[SOLVED] [Z490 Phantom Gaming 4] No mouse Windows 7 setup

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stethnorun

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So I know that Windows 7 doesn't come pre-loaded with USB 3.0 drivers. But there has to be some way to use Windows 7 64bit on this motherboard (LGA 1200, Z490). Anyone help?
 
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There's not. Windows 7 is long past end of life, and Z490 motherboards and 10th Gen Intel CPUs and chipsets are not intended for use with Windows 7 systems. None of the Z490 motherboards have ANY Windows 7 drivers available for them, nor is Microsoft going to create Windows 7 drivers for hardware that was released after Windows 7 was given EOL status.

It is time to upgrade, much as you might not want to. They are no longer giving you a choice, so you might as well take advantage of the free upgrade to an OS you CAN use, while you still can. Simply follow the directions in my tutorial but plug in your Windows 7 product key when it asks for your activation code...
There's not. Windows 7 is long past end of life, and Z490 motherboards and 10th Gen Intel CPUs and chipsets are not intended for use with Windows 7 systems. None of the Z490 motherboards have ANY Windows 7 drivers available for them, nor is Microsoft going to create Windows 7 drivers for hardware that was released after Windows 7 was given EOL status.

It is time to upgrade, much as you might not want to. They are no longer giving you a choice, so you might as well take advantage of the free upgrade to an OS you CAN use, while you still can. Simply follow the directions in my tutorial but plug in your Windows 7 product key when it asks for your activation code.

 
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stethnorun

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Damn, okay cool thanks. So the only thing I need that I can't get from your tutorial is the product key. I can make everything else with a flash drive? Without ever having installed any Windows on this computer before?
 
Yep, flash drive is all you need. Do you already have Windows 7 or were you intending to purchase it for use with this? Do you have another system running Windows 7 or 8 that you DON'T intend to continue using after this system is running? If so, you could use that product key to gain a digital entitlement for Windows 10 on this new installation.

 

stethnorun

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Awesome thanks for the link, I'll create a new bookmark folder for them. I was just trying to build a new PC for a friend. Bought a cheap copy of Windows 7 (still not sure if the code will work but it seemed legit enough). So it's a key that's never been used before.

I guess eventually I'll be upgrading my own rig for Windows 10. Any idea when this upgrade period will end?
 
It was officially "supposed" to end a long time ago. Unofficially, Microsoft simply doesn't really care and just leaves the option on the table because in reality what they WANT is for EVERYBODY TO BE ON Windows 10. They WISH everybody would stop using other OS versions so they would not need to support them anymore and would only need to worry about supporting Windows 10 at the consumer level anyhow. Obviously there are still multitudes of business and corporate entities still running XP on a lot of machines, because they have proprietary hardware and software that won't run on anything else, but in general, for the mainstream masses, they want everybody on the same page and they stand to make more money through other avenues that rely on everybody being on Windows 10 than they ever would selling the OS itself.

So, for now at least, there isn't an immediate end in sight, however, part of this reasoning comes from the fact that legally they sort of HAVE to support previously released products for a specific amount of time, by law. Once that ends, as it has for every other OS version now except for Windows 8, which you can expect to also be end of life in January of 2023, they will probably then move to making sure everybody who doesn't already have a Windows 10 license or digital entitlement, has to pay to use the OS in some way or other. But you are better off getting in while it's still relatively simple, and free. Theoretically, aside from building or purchasing additional machines or systems on top of whatever the primary system is, you should never need to purchase another license again so long as you continue to move the entitlement to the next system each time you upgrade or replace the system with one that doesn't already come with a license.
 

stethnorun

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Well, the CD codes I was emailed don't work. So that sucks. Hmm. I wonder if they have to have already been registered with Microsoft to work? But that doesn't make much sense since I don't even think it's checking anything online. The Windows 10 files themselves are saying the copies are no good. Here's the email I got from the place I bought it from.


Thank you for your order for Windows 7 Pro 1PC License.

Please find Microsoft Window 7 Pro 1PC Product Key;



[code 1]
[code 2]



You can directly install your pc or you can make USB or burn DVD. This is lifetime License so if you need to reinstall in the future you can use as well.

Download Link:
32 Bit
https://tpedutw-my.sharepoint.com/p...2a548205ea431&authkey=AXweoZuwjmjjSQ2H_xYafSM

64 Bit
https://tpedutw-my.sharepoint.com/p...b5104ccd516e4&authkey=Abjp0oV701r_m3B24bduzAk

Instruction:
  1. Download from the above link and install.
  2. Activate from the key given above.

If you have any concerns, please send screenshots with your system version and the error code?

Please send all messages via eBay messages.

