Install Windows 7 & 8.1 on Intel 8th, 9th, and 10th generation - Closed

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Clanger

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Install Windows 7 on Amd Ryzen X570.

Windows 7 known working on
Windows 7 Biostar iGPU driver known working on

BIOSTAR Announces Windows 7 x64 SP1 Support for Intel B365 Series Motherboards
Installing Windows 7 and 8.1 onto B365 motherboard, both here
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Windows 7 Pro 64bit EOL build with IE11 and .net4.8, english - en - iso only - in progress.

Reports from around the web say it is possible to install windows 7 on coffee lake but i have not found a decent "how to" yet.

I am going to report my progress on installing windows 7 and 8.1 onto an Intel Coffee Lake system, Core i3 8300, Gigabyte B360M-HD3, Ballistix Sport LT Gray 4GB DDR4-2400 and WD Green 120GB SSD. According to Gigabyte only windows 10 is supported

Reports are coming in that the upcoming 9000 series refresh will work on B360 chipsets(mine already has an updated 9000 series compatible bios) and some of the K models are going to be soldered. Whoopee doo, about bleeding time. Windows 7 on a soldered 4 or 6 core cpu please, if its possible.

An anomaly has appeared. Intel "has listened to it its customers" and has an H310 Windows 7 compatible chipset with working drivers.
Before you jump for joy the Gigabyte H310 boards have 2 ram slots and 4 sata ports, some have nvme, limited connectivity compared to B360 upwards. There isnt a w7 compatible igpu driver though, you will need a graphics card, which i have. Wish i had known before i bought the B360 :rolleyes:.

I am new to Intel hardware so i am picking some of this up as i go along.
My motherboard only has 2 usb2 ports on the backplate which have the keyboard and rodent attached but it has 2 internal usb2 headers and i am going to be using a usb2 backplate(RIP Maplin, you were crap for most things but a goldmine for others :( )
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and an internal sata dvd drive. I regulary use dvd drives anyway and have 3 availible and for under 15gbp they are always handy to have for times like this.

I dont want to use motherboard manufacturers w7 dvd tools or any other 3rd party tools, i want to use good olf fashioned driver integration if possible.

If i have to use multiple tools, windows 7 image updater and ntlite then i may run into problems.
 
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Installing Windows 7 - Failed.

I have tried multiple variables, bios settings, installing from untouched iso/dvd/usb2 and 3, varying the usb ports, with and without slipstreamed drivers, the keyboard and rodent are either totally dead or have lights on but nothing moves.

I have tried the windows 7 image updater but it takes way too long, couple of hours nearly. NTLite may remove some of the updaters custom files. I could lite and isolated install wim but i like it to work on the whole folder. Nearly 4 hours work and no w7 install. Hey ho, i knew it may happen.
I prefer the easy life and so far all that work for nothing except it doesnt work on my hardware combination.

If you must have Windows 7 on Coffee Lake use the new H310 boards mentioned above. I wont, 4 sata ports is not enough, i have 8 sata ports on my FM2+ motherboard, 4 just doesnt cut the mustard.
 
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Installing Windows 8.1 Professional 64bit - Success.

Installed using a usb2 key attached to the backplate pictured above connected to the motherboard usb2 headers.
Installed the Intel Chipset Device Software Set v10.1.17765.8094 WHQL.rar package from win-raid(Thanks Fernando).
Windows 8.1 has its own native usb3.1 drivers.
iGPU is running on the ms 8.1 basic display driver, there is no Intel driver availible. Will be using an Nvidia GT 710 that is supported on w8.1.

Intel - "Windows* 8, Windows* 8.1, and Windows® 10 have a native in-box USB 3.0 driver. Intel is not releasing a specific Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver for Windows 8, 8.1, or 10. If you are upgrading from Windows* 7 to Windows 8, 8.1, or 10, uninstall the Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver before installing the upgrade."

