Question I'm unable to Install Windows 7 on an SDD ?

[blueskyx5]

Hello. While loading the system it says "No Device Drivers Were Found". I know the question is a bit cliché, but my system and situation are a bit specific.

My motherboard is MSI PC MATE 250 and Windows 7 is currently installed on the HDD.
I also installed a Crucial BX500 SSD in the SATA port.
My goal is to install Windows 7 on the SSD. I have a bootable USB drive that I'm sure worked before. (I used Yumi)

The SSD works, but even if it doesn't, Windows doesn't even show the HDD I'm currently using during the installation phase. SATA mode in BIOS is enabled and AHCI. I don't know where else to look. How can I overcome this problem?

 

[dwd999]

Perhaps you could try to clone your HDD to the SSD with a program like Macrium.

 

[BFG-9000]

You have to load the F6 AHCI drivers for your SATA controller in order for the Windows Installer to see your HDD or SSD.

And you shouldn't have the HDD attached while you are installing Windows to the SSD, or the installer may decide to put the boot sector on that instead.

 

[blueskyx5]

You have to load the F6 AHCI drivers for your SATA controller in order for the Windows Installer to see your HDD or SSD.

And you shouldn't have the HDD attached while you are installing Windows to the SSD, or the installer may decide to put the boot sector on that instead.

But the BIOS is already in AHCI mode. Windows installation says no storage devices are detected. In reality there are 2 and they are intact.

 

[BFG-9000]

If you put your BIOS in AHCI mode, and the Windows installer does not natively understand AHCI, how else do you expect it to access the drives?

Windows 8.0 doesn't either, but 8.1 and newer does.

 

[blueskyx5]

If you put your BIOS in AHCI mode, and the Windows installer does not natively understand AHCI, how else do you expect it to access the drives?

Windows 8.0 doesn't either, but 8.1 and newer does.

There are two modes in sata mode. Ahci and "OPTANE MOD" When I try "Optane Mode" the computer redirects me to the bios again when it starts up. I think I need to make another adjustment here, but if so, I don't know. ( But in the meantime, Windows 7 installation support is active in BIOS. )

 

[BFG-9000]

The MSI downloads page for that board is so terrible it doesn't even have this driver on it.

You could wade through Intel's site looking for the correct Intel RST SATA preinstall driver for AHCI mode, or just get it from some other company's support site such as Gigabyte here (choose one for Windows 7). Put it somewhere on the USB and browse to it when Windows install offers the option to load drivers.

Or install Windows in IDE mode and then look up a guide on how to change things over to AHCI mode afterwards.

 

[blueskyx5]

The MSI downloads page for that board is so terrible it doesn't even have this driver on it.

You could wade through Intel's site looking for the correct Intel RST SATA preinstall driver for AHCI mode, or just get it from some other company's support site such as Gigabyte here (choose one for Windows 7). Put it somewhere on the USB and browse to it when Windows install offers the option to load drivers.

Or install Windows in IDE mode and then look up a guide on how to change things over to AHCI mode afterwards.

Thanks. I didn't want to deal with that so I found a shortcut. I started the Windows 7 installation tool from the windows on the HDD I am currently using and selected the SSD as the second disk. This worked successfully and windows 7 was installed on the second ssd disk. But the installed Windows does not automatically detect the Ethernet and asks for a driver to be installed. So there seem to be some problems. My goal is to move the operating system and also my installed software from windows on HDD to windows on SSD.


This method seems like a bit of a hassle, but I think it will work. As a method, then removing the HDD cable and leaving only the SSD, maybe it can solve the problem I mentioned in this topic. (Might be worth a try).

dwd999
I thought about doing a disk image but I think there would be some errors and omissions, so it would be best to just start from scratch and move slowly.

 

[BFG-9000]

Installing Windows from the desktop of another drive sounds like it would leave the boot sector on the HDD and add a boot manager entry for D:\Windows on SSD. Does it boot without the HDD?

The driver you need for your Intel Ethernet Connection I219-V is called Intel® Network Adapter Driver for Windows 7* - Final Release 1/23/2020 25.0

 

[blueskyx5]

Installing Windows from the desktop of another drive sounds like it would leave the boot sector on the HDD and add a boot manager entry for D:\Windows on SSD. Does it boot without the HDD?

The driver you need for your Intel Ethernet Connection I219-V is called Intel® Network Adapter Driver for Windows 7* - Final Release 1/23/2020 25.0

There are two operating system options at the beginning, but I don't think this is a good method. Because the two operating systems seem to affect each other, and even if the operating system is installed, it is incomplete and problematic. So I will try the classic trick. I will disconnect the HDD Cable and the Blank SSD disk will already ask for a setup file to boot. I will act as if there is only an SSD disk... I hope this classic trick works. It worked on HDD when it was empty, I think it will work on SSD too.

 

[blueskyx5]

I managed to solve this problem. I found out that the main problem is that windows 7 does not support USB 3.0. So I prepared a new bootable flash drive. Instructions from MSI support page https://www.msi.com/support/technical_details/MB_OS_Inst_USB_Unrecog

he tool is a bit hard to find, but I found it, here is the download link https://download.msi.com/uti_exe/mb/Smart_Tool_1.0.0.43.zip

I found out that Gigabyte has a similar issue and if anyone from Google reaches this page, here is their solution https://www.gigabyte.com/Support/Consumer/FAQ/3459


Of course, this could be due to other problems, but this is one of the solutions.

 

[dev_cyberpunk]

Of course, this could be due to other problems, but this is one of the solutions.

Windows 7 was designed to be installed from a DVD ROM. That is why you are having issues.

Its easier to just bit clone the drive if its equal to or greater than in size than the HDD,
Which I use the Linux dd command to clone the drives. Since nothing is changing but the drive, windows is oblivious to the disk migration.

 

[Hannah7]

• Hello. While loading the system it says "No Device Drivers Were Found". I know the question is a bit cliché, but my system and situation are a bit specific.
  
  My motherboard is MSI PC MATE 250 and currently windows 7 is installed on the HDD. I also installed a SSD in the SATA port (Crucial BX500) My goal is to install windows 7 on SSD. I have a bootable USB drive that I'm sure worked before. (I used Yumi)
  
  The SSD disk works, but even if it doesn't, Windows doesn't even show the HDD I'm currently using during the installation phase. SATA mode in bios is on and AHCI. I don't know where else to look. How can I overcome this problem?

Did you try loading the SATA drivers manually during the Windows 7 installation? Sometimes, older Windows versions don’t include the necessary drivers for newer SSDs.
If BIOS detects the SSD but Windows installation doesn’t, it might be an issue with the installation media. Have you tried using a different USB or integrating drivers with a tool like Rufus?