I use W10, not 7, but the article is detailed enough for me to be able to solve any problems I may encounter when building a computer for someone else.
I've seen updates to the main Ryzen article, but any word on when the conclusion will exit the WIP phase?
End of today; I've been catching up a few loose ends since getting back. A few readers also asked some questions / had some observations that are worth exploring, particularly in future articles.
Awesome! I'm looking forward to it. I've already got a couple friends who want Ryzen builds, and reading the conclusion would help me know whether it's going to be a good architecture that can scale down (Ryzen 3/5) for non high-end builds.
Curiosity does play a role in it, but some of my friends/customers aren't under huge time constraints and Ryzen 5 isn't too far away. If the architecture looks good, I can tell them that it may be worth waiting.
tell me about it, if that baby OCs past 4ghz it will be matching 6700K's. 7700k should be ahead by a bit just cuz of clock speed. I still want a 1600x just for future proofing and not having to worry about leaving programs open while gaming.
Best think to do is simply install using a spare pc, install AMD USB drivers, run sysprep (with generalize hardware checked to rebuild the HAL) and swap the drive to the Ryzen platform. Those wishing to get exotic (or those who might need to install Win7 on more than one Ryzen PC) could run imagex and make a wim of the installation. This will allow pretty quick deployment to future SSD's, just run diskpart on a PC, create a lead-in/boot partition and a primary partition (and a MSR partition in between if you wish to utilize UEFI) and extract the wim to the primary partition then run bcdedit and add the windows installation to the boot partition.
I carry around a syspreped image with updated through December since my last revision on a bootable WinPE 16GB USB stick, preconfigured with a bunch of settings from power saving to page file to UI tweaks, including a light drivers folder with NIC drivers from Intel, atheros, Realtek, Broadcom, and so on... doesn't take more than an hour or two to build that image, sysprep, and imagex it to USB, saving me hours a week for the numerous systems I may reimage which only takes 8 minutes and is completely automated with a little script to just kill the HD0 and deploy the image.
Hey dude - you seem very knowledgeable; I've been struggling for days now to find USB 3.0 drivers for my Gigabyte H370M ... I have the unit installed and have TeamViewer running on it so I can transfer files to it ... but I cannot! for the life of me figure out how to get it to accept the USB drivers I have found - or find the USB drivers that it would accept. While I'm at it -- in addition to the extensible USB 3.0 drivers it SHOULD be accepting ... it's also rejecting the HD 630 integrated GPU built in to the 8700k which showed up just fine when I loaded Windows 10 ... in fact; I backed up all drivers from my Win10 build on the same hardware; but still I'm SUFFERING and wasting GOBS of time trying to get this stupid thing working -- and I need to ... bc doing data recovery, I just CANNOT use Win10 and deal with no updates - or updates occurring when I least can tolerate them; potentially causing a drive which was mounted to come along for the reboot-ride ... and never mount again.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep my eye on this thread for a few days.
If you install Win10 on Ryzen system, you will very likely encounter another kind of problems.
If you use Win10 1709 distribution to install or later update to 1709 you can have problems like intermittent freezes of you PC or blue screen with subsequent reboot.
The solution is to install Win10 November 2017 cumulative update and then install latest chipset driver from AMD (currently v.17.30). After the reboot go to the Power Plans and you will see that the AMD installer created new power plan "Optimized for Ryzen" and switched to it.
Don't switch back to standard power plans if you don't want the problems back. If you need to disable system sleep or disk sleep just disable it in the settings of this power plan.
Surprisingly Win7 doesn't have these problems with Ryzen (at least with High Performance power plan).
100-series and 200-series motherboards should all now have an option in the BIOS to allow Win7 installs. It usually goes by the name xHCI or EHCI handoff.
I've done Win7 installs on a few Z170 and H170 boards and can confirm that it works. It's a bit of a hassle on the higher end boards with lots of 3.1 Gen 2 ports, as those generally can't be used for install, but it's mostly just a matter of tracking down a lowly direct from chipset 2.0 header somewhere on the board.
