Best way to install Win7 Pro, to a DeskMini with a Kaby Lake CPU? (Win7, SKL/KBL, NVMe)

[VirtualLarry]

This aught to be fun.

When I installed Win7 Home to my desktop ATX Skylake Z170 rigs, I had to enable "PS/2 port emulation" in the BIOS, to be able to control the setup process, and had to use a SATA optical drive to install the OS, then once it was installed, it was unable to load NIC drivers or USB3.0 drivers off of a flash drive, so I had to boot a Linux USB stick, which worked with the Intel USB3.0 controller and Intel NIC, and I was able to go online and download the necessary Windows 7 drivers right to the SSD, from Linux, and then reboot into Windows 7 and install the drivers. I was using a PCI-E M.2 drive too, but an AHCI one, specifically because I knew that those would work out of the box with the Win7 AHCI HDD driver.

With the KBL CPU, and an NVMe SSD, and no way to attach a real SATA optical drive (in the DeskMini), things get a LOT more complicated.

I'm actually thinking that I should do the install and prep, with drivers, with the M.2 in question in my desktop ATX Z170 rigs, and then transfer the M.2 drive to the DeskMini, finish installing drivers, and update and activate.

I still wonder if maybe I should stick to the PCI-E AHCI M.2 SSDs for Win7, because even with the desktop ATX Z170 rig, I'm not quite sure how I'll shoehorn the NVMe driver in there at boot, not without attaching a second SATA optical drive, the sole purpose of which is to load the driver disc with the NVMe driver for an M.2 NVMe SSD at boot / install time.

Newer (NVMe) is NOT always better or easier.

Edit: Some instructions at this page:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...press-in-windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN300994/en

Update NVMe drives with Microsoft HotFix and remove Samsung Drivers
Samsung Drivers (Ver: 1.4.7.6) cannot be used at the same time as the Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 HotFixes (KB2990941, KB3087873). If you have a Samsung-manufactured NVMe SSD as boot drive with Samsung Drivers and you want to install the Microsoft NVMe HotFixes you must reimage your operating system. (Toshiba NVMe SSDs require only the Microsoft HotFix installation, as they have no Toshiba-supplied NVMe drivers at the time of this writing.)

and HP:
http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c05040446

 

[Insert_Nickname]

What I'd do is make a custom 7 image, with all requisite drivers and NVMe support, using DISM. It's a bit complicated to do, but that would be my optimal solution. As a bonus you only need to do this once.

 

[vailr]

Samsung NVMe driver v. 2.1:
http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools.html

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm looking at the hoops Larry is going through. There must be variation in everyone's "hoops," but they all face similar problems with Win 7.

Instead of a normal DIY slipstream process, I trusted ASUS when they promoted theirs, a proprietary program that re-made the final ISO slipstream on another system. Otherwise, you couldn't even install Win 7 to Z170 / Skylake system -- not because it wouldn't make nice with the disk controller with native drivers -- but because it needed the USB3 drivers to successfully install. Then I found out that the slipstreamed ASUS Win-7 boot disk didn't offer "Windows Repair" as you'd expect from even the straight-up OEM install disc.

I fumbled around with an eSATA optical drive, which was flaky, and I only vaguely remember some possibility that the port wasn't configured properly as hot-plug.

The original Win 7 boot-OS-system was an ADATA SATA SSD. Maybe this is too many steps to go through, but you only needed to stick in your PCIEx4 NVMe drive and card, then install the NVMe driver to the OS. (OF course you take all the precautions -- power down, unplug, etc. -- but Larry is no novice.). If I was able to avoid using the Win 7 update of native NVMe by using the Samsung driver, it made things less risky and easier. Once that was done, I only needed to clone the OS to the NVMe drive.

Of course, by that time, I'd made the Win 7 boot a dual boot, Win 7/Win10 EFI GPT configuration. I did that with EaseUS Partition Master, which worked nicely. But for the cloning, I'd use Macrium or Mini-Tool. The EaseUS folks are really sheepish and reticent about dual-boot.

It IS possible to sort this Z170 - Win 7 thing out. I did it. Both my Win 7 and Win 10 boot logs are now blue as the sky and clean as a whistle. [And THAT was some trouble, also!] Of course, I now have a Siamese Twin, all on the same boot-device, but I even think THAT can be changed. I'm just in no hurry or inclination to do it.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Also, I forgot to append this procedural note I made to myself and left on my Win 7 desktop, for the process of bringing the initial install of Win 7 SP1 up to update full-status, and avoiding all of the problems we had early in last year:

========= Note of procedures for updating Win 7 after initial install ==========
Assuming you are already starting from Service Pack 1 base (install SP1 for Windows 7 if not already). In Windows Update settings, turn off Windows Updates checking ("Never check for updates"), then install:

1. System Update Readiness Tool (32-bit / 64-bit) - optional may skip if no prior update problems
2. Windows Update Agent 7.x (link)
3. April 2015 Servicing Stack (link)
4. June 2016 Update Rollup (link)

Do NOT defer any restart prompts. i.e. If prompted to restart, then restart now not later. After complete, then turn Updates Checking back on to your preference such as 'Automatically check' or 'Download but let me choose updates to install'.

