Dual booting Win7 on Win10 AIO, Win7 boots with audio but video gets stuck on "Starting Windows"

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giorgi2

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Dec 17, 2017
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510
I bought an Asus all-in-one computer with Windows 10 on it for my parents to give to them for Christmas, but they hate Windows 8 and 10, so I'm trying to put 7 on it.

It has no CD/DVD drive, so I made a bootable USB drive with a Windows 7 ISO. The computer wouldn't boot from the USB no matter what I did (It just booted into Windows 10 without even trying to boot from the USB drive).

So, I clicked on the "setup.exe" on the drive in Windows 10 and installed Windows 7 from there. The computer has two drives, C: and D:, and everything from Windows 10 was on C:. D: was empty, so I installed Windows 7 on there.

Windows 7 installed normally, but when I boot it up, it gets stuck on the "Starting Windows" screen. However, I can hear the log on sound, and I can use ctrl+alt+delete to get into the accessibility menu and hear the narrator reading out the text on the screen. I can also press the power button on the computer to shut down Windows.

The same thing happens when I try using safe mode, it gets stuck after loading classpnp.sys but I hear the log on sound and can activate the narrator.

I have tried outputting the video to a separate monitor, but the monitor just says "No signal".

So, what can I try to do to get video past the "Starting Windows" screen on this computer?
 
Solution
RealBeast
You are welcome, but sorry that is a Windows 10 only computer from the ASUS website, there are no available drivers other than W10 x64 so even if you can load 7 it will not run properly with no device drivers.

https://www.asus.com/us/All-in-One-PCs/Zen-AiO-Pro-Z240IE/HelpDesk_Download/
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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First question: does that model have Windows 7 drivers available?

Second question are you trying to boot from a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port/and is the stick 2.0 or 3.0? You either must use 2.0 or make your installer 3.0 capable like THIS.

If so, change their bios to first boot from a USB device before the HDD/SSD. Select custom install and as a first step delete all existing partitions (all data will be lost) and then install to the single remaining unpartitioned space. You may also need to change the bios type from UEFI only depending on the installer used.
 
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giorgi2

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Dec 17, 2017
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510


I apologize for the very late reply, but yes, I used the "Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor" to check compatibility.
The items that came up as "We don't have compatibility information about this device" are:
- Five different iterations of "Intel(R) 200 Series Chipset"
- "Intel(R) Xeon(R) E3 - 1200/1500 v5/6th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) Gaussian Mixture Model"
- "NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device"
- "Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller"

All of these devices have drivers for Windows 7 available online, but I have no idea how I would go about installing them if I can't really access Windows 7 itself.

The following devices all come up as "This device is compatible with Windows 7" and have green check marks next to them:
- "Intel(R) Display Audio"
- "Intel(R) HD Graphics 630"
- "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050"

I was using a USB 3.0 drive on a USB 2.0 port. I used the program you recommended, and it didn't seem to make a difference. The computer still boots as if the USB drive wasn't there.
 
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giorgi2

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Dec 17, 2017
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Yes I did, and I also tried holding down esc while turning on the computer. It brings up a boot menu that lists the USB drive as an option, but when I select it, it acts as if I selected the computer's hard drive.

The quick start guide included with the computer says "Z240IE" on it, which I assume is the model number.

I should say, thank you very much for trying to help!

UPDATE: I just woke the computer from sleep mode in Windows 10, and the screen was shaking back and forth, flickering, and glitchy lines were appearing all over it. I restarted it and now it's fine, but that's kind of worrying me.
 
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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Sep 13, 2010
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You are welcome, but sorry that is a Windows 10 only computer from the ASUS website, there are no available drivers other than W10 x64 so even if you can load 7 it will not run properly with no device drivers.

https://www.asus.com/us/All-in-One-PCs/Zen-AiO-Pro-Z240IE/HelpDesk_Download/
 
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Solution
G

giorgi2

Prominent
Dec 17, 2017
4
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510


So, I understand that I won't be able to run Windows 7 on this computer. I am confused by something though: you said "there are no available drivers other than W10 x64", I can find drivers for all of the individual devices that the "Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor" said I needed. Is this program not listing every driver I need? As in, if there is a driver that only works on Windows 10, is it not being detected by the program?
 
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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Sep 13, 2010
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If the motherboard manufacturer doesn't provide support for W7 then you cannot use the W10 drivers.

Yes, many of the devices were used in older components that have W7 drivers but those drivers will not work with your board. It was just another way for Wintel to force users to move onward and abandon W7. This is really a problem for many business users that I deal with in buying new computers, especially laptops, that will run W7. I've been rebuilding Dell refurbished laptops like the M6800 for them but the supply of high quality cheap refurb machines is disappearing.

For desktops there are solutions up to the Z270 LGA 1151 board to run 7 although not officially supported but those are gone with the Z370 boards now.
 
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