Noticed while checking out Z270 boards that many specify support for Windows 7 and 8.1 and have full sets of driver downloads available, but with disclaimers that those OSes are only (officially) supported when using Skylake CPUs.
Are you sure this isn't an article about Windows 98? Windows 7 install supports USB just fine. I've been using the same USB mouse and keyboard to install Windows for a decade.
Windows 7 supports USB install sure, but not if it can't recognize the USB host. That's platform dependent. Try installing Win 7 on a system where it doesn't recognize the USB host, and you'll hit a brick wall. That was a main issue on the original 100-series motherboards, which was fixed via motherboard firmware including drivers, and it comes up again in AM4.
It's still a problem, your windows installation will start but then it will ask you a few things and since the Win7 DVD doesn't have the right USB drivers you can't do anything. It's like when you try to install win 7 on a hard drive connected to a more recent chipset and you have to provide the drivers at the beginning of the installation if not it doesn't see the drive where you want to install it.
Nor will you, unless you use a new chip that the Win7 install doesn't have functioning USB drivers for. If you read the article there's several possible ways around this.
There are two WIM files in the installation media for Vista and onwards. The boot.wim is the environment the media boots into for the installation process. The install.wim is the image laid down on the target disk. Adding drivers (including USB) to each of them is not for the feint of heart but is very do-able with the guide Microsoft supplies here:
Copying the modified installation sources to a USB stick for boot purposes is my preferred method but could also be burned to DVD, as well.
For the record, this is how I usually handle new storage and network controllers that are not bundled with the OS or to provide newer, better ones during the installation process.
Of course, if you do a lot of installs (and why wouldn't you as a site that reviews hardware), using WDS is a lot easier than modifying the WIM files directly. WDS allows you to add drivers to the boot and installation phases using Windows management tools:
I heard that AMD was originally going to offer Windows 7 support, but Microsoft discouraged them from doing that. They were worried that Microsoft would provide "reduced" Windows 10 for Ryzen if they went ahead.
M$ is obligated to force their crapware spyware adware everywhich way. It would not be surprising if they blackmailed AMD, seeing how AMD is in a position were it has a lot of profit for showing users some love, a much appreciated instance of which would be to allow for pain-free installation on windows 7.
Although I prefer Windows 7 over 10 specifically because of what appears to be invasive data collection that can't be fully disabled, I don't think it's realistic at this point to try to stick with 7 on new hardware. Microsoft holds almost all of the power in this case and can use that power to drive the market in a direction that benefits the company. Until there's a viable alternative that grabs a bigger chunk of the market, this is what we get to deal with.
Besides the lack of competition, there's a lot of other players in the data mining business these days. Whole industry segments are quietly reaping profits by collecting and analyzing user information we willingly surrender in exchange for free or low cost services. Pandora's proverbial box has been opened and there's really nothing we can do about it beyond trying to make collection efforts a bit harder or going off the grid (which simply isn't an option for the majority of people).
As a Linux user, I'd love to see my favorite OS go mainstream and compete with Windows in order to force some change. I'm not delusional though. Even after decades of development from dedicated people and being offered free of charge, it hasn't gained more than a the slimmest shred of the market. Meanwhile 7's coffin is getting nailed shut, leaving the average person with the option of buying a data collection device to get their computing chores done. Your best bet is to get some control over outbound traffic to keep telemetry data from leaving your local network. There's a few lists of IPs and hostnames out there on the web that appear to be fairly complete. I think they'd do for a home computing situation if you're stuck with 10.
Well, the only thing w7 doesn't have is DX12, which as a non gamer I couldn't care less. The other possible aspect is driver support. Luckily all the hardware I currently use on windoze has w7 drivers, as for new hardware, I am gradually moving towards enterprise, where linux driver support is stellar and windoze becomes obsolete.
IIRC actually all of the telemetry on w10 can be disabled, at least all the announced telemetry, as with closed source software you can never know what happens internally. You cannot even do that with open source 100% of the time. Modern software is just so big and bloated it is possible to hide malicious intent in plain view.
