Windows 7 Wont install "A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing"

[Shaun98]

Hi, I have a PC that shipped with Windows 10 and I am now trying to downgrade back to windows 7 however everytime i insert my Windows 7 Boot media USB flash drive it says "A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing" I have tried two USB pens both work fine with a Windows 10 boot media and i have also played around in bios making sure secure boot is off and i have tried with UEFI Mode On and Off with no luck and enabled an option to be able to use legacy ROMs in UEFI mode and tried in legacy mode on its own and all give me the same error.

It is a Windows 7 Home Premium USB that I am using (Tried multiple Brand new ISO's and nothing).

I have an x64 OS and CPU If that helps.

Also, I Do not have any Usb 2.0 ports

I have lost count of how many times I've installed windows 7 But just cant seem to get my head around this problem so any help is much appreciated!

Thanks, Shaun

 

[junkeymonkey]

you have to usethe motherboards windows 7 usb installer tool support has been removed form 7 to help prevent installing on skylake platforms

http://wccftech.com/intel-skylake-remove-support-usb-based-windows-7-installation-platform-specs/


if you don't have a skylake platform I don't know what they have to do this with ??

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/win7install/

https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1015837/

anyway under your motherboards utility's you will see the tool listed

 

[drtweak]

You need to find the SATA drivers for the Windows 7 OR if you are booting off the USB 3.0 then you need the USB 3.0 driver and sadly if it is the USB drive you will probably have to use NTlite to slip stream the USB 3.0 drive into the install image so that it can boot up with the 3.0 drivers or burn them to a DVD and then load them there.

 

[Shaun98]

(UPDATE) I wrote that wrong Windows 18 won't even boot in uefi mode only in legacy any ideas?

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

Windows 7 has no native USB 3.0 support, hence why you can't run the installer. You either need to load the USB 3.0 driver before starting the Windows installer or install Windows from an optical drive.

 

[Shaun98]

Will that work in UEFI?

What about with the windows 10 install any idea why that won't boot into UEFI from a USB? Haven't tried a disk yet only USB drives

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

UEFI is a separate issue. For now, focus on getting Windows installed and worry about UEFI afterwards.

 

[Shaun98]

Thanks for your help. Can you change it afterwards? I always thought you had to install it in either UEFI or legacy and you could not change it after the install correct me if I'm wrong

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

Switching between UEFI and Legacy modes is done via the BIOS, so it can be done any time.

 

[Shaun98]

Fair enough will have another go tonight when I'm home and see how far I get. Thanks again for the help

 

[Shaun98]

Also how would I load in the driver? I have it but it's in a exe installer?

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

Trouble is, with no USB 2.0 ports, you won't be able to install the driver from a USB device. You'll either need a tool to merge the driver with the boot.wim file (like Intel's Windows 7 USB 3.0 Creator Utility), or use an optical drive to install the driver.

That said, if you have access to an optical drive and an .iso image then you may as well install Windows from there.

 

[junkeymonkey]

''Also how would I load in the driver? I have it but it's in a exe installer''

I tried to give you examples on how from 2 motherboard manufactures in my first post .. thing is you got a prebuilt like maybe a hp or dell that your just S>O>L being they use there own proprietary motherboards and may not offer any way to slipstream them in or any installer tool as the aftermarket motherboards like asus asrock MSi or gigabyte do.

now maybe find a old retail windows dvd and install from it use your key for the usb 7 and then install the drivers needed as standalone

 

[drtweak]

Here try this.

Download Macrium Reflect. Install it. It will ask to make a rescue CD. Make one and make sure it is using the Windows 10 PE.

Boot off that. Once loaded toss in your Windows 7 USB drive

You can use the File manager to browse to the Thumb drive and run the setup.

NOTE:

1) The Reflect image must be same as windows install IE 32 bit to 32 bit and 64 bit to 64 bit (Macrium will make a version from the same as the PC it is on by default. So if you are 64 bit it will make a 64 bit disk by default.

2) This can ONLY be done in legacy boot and NOT uEFI. There is no real need to use uEFI with a windows 7 and windows 7 is a pain to get to install in uEFI sometimes. I have done it once. You have to use diskpart and convert to GPT etc unless 8+ which do it automatically.

This SHOULD allow you to install windows 7 and bypass the USB. Once windows is installed you SHOULD be able to use the USB 3.0 ports at least to use mouse and keyboard on and then download.

 

[junkeymonkey]

you know this skylake chipset has usb 2 over the ps/2 port

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty%20E3V5%20Performance%20GamingOC/

seems the skylake c232 chipsets don't have this win7 limitation as the 100 series and also xeon support the 100 series don't ..

if a guy did not care abut NVidia sli support and wants to use 7 with ease plus a better cpu selection ??

 

[drtweak]

You can always find an old legacy addin USB card if you have the right slot for it and see if mouse and keyboard work that way?

 

[Mike_JWCS]

Use your USB media to create a bootable DVD for Windows 7.
Change BIOS to Legacy from Secure Boot
Windows will then install from the DVD (I know it's slow, but it works). Issue is that the Intel 100 chipset (Intel 6th Generation) doesn't actually work when installing from USB, and the fix that Intel has produced to update your install media with the USB 3.0 Enhance Drivers is actually dodgy at best.
I've just had to do this for a new Windows 10 desktop that my customer wants as Windows 7, yet the USB media I've used hundreds of time doesn't work with this chipset. Using a DVD and it works first time