Windows 7 64-bit - anyone using it on Ryzen 1000-series or Kaby or Coffee Lake?

[VirtualLarry]

Curious. I know that it's possible to run Windows 7 64-bit on Ryzen 1000-series, was thinking of trying it out.

I did have a modded Windows 7 64-bit for Intel (USB3.0, NVMe), Intel used to offer a program for their NUC devices, download some kits from Microsoft, and run their program, and it would mod the ISO for you. They apparently no longer offer that program (probably, MS complained).

I used it on a Kaby Lake DeskMini (NUC-like) unit. The beta VGA driver was kind-of not-great.

I think ASRock offers something similar to use Windows 7 64-bit with a Ryzen 1000-series / AM4 board, though I've not tried it.

Starting to think that adopting Windows 10 was a mistake.

 

[BSim500]

Curious. I know that it's possible to run Windows 7 64-bit on Ryzen 1000-series, was thinking of trying it out.

W7 Compatibility Rundown:-

Skylake onwards changes how USB devices are "presented" to the OS (EHCI -> XHCI). W7 installer natively has the former but not the latter.

- Sky/Kaby Lake work fine (inc HD630 iGPU) but needs slipstreamed USB XHCI drivers
- Coffee Lake v1 (Z370) works as the chipset is Kaby Refresh, needs same slipstreamed drivers but the UHD630 iGPU doesn't work (no driver) and will require a dGPU
- Coffee Lake v2 (H310/B360/H370/Z390) doesn't work as the new chipsets are Cannon Lake and breaks USB completely (USB is completely non-functional even after slipstreamed drivers). New Intel networking chips (eg, CNVi Wi-Fi) lack W7 drivers too.
- Coffee Lake v3 (H310C / H310 R2.0). Intel have replaced the first H310 (14nm) chipset with H310C or "H310 R2.0" (22nm). A quick look at ASUS range, eg, PRIME H310M-A R2.0 shows they have full Windows 7 drivers for both 32 & 64-bit. (Thus proving that Kaby / Coffee Lake's W7 "restrictions" were totally fake all along...)
- Ryzen 1000 CPU's work with slipstreamed drivers. All drivers are present on many B350 / Z370 boards
- Ryzen 2000 CPU's can also be made to work but B450 / X470 may lack drivers for new Intel CNVI Wi-Fi / I211 Ethernet chips. Some boards with older AC7260 / I219V Intel or Realtek based LAN chipsets, eg, Gigabyte B450 AORUS M, appear to have all W7 drivers present. Likewise B350 / X370 + BIOS Update + Ryzen 2000 will probably work if drivers are present.
- Ryzen 2200G / 2400G APU's don't work and fail to boot with ACPI errors. Even early 2015-2016 W10 builds have serious stability issues. Raven Ridge is W10 1709 minimum.
- Use WUFUC to re-enable MS's artificially crippled security updates for Kaby / Coffee / Ryzen
- Slip-streamed utilities are still available for download (ASUS, ASRock, Gigabyte, MSI). New versions add NVMe support (inc KB2990941 and KB3087873 hotfixes). They'll create either a USB boot stick or an ISO for DVD-R burning.
- Many motherboards have a BIOS option (eg , XHCI Handoff or PS/2 simulator) to bypass the lack of XHCI USB during install without needing to slipstream drivers
- Alternatives include 1. Use an actual PS/2 keyboard + SATA optical drive to install W7 then install XHCI USB drivers off motherboard DVD-ROM driver disc / pre-downloaded to a secondary internal SATA HDD. Once installed you can switch back to USB. 2. Set up an unattended installation (inc USB drivers) from a SATA optical drive.

Starting to think that adopting Windows 10 was a mistake.

Join the club. I found 2016 Enterprise LTSB the only tolerable version that doesn't break every 6 months and actually feels like you're using your own PC and not borrowing someone else's 27" mobile phone. Of course, it's also the same one not available to consumers so instead of 'encouraging' people to use the regular Home / Pro bi-annual train-wrecks, half the population instead remains on W7...

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'd give you a DOZEN likes, if I could. Thanks!