On windoze, you cannot really disable internet access of the system without disabling internet access of every application running on it. That's a huge "dick move" by the company named after a small and unable to get erected sex organ. On top of the mountains upon mountains of settings that are non configurable and pretty much every person who knows shit about shit would want to configure in a more optimal setting.
Also, unless you disable updates or become fanatical about their content, telemetry will infect your w7 machine too. I noticed one day my HDD array was grinding like crazy for no good reason, just to find out a w7 box has gotten infected with telemetry through an update. And they keep on pushing that crap through new updates, often hiding their actual content with some over-generalization of what the update is about.
Things are slowly changing, I went from 0% Linux software couple of years ago to doing 50% of my work on it today. Linux is a great OS in the context of a "system to be used by the hardware" but it is awful in the context of a "system to be used by the user". Poor shell, forcing people to type cryptic commands in the terminal, which is so very off-putting. Lack of power user software with the exception of development and such. I mostly use ubuntu and mint which are more on the OK spectrum, but recently had to use debian, and I was stunned by how user unfriendly and broken in terms of GUI it was. The graphics shell was something a kid with down syndrome could put together in a day, and much of it was non functional. WTF? Stuff like "if you specify a user with password account during install, you will have to manually install apt later by typing a bunch of cryptic stuff in the terminal, but if you don't specify a user, it gets installed by default". Seriously...
I myself am slowly but surely migrating away from windows entirely. I still need it for some software, but all that software works perfectly well on w7. Mostly content creation and engineering stuff, much of which doesn't run anywhere else, not even on macos.
Linux is not without its problems, it is too open for its own good. The foundation has been infiltrated by corporations which do things that benefit them, not only in terms of using it for their direct needs, but also from impeding it to be used by people they target with their own products. The kernel is bloated. All kind of useless stuff gets in there, and it is there unless you invest the time and effort in a streamlined build.
A huge portion of Linux' problems is due to the fact all of the people who develop it use Linux for nothing more than... developing Linux. They don't know what other people use computers for, they have memorized the small yet complex subset of stuff it takes to get Linux running and assume everyone else will be limiting their mindset to that same stuff. As a result, Linux is the most user-unfriendly OS ever, at least in my opinion, and I have used computers since 1984 and have been through pretty much every generation of hardware and software there is.
25 years old, Linux has only gotten to the point where, if you are a lucky non-power-user, you could install it, have you essential hardware running, and do stuff like text documents, spreadsheets, listening to music, watching movies, browsing and possibly do some coding. But other than that - el zilcho. You have the gimp, which... ain't no photoshop, as lacking as the latter might be, the linux/fos alternative cannot compete. Same thing for blender. And that's if you are lucky. If you are not, your hardware doesn't run. You search for solutions on the internet, type stuff, it doesn't work, and you are stuck. Sorry, but in order to get it running you have to give up on everything else in your life and dedicate to learning how to get it running. Which is like... what's the point. If I have to give up on the stuff I wanted to use linux for just to get linux running, what's the point?
Of all the software I use, like 2% supports linux, and most of that is backends - like "you can use linux for a cluster to compute your simulation/rendering, but the front end to set up the simulation/scene only works on windoze, sorry!".
Couple of years ago I was thinking "once I get some free time, I will write a Linux shell and software that will make it useful" today I am more like "once I get some free time, I will write an OS from scratch, designed to be useful".
"A huge portion of Linux' problems is due to the fact all of the people who develop it use Linux for nothing more than... developing Linux."