If you want to include the large SP2-esque Convenience Rollup, I would recommend doing it for Step #4 then move June 2016 Update Rollup to #5.
======= end of Note ===========

This may all be changed with the new Update paradigm we've seen for Win 7 since October, but it's probably a good idea to bring along your initial installation first.

The way I see it, you could have either of a few goals: Either slipstream all your drivers and the NVMe driver on a Windows ISO and burn, which is also "work" and trouble, or make the initial install on an HDD or SATA SSD and do as I did. To be honest, I hadn't clearly defined my NVME M.2 plans well enough when I built the system, so it's easy for me to say the process of install, configure, tweak and then "clone" is the best way.

Now I'm going to reboot back into Win 10. I suppose I should put my desktop detritus in a common drive accessed by both OSes. For the most part, I've got all this worked out.

 

[PingSpike]

I don't get it, can't you just use the USB2 ports for the optical drive and mouse/KB and then install the drivers for the NVMe controller during setup? I must be missing something.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, on Skylake / Kaby Lake platforms, even the USB2.0 ports are controlled by the XHCI (USB3.0) driver. There is no hardware support for EHCI (USB2.0) controllers.

I was able to make a bootable USB flash drive with Rufus, using a Win7 Pro 64-bit ISO, and then use the Intel USB 3.0 Win7 tool, to inject the Intel USB3.0 drivers into the installer image.

So, I'm typing this from the DeskMin, running Win7 Pro.

Unfortunately, the "VGA" driver posted to ASRock's web site, for Win7 64-bit for the DeskMini, does NOT seem to support Kaby Lake's HD630 GPU, even though that CPU is on the supported list for the mobo.

In fact, I haven't been able to get any downloaded Intel video drivers to work on the HD630, even when I was running Win10 on this DeskMini.

Edit: Found a Win7 64-bit HD630 driver HERE:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers...g4600-intel-630-integrated-graphics-win8.html

Click on the link for the Asus beta driver.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Yeah, on Skylake / Kaby Lake platforms, even the USB2.0 ports are controlled by the XHCI (USB3.0) driver. There is no hardware support for EHCI (USB2.0) controllers.

I was able to make a bootable USB flash drive with Rufus, using a Win7 Pro 64-bit ISO, and then use the Intel USB 3.0 Win7 tool, to inject the Intel USB3.0 drivers into the installer image.

So, I'm typing this from the DeskMin, running Win7 Pro.

Unfortunately, the "VGA" driver posted to ASRock's web site, for Win7 64-bit for the DeskMini, does NOT seem to support Kaby Lake's HD630 GPU, even though that CPU is on the supported list for the mobo.

In fact, I haven't been able to get any downloaded Intel video drivers to work on the HD630, even when I was running Win10 on this DeskMini.

Edit: Found a Win7 64-bit HD630 driver HERE:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers...g4600-intel-630-integrated-graphics-win8.html

Click on the link for the Asus beta driver.

Kaby has just been released? Somebody overlooked this?

Mainstreamers don't suffer this stuff . . . We're victims of our own obsessions . . .

 

[PingSpike]

Yeah, on Skylake / Kaby Lake platforms, even the USB2.0 ports are controlled by the XHCI (USB3.0) driver. There is no hardware support for EHCI (USB2.0) controllers.

Ah...that's kind of weird choice by Intel. I'm also not really sure how it works behind the scenes. I had thought they only had USB 3 ports starting with skylake but when I first saw the thread I looked up the chipsets and saw they still had USB2 as well. I assume you already tried disabling different USB options in the bios to force it into USB2 mode.

You could also boot off a usb card, but that's probably more involved than just using a sata DVD drive.

 

[TheELF]

You guys are making things way too complicated.