We genuinely appreciate your 5-star Positive feedback,


Thanks
 
No, they don't have to have already been registered to work. Likely, if you bought them though a "cheap keys" seller like those 3rd party sellers found at places like Kinguin, G2A, cheapkeys, and places like that. Just looking at the download link for those purchases is really all I need to see to know that they aren't valid. Hopefully, you didn't download those because they definitely shouldn't be trusted. What site did you make this purchase through? Chances are those are keys that have either already been used previously OR have been blacklisted because they were stolen retail or corporate keys. This is EXACTLY why we do not recommend using these cheap keys "gray" sites for game or Windows purchases.

You downloaded the media creation tool, from the link provided in my tutorial, and then created installation media as instructed in the tutorial? Then while installing it asked for a product key, but rejected the keys you were given through that purchase? Is that correct?

Try the Windows 10 installation again, but this time choose the "I don't have a product key" option. Also, make sure the system is NOT connected to the internet and choose all options to not connect to the internet during the installation when prompted. There will always be a small text option to bypass such options in the lower left hand side of each screen. Continue the installation in this way without internet and without entering the product key. When the installation is complete, you can then try to use the product key again to activate via the system settings, and if it still rejects them, you can still continue to use Windows 10 until you can obtain a legitimate Windows 7, 8 or 10 retail key, but there will be a watermark and annoying reminders that you need to activate, until you do so. Other than that, it will be fully functional.
 

stethnorun

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Last question - do all codes work for all versions? Like if I got a legit code from a school (so it might be an "education version"), would that be incompatible with a "Home" install of 10?
 

Math Geek

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You can put all the needed drivers needed to run win 7 on new hardware. I'm not home right now but when I get home I'll link the tool that does it for you. I've put 7 on all manner of new hardware with no prob.

You do need to be sure there are feature drivers though. Most exist for 7 but some may not be available
 

stethnorun

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Well all I really needed was the USB drivers so I could use the mouse and keyboard to install windows :p I'm pretty sure everything after that was going to be fine. Except the codes I got were BS.
 
You can put all the needed drivers needed to run win 7 on new hardware. I'm not home right now but when I get home I'll link the tool that does it for you. I've put 7 on all manner of new hardware with no prob.

You do need to be sure there are feature drivers though. Most exist for 7 but some may not be available
Except that, there AREN'T any that I know of. There are ZERO drivers for 10th Gen chipsets, most onboard hardware or storage controllers, from any of the Z490 or other 10th gen chipsets, that I'm aware of, for Windows 7. And the ones that exist for Windows 10, aren't going to work in Windows 7 unless somebody has created something custom that upgrades the driver framework in Windows 7 to make them usable.

If there IS some way, that's great, but it's still really poor idea, and people should just get onboard with the fact that nobody is going to support Windows 7 anymore when it comes to hardware compatibility, drivers or security. Whether now, or at some point down the road, any possibility of using modern hardware with that 11 year old OS is simply going to permanently cease to exist, and it just makes a lot more sense to ride the wave. Especially since they aren't going to give you the option to continue to do anything else anyhow. There is better driver support, better security features, MANY features native to Windows 10 that simply can't work in Windows 7, APIs that are not compatible with Windows 7 and looking forward, probably all those things and MORE are going to simply become even MORE prominent as time goes by.

It's great that a lot of people have tried to put up "the good fight" in keeping loyal to the older OS because they preferred the simplicity of it, but the fact is you can make Windows 10 almost entirely indistinguishable from Windows 7 if you simply use something like Classic Shell and possibly a couple of other shell tweaks as well, while still retaining the much improved engine and electrical system under the hood, so to speak. Like a retro-grade. Putting a modern engine and amenities in an old car.

Now, if you have an older system that doesn't work well or at all with Windows 10, then I can understand sticking with Windows 7, although personally, I've found that even then all those older systems WILL work with Windows 8.1, and that too, IMO, was a better overall platform than Windows 7 so long as you got rid of the annoying start menu and shell configuration and used Classic Shell, Start is back, or something similar, to return it's behavior to the more sensible 7 behavior.
 

Math Geek

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this will update your win 7 iso with the needed drivers to make sure the keyboard and such work at install. it's a big download but it updates a lot of stuff for max compatibility.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads...SkyLake-KabyLake-CoffeLake-Ryzen-Threadripper

i've personally put win 7 on all the new hardware from both intel and amd so i know it works. again you do need to check to be sure you can get drivers for the features as they of course are not part of the iso. you may have to get creative but i've yet to find anything i could not get win 7 drivers for. i'm sure in the future it will become impossible but the components used on the boards are old enough to have win 7 drivers somewhere. but dark breeze is correct in that most chipset drivers are not being made anymore for the newest chipsets except for win 10. so you may have to deal with a missing controller that might cause issues. all you can do is give it a shot and see what happens.

but i do know it will install and run if you update your iso from the links above.
 
You have personally installed Windows 7 on a 10th Gen (LGA 1200) Comet lake platform (Z490, B460, H470), and have it working, without any problems? I don't see any mention of Comet lake on that image updater page so I'm wondering if that's actually compatible and functional with 10th Gen. I suspect it isn't.
 

