Problem. Intel I2C Microsoft driver on Windows 7

[siliconbeaver]

I am a Win7 Pro 64-bit user (desktop and laptop)
Thank you for Win7 forum and wonderful posts here.

Comparing with Win10/11, Win7 is a light OS and runs faster. easier to backup. but Win7 is getting more and more problems on new machine which originally installed with Win10/11.
Some issues are fatal. What I have seen

1. Intel I2C Microsoft driver. it's critical for HID/pointing device. unfortunately, MS released the driver for Win8.1 or higher, excluding Win7. laptop/notebook users must have realized this pain when running Win7. you cannot make touchpad working.
2. SSD driver. many drivers originally run Win8.1 or above (SATA emmc, , ,). when obtaining a new machine, you have to run DISM once again with new driver. (and again and again )
3. USB3. This one was a big issue (to boot via USB drive). but seems fixed once users have realized the problem.

- - - Updated - - -

I have read many posts here.
Item2/3 have been addressed. Has anyone solved the item#1 Intel I2C drive on win7? Many Lenovo, Asus, , , users must have been waiting for long time.

To make the HID working on Win7, it requests both Intel I2C driver on Win7 and Microsoft Win7 driver.

My google search showed, Intel has released I2C driver on Win7 32/64-bit (different to Win10 version. hence incompatible). While Microsoft driver minimum requirement is Windows 8.1, excluded Windows 7. Therefore, no go on Win7.

I actually installed smoothly ASUS Smart Gesture drivers on Win7 Pro 64-bit, no error messages after installed Intel I2C driver first. but touchpad remained inactive. Yellow mark stays there. a dead end.

 

[ian50]

Yes, this is an issue - and one that is deliberate from Intel/MS as their aim is to make it very difficult to use Win7 on new Gen10 up laptops.

... after installed Intel I2C driver first

Which Intel driver exactly did you use ?

I have a working touchpad on an HP i5 - 10210u in Win7 using a Synaptics driver but it is very bare bones. Just basic "mouse" functions with no "gestures", extended menus etc. I expect this will not work on a non-HP machine, nor do I think it will work on HP machines of Gen11 and up.

 

[siliconbeaver]

Here is the link of Intel Serial IO Win7 driver
Intel(R) Processor I/O Controller Driver for Windows 7* for Intel(R) NUC

Since Microsoft wouldn't support Serial IO I2C on Window 7. Indeed. none can use it for SerialIO I2C

The procedure to install laptop I2C touchpad
1. Install Intel SerialIO I2C driver.
Hence new hardware could be identified (yellow mark). Without this step, no yellow marks popped up, and Windows wouldn't do next step (install its driver)
2. Install the new hardware driver from computer make under Windows.
Usually you can always work around to find it and make it working. But It's NOT case for SerialIO I2C.

 

[ian50]

Thanks for the reply. I've tried all of those quite a while ago, without any more success than the simple Synaptics driver I mentioned from the HP archives. Since a basic "mouse" emulation is all I need (tracking the cursor, left/right bars turn on/off), this has no real import for me now. It really means that using Win7 on Gen11 up is a no go. Without the Serial IO I2C driver pre-loaded, the touchpad has almost no functionality.

I do have a driver from a Win8-10PE bootable iso file (Strelec) that Win7 refuses to load as "unsigned". No amount of "bcdedit NOINTEGRITYCHECKS" will remove this stubborness. Which is why I know just how deliberate this issue is by design, to make it difficult to use Win7 on laptops since most users will want to use the touchpad rather than carry a mouse around all the time.

One of the gurus on Win-Raid did modify a Win8 driver for Win7 and supplied a signed Certificate for the registry. Still didn't work - loaded ok but no movement on the touchpad after then installing the touchpad driver(s).

 

[siliconbeaver]

I was thinking of extracting one from Win8.1 or Win10 to try
but after read Intel specs. It's, in purpose, different to Win10 version. hence is incompatible with present Win8.1 or Win10 drivers. Technically, it's a no-go. a reason I believe it's an dead end.