Can't find a USB 3.0 driver for Win 7 installation

Hi

I'm trying to install Windows 7 Enterprise 32 bit on a new Lenovo P50. The thing is the P50 only have USB 3.0 ports. No USB 2.0 port or optic drive. Therefor, Windows have to be installed using a bootable USB.

As many others I have issues installing windows 7 using a USB 3.0 port due to the lack of USB 3.0 driver in WindowsPE and Windows 7. I think a have read all threads on the internet about this issue and spend hour trying to find a solution. No luck so fare :-(

I'm using Rufus to create the bootable USB and have a ISO image with only Windows 7 Enterprise 32 bit.

What I have tried so fare:

• Burn image to DVD and used a external DVD drive with USB. No luck drive shuts up when WinPE boots.
• Add USB 3.0 driver to the installation image using dism command. Drivers downloaded from:
  
  • Lenovo. They do not have any .inf driver for Windows 7 32 bit only a .exe. I have tried downloading the once for all other windows versions. No luck
  • Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver for Intel® 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family. No luck
  • Random full USB 3.0 driver package from internet. No luck
• The Win7USBpatcher.exe

It must be the lack of USB 3.0 driver. After WindowsPE has booted I have tried various USB devices but nothing is powering up.
Trying to install Windows 10 is no problem.

Next I'll try to install Windows 10 and from there install Windows 7 on a other partition and then delete Windows 10 but not the must smooth way to install windows. And yes, is has to be Windows 7 32 bit.

Any suggestion to what I can try or what I'm doing wrong??

Thanks!

Hi AddRAM

Well right now I'm just desperate and trying everything. My thought was starting the installation from Win 10 which have the USB 3.0 driver would not cause the problem.

I'm trying right this moment and so fare it seems to work

Thanks for the suggestion. As I understand it when you say "put the drive into the Lenovo" you mean taking out the hard drive first and put it into an other computer which have USB 2.0. Then start the installation and at first reboot put it back and finalize the installation on the Lenovo? Just for my understanding

If that it's what you mean I have already try, well, I have opened the Lenovo but found out it has a M.2 SSD hard disk. I do not have an other computer with interface for M.2 SSD

After installing Win7 through Win10 I can conclude that the USB hub do not work in Win7 by default. Installing the Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver v.4.0.0.36 downloaded from Lenovo's website do the job and all USB port works. Well AddRAM have said I have ended up with a Win7 installation on the partition letter E :-(

So now I found a drive which I know works. How do I included that in my Win7 installation? I have tried using dism:

@setlocal enableextensions
@cd /d "%~dp0"

mkdir mount
dism /mount-wim /wimfile:.\boot.wim /index:2 /mountdir:.\mount
dism /image:.\mount /add-driver /driver:.\Drivers\WIN\USB3.0\Drivers\Win7\x86
dism /image:.\mount /add-driver /driver:.\Drivers\WIN\USB3.0\Drivers\HCSwitch\x86
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:.\mount /commit
rmdir /s /q .\mount
pause
mkdir mount
dism /mount-wim /wimfile:.\boot.wim /index:1 /mountdir:.\mount
dism /image:.\mount /add-driver /driver:.\Drivers\WIN\USB3.0\Drivers\Win7\x86
dism /image:.\mount /add-driver /driver:.\Drivers\WIN\USB3.0\Drivers\HCSwitch\x86
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:.\mount /commit
rmdir /s /q .\mount
pause
mkdir mount
dism /mount-wim /wimfile:.\install.wim /index:1 /mountdir:.\mount
dism /image:.\mount /add-driver /driver:.\Drivers\WIN\USB3.0\Drivers\Win7\x86
dism /image:.\mount /add-driver /driver:.\Drivers\WIN\USB3.0\Drivers\HCSwitch\x86
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:.\mount /commit
rmdir /s /q .\mount
pause

I've had the same problem and created a tutorial using dism, that is similar to what you've posted:
Create a Windows 7 USB flash installation with new drives for new MB's
I've found the C216 drivers here:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...Chipset-Family
Sata driver
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...Driver-and-GUI

Hi Megahertz07, thanks for you reply. As you can see in my previous post that is exactly what I have tried. It just doesn't work.

Did you see that I've posted the links to the C216 (USB 3.0) and for the SATA? With these drivers you can make a Win 7 installation flash drive with USB 3.0 and SATA drivers using dism.
Not all new Laptops are able to install Win 7 (a treat of this subject has been discussed here). But you can try.
Make the factory recovery disks so if something fails you able to recover to factory default (Win 10)
You must set on BIOS:
- SATA=AHCI
- OS = Other
- CSM (Compatible System Mode) = enable
- Storage Boot and PCI device to UEFI only
- Fast boot to disable.
If you don't have the options to
- OS = Other
- CSM (Compatible System Mode) = enable
You probably can't install win 7 on your laptop.

If you do have, boot the modified Win 7 64 with the USB 3.0 and SATA drivers on UEFI mode, go to install, custom, advanced, delete all partitions, create a new one (Win will create 3 partitions) and proceed.

I had a look at the Lenovo P50 manual. https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/m...Info:UserGuide
It is compatible with Win7. Have a look at page 81/182