Attempting to install Win7 using various means and getting the same issue. Booting via USB, I get to the Starting Windows splash screen and it goes no further. I have tried this with a basic Flash drive build using a Win7/SP1 ISO only as well as a fully built ISO build found on this site(by SIW). I have tried booting to USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports on the I/O backplane.
Does getting stuck on this splash screen mean anything?
Well obviously onto a computer.An older system. In this case it's on an X79/socket 2011 motherboard with a 10 core Xeon processor. 2.5 inch SSD. UEFI. It is currently running Win10 fine. I might dual boot this system...Win7/Win10.
If the dancing balls are getting stuck it could be having trouble enumerating the hardware, likely the disks.
Did you set BIOS properly?
Win 7 isn't compatible with Secure boot and Fast Boot.
How did you do Win 7 USB drive (Rufus)?
To create a Win 7 USB drive, open a CMD window as administrator and type:
diskpart
list disk (it will list all drives. Identify the USB drive number)
select disk n (replace n by the USB drive number obtained with list disk)
clean
convert mbr
create part primary
select part 1
format fs=fat32 quick
assign
active
exit (to exit diskpart)
If you have a Win 7 installation iso file
On Win 7 use 7Zip to extract all files and folders from the Win 7 iso file to the USB drive.
On Win 10, mount the iso file and copy all files and folders to the USB drive.
To make it UEFI boot able you must add the \efi\boot folder
To make it universal (all Win 7 versions), go to \sources on the USB drive and delete \sources\ei.cfg
Did you boot the Win 7 USB as Legacy or UEFI?
On BIOS:
Set Disk mode to AHCI, not RAID
Select OS mode = CSM + UEFI or Select OS mode = other + UEFI (depends on BIOS).
Disable fast boot and secure boot
Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.
If you have a UEFI BIOS, you should install as UEFI-GPT
Detach any other drives (SATA or Power cable) from the MB.
During POST, press F12(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name).
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
To be more clear it's not the spinning balls but the waving Microsoft emblem/flag. This is the installer that is hanging and not an installed OS.
Reading user Megahertz07 post I have complied with most of his suggestions as well. I did have Fast Boot Enabled but disabling appears to not help. I am installing using GPT/UEFI. No Secure Boot.
Again the system auto boots to the USB drive with the Win7 install files but just hangs as mentioned above. The Bootable flash drive does have efi/BOOT folder. It's a single file "BOOTx64.efi"
Did you boot the USB Win 7 installation drive as UEFI?
Yes. I'm beginning to wonder if the problem is indeed a Win7 SATA driver issue. This motherboard has 2 SATA chipsets. Since this is an older board it still retains some slower SATA 3.0 ports. Some of the ports are connected via the X79 chipset which I assume(hope for) are recognized by the Win7 installer. While a few other SATA ports are ASMedia ports which I was kinda assuming may need the drivers to install. Currently only using the X79 Sata 6.0 ports. And actually only connected drive is the 2.5 inch Sata drive I am attempting to install to.
I am not attempting a RAID setup and have the Sata setup as AHCI. So my assumption, again, is to not have to imbed the SATA drivers into the installer. I guess my next attempt will be to set that up and give it a try just in case.
I have tried the flash drive in both USB 2 and USB 3 ports but get the same issue.
Your PC could boot until " Starting Windows". hence your BIOS setup is ok.
Since you are using UFEI mode to install, you can try UefiSeven solution.
I did this way for my old ASUS laptop when using UFEI. It did work, using a combo of SIW2 (Updated Win 7 installation media) and UefiSeven.
UefiSeven is an easy solution for UFEI Win7 install
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