Installing Windows 8.1 on Skylake builds

[Information System]

Hello, I'm helping a buddy out with his new computer build and we've got everything put together.. but when we try to install Windows 7 we get an error regarding missing drivers. We discovered that the issue is skylake related. Skylake motherboards don't have a USB 2.0 controller so we can't run the windows 7 setup. I have a valid key for Windows 8.1 Pro but I'm wondering if that will also give us the same trouble or not. Any ideas?

 

[Snipergod87]

You will need to add the required drivers into your Windows 7 USB installer. I had to do this on a skylake build, some methods of doing this are quite involved, others less so. Does have have internal USB 2.0 headers you could use instead?

 

[captaincharisma]

if the computer has an optical drive i would burn a copy on a DVD and use that to install to avoid this problem

 

[Snipergod87]

if the computer has an optical drive i would burn a copy on a DVD and use that to install to avoid this problem

That wont help as the keyboard and mouse will not work, as it does not have the drivers for the USB 3.0 ports, so you cant navigate through the install unless the computer has a PS2 port, and you have a PS2 keyboard.

 

[captaincharisma]

if the computer has an optical drive i would burn a copy on a DVD and use that to install to avoid this problem

That wont help as the keyboard and mouse will not work, as it does not have the drivers for the USB 3.0 ports, so you cant navigate through the install unless the computer has a PS2 port, and you have a PS2 keyboard.

i was referring to an internal SATA optical drive not an external USB one. when booting from a SATA drive you do not have to worry about USB drivers

 

[Snipergod87]

if the computer has an optical drive i would burn a copy on a DVD and use that to install to avoid this problem

That wont help as the keyboard and mouse will not work, as it does not have the drivers for the USB 3.0 ports, so you cant navigate through the install unless the computer has a PS2 port, and you have a PS2 keyboard.

i was referring to an internal SATA optical drive not an external USB one. when booting from a SATA drive you do not have to worry about USB drivers

You still do if you need USB drivers for the keyboard and mouse to work during the install which wont work if all the system has is USB 3 ports. Without the drivers added via DISM its basically like booting a Windows 7 install without a keyboard and mouse plugged in.