Is it possible to install Windows 7 on a Microsoft Surfacebook?

[Drumming Pete]

I 've searched and it' s non conclusive. Do you really need the CMS/Legacy feature in the BIOS to boot the installation files?

 

[Snick]

Do you really need the CMS/Legacy feature in the BIOS to boot the installation files?

Yes
The Surface Pro is a class 3 UEFI device, which means it has no Compatibility Support Module (CSM), which emulates the old BIOS environment. Windows 7 is not compatible with UEFI, which means without CSM, it wouldn't be able to function. If you had to run Windows 7 on a Surface Pro, the only way would be to enable the Hyper-V feature of Windows 8 and run Windows 7 inside a virtual machine (VM). However, this would limit the resources available and the capabilities such as some of the touch/pen features.

 

[Drumming Pete]

HI. So if the videodrivers are the only culprit would it be possible to inject working videodrivers into the windows.wim, that need no CSM support in order to installndows 7 (on a non-CSM bios/machine)?

I also read something about WinPE and then deploying or installing other Windows versions. Could this be an option of the former won't work?

 

[Alejandro85]

Nobody mentioned video or any other kind of drivers.
Problem is the bootloader, that requires a normal BIOS and the Surface only has UEFI mode, which precludes booting from a Windows 7 drive. This is much earlier that any driver is even loaded.
I don't know enought on the topic for giving a conclusive answer, but I'm tempted to say no, it's not possible to use Windows 7 at all there, the alternative being to downgrade to Windows 8 or 10.

 

[Snick]

Agree with Alejandro85!

As I stated earlier you'd have to enable Hyper-V and run Win 7 in the Virtual Machine, with the above posted limitations.

Nic

 

[SIW2]

HI. So if the videodrivers are the only culprit would it be possible to inject working videodrivers into the windows.wim, that need no CSM support in order to installndows 7 (on a non-CSM bios/machine)?

Yes, that does appear to be the problem.
I think there are one or two on the internet who claimed to have done that. I don't have the details.

 

[Snick]

Thanks one again for your input SIW2

 

[Drumming Pete]

Agree with Alejandro85!

As I stated earlier you'd have to enable Hyper-V and run Win 7 in the Virtual Machine, with the above posted limitations.

Nic

Could I run win7 in this virfual machine and install to another partition on the same system?

 

[Snick]

Yes, but you don't have to
Here's two link for more info to peruse:
Default Hyper-V Storage Paths: Overview
Hyper-V Configuration Questions (hard drives, partitions, etc ...)

Be advised that you will have a significant performance hit. You are basically running an Operating System within Windows, therefore you have two OSs competing for processor cycles. You can install multiple OSs in the VM. I have XP, Vista, Win7, Win8, Win10, Black Arch Linux, Kali Linux, Linux Mint & Linux Lite on my machine. My use is virus removal and white hat hacking and Linux studies being that I'm an It student in college.

Nic

 

[Drumming Pete]

I mean could I boot the win7 install in a virtual machine and directly install windows 7 onto another partition on the same system?

 

[SIW2]

Install Windows 7 at UEFI Graphics Output Protocol (GOP) hardware - Windows 7 - reboot.pro

 

[Snick]

WOW!

 

[2W10]

I know I’m 5 years late, but I’ve managed to install XP, Vista, and 7 on a Surface Pro 1. I think 7 should work no problem on the Surface Book. Here, this is a guide I made: How to install Windows 7 on a Surface Pro 1

 

[ibay770]

Possible with enough time and hacking? Yes.
I have never gotten it working though, either getting an A5 or 7B BSOD no matter what I do.