Solved W7u - fresh install, no dvd-drive, ethernet and usb not installed

[SinnaSlatan]

Hi, I'm new here, and didn't know exactly which forum to post this is, as it covers more than one topic (but it's all connected), so I put it here.

My girlfriend got a new computer for school, a HP 14" ac-180no (ugh), and wanted Windows 7 on it (it came default with W8).
Turns out, it's a mess to get W7 on this thing, as it considers W7 to be a "legacy" OS, and is probably primarily meant to be used with W8 or W10.
So I set the BIOS to legacy mode. No biggie. Trouble is though, that W7 setup would not detect any usb ports. None.
I could boot from USB, but as soon as I entered the setup, it was not available. Loading the drivers from HP's website did not help either (I dumped them on the HDD; had not formatted yet, and loaded them from there).
I also got an error that it could not create a system partition, because of the USB stick in the port (which it could not see, seemlingly). If I removed this, I got a 0x8030001 error, and it kept asking for additional drivers, and I could not continue.

And the BIOS on this thing, is so limited, that the only thing I can change, is the bootorder. There are no options for forcing usb 2.0 or any other p&p, uefi etc. settings. Bootorder and the time; that's about it.
The only time the USB drive is readable (or at least, recognizable) is in HP's boot-menu. As soon as W7 setup loads from it, it's gone - as far as W7 knows, it would seem.

In order to finally be able to install W7, I used the still working W8, created a small partition on the HDD, dumped the W7 setup files, and used DISKPART to make it bootable.
I didn't think to copy the drivers on to that partition before installing W7.
Without any drivers available, I'm stranded with a computer that I am seemingly unable to transfer any files to whatsoever.

Summary: Fresh windows, no usb drivers, no ethernet drivers, no dvd-drive. I have a computer I cannot get any files onto. Help!

 

[SIW2]

First, see if they have win 7 drivers on the laptop manufacturer website. If not, you try extracting drivers from the working 8 installation, then install them into your new 7 installation?

You can use doubledriver , or 64/32download

 

[SinnaSlatan]

Yeah, that was one of the things I tried when the HP drivers wouldn't work. I used double driver for that.

My current problem is that the w8 installation is now gone, and W7 can't find suitable drivers for neither usb nor ethernet/wireless :-(

 

[SinnaSlatan]

Ok, so I managed to sort it out. I used the Windows 8 installation files to start the setup, and from there I could use the console (shift+F10) to copy the required drivers onto the HDD (W8 installation found my usb-ports).
For anyone wondering, go here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8

To download a working W8 installation. You don't need any serial, as you don't go through with the installation, you just use it to get to the console.

 

[torchwood]

And i'll see you in 90 Days when you get the non-genuine.
NO downgrade rights for 8>7 on that comp, unless you buy a W7 licence

Roy

 

[SinnaSlatan]

I already have a W7 license, that's why I went for W7.