Acer E1-510 UEFI - Installing Windows 7

Hello,
so I've pulled all my hair out already trying to install Windows 7 on my Acer E1-510 laptop in UEFI mode.

The laptop came with Windows 8.1 preinstalled, and I've used that for quite a while before deciding to wipe it and clean install Windows 10.

The laptop does not have a CD/DVD drive thus I can only boot installation media from an USB drive.

The original installation was in UEFI mode, and in order to switch it to Legacy BIOS so I could install my Windows 10, I had to download an update for the BIOS which made such a switch available. It installed and ran fine for some time.

Afterwards I decided to switch over to mainly using Ubuntu. So I wiped the drive, saving only crucial data like photos and such to a backup USB drive. I have installed Ubuntu 16.04 in UEFI mode with GRUB2 as my bootloader. I swapped back to UEFI mode, and disabled Secure Boot.

Since some of my applications which I use are unavailable for Linux, I want to keep a Windows 7 x64 installation on a small partition in a dual-boot environment so I can reach for it if I feel the need for some of my applications.

So borrowed a friend's PC to clone my Windows 7 DVD to my USB drive in GPT format, so I can boot from UEFI. At first it was immediately giving a winload.efi missing error, the Setup couldn't boot, but when I re-imaged it to my USB drive it started to work.

It shows up a progress bar saying "Windows is loading files" and then reaches the animated logo. As soon as the animated logo starts, the screen freezes and I get a red bar on top of my screen, along with my fans starting to spin full-speed.

I've tried booting the same USB on my friend's PC, and it gets to the entire installation without any issues, I've reached the point where I actually choose which partition to So basically - install to.

A quick Google Search about the red bar yielded me that Windows 7 doesn't support GOP, which from what I've read is the functionality to display an OEM logo while the Windows is booting. In Windows 8.1 / 10, I'd get an Acer logo with the white dots spinning around below it, suggesting Windows is starting up.

I've also read that to bypass that I need to enable CSM in my BIOS, however I could not find such an entry anywhere in the setup utility.

Is there something I am missing? I'd really prefer using Windows 7 to 8.1 or 10 because of the whole Metro layout. I also don't really want to wipe everything and recreate in Legacy mode, I'll consider it as a last resort option.

Thanks for all the help :)

Ztruker said:

Read here, see if it helps: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with

Sadly, that thread did not help me at all. I came across this thread facing a similar situation to mine, but
it didn't help me either

Ztruker said:

Did you try following the thread I linked? Where did it not work or go bad?

I did follow the steps in the thread. I'm using a USB Flash Drive created with this tutorial, which all went really smooth.

The thread you've linked me assumes that I can smoothly get from the Boot Menu to the Where do you want to Install Windows screen (i.e. from step 4 to step 6), but I can't do this because I get thrown out before the setup even appears. When the little animation of "Starting Windows" starts to animate, the animation freezes and I get a red bar on the top with some seemingly random white pixels on it, similar to this image (this is not my actual laptop, but an image of an identical issue I found online).

mat1jaca said:

I've also read that to bypass that I need to enable CSM in my BIOS, however I could not find such an entry anywhere in the setup utility.

Most UEFI include a feature called the Compatibility Support Module (CSM), aka "legacy boot support" or something similar. The CSM enables an UEFI to boot an OS that's designed to boot in BIOS mode. Windows 7/8/10 can boot in either BIOS mode or in UEFI mode.

Quote from Wikipedia: Compatibility Support Module (CSM) may still need to be turned on in UEFI mode to install Windows 7 in UEFI mode to GPT partitions because of some option ROMs being different between native UEFI mode (without CSM) and hybrid UEFI mode (with CSM).

Osprey said:

mat1jaca said:

I've also read that to bypass that I need to enable CSM in my BIOS, however I could not find such an entry anywhere in the setup utility.

Most UEFI include a feature called the Compatibility Support Module (CSM), aka "legacy boot support" or something similar. The CSM enables an UEFI to boot an OS that's designed to boot in BIOS mode. Windows 7/8/10 can boot in either BIOS mode or in UEFI mode.

Quote from Wikipedia: Compatibility Support Module (CSM) may still need to be turned on in UEFI mode to install Windows 7 in UEFI mode to GPT partitions because of some option ROMs being different between native UEFI mode (without CSM) and hybrid UEFI mode (with CSM).

I can't find the CSM though. Attaching screenshots of my BIOS/UEFI.

mat1jaca said:

i can't find the csm though.

Osprey, there is a Legacy option, but it won't boot UEFI GPT disks, it says "No bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key"

Your computer UEFI BIOS supports native UEFI mode (without CSM) and Legacy BIOS mode, so you can only install Windows 7 in Legacy BIOS mode to a MBR disk.