Solved Installing Win7 after end of support

[Sidecar Bob]

The ones I'm working on have the tattered, unreadable remains of XP stickers so I don't have a lot of choice.


Windows Loader looks at the computer's properties and finds an OEM key that matches so I think it does basically the same thing as 7oeminstaller.

 

[SIW2]

The problem with that is if there is no matching bios marker, it fakes it.

If you use 7oemistaller, it will only proceed if the bios marker ( slic table ) is there.

 

[Sidecar Bob]

I'm not too concerned about the Windows Police coming for me, especially after End Of Life.

 

[ian50]

This updated/installation programme, noted by SWI2, is also worth considering:


Windows 7 Image Updater - SkyLake\KabyLake\CoffeLake\Ryzen Threadripper | My Digital Life Forums


The updated drivers, to Jan 15 2020, have been hashed in part from Win10 and include most chipset drivers for gen 6/7 cpu's that do work with Win7. I don't have the hardware to test gen 8 and up.



I've tested this now. My experience is that it is more complete than wkeller's programme, as clever as that is in any case. The only prickle apart from the 3 hours it took to produce an iso is that my AV programme (Avast) took exception to it but of itself offered to make an exception - which told me it wasn't an actual risk.


Resultant iso was bootable off USB after Rufus, with mouse etc working straight away off the USB ports.

 

[Sidecar Bob]

I tried looking at that thread but it is 35 pages long and (at least in the first few pages) about half the posts say "You need to login to view this posts content". I am not inclined to sign up for that forum in order to read about what someone there came up with when the procedure SWI2 talked me through in this thread (based on his other thread) produced an ISO that is more than adequate for my purposes.

 

[ian50]

Fair enough - I wasn't suggesting you should, only commenting for other people that there are a number of choices now for installing Win7 after EOL, especially on CPU gen 6,7 with full driver capability.


I can't vouch for gen 8 up as I don't have that hardware. The Digital Life website thread SWI2 listed and I've repeated has comments about installing Win7 on later gen CPU's for those who may be interested. I have tested both wkeller's programme and the DL programme to gen6 CPU. Overall, I prefer DL's as it seems more complete with later Win7 drivers. Both programmes handle the KB updates, minus the telemetry, very smoothly, as does the after-installation simplix UpdatePack 7R2.


All up, very helpful programmes and threads. The situation for Win7 after EOL is positive.

 

[Sidecar Bob]

Personally, I like Win10. If it was possible I'd be installing it on these computers but alas they don't qualify.

 

[Barman58]

Bob,

The required specs for Win 10 install are pretty similar, plus there is a ten day rollback option if you have issues. You can even use a current licence code for Win7 to perform a clean install for some difficult to upgrade systems, (this does wipe out all data an programs so backups are essential)

Take a look at this tutorial from Shawn, while it's still available

Upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 for Free | Tutorials

 

[Bree]

Personally, I like Win10. If it was possible I'd be installing it on these computers but alas they don't qualify.

Bob,
The required specs for Win 10 install are pretty similar...

Post #1 said Bob has "several P4 computers". Depending on how early the P4s are they may (or may not) have NX support, a requirement since W8.

Intel will add support for Microsoft's No Execute (NX) security technology to its P4 CPUs in Q4, reports suggest.

Intel to add NX security to Pentium 4 in Q4 • The Register

 

[Sidecar Bob]

We have been using Win10 on everything we use regularly since 2016. I recently decided to try to resurrect some older SFF desktop computers that we inherited so they can be used for playing music and looking things up in other parts of the house (one may end up in the model train room for programming DCC chips). They are all from 2004 or earlier and Win10 won't install on them.


Believe me, if I could install Win10 on them I would have, if only for the simplicity of using the same system on everything.


I also have a small laptop that came with Win7 Starter and is currently running Win10 Home but very slowly. If I am going to use Win7 on the SFF desktops I'll probably try installing 7 Home on a spare hard drive to see if it runs better with it.

 

[erpster4]

I also have a small laptop that came with Win7 Starter and is currently running Win10 Home but very slowly. If I am going to use Win7 on the SFF desktops I'll probably try installing 7 Home on a spare hard drive to see if it runs better with it.

why Win7 Home, Sidecar Bob? can you install a higher & more powerful edition like Win7 Pro or Win7 Ultimate?

 

[Bree]

...I recently decided to try to resurrect some older SFF desktop computers ... They are all from 2004 or earlier and Win10 won't install on them...

There's a (very) long thread over on Ten Forums with some tricks for installing on machines like those. Seems like a lot of hard work, but if you like a challenge... well...



Let's run Win10 on really really old hardware - Windows 10 Forums

 

[Sidecar Bob]

I like challenges but computers are not my main hobby (although I do spend a lot of time sitting in front of them for stuff related to my main hobbies and listening to music on them while I work on stuff).

Why Home? After reading through this I can't see any extra features in Pro or Ultimate that I would ever use on this laptop. It is an Acer D257 (Atom N455, 1.67 GHz, 1 GB ram) so it isn't the most capable computer in the house but it is it is louder than my SW1-011 so it is handy for listening to music while I work in the garden or parts of the house where I don't already have a computer.