 

[PliotronX]

I had the displeasure of shoehorning 7 onto an optiplex with an i5 8400 and B360 chipset. I had to inject the windows 7 sources folder into a windows 10 disc so it would boot and shift+f10 to command prompt to run setup.exe for 7. I also had to install a usb controller card because there are no drivers for 7 and the b360. Luckily the office did not require HD drivers so its in SVGA mode. This was needed for a "must have" software from 2001 that does not play well with 10..

 

[bbhaag]

I had the displeasure of shoehorning 7 onto an optiplex with an i5 8400 and B360 chipset. I had to inject the windows 7 sources folder into a windows 10 disc so it would boot and shift+f10 to command prompt to run setup.exe for 7. I also had to install a usb controller card because there are no drivers for 7 and the b360. Luckily the office did not require HD drivers so its in SVGA mode. This was needed for a "must have" software from 2001 that does not play well with 10..

I know this is a bit off topic but why didn't you choose a legacy hardware solution instead of trying to get Windows 7 installed on new hardware? There are tons of off lease and refurbished options on the market that are more than capable of running Windows 7 and most likely the program from 2001.

 

[PliotronX]

I know this is a bit off topic but why didn't you choose a legacy hardware solution instead of trying to get Windows 7 installed on new hardware? There are tons of off lease and refurbished options on the market that are more than capable of running Windows 7 and most likely the program from 2001.

Aye, hardware purchases are not up to me however. One of my biggest gripes working at this MSP. I just figure out how to make things work lol

 

[bbhaag]

Aye, hardware purchases are not up to me however. One of my biggest gripes working at this MSP. I just figure out how to make things work lol

Gotcha that makes sense. I guess if you have no control over hardware purchases making it work is all you can really do.

 

[SvenBentDK]

i had no issues installing or running rwindows 7 64bit on ryzne 1700 however id does not allowe me to update but there is a patch that fixes that.

 

[mopardude87]

Managed to get W7 running on my Asrock z370m Pro 4 with my i7 8700. After finding a dedicated forum thread with people posting about what drivers work best with this mobo and W7 i eventually had a fully functional desktop. Heck W7 flies on this i7 8700. Tried it out in methods of troubleshooting some issues but found it a interesting experience. Appears for Asrock at first their site had all the W7 drivers but over time some dedicated people have appeared to save those said files cause now Asrock and others have dropped all their W7 drivers.

All usb 3.0 front and back i thought would be a major issue but enable ps/2 emulation and your off! W7 installation goes as smoothly as any any other install i have ever done. If you lack emulation oh man your in for a world of pain. Major hassle injecting usb 3.0 into your iso.

 

[Raduque]

Join the club. I found 2016 Enterprise LTSB the only tolerable version that doesn't break every 6 months and actually feels like you're using your own PC and not borrowing someone else's 27" mobile phone. Of course, it's also the same one not available to consumers so instead of 'encouraging' people to use the regular Home / Pro bi-annual train-wrecks, half the population instead remains on W7...

This is probably the dumbest and most hyperbolic thing I've ever read in this forum.

 

[SkyDiver]

It took a couple of days, but we got my son's 2700 Ryzen working with Win7. No problems once it is up and running, but several issues along the way. His hardware only had one PS/2 port which was a pain.

 

[vailr]

A successful Win 7 installation can be also done on some of these newer chipset machines, by using an unmodified Win 7 installation disc, and only a PS/2 mouse, instead of requiring a PS/2 keyboard. At a certain point during the installation where some keyboard input is required, the on-screen keyboard can be invoked. It worked on an Intel Z170 system for me, and should also work on more recent vintage machines.
Using a modified Win 7 install disc would be the preferred method, however.

 

[treevor]

Ive had plenty of success getting win7 shoddily up and running on a number of kaby lake laptops and desktops now. Huge issue with the majority of installs is that people tend to use a USB stick to put the installer on but most modern platforms no longer have a USB 2.0 native controller on the board anymore and win7 shipped with no USB 3 support. Soooo when you try to install and windows looks for drivers it just angrily yells at you that it cant find drivers for what.... you guessed it.... the usb 3 root hub

Disc does work wonderfully however, had some success slipstreaming drivers into an iso and burning that to a disc but dual layer discs are far too expensive to keep that up.

Also noticed that if you run a clock speed greater that 4.0Ghz the watchdog will freak out and cause random bsod's (You can disable it but just be careful)