That line actually made me laugh out loud :). Well-said, having tried to switch to linux since the Ubuntu 5.04 days, I fully agree with all of your post. The only distribution that really impressed me, out of the top 10 on distrowatch this month (April 2017) was linux mint 18. I actually managed to use it to partition a USB thumb drive into one NTFS partition (accessible on windows), one ext4 partition (linux root) and a swap partition, and run the whole OS off the drive. I was able to install custom nvidia drivers just by ticking a box in the driver manager. I installed intel integrated GPU drivers with the beigenet package. I got virtualbox, teamviewer, dropbox, chrome, wine and most importantly BOINC (crunching for science) to work. And it was actually quite easy. Seriously, after 10 years of dabbling in linux, this is the first time I actually thought to myself "man, I could actually use this OS day-to-day". If only the UI didn't have the ugly colours and large fonts, and the office programs didn't have buttons that looked like they were drawn by a 2-year-old.
I didn't have much luck with other distros. Fedora, and all the other ones that use the stock GNOME desktop, are basically unusable for me because by default they don't have a taskbar for seeing which programs are open and switching between running programs with a mouse click (you have to alt-tab). My reasoning is, this is a PC dammit, not an iPad wannabe!
Why not just edit the Win7 install ISO to support USB 3.0 drivers? That's what we've had to do at work. Takes about 10 minutes of your time on a decent desktop machine to accomplish the task using the DISM GUI.
"Potential Install Solution 1.2: Use an Unattended Windows 7 Install" is that. The guide assumes that people who already know what DISM is and know how to use don't need the guide.
I don't see how slipstreaming some extra drivers is equivalent to "unattended install"... And for people who DON'T already know what DISM is, a less vague mention would be appreciated - especially one pointing out the GUI variant as well.
Yeah I was thinking about this as well. Ran into a problem recently with getting an NVME computer setup for Windows 7 at my work and studied DISM for awhile. Now it would be a piece of cake for me to pop a new driver or two in (realistically I would just import all the drivers to make my life easier when it finished).
Inject proper USB3 drivers into boot.wim (both indexes) and install.wim (whatever version index you plan to install - 4 is Ultimate). Copy new WIM's back to flashdrive and install as normal. Problem solved.
DISM GUI is a very simple to use tool to accomplish this.
SoC is an acronym, it is pronounced "sock", not an abbreviation that would be pronounced es oh si. So yeah, definitely A SoC, and definitely A system-on-chip.
But pedantry is exactly what the OP is about, so I think it's OK in this case. Also, I've always pronounced it "ess oh see". Interesting that Google thinks it's an initialism though, as it's clearly pronounceable. But I'll defer to the professionals on this matter.
This is kind of off topic here, but the bit that says "the PS/2 keyboard injects its commands, but this means a lack of n-key rollover support" isn't quite correct.
PS/2 can do N-Key rollover just fine, assuming the controller on the keyboard can handle it. In fact, before the recent mechanical keyboard renascence, USB controllers where all limited to 6-Key rollover and gamers deliberately grabbed PS/2 boards for the N-Key.
AMD is shooting it´s own foot with not providing drivers for win7. many of the potential AMD customers are cheapos who will stick to win7 until the end of their days.
You don't have to be a "cheapo" to stick with windows 7. It is the better and the more expensive OS.
It may not be up to AMD, if M$ threatened to poorly support zen they would not have a choice, as most new systems sold would be with w10. Still, as long as there are windows 7 drivers for the chipset and peripherals, I'd say good job AMD, even if the installation process is deliberately hampered to appease M$.
But AMD does provide Win7 compatible drivers. The article links to chipset drivers specificallly but there's a overall package that also includes USB 3.0 drivers: https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/am...
From there one can integrate both chipset and USB 3.0 drivers to Win7 image and procedd to install as normal even from a USB stick. Motherboard manufacturers even prove their own tool for integrating USB 3.0 drivers tho im unable to find them under utilities section for X370 ASUS boards for example.
Still. Even having installed Win7 on H110 series motherboard with a Skylake CPU getting USB to work has never been a problem for me even with vanilla Win7 image. The real problem occurs during disk selection when the installer does not find any drives. That's why integrating both USB 3.0 and Chipset drivers is a must.
Well as a tech support i know the clasicall microsoft way of doing things unpack the iso use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management(DSIM) tool to add manually the unpacked drivers and then build a new installation ISO or instalation Flash Drive.
