Laptop won't read Windows 7 bootable USB

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A

adam040

Prominent
Jun 1, 2017
2
0
510
I'm trying to install windows 7 on my laptop since 8.1 and 10 both failed me after couple reinstallations. However, doesn't matter which setting I choose (legacy or UEFI, enabling/disabling secured boot mode), my laptop simply does not recognize the Win7 bootable USB(I have tried both the home premium and ultimate SP1 ISOs, and used rufus and Yumi separately for burning), but they do recognize the windows 8.1 and windows 10 bootable USB on the same hardware. What is the problem?

I have a Lenovo G510, my windows 8.1 OS has been crashing and entered the infinite loop problem lately(and none of the answers I found on the web helped), so I installed 10 but it just creates more problems, that's why I decided to go back to 7.
 
Solution
J
Looks like this problem is related to Secure Boot (I think so because Windows 8.1/10 is signed for Secure Boot and Windows 7 isn't).

You need to:
(1) Disable Secure Boot in BIOS/UEFI Setup
(2) Format your USB thumbdrive to have GPT layout and one FAT32 partition
(3) Enable UEFI boot mode and disable legacy/CSM boot mode for external USB storage devices in BIOS/UEFI Setup
(4) Attempt to boot from USB thumbdrive and install Windows in UEFI mode
(5) After 1st reboot, enable UEFI boot mode and disable legacy/CSM boot mode for internal SATA storage devices in BIOS/UEFI Setup
(6) Boot from internal HDD/SSD and continue Windows setup normally

Plan B, if the above doesn't work:
(1) Disable Secure Boot in BIOS/UEFI Setup
(2) Format your USB...
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A

adam040

Prominent
Jun 1, 2017
2
0
510

Thanks for answering, the same USB stick is working on my HP backup laptop that has win7 but just won't work on my lenovo G510. As I have mentioned, the infinite loop is one recurring problem after several win 10 installations(downloaded from microsoft), and the others being long boot time(can take up to 5-10 minutes), barely responsive keyboards(sometimes it takes several seconds just to kick in...if lucky) and touchpads. The laptop also freezes regularly.

I already purchased a new ASUS laptop as a replacement since, but still couldn't figure out what's wrong with the old one.(perhaps the hard drive itself is failing, or the motherboard)
 
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J

jackshap

Prominent
Mar 8, 2017
4
0
520
Looks like this problem is related to Secure Boot (I think so because Windows 8.1/10 is signed for Secure Boot and Windows 7 isn't).

You need to:
(1) Disable Secure Boot in BIOS/UEFI Setup
(2) Format your USB thumbdrive to have GPT layout and one FAT32 partition
(3) Enable UEFI boot mode and disable legacy/CSM boot mode for external USB storage devices in BIOS/UEFI Setup
(4) Attempt to boot from USB thumbdrive and install Windows in UEFI mode
(5) After 1st reboot, enable UEFI boot mode and disable legacy/CSM boot mode for internal SATA storage devices in BIOS/UEFI Setup
(6) Boot from internal HDD/SSD and continue Windows setup normally

Plan B, if the above doesn't work:
(1) Disable Secure Boot in BIOS/UEFI Setup
(2) Format your USB thumbdrive to have MBR layout and one FAT32/NTFS partition
(3) Disable UEFI boot and enable legacy/CSM boot for external USB storage
devices in BIOS/UEFI Setup
(4) Attempt to boot from USB thumbdrive and install Windows in legacy mode.
During installation, you may need to press Shift+F10 to open console, run diskpart to relayout your internal HDD/SSD from GPT to MBR, and continue with GUI setup as originally planned.
(5) After 1st reboot, enable legacy/CSM boot mode and disable UEFI boot mode for internal SATA storage devices in BIOS/UEFI Setup
(6) Boot from internal HDD/SSD and continue Windows setup normally
 
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