Math Geek

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it will allow win 7 to install and the usb ports to work so you can finish set-up. that's all it is designed to do.

everything else is hit or miss depending on if drivers can be found or not. it is getting harder to find chipset drivers but all the other features are there to be had. i've put it on 2 10th gen intel chips so far and both run. one found the chipset driver from windows update and the other did not. so far the owner is happy and not complaining of issues with the missing controller.

as a side note, win 7 does have a new check in place that blocks update from working if it detects new hardware. the work around to that check can be found here.

https://github.com/zeffy/wufuc/releases/tag/v1.0.1.201
 
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one found the chipset driver from windows update and the other did not. so far the owner is happy and not complaining of issues with the missing controller.
Well, that's good to know. It is an option then I guess, but to be honest, most "owners" wouldn't know that something isn't working correctly or as intended, or that some features or full performance are lacking anyhow, but we know. Seems weird that one system was able to find chipset drivers and the other wasn't. Were these different chipsets or same? Which chipset were these boards?
 

Math Geek

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yah 2 different chipsets but i don't recall which was which. one was an i3 on a b460 and the other was an i7 on z490.

right now i am not building too many intel systems. most folks only care about price/performance that i deal with. and amd takes the win there right now. so i am building a ton more amd systems right now. and win 7 is much better on those chipsets. my daily driver is a b450 with a 3700x on win 7. i have no issues at all. i do have win 10 education version dual booted but i almost never boot it up unless i am verifying something to help someone else. though i tend to just use a vm since its quicker.
 
I'm going to have to do some experimentation with the next new system I build, because looking at the B550 chipset boards, I don't see any of them that have Windows 7 drivers available either. Neither the boards for their onboard components nor the chipsets themselves. I'm guessing Windows might have some generic universal MS supplied drivers that will allow them to "work" but they can't provide full featured support for the chipset I wouldn't think. Even for very old chipsets the native Windows drivers often won't support some features or aspects of the chipset, and in a lot of cases I've found it to be a deal breaker that drove me to having to use an OS that was actually supported by the manufacturer supplied drivers.

It's an interesting conundrum though.
 

Math Geek

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b450 has win 7 drivers from amd

https://www.amd.com/en/support/chipsets/amd-socket-am4/b450

as does x470

https://www.amd.com/en/support/chipsets/amd-socket-am4/x470

but they no longer have win 7 drivers for 500 series either. no surprise really. probably why you don't see them for the boards themselves. i've put win 7 on x570 boards as well but did note a couple missing chipset drivers. did not seem to hurt anything but someone who watches device manager will be bothered by the missing driver notice for sure. i have a b450 board myself so still get win 7 drivers.

it's going to have to be a personal decision for people. i don't try to sugar coat the pros and cons or using win 7 on new hardware. i only show that it can be done and what possible limitations might exist. in my experience average users who just "want it ot work" are fine with win 10. so i don't have to put much effort into those systems. but i do have many clients who are just as bothered with all MS data mining as i am and want win 7 themselves. i don't pretend it's not possible nor try to talk them out of it. i simply install it, get it running and ask them to keep me informed of any issues so i can find a work around or determine if it's stuck as is for my own personal knowledge.

eventually, like win xp, there will be pretty much no choice but to go to win 10. by then i'll have mastered linux and won't even look back anyway. i'll be able to teach others as well and hopefully help as many people avoid win 10 as possible. there's a reason the governments of the world REFUSE to use win 10 as is. MS was forced to create a gov edition with all the data mining removed so they would use it. if that does not tell you about win 10 really is, then i don't know what might.

i have been studying security last couple years pretty heavily and can prove that those privacy settings in win 10 do literally nothing!! they are a placebo to make folks think they have some control when they do not. i'm playing right now with monitoring a win 10 machine from the outside and can see data packets leaving the machine even with the firewall is set to block all traffic (both windows and 3rd party firewalls). i'm working on what that traffic is right now as there obviously should be none. the data mining is built into the kernel and works below the software layer so pretty much nothing can stop the telemetry except for a firewall outside the machine blocking the traffic. that's beyond my comfort zone of what i am willing to put up with and refuse to be a part of it.

so for now i'll help anyone get win 7 working that i can as i master and move to linux permanently :)

by the way there are many updates to win 7 that add telemetry as well. so they have to be weeded out eventually. here's a little script that removes those updates as well. copy and paste it into an admin cmd prompt

https://gist.github.com/xvitaly/eafa75ed2cb79b3bd4e9
 
See, but that's a problem though. When device manager is showing a remarked device, and it's the chipset, that means it's not even fully running on native or universal drivers, and I'd be very surprised if a system like that didn't encounter some real issues at some point, even aside from lacking the full features of the chipset. I'd never, personally, recommend running and relying on a system that didn't have stable chipset drivers installed. Other components, eh, can maybe live without it or use an add in card if it's problematic, or find other work arounds or drivers that are at least usable that don't leave it remarked in device manager. Very sketchy to do that when it is the chipset though. At least, IMO.
 
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