I put the spare HDD in the D257 yesterday and installed 7 Home Premium on it. For some reason it took a few tries before it started to install, launching Vista (it was on the drive) instead even after I pressed F12 and told it to boot from the USB drive. When it eventually booted from the USB the installation went very quickly.
It seemed to work OK except that it wouldn't connect to the WiFi. Device manager said that there were no drivers for the network adapter, the ethernet controller and something it calls "PCI device".

I'm not worried about the ethernet controller. When I got this one the pins in the ethernet socket were bent up and several were touching; I straightened them but it still didn't work so I figured something fried due to the shorted pins and bought a USB ethernet adapter to use with it (it has proven handy for downloading larger files to the tablets too).
I would have used the adapter to connect it to the internet but, of course, there was no driver for that either. It came with a driver disc but the D257 doesn't have an optical drive.



So I learned how to do something new. I googled D257 drivers on the shop computer, found them at Driverscape, downloaded the one for the network adapter, transferred it to the laptop with a USB drive and told Device Manager where to look for them. In a few minutes it connected to the WiFi and when I plugged the USB ethernet adaptor in it automatically downloaded & installed the driver for it too.


So far so good. With some help & advice from the folks at 10forums I had made Win10 perform marginally acceptably but even then it meant that I had to wait a long time for it to get around to opening windows and even longer for it to open web pages. I don't expect it to ever come close to my main computer (M58P, E8400, 3+3 Ghz, 4GB RAM, Win10 Home) but compared to the way it worked with Win10 it is positively peppy with Win7


BTW: I still have no idea what the "PCI Device" is or whether I should be concerned that it doesn't work. When I check the properties in Device Manager it gives no other description than "PCI Device".

 

[Sidecar Bob]

After I typed that I got thinking that I should look at the drivers available from Acer's site. This time I used the now happily connected to the internet D257 (I'm typing this on it) so I downloaded the drivers I thought sounded promising directly to it, went to Device Manager, told it to update the drivers and pointed it to them.

The ethernet connection is trying to work but when I plug the cable directly into the laptop it shows up as "Unknown Network no internet access". Not surprised.
And when it installed the PCI driver I learned that the device is the card reader. I'll have to dig out an SD card later and see if it works.

 

[TechnoMage2016]

I like challenges but computers are not my main hobby (although I do spend a lot of time sitting in front of them for stuff related to my main hobbies and listening to music on them while I work on stuff).
It seemed to work OK except that it wouldn't connect to the WiFi. Device manager said that there were no drivers for the network adapter, the ethernet controller and something it calls "PCI device".

BTW: I still have no idea what the "PCI Device" is or whether I should be concerned that it doesn't work. When I check the properties in Device Manager it gives no other description than "PCI Device".

On a Desktop PC, with an easily accessible Motherboard, there will be one or more card slots about 4" long.
Those are PCI slots, for PCI cards. Those could be LAN cards, video cards, sound cards, USB 3.0 cards, etc.


Laptops don't have PCI slots. So what a PCI device on a laptop would be, is beyond me. Today anyway.
I just took a look at my own Laptop, and in Hardware Manager, there is no mention of any PCI device.
(PCMCIA yes.)

If you find out, please let us know. Eh?

 

[TechnoMage2016]

I am working on several P4 computers that will mostly be used as music servers so that several people can listen to different music &c in different parts of the house. Unless I work harder than I want to (this project is supposed to be fun) I probably won't get to a couple of them until February.
I've read through a bunch of articles online and several threads here about the end if support and I know that there will be no new updates issued after then but none of them mention what will happen when fresh installations try to update after Jan 14th.
So what will happen if I re-install Win7 on a computer in 3 weeks and it tries to update?

Bob, have you never heard of "Turn off MS Updates"??? That's the first thing I do when I install any MS OS. As a computer tech, I've had to work on too many PC's that were trashed by an MS Update.
So once I got them fixed, I shut off MS Updates,,,,, end of problem.

So go ahead and install Win-7 with your LAN cable unplugged, and as soon as the install is complete, go in and turn Updates OFF. Then you can safely re-connect to the internet.
I've not had an MS Update in so many years, I wouldn't know what one looked like.
And, all my 14 PC's run just great!

Cheers mate!
TechnoMage

 

[Sidecar Bob]

Yeah, I knew what a PCI device was but like you I didn't know what it could be in a laptop. As I said, it turned out to be the SD card reader.
And as I mentioned in post 37 I learned how to prepare a fully updated ISO file from SIW2 and to use Rufus to prepare a flash drive to install it from. After the installation I still needed to run Windows Update to get the updates for .net framework and driver updates. After that I hid the rest of the updates it found and set it to notify me if there are new updates later (like happened with XP).

 

[TechnoMage2016]

Good going Mate! Sounds like you have it well under control.


I put Windows 7 on a little laptop that I salvaged, and then refurbished, but of course Win-7 didn't have the drivers for the SD card reader. After a LOT of searching, I finally found that driver on the web. Now I have a 100% functional laptop. I love it, when a plan comes together!

 

[Sidecar Bob]

Ain't forums great?


I spend a couple of hours most days on forums helping people figure out what's wrong with their old motorcycles (& sometimes asking for help figuring out what's wrong with my own bikes). I've also joined forums for Acer and Lenovo computers to ask for help and learned virtually nothing from them.
I'm glad to see that Sevenforums and Tenforums are a lot more like the bike forums I'm on than the Acer and Lenovo ones are :grouphug:


Now if I could only find someone to help me fix the backlight on the Acer D250.....