Installing Win 7 on Kaby Lake Aspire E5-774G-74CB in UEFI/GPT

niemand
niemand Member Posts: 6 New User

Hi, Ok, here's my model. Aspire E17 E5-774G-74CB https://www.acer.com/datasheets/2016/4876/E5-774G/NX.GEDEZ.006.html https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/support-product/6784?b=1&pn=NX.GEDEZ.006 I spent several days without any luck - Win 7 doesn't install on it in EUFI/GPT mode. The computer has Win 10 currently and I do want to preserve it, hence the EUFI/GPT choice. I tried various reincarnations of Win 7 but they all fail to progress past Starting Windows step. That's when the loading of files by the setup ends and the GUI part is about to begin. Just a few colored dots start to move on the screen and that's it. I tried NTLite with various Intel USB3 and other drivers but to no avail. One compilation that I found was even passing the loading files and starting in a GUI mode (which, probably, implies that boot.wim was kind of OK) but failing again after the reboot (which, probably, implies that install.wim is missing some drivers present in boot.wim). The thing is, I don't know in this particular case what drivers were in both wims as I haven't compiled them myself. When I was embedding the drivers alone, it was not even starting the boot.wim, let alone install.wim. The drivers used were taken from the below resources. Intel_USB3_50032_Win7_32_64 [link edit] Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology Driver for Windows 7 32-bit & 64-bit, [link edit] Aspire E5-774G https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/support-product/6784?b=1&pn=NX.GEDEZ.006 Drivers for the Acer Aspire E5-774G Windows 7 x64 laptop https://drp.su/en/laptops/acer/aspire-e5-774g?os=windows-7-x64 In BIOS, I have Secure Boot off and UEFI on. As I said, I want to keep the existing Win 10 so UEFI is a must, otherwise Win 10 doesn't even boot. Any chances getting what I want? For a comparison, I also got a new Kaby Lake HP (http://support.hp.com/ca-en/document/c05348678) and the installation of Win 7 was a breeze on it. The first bootable USB I had at hand (I had quite a few readily available while fighting the above Acer) worked a charm. It was Rufus-made, specifically for GPT, but in NTFS which wasn't actually supposed to work. It did work so just to make sure that wasn't some funky accident, I installed from the same stick Win 7 again on another partition. No issues whatsoever. Sure, there were exclamation marks in the Driver manager but those were not critical and the system was very much usable. In fact, much more usable than in Win 10. For me, Acer was the best and HP was the worst computer brand for the last 20 years. Now, I'm about to be forced to reverse my preferences. Thanks

 

[edited to comply with guidelines]

Answers

  • Trukntigger
    Trukntigger Member Posts: 256 Mr. Fixit WiFi Icon

    You did not state if the HP was EUFI setup, just GPT. Multi boot with more than one OS are tricky, in EUFI even more so.  Look at recent post here on dual boot with Linux. Has most the info you seek. As for preserving win10, once you register with Microsoft Acct restoring is a snap.  Just download package and flash drive prep tool. Gather drivers from Acer. Install, skip code request. Once online, reauthorize with Microsoft by logging into account you should already have made. Info is saved matching the machine to your account. No codes needed. So in essence you could take a 8gb flash drive, prep win10 install, add drivers and few backup items, put away for rainy day.

  • niemand
    niemand Member Posts: 6 New User
    //OT ON Why on Earth this forum's parser removes all new lines?? I can understand the censorship towards the competing links but not towards innocent line breaks! Is that how they fight injections?? 99% of online boards do it much more professionally and unobtrusively without resorting to rendering a nicely formatted text garbage. //OT OFF
  • niemand
    niemand Member Posts: 6 New User
    BIOS is InsydeH2O for the both but I'm afraid it's not behaving the same way. For this Acer, a switch to Legacy (as opposed to UEFI) makes Win 10 unbootable. So I reckon it's something like LEGACY ONLY as opposed LEGACY FIRST. For that HP, a switch to Legacy doesn't affect Win 10 at all. So I suspect it's more like LEGACY FIRST as opposed LEGACY ONLY. But in fairness, I'm not entirely sure how to interpret those BIOS settings as despite the same BIOS manufacturer (Insyde) it's obviously different between the various PC manufacturers. And yes, for the HP I do have it as Legacy in BIOS but in Windows EasyBCD recognises it as an UEFI mode so I think it is indeed rather LEGACY SUPPORT rather than LEGACY STRICT. As the only (multi-partitioned) HD is GPT anyway. I think I need to try switching BIOS to UEFI and see what happens. For the Acer, in Legacy mode Win 10 doesn't boot at all. Win 7 setup gets stuck on complaining about the missing CD/DVD drivers. This is most likely due to the USB3 support and, probably, can be eventually overcome with the umpteenth slipstreaming of a compilation of all available drivers. But I don't really want to concentrate on this path as of yet because of the existing Win 10 installation which simply doesn't work under Legacy BIOS. I may have to do it if I get really desperate with getting Win 7 in UEFI. And in UEFI, Win 7 setup, as I mentioned earlier, doesn't get past the loading files stage. I will certainly try embedding various drivers again and again but at some stage I will have to stop. If no one here can confirm that they do have a working WIn 7 in EUFI/GPT on this or similar model, I'll have to stop sooner rather than later. As my feeling is that Win 7 simply can't run on this line of hardware in EUFI/GPT. I've been using multi-boots on all my systems for more than 20 years so I would really hope to continue. I understand UEFI poses some challenges and that's exactly why I came here for the clarifications. As for the Microsoft registration, No, thanks but No. I remember how it was the most progressive company developing DOS into Win 2000 and how it all went downhill after that so I now try to avoid MS products and contact as much as possible. From putting the customer first in ~1995 they went to screwing the customer most in ~2015. Thanks
  • Trukntigger
    Trukntigger Member Posts: 256 Mr. Fixit WiFi Icon

    No expert here, seen a lot on alternative OS installed. Look at the post on Linux installs- Ubuntu and such. Several very recent on work arounds and tricks to use in order to get it working. My understanding is most of the problems revolve around how the newer computers Bios work in hand with EUFI on hard drive. Provides better security but creates headaches when it thinks changes could be a virus or attack when it is the user that wants the change to occur.  

     

    That stated obviously you seem to go deeper into it than I would. Old axiom, kiss- keep it simple stupid. Logical guess you need some kind of boot loader from what I've read on some of the Linux installs. As for Bios settings, I totally agree it needs a full blown advanced mode but I have not seen any movement at Acer on those request. There are a few websites you can find that do Bios tweaks for a price but unsure worth it and would void any warranties. Wish you best luck with it. I got used to W10 few months ago and left W7 for good it seems. (Blame Forza Horizons on pc cross play to Xbox and new printer for Christmas that works on W10, old one didn't)