Problem installing Windows 7 with USB Mouse + Keyboard

[Redstiza]

I just finished getting my computer back up and running after installing a new motherboard, CPU, RAM into a new case. I need to wipe my old Hard Drive with a fresh new install of Windows 7 and the mouse and keyboard I'm using work to get through the BIOS and boot from the CD but at the menu to install Windows 7 it doesn't work. I only have a USB combo and really don't want to buy another keyboard or mouse just to install this. It's plugged into the front 2.0 USB ports as they're labeled on the case's instructions and work fine at the BIOS menu.

The board is an MSI Z170A PC MATE LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard.

 

[Mark_1970]

I just finished getting my computer back up and running after installing a new motherboard, CPU, RAM into a new case. I need to wipe my old Hard Drive with a fresh new install of Windows 7 and the mouse and keyboard I'm using work to get through the BIOS and boot from the CD but at the menu to install Windows 7 it doesn't work. I only have a USB combo and really don't want to buy another keyboard or mouse just to install this. It's plugged into the front 2.0 USB ports as they're labeled on the case's instructions and work fine at the BIOS menu.

The board is an MSI Z170A PC MATE LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard.

plug them in rear 2.0 ports and try again

 

[Redstiza]

I just finished getting my computer back up and running after installing a new motherboard, CPU, RAM into a new case. I need to wipe my old Hard Drive with a fresh new install of Windows 7 and the mouse and keyboard I'm using work to get through the BIOS and boot from the CD but at the menu to install Windows 7 it doesn't work. I only have a USB combo and really don't want to buy another keyboard or mouse just to install this. It's plugged into the front 2.0 USB ports as they're labeled on the case's instructions and work fine at the BIOS menu.

The board is an MSI Z170A PC MATE LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard.

plug them in rear 2.0 ports and try again

There are no rear 2.0 ports, all the ones there are 3.0.

 

[Mark_1970]

I just finished getting my computer back up and running after installing a new motherboard, CPU, RAM into a new case. I need to wipe my old Hard Drive with a fresh new install of Windows 7 and the mouse and keyboard I'm using work to get through the BIOS and boot from the CD but at the menu to install Windows 7 it doesn't work. I only have a USB combo and really don't want to buy another keyboard or mouse just to install this. It's plugged into the front 2.0 USB ports as they're labeled on the case's instructions and work fine at the BIOS menu.

The board is an MSI Z170A PC MATE LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard.

plug them in rear 2.0 ports and try again

There are no rear 2.0 ports, all the ones there are 3.0.

turn on legacy keyboard support in bios on usb 3 ports

 

[CarlWinslow]

Good news if you haven smashed your PC into the wall out of frustration: I found the fix. I just bought the exact same motherboard (MSI Z170A PC MATE) and had the exact same issue. From what I can find from searching, it has to do with the presence of a USB 3.0 controller and Windows 7 not playing nice. Or something. Not 100% sure.

The simplest solution appears to be changing an option in the bios setup. I found it buried in the manual for the board. Go to the "advanced mode" in the bios setup and navigate to Settings>Advanced>Windows OS Configuration>Windows 7 Installation and change it to enabled. This got me my mouse and keyboard back. That'll probably do it for you.

The second hurdle I ran into was a "missing CD/DVD driver" error shortly after I solved that issue. I think this was only because I was trying to use an external DVD drive to install (Actually, it was an old Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive... haha). I tried playing around with a few things, including creating a bootable USB drive installer, but got the same error. The endgame was to use another computer to make my hard drive bootable, copy the setup and boot files to the hard drive, slap it back in the PC in question, and then it worked like a charm. I used this process as inspiration: http://www.instructables.com/id/Install-Windows-7-without-USB-or-DVD-without-upgra/

Part 2 of that guide is easier if you use diskmgmt.msc and just make the partition you copied the files to active.

Hope that helps. It if did, buy a friend a coffee. Or better yet, a beer.