Windows 7 Support for Intel Skylake Platform

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krj15489

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Mar 8, 2008
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I just finished builing my new Asus z170 + Intel 6600k computer and by some mirracle was able to install windows 7. My research so far has shown that intel removed important functionality that is necesarry for 7 to install from a usb drive and other usb 2.0 features. I was able to install by patching an ISO and now I have an almost working system.

Now I have all of the drivers installed except the USB drives, I am currently using a built in microsoft generic driver. Unfortunalty this driver doesn't work, I can't plug and play, the computer doesn't recognize any other USB devices excep mouse and keyboard and the mouse doesn't completely function. When I try installing the intel USB driver I immediately lose the ability to use my mouse and keyboard and have no recouarse except to get a PS2 mouse/keyboard.

Does anyone out there know if Windows 7 can work completely with the new Skylake platform? Do I possibly have my bios misconfigured? I really prefer not to install windows 8/10 so any help would be appreciated. Let me know what additional infromation is needed and I can provide it after I buy a new ps2 mouse/keyboard.

My motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132573
 
Solution
S
Did you try the drivers from the website:
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170M-PLUS/HelpDesk_Download/

Did you try this:
https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1013649/
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krj15489

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Thanks for the help, unfortunately it did not work. I have given up and installed linux, I will attempt to do a gpu pass through with either kvm or xen. FYI, you need at lease kernel 4.1 for built in Skylake support.
 
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Vladamir

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I just saw this post and wanted to "shed some light". It turns out that the architecture of Sklake is vastly different from it's predecessors and installing 7 on it will be inherently difficult no matter what. The good news is that some of the custom C houses that are selling the high end laptops like the MSI Ghost G60 have compiled many of the missing components so they can offer Windows 7 or 8 or 10 on the system. I just ordered one with 7 myself. Now that those places have compiled their own the drivers should start leaking out that they made...
 
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Suztera

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It's called slipstreaming. You install the drivers, in this case the XHCI driver, into window 7 installation media. It's being around for a while but it's now needed to install window 7 on Skylake.
Most motherboard manufacturers will have a utility to patch a window 7 with XHCI drivers.
 
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anonym005

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Jan 12, 2016
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You assume the manufacturers and chipset developer make a driver available at all. This is exactly the issue for the Mobile Skylake chipsets HM170/QM170; it appears no laptop manufacturer has made any Windows 7 drivers available for the XHCI controller, or the Thunderbolt/USB 3.1 controller, or for the chipset itself and they are conspicuously absent from Intel's Download Center.

I have found some Windows 8 drivers hosted on the drivers page for the Alienware 17r3:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/ed/en/eddhs1/product-support/product/alienware-17-r3/drivers

But I have not had opportunity to test these with a Windows 7 install on my non-Dell Skylake machine, are Windows 8 drivers backward-compatible? Anyone here have success with these or other drivers on Windows 7 with Skylake laptops?

 
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littleleo

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I had a customer asking about this issue today so I then went to the ASUS website and checked the ASUS motherboard B150M-A D3 a popular model. It had listed Windows 7 as a supported O/S and also had this note: Please refer to ASUS website and download “Windows® 7 installation guide” and “ASUS EZ installer” to install Windows® 7.

I found this information on their FAQ page: Based on the chipset specification, Skylake (H110/H170/Z170/B150/Q150/Q170) and Braswell platform require USB 3.0 drivers to be preloaded in order to use USB keyboard/mouse during Windows 7 installation. This section is a guide on preloading USB 3.0 drivers and installing Windows 7.

Here is a link to that page: https://www.asus.com/us/support/Search-Result-Detail/CEABF665-3DB2-4608-8612-EF0862C5DF95/?keyword=Windows%C2%AE%207%20installation%20guide.

I found the ASUS AZ installer on this page: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/B150M-A-D3/HelpDesk_Download/

and the Win7 Installation guide(English) near the bottom of this page: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/B150M-A-D3/HelpDesk_Manual/.

Hopefully this will allow you to install Windows 7 on the Skylake boards from now on w/o issue.

 
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