doesn't recognize the USB stick

mrCham · 20 Jul 2015

Ok, so here's my problem.

My Lenovo came with a pre-installed Win 8 x64 - I formatted it and installed Ubuntu.
Now I want Win 7 on it. So I'm making a bootable USB stick (don't have any CD ROM on the laptop) with Rufus (on my work computer). My BIOS can switch from UEFI to Legacy. I've tried and create a USB following your guide on post #1. However, it doesn't recognize the stick when I'm in UEFI. So I switch to Legacy, and then it pops up. Now I receive an error with drivers (during installation) which could be the result of the USB 3.0 ports. I'm not sure if any of them are 2.0, I just know that one of them is blue. However, I tried all of em' with the same error.

I tried 3 different ISO files with same result. I want to format the USB to FAT32 but the ISO is 5.1GB so that's not possible.
I mean, I have been able to create a bootable USB to install Ubuntu, but Win 7 won't work for some reason.

I don't know what to do anymore. I tried all different variations. UEFI on PC and NTFS on stick. Legacy in BIOS and so on.

Any suggestions?

Ztruker · 20 Jul 2015

Have you seen this tutorial: How to Downgrade Windows 8 Preinstalled to Windows 7

gregrocker · 20 Jul 2015

I wouldn't disable UEFI.

You must boot the flash stick as a UEFI device, using the non-blue USB 2 port.

Use only Option One of UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows making sure the settings don't jump around when you add the ISO. Where did you get the ISO? If in doubt test its integrity from Step 1 of Clean Reinstall Windows 7 which steps will guide you to get and keep a perfect install.

Did you disable Secure Boot in BIOS?

Then delete all partitions during the booted install to clear the partitioning and create/format new or click Next to let the installer do it for you.

mrCham · 21 Jul 2015

Thanks for the answers. I actually combined what both of you said.

Ztruker: I was on Ubuntu at the time (as only OS) so I couldn't do what you suggested. However, intentionally or not, your post somehow put me in the right path to actually go back to 8.1 and try downgrading from there. I didn't thin of that so cheers. Currently, I'm having issues with the downgrade so I'm gonna keep trying.

gregrocker: Thanks for clarifying the secure boot setting and using the non-blue USB ports. The ISO file I have was from the Digital River servers a while back. I'm gonna test the integrity and see what it says.

For now, the only error I get is the "Load driver" window when trying to install Windows 7....