Installing Win7 on a Win8 laptop

MustSeeMelons · Jun 19, 2014

The question is already in the name of the thread - I want to install Windows 7 on a laptop which only has drivers for Windows 8/8.1. Once I got the laptop I installed Windows 7 without hesitation and was saddened by the lack of drivers. Is it possible to such a thing? The laptop in question is an Asus X550LB.

rtwjunkie · Jun 19, 2014

A quick search of the internet shows this to be a pretty common problem. Also, ASUS support site doesn't even carry drivers below W8. Windows 7 wasn't able to install geric microsoft drivers for it when you installed W7?

Why not just install W8.1, and then get something like ClassicShell or Start8, and then get the benefits of W8, but the UI of W7?

zsolt_93 · Jun 19, 2014

Look for the manufacturers of the components in the W8 drivers. And download from the respective manufacturers: nVidia/Intel/Realtek etc. Or install 8.1 with classic shell.

MustSeeMelons · Jun 19, 2014

Windows 7 found some generics - like for audio, but not for the ethernet, wifi, media keys, backlight etc. Maybe I could just install Win8 drivers somehow? Like, how different could they be? If all fails, I could even sell this PC and get an older one with Win7..

zsolt_93 said:
Look for the manufacturers of the components in the W8 drivers. And download from the respective manufacturers: nVidia/Intel/Realtek etc. Or install 8.1 with classic shell.

I have installed classic shell on Win8..

patrico · Jun 19, 2014

hey, i had some problems doing the same but i managed it in the end, this place helped me http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...l-64-bit/c052117c-8faa-4b5b-bd31-30bb9b21a0eb

i had probs with the bios and the formatting of the ssd but with some perseverance it worked ok, im not sure i had the same probs with drivers tho

erixx · Jun 19, 2014

OP: BAD BAD BAD IDEA

Did I say bad idea?

newtekie1 · Jun 19, 2014

The good thing with ASUS drivers is that you can almost always de-compress them and install everything through device manager. You can also download the Intel chipset drivers from Intel's website and the nVidia drivers from nVidia's website directly.

erixx · Jun 19, 2014

True, but Intel or Nvidia drivers are not the problem with laptops. It is touchpad mouse, keyboard and shortcuts, screen, audio, Asus functions, etc., everything that may be tailored. Plus before all or after all, why in heaven or hell go back to W7... I would not lose my time with this unless there is a huge reason.

brandonwh64 · Jun 19, 2014

If it has the LAN driver installed you could just go to start and "devices and printers" then right click on your PC name and click device installation settings then make sure you have "yes, do this automatically" enabled. As long as you are connected into the internet it will search windows driver base for the drivers and possibly install some.

rtwjunkie · Jun 19, 2014

erixx said:
True, but Intel or Nvidia drivers are not the problem with laptops. It is touchpad mouse, keyboard and shortcuts, screen, audio, Asus functions, etc., everything that may be tailored. Plus before all or after all, why in heaven or hell go back to W7... I would not lose my time with this unless there is a huge reason.

I second this, which is why I suggested that he use Classic Shell or Start8. That way even if he doesn't like the Modern UI, he can get the benefits of 8.1 with the W7 UI he obviously loves.

pigulici · Jun 19, 2014

I think if he will look for drivers on the website of the manufacturers of the components, he will run fine with win 7...

ste2425 · Jun 19, 2014

I agree with all the others. Whilst I absolutely hate modern UI. Why oh why oh why would I want a tablet UI on my PC. There are many benefits to 8 under the hood that I have noticed and it has squeezed a fair bit of extra umph out of my old rig too. I tried all the free start button apps and in the end went for Start is Back. You have to pay like a quid but all the others I felt were really flaky and didn't have the same features as this.

Plus i now have the best start button ever !!

MustSeeMelons · Jun 20, 2014

Everyone is saying that Window 8 is faster, but on my Lenovo Y500 it was just the opposite, also I have a strange issues with some web pages not loading or loading partially.. I'm pretty sure that with going Windows 7 on the Asus machine will solve all the issues. Will try to manually search for all the drivers and hopefully everything will be ok.

pigulici · Jun 20, 2014

I tried both, win7 and 8 on same pc, same speed, but the not friendly GUI from 8 get me away, and some issues still present, well I am back to 7, waiting for 9...

