Installing Basic Display Adapter WDDM driver from Windows 8 into 7

Mark Phelps · 27 Feb 2013

I had a similar problem with an Intel 915 chipset -- uses XPDM driver, which works OK in Win7, but no Aero -- period.

You didn't ask but if you're thinking about upgrading to Win8, you need to know that MS removed support for XPDM drivers from Win8, so you will then be stuck with using the default Basic display driver -- which, since there is no Aero in Win8 anyway, is not a big loss, but any other features (like virtual desktop) that came with the 855 driver won't be there in Win8.

spapakons · 27 Oct 2014

Well, after reading some posts of how to bypass PAE/NX checks, I managed to install Windows 8 (by patching the appropriate system files) in that old laptop. Unfortunately XPDM drivers are not supported in Windows 8 and higher, so I was stuck with Microsoft Basic Display Adapter. Yes, this driver is WDDM and I could finally set the colors as I wanted. But everything was done in software, no hardware acceleration from the graphics card, so it is VERY slow! I was so disappointed that I recently formatted and return to Windows 7. I managed to install the Windows XP driver (XPDM) and I have no Aero, but everything is as fast as it gets. In that case, I would rather have speed than Aero. So let's face the bitter truth, without OEM WDDM drivers, I recommend stick with Windows 7 and latest OEM XP drivers for best performance, but no Aero. Install Windows 8 and newer, only if you have WDDM drivers for your card!

I rest my case.