Any way will we seee some Windows 7 benchmarks after you made the hustle to install windows 7 on Ryzen ?
"The main reason why PS/2 should work where USB doesn’t is due to the protocol. PS/2 uses interrupts through the system, compared to USB which is based on polling. This results in different levels of engagement: the PS/2 keyboard injects its commands, but this means limited n-key rollover support, whereas a USB keyboard will bundle its commands up and send it over when the system requests it. Unfortunately, the latter requires a default driver to be able to do this."
Wow, what is this garbage??? The reason PS2 works has nothing to do with interrupts or polling. It's entirely because the Windows 7 media doesn't have drivers for modern USB chipsets. That's it. That's the whole reason. It has PS2 drivers and that and only that is why it can still work with PS2 when the USB on a system isn't recognized.
Also, as another commenter said PS2 can definitely do n-key rollover. That too doesn't work anything like what is explained in the article.
Yes it does. All Windows needs to do is recognize it as an interrupt from the PS/2 and what command it is. Where else for usb, Windows needs to know how to interact with the usb controller in order to poll the devices connect to it for commands, hence the driver required. So yes while you are correct that its entirely because Windows 7 lacks drivers, you are also wrong when you say interrupts and polling have nothing to do with it. Cmon, I expect Anandtech readers to know better.
Nope, sorry buddy, you're missing the point. There still has to be some sort kernel driver to know how to respond to the interrupt... Windows 7 (and basically all other versions as well) has a PS/2 driver (i8042prt.sys) and not a modern USB chipset driver. It really is as simple as that. It doesn't matter if the device uses interrupts or depends on polling. Drivers make it happen, not how the device gets the kernels attention.
PS/2 does rely on an IRQ to send keyboard commands to the system as explained in the article. However, PS/2 is also capable of NKRO as posted elsewhere. It's a matter of isolating each key's switch circuit and adding the necessary controller inside the keyboard to support it. There weren't many NKRO keyboards on PS/2 because, before recent times when mechanical keyboards made something of a comeback, keyboard-specific features weren't very important differentiators when it came to production and sales. They were commodity items that were cheap or bundled with a PC so companies that made them weren't fighting for attention among one another for direct sales with end users. Now that they are, they need bullet point features to attract interest and that pushed NKRO into the minds of Joe/Jane Gamer. Had keyboard sales gone this same competitive route when PS/2 was still the primary interface, you would likely have seen more NKRO efforts back then.
In short, PS/2 can do it, but the market forces weren't there until USB had already started replacing it as the preferred keyboard interface.
Windows 7 Lifer survival diagrams are great. Don't worry Timmy you can still upgrade and not have the evil man in Redmond spying on you with that witch Cortana!
Alternative solution: buy a Gigabyte model. Gigabyte has Win7 drivers on its site for its Ryzen range, and they include a boot tool for rolling USB3 support into the Win7 inst procedure, same way ASUS does for its X99 mbds.
Only a PS/2 mouse can be used, if you don't have a PS/2 keyboard. At least, that's how I was able to install Wn7 on an Intel Z170 system, using only a PS/2 mouse and an unmodified Win7 bootable optical disk. At the point (later in the install process) that requires typing in a user name, the on-screen keyboard can be invoked. Once booted to the desktop, the USB drivers that enable USB mouse and keyboard can be installed still using the PS/2 mouse.
So... In theory I could take a Windows install and just change the hardware from under it and it would work after a bit of fiddling with drivers? (I have actually done this back in the 486 era with W95.)
ddriver, you should seriously consider checking out "Simplix Update7" on an 'uninfected' Windows 7 installation; one of their main goals are to be all in one while the developer tests each and every update as they come out, avoiding bad updates such as those that have telemetry features built in. ...also don't forget to disable Windows updates alltogether, and just occasionally check the update7 website for updates from time to time.
I tried to install Windows 7 and also had this problem with USB xHCI driver issue,
Board: Asus Crosshair VI Hero
So, no mouse or keyboard was recognized by Windows setup.
