Installing Win 7-64bit SP1 on a Z170 Skylake system?

[BonzaiDuck]

While the motherboard manual notes that "certain things" pertaining to the USB 3 drivers preloaded are required to install Win 7 on my sabertooth Z170 S, it isn't entirely clear as to why.

I ran into a snag for installation on my SSD when the storage space selection screen comes up. I wanted Windows to create a UEFI installation, but it looked as though it created the legacy MBR partition with "System Reserved" and the rest of the drive as another volume. Not sure what I need to tweak in BIOS to get that to work.

But immediately, Win Setup throws up an "!" note saying that it cannot install to my disk, with the error code 0x80300001.

Some advice suggests I should move the SATA cable from port 6 to port 1, which I will very shortly do.

Does anyone have some pointers or tips on this process so I can save a little time?

I'm not creating any RAID arrays and the BIOS is set up for AHCI.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

Boot the install disc/disk via UEFI. Your motherboard boot selection screen should have something similar to [UEFI] next to the boot device. Then you will have to repartition the drive to GPT instead of MBR. Windows will do it automatically if you delete everything on the drive and install.

If you wanted to be sure to boot only UEFI, disable CSM. This will only work if your graphics card supports UEFI GOP.

The USB 3.0 driver note refers to the fact that Windows 7 has no generic XHCI drivers to make USB 3.0 controllers work out of the box. As a result you must either preload them during the Windows setup or install them afterward to get functional USB 3.0 ports.

 

[vailr]

What installation media are you talking about using?
If the Windows 7 installation media is unaltered, then special procedures must be followed for Skylake.
Another possible option for getting around the USB driver issue: use a PS/2 mouse during Windows 7 installation.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I thought I'd seen murmurs and folklore about this issue -- Win 7 on a new platform.

Boot the install disc/disk via UEFI. Your motherboard boot selection screen should have something similar to [UEFI] next to the boot device. Then you will have to repartition the drive to GPT instead of MBR. Windows will do it automatically if you delete everything on the drive and install.

If you wanted to be sure to boot only UEFI, disable CSM. This will only work if your graphics card supports UEFI GOP.

The USB 3.0 driver note refers to the fact that Windows 7 has no generic XHCI drivers to make USB 3.0 controllers work out of the box. As a result you must either preload them during the Windows setup or install them afterward to get functional USB 3.0 ports.

Interesting, but I must have forgotten to do something besides deleting all partitions leaving "unallocated space" on the prospective boot disk after the first failure, because booting from UEFI media -- this time with a bootstrapped optical disc -- made a proper event-free install, but it still looks like an MBR partition. 100MB system-reserved, and then the main volume -- nothing more.

But it all installed without a hitch. I'M TRYING to remember just what I did to make it all work. I tried it from the original disk and a USB thumb drive. The boot selection and boot priority features of the BIOS aren't much different than earlier mobos and BIOS designs. But I THINK you have to completely recycle the system after BIOS changes to get the system to recognize a hot-swap SATA device or even a USB device.

Despite the little panics, though, it was a very effortless installation, compared to my memory of personal worst cases.

 

[deustroop]

Interesting, but I must have forgotten to do something besides deleting all partitions leaving "unallocated space" on the prospective boot disk after the first failure, because booting from UEFI media -- this time with a bootstrapped optical disc -- made a proper event-free install, but it still looks like an MBR partition. 100MB system-reserved, and then the main volume -- nothing more.

B

The normal Windows UEFI GPT includes a Recovery, EFI system and Primary partition . I think you are troubled by the fact you have a UEFI board but MBR-type two partitions. Or are you all settled now ?

 

[asdfas]

AOMEI Partition Assistant (Pro) can tranform a MBR drive into a UEFI drive without destroying the data and without needing to reactivate Windows 7. Still, back-up your data before trying this. I tried with Win 7 to transform a MBR drive to a GPT drive and a GPT drive to a MBR drive and it worked well.

 

[BogdanH]

Maybe that answers few questions:
https://www.sevenforums.com/hardwar...board-compatibility-doubts-2.html#post3296864

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'll just note that on my two twin Skylake G4400 rigs, running identical ASRock Z170 Pro4S ATX mobo, and using the same (?) Win7 install DVD, one of them, even though I attempted to boot UEFI, for some reason, seems to have installed with MBR partitions. Not quite sure why. Or perhaps it was the Win10 install USB that I used. It's currently running Win10, not Win7, and using MBR partitions.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'll just note that on my two twin Skylake G4400 rigs, running identical ASRock Z170 Pro4S ATX mobo, and using the same (?) Win7 install DVD, one of them, even though I attempted to boot UEFI, for some reason, seems to have installed with MBR partitions. Not quite sure why. Or perhaps it was the Win10 install USB that I used. It's currently running Win10, not Win7, and using MBR partitions.

I don't know if that's a proclivity of Win 7 on DVD, the way the drive might have been initialized-unallocated beforehand, or some few other things.

Also, I can't remember how or when Windows 7 acquired GPT compatibility. Maybe it was Service pack 1. Maybe it originated that way. I know that AF formatting for drives came in an "Update."

Here's what I suggest for anyone, and I'm sure Larry already thought of it.

There are "basic" simple partitions and volumes, and there are "dynamic" partitions/volumes. You can ask yourself the question whether you NEED a dynamic volume, if for instance you want to span devices and perhaps do some RAID incarnation. But some of the disk utilities differentiate between versions that work with dynamic, and a version that doesn't.

But that's a distinction that might not matter so much for simple AHCI setups. Either way, though, you should have a CD-bootable utility that reliably changes MBR to GPT, or allows you just to initialize drives one way or the other. That way, you could secure-erase an SSD, then prepare it as "unallocated" space on a GPT drive, and Windows would simply proceed to install to it -- IF -- I say IF -- the install disc of Windows 7 allows for USE of GPT. But I THINK an SP1 disc would do it. Aren't I right about that?

Now that I've split my drives down the middle for dual-boot, Win 10 is starting to look better and better. At least I have enough space on both boot volumes for any contingency. But I'm only using one boot volume for any boot-up work-session, or any several of them.