System Name	Pukeko
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max
Cooling	Hyper 212 Black Edition
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 3000MHz DDR4 CL15
Video Card(s)	Asus RX 5600 XT TUF Gaming X3 OC
Storage	XPG SX8200 Pro 256GB, Crucial MX500 1TB
Display(s)	2x ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q
Case	NZXT, H510i, Matte Black/Red, Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	TUF Gaming H3
Power Supply	Seasonic PRIME Ultra 550W Gold
Mouse	Touchpad + Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Cooler Master, CK 350, Outemu Red
Software	Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	7,42,69 and 666

System Name	Bayou Phantom
Processor	Core i7-8700k 4.4Ghz @ 1.18v
Motherboard	ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 6
Cooling	All air: 2x140mm Fractal exhaust; 3x 140mm Cougar Intake; Enermax T40F Black CPU cooler
Memory	2x 16GB Mushkin Redline DDR-4 3200
Video Card(s)	EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Xc
Storage	1x 500 MX500 SSD; 2x 6TB WD Black; 1x 4TB WD Black; 1x400GB VelRptr; 1x 4TB WD Blue storage (eSATA)
Display(s)	HP 27q 27" IPS @ 2560 x 1440
Case	Fractal Design Define R4 Black w/Titanium front -windowed
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Z
Power Supply	Seasonic X-850
Mouse	Coolermaster Sentinel III (large palm grip!)
Keyboard	Logitech G610 Orion mechanical (Cherry Brown switches)
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Start10 & Fences 3.0 installed)

Processor	Intel Core i5 4570
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3
Cooling	Stock
Memory	8GB Kingston ValueRAM CL9 1333MHz DDR3
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GeForce GTS450OC-1GL
Storage	1TB WD Black + 1.5TB WD Black + Kingston V300 120GB
Display(s)	T200HD
Case	Delux MZ401
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Enermax NAXN 500W
Software	Windows 8 Pro x64

System Name	Pukeko
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max
Cooling	Hyper 212 Black Edition
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 3000MHz DDR4 CL15
Video Card(s)	Asus RX 5600 XT TUF Gaming X3 OC
Storage	XPG SX8200 Pro 256GB, Crucial MX500 1TB
Display(s)	2x ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q
Case	NZXT, H510i, Matte Black/Red, Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	TUF Gaming H3
Power Supply	Seasonic PRIME Ultra 550W Gold
Mouse	Touchpad + Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Cooler Master, CK 350, Outemu Red
Software	Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	7,42,69 and 666

Processor	q6600 G0 @ 2.8Ghz
Motherboard	ex38 DS4
Cooling	air
Memory	4 *1gig tracer ballistic
Video Card(s)	sapphire dual bios 6950
Storage	ssd- sandisk 120gb, sata- 2 500gb samsung in raid 1 & 1 samsung 400gb
Display(s)	LG w2452tx
Case	nzxt
Audio Device(s)	na
Power Supply	hiper 730
Mouse	g9
Keyboard	bt microsoft arch
Software	win7

Installing Win7 on a Win8 laptop

MustSeeMelons

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast

zsolt_93

MustSeeMelons

patrico

erixx

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

erixx

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast

pigulici

ste2425

MustSeeMelons

pigulici

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

Processor	i7-9700
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO
Memory	32GB DDR4
Video Card(s)	msi 1080
Storage	Samsung SSD 850 pro 2TB+1tb hdd 7200rpm+ 1tb 970pro
Software	Mageia 6 + Windows 10

System Name	Ultra 64
Processor	NEC VR4300 (MIPS R4300i)
Motherboard	proprietary design
Cooling	Fanless aircooled
Memory	4.5MB 250 MHz RDRAM
Video Card(s)	62.5 MHz Reality Coprocessor
Storage	32 - 512 Mbit ROM Cartridge
Display(s)	720x576
Case	Clear Blue Funtastic
Audio Device(s)	16-bit CD quality
Power Supply	proprietary design
Mouse	N64 mouse for use with N64DD
Keyboard	N64 keyboard for use with N64DD