The solution is very trivial ! I was googlin' for hours until my eyes got bloody but then I found this most simple solution in a FAQ. Most easy things ... lost in mind.
However, here it is:
1.) Take an USB installation thumb drive and stick it into USB port. 2.) Turn your PC on 3.) Take the support CD of your motherboard and put it into your optical drive (if you have one) 4.) Install Windows 7
e2a, if you want to install Windows 7 on a M.2 SSD ...
1.) Take the steps above but install it on a SATA SSD 2.) Install the M.2 driver from SSD's manufacturer (e.g. Samsung or Intel) 3.) Clone your drive to the M.2 SSD
Quick note on this, users going with the Asus boards - Asus has a utility to create an installer for Windows 7 with the USB3 drivers loaded to ease the pain of installation. That being said, the board I'm using (Asus B350M-A) has PS2 for both mouse and keyboard, so installation was pretty straightforward.
I sysprepped an image of a win7 machine. Then I copied all drivers to a ntfs formatted hard drive. I had to use a ps2 keyboard but was able to install the drivers with keyboard shortcuts. I think that giving network and usb priority made the rest of the build go smoother but man what a ride.
Thanks, Anandtech! $1.99 keyboard at Fry's (Digital Innovations Classic PS/2 - ask them. They hide them, but have millions) + lots of tab, tab, tab alt-tab, spacebaring and Win7 working with Ryzen! Saved me $99 from buying an OS I didn't want.
Has anyone tried installing a PCI VIA-Chipset based USB 2.0 card? They make both PCI-Express and PCI Versions (Some AM4 motherboards have PCI). These should be 100% native supported during windows 7 setup and make win7 a breeze.
Use a second system, install from usb, let it restart now, after second restart after completion & before User creation, switch off & remove hdd. At this point in the windows install no hardware has been installed, base drivers are initialised for boot.wim preinstallation, drivers are installed after 2nd restart during setup registry stage :)
Hi Ian, As according to news as of now its will become difficult for the Window 7 users by facing usb support issue and not supporting Ryzen on OS.If anyone is facing any issue in window opertions or services can contact us at <a href="http://emailsupportnumber.org/aol-support/"&g... Support</a>
Thanks so much, as you mentioned, the ps2 port is all but gone. In my case the motherboard I installed didn't have one. I tried installing through usb, and loading the drivers and rebuilding the install package, and a host of other things. I hadn't tried creating an unattended install, but what did finally work, was creating a base installed windows 7 o/s on another system then transferring the drive to the new system. Two things ... when it asks you to enter a password ...don't! Also before removing the drive, turn UAC to it's lowest setting. The batch file has to run without asking first for permission.
For those that don't want or know how to patch usb 3.0 drivers into their win 7 install, Asrock already has an easy utility that will do that. Go to: http://www.asrock.com/MB/AMD/AB350M%20Pro4/index.a... and download the final version of the Windows 7 USB Patcher. I think the same program works for all recent Windows versions, I ran it on a 32-bit netbook and it took the official Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit iso from the MS website, patched in the usb drivers, and created a bootable flash drive that worked without a hitch.
Many of us afraid of installing windows and seeking help from others. But it’s just a guideline to follow, nothing else. Be confident about yourself and If you would like to install windows but don’t have CD or DVD drive, there is a solution for you. You can install windows 7 without CD and It’s really easy to create a bootable USB flash drive with the right installation. >>http://enlightentricks.com/install-windows-7-using...
I'm currently building a Ryzen 7 multi-OS (Windows 7, Linux, and Mac OS) computer using a Ryzen 7 1800X. I have installed Windows 7 and it installed USB 3.0 and 3.1 in Device Manager but both are disabled (No drivers for USB installed).
Is there a way to get them to install with (or without) using the AMD installer?
(Running the individual installer for each aborts with an error message stating the AMD installer muster be used to install the driver.)
