I have a different kind of problem. Whenever I try to install W7 on my Acer VN7-793G with Kaby Lake I get a black screen with error BCD 0xc000000d.

The laptop can only disable Secure Boot in BIOS. No CSM/Legacy mode functions are available.

 

Anything like OS Optimised defaults-> Win 7 64bit in the BIOS?

 

Nope, nothing. Only Secure Boot.

I tried a different ISO file and then managed to get to Windows 7 Installation screen but it gave me install.wim missing error message.

 

Try this custom W7 ISO and let me know if its working http://www.nomaher.com/forum/index.php?topic=3350.msg28296#msg28296

 

Nope. The same problem, still getting the same error. Oh my god. Don't leave me with Windows 10

 

I didn't have any CSM legacy settings in bios either, but was still able to install. I suggest you try some of the unrelated fixes Ive seen when you google BCD 0xc000000d assuming you haven't already tried.

 

You did use rufus to burn it, right?

 

That would be really embarrassing to use Win 10! Sounds like something is wrong with your installation media. Keep trying and read once again carefully the guide...

 

I could never get Win 7 to install on my Acer either (VN7-592g) unless I disabled UEFI.
I've read many posts claiming Win 7 is UEFI compatible, but I could never get past the launch animation before it'd freeze.
A further word of warning… if you have the same crap SST audio that my machine has, you're screwed. There is no Win 7 compatible drivers and basically the only way to get sound is with a USB soundcard (if I'm wrong, please let me know, I'd love to find a work-around)

 

I've been thinking about installing Windows 7 on my new desktop and my laptop with nvme drives. My one concern is DX12....is there some how a way to allow DX12 to run/function on a Windows 7 OS? I'd love to keep using 7 but I would hate to lose out on games that support DX12, I know they can all be run in a lower version but if I have these machines I've spent all this money on I would like to be able to actually full utilize them.