Install Windows 7 with USB 3.0 ports only

  sonic0002        2014-12-29 20:56:39       51,626        17    

Windows 7 is another great operating system released by Microsoft after Windows XP. Since Microsoft has announced that it suspended the support of Windows XP starting from April 8, 2014. Many users have been forced to move to Windows 7. Unfortunately, if you are using a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 7 and your computer doesn't have USB 2.0 port but only USB 3.0 port, you will encounter missing driver issue while installing it. This post will show you how to workaround this issue.

Before installing the Windows 7, we have to have below things ready:

  • A flash drive with capacity not less than 4G
  • A Windows 7 ISO

To get the Windows ISO, you can go to TechVerse and download the one suitable for your PC. After downloading the ISO, you need to install a tool which can assist in creating a bootable USB from the ISO. The tool can be downloaded at Rufus. You can follow the tutorial on How to Create a Bootable Windows 7 USB Flash Drive.

OK, everything is ready. But one more thing is left, since Windows 7 doesn't have USB 3.0 driver coming along with its installation ISO, so if your PC only has USB 3.0 ports(If the port color is blue, it's USB 3.0 port), you will encounter the driver missing issue as the files on the flash drive are inaccessible when the installation starts. So we have to get a USB 3.0 driver onto the bootable USB flash drive.

Below are the steps to achieve this:

  1. Create a directory named winpe anywhere and create directories usb3 and mount inside winpe.
  2. Download a USB 3.0 driver for your PC, you should download the one suitable for your hardware infrastructure. For example, for ASUS, you can download it from http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=usb3.0&p=3&os=30
  3. In the downloaded driver file, go to Drivers/Win7/ and copy all the files in that folder to winpe/usb3 you created earlier. NOTE: Different drivers have different folder structure, so please find the correct folder for your driver.
  4. Copy the sources/boot.wim from your Windows 7 ISO or the bootable USB flash drive to winpe
  5. Open an command line console (Start->Run->cmd), navigate to the winpe folder and execute following commands one by one
dism /mount-wim /wimfile:boot.wim /index:2 /mountdir:mount
dism /image:mount /add-driver /driver:usb3\iusb3hub.inf
dism /image:mount /add-driver /driver:usb3\iusb3xhc.inf
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:mount /commit

NOTE : Different drivers have different driver inf files. so change the inf names accordingly for your drivers.

Below is folder structure you should have in winpe:

6. Copy the boot.wim in winpe back to sources folder in the bootable USB flash drive.

All done. Restart the computer and start the installation process again. You will walk away without this issue happening again.

WINDOWS 7  USB 3.0 DRIVER  BOOTABLE USB DRIVE  INSTALLATION 

       

  RELATED

  17 COMMENTS

dubblebubble [Reply]@ 2015-01-03 11:33:59

Hi!

I am about to try installing Win 7 using a USB 3 port. I will be following your instructions.

My problem is: The usb3 driver that I downloaded is a single .exe file.

What should I do?!?

 

dism  /mount-wim   /wimfile :boot.wim  /index :2  /mountdir : mount

dism  /image : mount   /add-driver   /driver :usb3\filename.exe

dism  /unmount-wim   /mountdir : mount   /commit

 

Thanks :)

NightCat [Reply]@ 2015-01-04 03:58:26

No, you cannot use exe file here. You can always download the un-exed driver file. Which brand you are using?

dubblebubble [Reply]@ 2015-01-04 08:07:25

I am using Lenovo - Carbon X1.

NightCat [Reply]@ 2015-01-04 10:36:16

You can download the exe from Lenovo website and double click on it to install. The default installation location is C:\DRIVERS\WIN\USB3.0. After installing, you can find the Drivers folder in the installation location. Then follow step 3 above to complete the whole process.

dubblebubble [Reply]@ 2015-01-04 11:09:36
@NightCat 

Great! Thanks!

I solved that problem, but encountered yet a bigger one :)

How to clean install Win 7 on a Win 8 machine :)

I tried to reconfigure the flash drive in Rufus --> GPT partition scheme for UEFI computer, but it told me that my .iso file .... is not the right one :)

 

NightCat [Reply]@ 2015-01-04 20:50:18
@dubblebubble 

When did you use Rufus to create the bootable flash drive? The bootable USB flash drive should be created before step 1 above.

If you still have issues, I believe there is a button on the left bottom corner of the Rufus which can display the errors logs and you should get some clues from there.

Alex [Reply]@ 2016-04-23 16:23:54

Hi,

I've successfuly used this tutorial to modifiy my USB flash drive, and my mouse and keyboard are properly detected at the begining of Win 7 installation ... But they are not recognized anymore juste after the first reboot during the installation process : I'm now stuck on the form where the user account name should be filled, with my keyboard and mouse completely off >_<

I've tried to do the same operation on the install.wim file, but here dism returns an error (code 15100) and can't update the file.

Have you any other suggestion to solve this problem please ?

Ke Pi [Reply]@ 2016-04-23 20:38:02

This error code means files are missing. Have you downloaded and unpacked the driver file correctly?

Manuel [Reply]@ 2016-05-05 03:24:22

nothing change :( I follow the process and we have the same driver .. still nothing change hays :( help please

Manuel [Reply]@ 2016-05-05 03:25:17

cd/dvd driver is missing again ...I followed all instruction given above . :(

Ke Pi [Reply]@ 2016-05-05 08:21:17

Can you paste the exact error message and error code(if there is)?

nickname [Reply]@ 2016-05-17 11:53:43

same issue here ...

has anyone solved the problem ??

 

alvaro [Reply]@ 2016-05-30 21:18:31

i will try and post here the results

Anonymous [Reply]@ 2016-07-07 11:01:41

same problem here, after first reboot no keyboard or mouse. Stuck

 

wdickey68 [Reply]@ 2016-07-20 10:21:07
Ok I have followed the steps provided but get the following error on the first command Mounting image Error: 282 The mounted file system does not support extended attributes. The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log
Anonymous [Reply]@ 2017-04-05 23:12:13
Legend - Worked perfectly!
Anonymous [Reply]@ 2018-11-01 16:18:54

Intel NUC — what a disappointment. Wish I could get back the money I've spent trying to get this POS running with Win7.

You'd think a company like intel would make their machines backward compatible.


  RANDOM FUN

pdf is the third largest religion

When typing "How do I convert to ", the suggested search terms will be : How do I convert to islam How do I convert to Judaism How do I convert to pdf How do I convert to catholicism From the above list, pdf is the third largest religion now.