I was able to install the AMD Chipset driver but it only loaded the Radeon RX driver for the video. (I do bare metal installs - each OS on it's own physical drive.
Once I have all three OS's installed I intend to create VM's for Windows and Mac OS X on the Linux OS.
Hola buenos dias, ayer compre un ordenador a piezas para un amigo y al instalar Windows 7 en principio no me dio problemas, pero luego da pantalla azul y no me deja hacer nada, se reinicia continuamente en pantalla azul con mensaje stop 0x000000a5, tendre que instalar el windows 10 por lo que leo.
For Ian Cutress: Thank you thank you... was fighting the no USB functionality and your process to load drivers when OS loads (Windows 7) fixed them problem. I only had to run it once, then remove the startup shortcut and it has done great.
I transferred a windows 7 install to an amd ryzen system and the mouse and keyboard would not work. I first injected the boot.wim file from the windows cd with the chipset drivers of the motherboard using dism. Then once that was done, i booted to the recovery console of the windows cd and used dism again to inject the windows install with the chipset drivers.. once the machine booted up, it found all the drivers and the mouse and keyboard worked again. I installed the rest of the drivers as normal and I have a fully functioning windows 7 system.
Hmmm... As an old hardware hacker, I solved this another way.
I plugged an old VIA chip based PCI USB card into a PCI to PCIe adaptor (bought on eBay for a few pounds), fitted this to the machine and plugged a keyboard and mouse in there.
After one false start I plugged the install USB stick into the VIA card as well and that just worked.
Pardon me if this has already been asked, but there are 9 pages of comments.
If my MoBo has a PS/2 port (and I have a PS/2 keyboard) and I install Win7 from a CD, do I need to alter the installation files in any way? Did I still need to slipstream the USB3 driver (or anything else?) TIA
I have a really old PC that the grand kids use to do homework play games etc. Its a Phenom II based system just for info. Anyway I was thinking I could swap out the Motherboard CPU and Ram to upgrade it to play games that it struggles with now. I looked at the low end Ryzens to do this with until I found that they don't officially support W7. I have no interest in upgrading the system to W10. What would people recommend for the best architecture to upgrade to to ensure compatibility with Windows 7 ? thanks in advance.
What about getting internet? I was able to install the necessary usb drivers through physically storing them on there while in Windows 10, but now I can't get any internet whatsoever. None of my network peripherals will work. Any idea of how to help me here?
First Thank you for trying to help. and second, after 2 days of struggling with this i found an easy and ridiculous solution. simply go to your motherboard's support site (in my case it was MSI) and look for "Utility" option and then choose Win 7 64bit and look for the Windows Installer Tool (if you own MSI MOBO it will be called "MSI Smart Tool") its probably has a different names for other manufacturers, download the tool and simply install Win7 using the tool what this tool does is it creates a USB drivers within the Win7 installation files so when you do install windows it will be automatically installing the drivers with it. and that's it really! you have no idea how much i cursed and throw things around only to find this simple solution lol :)
My batch file runs the original cd chipset setup install but stops at a "yes" or "no" question in the beginning. "Setup.exe -install" isn't enough. I have working mouse/keyboard during win 7 install but after install usbs die including 2.0. My mb: ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING with Ryzen 2700 If anyone knows of the attributes to add to this or a working pcie ps/2 controller for pcie x2 (that's not an existing usb extention) - please let me know. I've been at it for ever.
Asus has a tool for this problem. It requires a Windows 7 installation DVD or a mounted iso file of the installer and a USB stick. It creates a bootable stick with the USB drivers built in for diverse chipsets. HTH
To install Win7 on Ryzen systems, including Threadripper, the method I use is to plug in an old PCI USB card on a PCIe to PCI bridge card. This works for both keyboard and USB stick as Win7 has drivers for old PCI USB2 chips. Once the system is running and drivers are set up, remove the old tech and put it back in the drawer for next time.
yea I did similar trick. I had pcie usb card which installed drivers on its own then I used the usb keyboard to install usb drivers and chipset drivers that way. does not matter if it is usb 2.0 or 3 card motherboard manufacturers should have kept the ps2 ports for issues like this. idiots
The amd site just doesn't seem to provide driver packages with USB30_ZP and USB31_PT. I downloaded the 370, 470 amd 570 chipset driver packages and they do not contain those drivers. I got ahold of the relive drivers but those only contain the graphic drivers fthe USB30_ZP USB31_PT drivers so no kbm for Windows 7. Maybe I'm just too thick to grasp something. Help if you can. Thanks.
