Solved Windows 7 x86 USB installer not detected by Lenovo Ideapad 100S

[looijuy]

Hey, I'm having a lot of trouble with installing Windows 7 on a Lenovo Ideapad 100S. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate x86 on a USB using the USB DVD Tool, but it isn't detected on the system's boot menu no matter what I do. GPartEd works fine, which is confusing me even more. I haven't tested anything else yet but I'm downloading Linux Mint to be sure. I have absolutely no idea what the problem could be, and searching for a solution has turned up nothing. Any help is greatly needed, and feel free to ask for more information.

EDIT: I'll also mention that I already turned Secure Boot off.

EDIT2: Linux Mint x86 isn't detected either...

EDIT3: Alright, tried installing an x64 Win7 (apparently the Intel Atom Z3735F CPU is 64-bit) using Rufus. I tried all of the partition scheme options and none of them worked. This is insane...

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
Did you use this tutorial and option 2
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

 

[AddRAM]

Are they all usb 3.0 ports ? That`s the problem.

 

[looijuy]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
Did you use this tutorial and option 2
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

Yeah, I've done it like this multiple times, to no avail.

Are they all usb 3.0 ports ? That`s the problem.

No, all USB ports on this device are USB 2.0.

EDIT: More information. I read around and found out that "to save a few bucks, it is actually common for cheap systems to have a 32 bit UEFI firmware (and therefore force 32 bit Windows) even if the CPU is 64 bit capable." So I guess I'm going back to trying with a 32-bit Windows 7.

 

[AddRAM]

I doubt that`s the issue, the bios has no idea what you`re trying to install.

Does this thing have a bios ? Did you enable it to boot from an external usb device ?

Sometimes it`s disabled by default.

Did you test the installer on another PC ?

 

[RootBeet]

I read around and found out that "to save a few bucks, it is actually common for cheap systems to have a 32 bit UEFI firmware (and therefore force 32 bit Windows) even if the CPU is 64 bit capable." So I guess I'm going back to trying with a 32-bit Windows 7.

Lenovo Ideapad 100S
Windows 10 Home (32-bit); 1.3GHz Intel Atom Z3735F; 2GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz; 32MB (dedicated) Intel HD Graphics; 32GB SSD

How to install Windows 7 32-bit/64-bit in UEFI mode from USB flash drive.

32-bit UEFI firmware

You need to have a Windows 7 32-bit USB flash drive that is compatible with UEFI mode. As long as it is FAT32 formatted and has efi\boot\bootia32.efi file, it should be UEFI bootable.

The easiest method to do this, would be to use Rufus: https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Rufus automatically creates the boot folder in the efi folder and puts the bootia32.efi in the folder.

In Rufus do this (select the Windows 7 32-bit ISO image by clicking the CD drive icon). See the image below.

64-bit UEFI firmware

You need to have a Windows 7 64-bit USB flash drive that is compatible with UEFI mode. As long as it is FAT32 formatted and has efi\boot\bootx64.efi file, it should be UEFI bootable.

The easiest method to do this, would be to use Rufus: https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Rufus automatically creates the boot folder in the efi folder and puts the bootx64.efi in the folder.

In Rufus do this (select the Windows 7 64-bit ISO image by clicking the CD drive icon). See the image below.

 

[Andyrids]

This may or may not be related but I think worth a mention, Some Lenovo systems certain flash drives are a very loose fit in the USB ports whilst within Windows you can read and write from them ok but if you try to boot using one most of the time it will fail... I found the solution was if the flash drive is a loose fit to move it slightly towards you at a slight angle so it is not "square on" in the USB port ! (if it is a tight fit then please don't try this) also sometimes Lenovo does a warm start that will bypass booting from other sources, the solution for that is to power off the machine for 5mins before you try and boot from another source other than the HDD again.

Like I say this might not be the problem he is having, but an interesting little "quirk" I have found whilst working with these systems in the past.

 

[looijuy]

Does this thing have a bios ? Did you enable it to boot from an external usb device ?

Sometimes it`s disabled by default.

Did you test the installer on another PC ?

The bios on this machine is extremely simplified, with the only options being toggling Secure Boot and BIOS Back Flash.

On that note, I messaged Lenovo tech support for help on this topic and they told me that this laptop doesn't support "Legacy mode", and that because of this, installing Windows 7 on it is impossible. Awful. Guess I'm just going to throw in the towel and re-install Windows 10 on this machine, since the installer actually boots. Thanks for the help everyone, I really appreciate it.

-snip-

I've tried this so many times, it just doesn't work. Maybe the ISO I've been using doesn't have a bootia32.efi file, or what the Lenovo representative said was correct and it wouldn't work either way. I've pretty much given up on trying. Thanks for trying to help anyway.

This may or may not be related but I think worth a mention, Some Lenovo systems certain flash drives are a very loose fit in the USB ports whilst within Windows you can read and write from them ok but if you try to boot using one most of the time it will fail... I found the solution was if the flash drive is a loose fit to move it slightly towards you at a slight angle so it is not "square on" in the USB port ! (if it is a tight fit then please don't try this) also sometimes Lenovo does a warm start that will bypass booting from other sources, the solution for that is to power off the machine for 5mins before you try and boot from another source other than the HDD again.

Like I say this might not be the problem he is having, but an interesting little "quirk" I have found whilst working with these systems in the past.

I'm sure that isn't a problem, I just tried it out a copy of Windows 10 with the same USB stick and it seems to be working fine. Thanks anyway!

 

[AddRAM]

I`m pretty sure people here have installed 7 to a machine using the UEFI bios, you just have to cretae a UEFI bootable stick.

Don`t quote me on it but I`m sure I`ve seen it done.

I think Rootbeet was on to it, but if you tried it and it still did not work, that`s a shame, but Windows 10 will grow on you fast

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...e-firmware-interface-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[ThrashZone]

This could be why
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3107998