I'm trying to get Windows 7 to install on my M.2 950 Pro with an Asus Z170i Pro Gaming motherboard. When I boot to the DVD to install windows, it boots fine from the USB DVD drive, but when I get into windows installer, it can't find the driver. I have the driver on a USB stick, but windows can't seem to see the USB stick. This is a new PC build that I would like to get installed today to take advantage of the free windows upgrade so any help would be great. Thanks!
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Help with Win 7 950 Pro Install with the Asus Z170i?
- Thread starter nebulight
- Start date
You put the USB xHCI drivers on a USB stick, but it's a chicken and egg catch: you need them to be loaded in the first place in order to read the stick! Even USB 2.0 will NOT work in Windows 7 on Skylake without having the drivers installed!
When I did my Windows 7 install (which for the record I did because of application compatibility reasons, not with the intent of piracy), I actually removed the SSD from the Skylake PC, placed it into an older one, installed W7 on that, and used the Sysprep tool in order to allow me to move the SSD back into the Skylake PC. Even with Windows installed, I still could not use the USB drives, so I used the CD I burned with the drivers in order to get the USBs and the network up and running.
Grab yourself any old hard drive or SSD and install Windows 7 on that on an older machine, then do what I did and you should be fine. In theory you COULD slipstream the needed drivers into a W7 image and then burn it on a DVD, but my way of doing it would probably take less and it's easier to start over in case something doesn't work right.
When I did my Windows 7 install (which for the record I did because of application compatibility reasons, not with the intent of piracy), I actually removed the SSD from the Skylake PC, placed it into an older one, installed W7 on that, and used the Sysprep tool in order to allow me to move the SSD back into the Skylake PC. Even with Windows installed, I still could not use the USB drives, so I used the CD I burned with the drivers in order to get the USBs and the network up and running.
Grab yourself any old hard drive or SSD and install Windows 7 on that on an older machine, then do what I did and you should be fine. In theory you COULD slipstream the needed drivers into a W7 image and then burn it on a DVD, but my way of doing it would probably take less and it's easier to start over in case something doesn't work right.
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I'm in the process of slipping all of the drivers from the motherboard DVD onto the windows ISO and will burn them to a DVD and see if that works.
Sadly I have no other PC with an M.2 slot so I hope this works.
You don't need to install W7 on the 950 Pro, you just need to make sure W10 activates with your Skylake motherboard and CPU. After that you can remove the older drive, install W10 normally on the 950 Pro and it will activate.
You don't need to install W7 on the 950 Pro, you just need to make sure W10 activates with your Skylake motherboard and CPU. After that you can remove the older drive, install W10 normally on the 950 Pro and it will activate.
I only have the M.2 drive installed in this pc. I put it together last night but the seller who I bought the case from (and the DVD drive) didn't include the mini sata adapter, so I brought the PC into work with me as I have a USB DVD drive. I have a spare 2.5 drive, but I left the power supply cables at home for SATA. I just got back from the store and bought some Dual Layer DVDs (because my ISO was 5.8gb) so I'll report back shortly. If this doesn't work, I'll bring home the extra 2.5 drive I have here.
Thanks for your help.
Well I was able to "patch" my win 7 installer from this video:
Then install the USB stick into a 2.0 port and I was able to install on my SATA drive. Got 7 installed and now I'm downloading the windows 10 upgrade. It's taking forever as I guess there are a lot of last minute upgrades. Once this is done, I'll download the windows 10 installser and put it on a USB stick and try a fresh install to the 950 pro. Thanks for the pointers everyone!
Then install the USB stick into a 2.0 port and I was able to install on my SATA drive. Got 7 installed and now I'm downloading the windows 10 upgrade. It's taking forever as I guess there are a lot of last minute upgrades. Once this is done, I'll download the windows 10 installser and put it on a USB stick and try a fresh install to the 950 pro. Thanks for the pointers everyone!