Windows 7 on UEFI Class 3 freezes display on "Setup is updating registry settings" [Need help with late stages of installation]

[Kat]

Hiya! Hope all is well.

So, I've done some deep research for installing Windows 7 on my system. (Onto my second internal SSD) Which is a Dell Laptop (G7 7700) [Intel i7 10th gen with RTX 2070, no CSM].

I've gotten as far as to get my SP1 (Professional) ISO slipstreamed with drivers such as AHCI NVME drivers, USB 3, etc., using NTLite and so on. Including a modded Intel UHD 630 driver (Disabled Driver Signature Enforcement upon boot)
I've also gotten flashboot pro's efi's in my boot partition.

Though I'm not quite sure if I'm missing anything yet or if there are things I need to change/remove/do.

I got Windows 7 with my ISO installed using WinNTSetup, then put flashboot's uefi's in there. I recently made a discovery that my laptop restarts on it's own right after showing "Starting Windows" (with no animation) if I have my cores set to all cores in my uefi.

But, I was able to get Windows 7 to load and boot when setting the amount of cores to use down to one. (why's that?)

That's not the only issue. It seems Windows 7 boots to the post-boot setup process, but my display never updates/goes past the "Setup is updating registry settings". (Literally frozen on that display)
I've tested this by blindly opening up cmd and doing commands that would tell me that my OS has most likely booted.

Please let me know if there are any solutions, there are way too many as I research so I'm not quite sure what the best possible approach is yet.

Thank you for reading and your time!

 

[MisterEd]

Your main problem is that you are trying to put an old operating on such a new laptop. Naturally, Dell won't be able to help you with that. Have you found all the basic drivers for Windows 7? I have found that desktop computers have better support for older operating systems than laptops. Even then you might have to go back ten years to find a motherboard that has drivers for Windows 7. Your best bet is to find an older laptop that actually has drivers for Windows 7. However, for your current Dell laptop you might have to settle on running a Windows 7 virtual machine on it.

 

[Kat]

True. But I have see on this forum and other forums such as Win-Raid and so on. Especially on a Comet Lake.
Challenging... sure. But, I at least like to/want to challenge that (on my free time).
I have found some of the drivers needed so far, though still need more out there.
I haven't dug too much, or... there were quite a lot of solutions provided by others on here such as https://www.sevenforums.com/members/siw2.29/ , though I thought of making this specific thread just in case for more direct solutions/approaches. I'll still be experimenting in the meantime.

So far I believe it has to do with modded drivers and vga, etc. how the Int10h routes the display and so on. That's just my knowledge so far.

But thank you for your reply, I appreciate it. And I'll keep in mind!

 

[siliconbeaver]

Likely no go.
If HP, possible. Dell is unlikely.
It's an issue of Windows 7 install on UEFI class 3 devices. I did try on Dell 7070 in 2024. in summary, my test failed.

Install Windows 7 on Dell OptiPlex 7070 SFF i5-9500

Has anyone successfully installed Windows 7 on Dell OptiPlex 7070 SFF i5-9500? mine is running Windows 11. my last try failed to install Windows 7 Pro on it. according to posts in various forums (here and there), the procedure 1. acpi.sys patched to fix 000000A5 blue screen

www.sevenforums.com

your Dell model (7700, year 2020) is newer than my Dell 7070 (year 2019). hence, lower chance.

you could try in step

1. Install Windows 8/8.1. if fails, then confirmed no go.
2. If passes, try its graphics driver. if fails, stop.
3. If SDI can find the graphics driver.
4. Test with Windows 7 install media with the graphics driver, and the modified acpi.sys.

Good luck,

 

[Kat]

Yes. Though there are successes I've seen before on laptops that were around or newer than mine. I got as far as to boot Windows 7 to the post-install phase but the display graphics froze. Maybe I could try disabling VGA so the modded graphics driver can be used forcibly.

Though.. i know it is different for each model.