Cannot continue install--missing driver

[wegtet]

Trying to replace win8 with win7 on a new laptop. It has a 32 GB SSD paired with a 500 GB HDD with Intel RST. I am doing a network installation, since I don't have a spare USB key that's big enough, or an external optical drive.

I got the Intel RST F6 drivers, and put them on a USB stick.

I formatted the big ~450 GB partition and loaded the F6 drivers. Installation seemed to be proceeding ok, but when I came back, there was an error saying could not find required driver, and that the installation was canceled.

I previously tried to install without the F6 drivers, and the installation made it to the first reboot, but froze at the Windows logo. I booted into safemode, and it crashed when loading the disk.sys driver. This is how I concluded that I needed the F6 drivers.

I also tested the network installation process on my old laptop (just a regular HDD), and it went perfectly. The issue has to be with the way the disks are configured on my new laptop. If I disable RST, can I reenable it after installation? I thought you had to install with RST enabled to use it...

How do I figure out the driver(s) I need? If I do, can I just put them on the USB stick?

 

[theog]

1) Downgrade to Windows 7.
Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7
Warning you must have the UEFI/BIOS firmware setting in Step Three set.

Make sure you read the NOTE at Step three.

2) If Using a USB Pen drive on a PC with a UEFI BIOS.
USB Pen drive need to be formatted to FAT32 as in
UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows
Take note of Step 11 for Windows 7.
Also you will need to use a USB 2.0 port, as there are no USB 3.0 drivers in Windows 7.

 

[wegtet]

Wouldn't that prevent me from getting anywhere in the installation? Secure boot is already off. If you refer to my original post, this seems to be a storage driver-related issue, as there are different outcomes based on what I do with regard to the Intel RST driver.

I will try using a USB 2.0 port for the USB stick, however, since I was using a USB 3.0 port.