You can use imagex to transfer the instalation.wim from a installation usb/dvd to a hdd/sdd so that the installation will be done on the target system,no slipstreaming and no nothing.
All you need is imagex you can download gigabytes of stuff from MS to get it,or you can search for imagex alone on the web.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744531(v=ws.10).aspx
The only command needed is this one.
(Of course you'll have to make sure that the drive has an active and bootable partition)
imagex /apply N:\Images\my-windows-partition.wim 1 W:\

All you have to do is change the drive letters if your dvd/mounted iso is D:
and the target hdd/ssd is E:
you use
imagex /apply D:\sources\install.wim 1 E:
the 1 at the end tells it wich list item to use.
If you have a dvd with multiple versions you can use
dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:F:\x86\sources\install.esd /index:1(2-3... )
to see wich is wich.
Make a folder with all the drivers on the disk so they will be available to windows after its booted up and your done.

 

[whm1974]

Why not just install Windows 10? Win7 is old, outdated, and support is limited. Or if you really hate Win10 so much,why not switch over to Linux or one of the BSDs?

 

[TheELF]

Why not just install Windows 10? Win7 is old, outdated, and support is limited. Or if you really hate Win10 so much,why not switch over to Linux or one of the BSDs?

Ugh,don't get people started on that conversation again...
Some people want it,even if it's just for dual boot and nostalgia reasons who cares,let people use whatever they like.

 

[escrow4]

Ugh,don't get people started on that conversation again...
Some people want it,even if it's just for dual boot and nostalgia reasons who cares,let people use whatever they like.

There is zero reason to use an OS that is nearly a decade old.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

There is zero reason to use an OS that is nearly a decade old.

Encrypted Premium-channel TV. Until somebody solves this problem with no WMC in 10 and nothing satisfactory as a replacement.

Let's say Windows 7 is "mature." For most other aspects, Win 10 has grown up fast.

Once all your hardware tweaks are complete, dual-boot requires some attention. Imaging the dual-boot drive so that it restores with full dual-boot operability is no problem with the right software (Macrium v.6 free). And Macrium will back up the system from either OS (but should probably choose one -- preferably 10) so that disk and file changes under both active and inactive OSes are differentially or incrementally updated.

If you want to dump Win 7, it's easy. You could then boot to Win 10, do a new full image, and restore it to the full size of the boot-system-disk after deleting the Windows 7 volume.

 

[escrow4]

Encrypted Premium-channel TV. Until somebody solves this problem with no WMC in 10 and nothing satisfactory as a replacement.

Let's say Windows 7 is "mature." For most other aspects, Win 10 has grown up fast.

Once all your hardware tweaks are complete, dual-boot requires some attention. Imaging the dual-boot drive so that it restores with full dual-boot operability is no problem with the right software (Macrium v.6 free). And Macrium will back up the system from either OS (but should probably choose one -- preferably 10) so that disk and file changes under both active and inactive OSes are differentially or incrementally updated.

If you want to dump Win 7, it's easy. You could then boot to Win 10, do a new full image, and restore it to the full size of the boot-system-disk after deleting the Windows 7 volume.

People still use and watch through WMC? Cut the cord and welcome in 2015 already . . . .

 

[BonzaiDuck]

People still use and watch through WMC? Cut the cord and welcome in 2015 already . . . .

A reseller just started charging me monthly for an Office 365 subscription I didn't want. I'm reticent about additional charges, subscriptions, movie downloads and other "experiments."

If I have an HTPC function, I'll want to integrate any subscription services like Netflix or HUTU through a single interface. But others in this house aren't giving my their ESPN and sports channels or the premiums. Our internet, phone and TV are bundled. If subscription cable is obsolete, why are so many people using it? I have two SiliconDust HDHR'-s, and I want to get further use from them.

I'm starting to come up to speed on Win 10. Fixing the Event Log errors and warnings is part of the education. I still prefer the "Classic" desktop, so I think I've installed "Classic Shell." I can get Hauppauge's WinTV v8 to provide OTA to my system with no HDCP restrictions. But I want those premium channels, and the Silly-Dust kickstarter doesn't do it yet.

I am bent on making this work -- hopefully in Win 10, with an App that replaces WMC. I have another system Win 7 box, and it has acquired the free Win 10 license but not currently installed. It continues to be my main HTPC system, while I prepare this Skylake system for "versatile functionality."

We figure on about three more years of Win 7 support. I just don't want to go back to "no DVR" and the provider's clunky menu and remote. Since this has worked fine for me over some six or seven years, I don't want to just "give it up."

Meanwhile, the dual-boot now works cleanly. There is only the occasional glitch where the Kybd-Mouse going through my KVM doesn't initialize when I switch from 7 to 10, and I have to plug in another PS/2-to-USB keyboard to do a quick restart and regain the main keyboard/mouse. And -- I think -- this is only an occasional problem. If I simply booted and rebooted again and again into Win 10, it doesn't happen.