That simplifies matters. :)
 
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Installing Windows 8.1 lite

I will be using my windows 8.1 lite preset and some tweaks. Will take me a couple of weeks because i will be creating a custom batch file to use post setup.
 
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One of my problems with Intel is the Active Management Technology chip on all mobo's. It's like a firmware hypervisor. So you can't tell when it's running. And there:s no way to disable this chip. As such, it's a very big security hole. (My guess is that my government has hacked it.)
 
Intel Management Engine? Yeah, it cant be disabled so i hav eheard but as the intel rig will be offline workstation the whole spectre meltdown issue isnt an issue, i still have my 2 amd apus for online work.
 
Yes, Intel Management Engine.

Even if I wanted to run a box off line (would be hard not to have Internet access to forum's like this one), a lot of software nowadays requires Internet - at least one time - for registration. So I use Comodo and hope that they're doing a good job. (Our NSA complained that Comodo was doing a good job.) But even Comodo can't see Intel's IME. It's at too low a level.

I won't be upgrading. (Unless my mobo blows up. Which has happened in the past.) But if I were, it would be AMD.
 
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Ha, microsoft have blocked windows update on 8.1/coffee lake, im getting the unsupported hardware message. Not now :cool:
 
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I thought the whole point of you moving to Win8.1 was to not get that message/to have supported hardware?
 
Windows 10 is the only officially supported os. People hav ebeen saying that os X is running well on Y hardware even though there isnt official support. The point was to try to get summat installed and running other than w10, ive been lucky :)
 
That might be true because the PRIME B365M-A support page is listing W7 x64 drivers for Intel USB 3.0 Host Controller Adaptation Driver V 5.0.3.42 for Windows 7 64bit and Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver software V15.9.4.1041 for Windows 7 64-bit although the only officially listed supported in its specs is windows 10, w7 is listed as an option on driver downloads.

There is also ASUS EZ Installer 1.03.21 to create a Windows 7 installation file with USB 3.0 drivers preloaded for 300 series motherboards.
Wonder if they will work on my B360 board. Time to tinker Dont work.
 
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Tried fiddling with bios settings, usb2 and 3 ports for kb/rodent/usb key, tried installing from internal sata dvd. Zip zilch squat kadingus nada. :mad:
Kb/rodent either semi dead or completely dead. Aint spending anymore time on it now.
 
Main reason why W7 fails on new systems, next to no NVMe/USB3 support(two which are easily remedeed)

is the W7 lack of UEFI graphics support, or rather EUFI lacking classic vga/vesa support for it.

As soon as Windows 7, be it setup or runtime, loads VGA driver, the system crashes. Same happens on my W7 UEFI enabled install, when upgrading video driver, it crashes.

Two options I know of for install: A EUFI mobo with old skool CSM / Bios compatibility support, which in that case you boot in W7 UEFI setup and install on GPT partitioning.

After setup is complete and you got native video drivers installed, you can do some bcdedit to stop Win7 from loading vesa/vga, and i turn off CSM support and result is pure UEFI enabled W7 OS.

Option two is to run a modified unattended W7 setup iso and again keep it from running vga/vesa driver. and make sure some other gpu vendor driver is automatically installed/integrated into iso (basically what you do with usb3 etc.

Cant say ive ever tried this method.

The useful bcdedit options;
novesa yes
bootlog yes
bootstatuspolicy IgnoreAllFailures
quietboot on
bootmenupolicy Legacy

Some ppl fiddle around with vga.sys etc, i havent found a use for it.

So yeah if mobo not support CSM/Bios, option 2 is only way, or prep an install in a VM and then migrate to actual disk or something. Guess that could be a third option.
 
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Clanger said:
I would only go back to 7 if i bought a used laptop for internet stuff, happy with 8.1 :)
Click to expand...
Fair nuff. Perhaps it will be useful to some.

I never used 8.x , guess never really a need for it. I suppose 8 is more like 10, but since 10 has DX12 support and other tweaks under the hood..

Usually run dual boot 7/10 for old skool support :P
 
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