This option > 2.2: Set Drivers To Install at Boot < worked just fine for a Win7 SSD install from Pentium2 to Ryzen5 1.Just I did not find the AMD folder before installing the Radeon driver exe (downloaded here: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn... I had to full install (even with a fail message) to find the right folder 2.I used a PS/2 mouse because the USB wifi mouse driver wasn't working after reboot...
See "In-Place Win7 Upgrade To x570 Mobo With A Ryzen CPU" at the below link for detailed instructions about how to upgrade to a new x570 mobo without reinstalling Win7 -- even with a new Ryzen CPU.
Hey I have a HP Laptop that I would like to dual boot windows 11 and windows 7 from the same drive. I have partitioned the drive and used Rufus 3,20 to create a bootable windows 7 usb drive. I restart my laptop and depending on which version of windows 7 i try to install one of two things happens. 1. windows 7 loads the files before the choose your language screen appears and then freezes at starting setup or windows 7 goes through its setup process, asks to restart and then freezes at the starting windows screen after restarting. In both cases I can use my laptops keyboard but can not use the mouse pad. Any advice please.
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 4500U with Radeon Graphics 2.38 GHz Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.36 GB usable) Device ID 7E606C80-95F0-45CC-9B44-A987F39021A4 Product ID 00325-82042-74878-AAOEM System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display
Edition Windows 11 Home Version 22H2 Installed on 09/10/2022 OS build 22621.674 Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22634.1000.0
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MajGenRelativity - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
I use W10, not 7, but the article is detailed enough for me to be able to solve any problems I may encounter when building a computer for someone else.I've seen updates to the main Ryzen article, but any word on when the conclusion will exit the WIP phase?
Ian Cutress - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
End of today; I've been catching up a few loose ends since getting back. A few readers also asked some questions / had some observations that are worth exploring, particularly in future articles.MajGenRelativity - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Awesome! I'm looking forward to it. I've already got a couple friends who want Ryzen builds, and reading the conclusion would help me know whether it's going to be a good architecture that can scale down (Ryzen 3/5) for non high-end builds.Murloc - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
what's the point in knowing before the r5 and r3 come out, beyond curiosity?MajGenRelativity - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Curiosity does play a role in it, but some of my friends/customers aren't under huge time constraints and Ryzen 5 isn't too far away. If the architecture looks good, I can tell them that it may be worth waiting.Alexvrb - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
The pricing of the 4C/8T chips looks mighty tempting.firerod1 - Thursday, March 9, 2017 - link
tell me about it, if that baby OCs past 4ghz it will be matching 6700K's. 7700k should be ahead by a bit just cuz of clock speed. I still want a 1600x just for future proofing and not having to worry about leaving programs open while gaming.Samus - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Best think to do is simply install using a spare pc, install AMD USB drivers, run sysprep (with generalize hardware checked to rebuild the HAL) and swap the drive to the Ryzen platform. Those wishing to get exotic (or those who might need to install Win7 on more than one Ryzen PC) could run imagex and make a wim of the installation. This will allow pretty quick deployment to future SSD's, just run diskpart on a PC, create a lead-in/boot partition and a primary partition (and a MSR partition in between if you wish to utilize UEFI) and extract the wim to the primary partition then run bcdedit and add the windows installation to the boot partition.I carry around a syspreped image with updated through December since my last revision on a bootable WinPE 16GB USB stick, preconfigured with a bunch of settings from power saving to page file to UI tweaks, including a light drivers folder with NIC drivers from Intel, atheros, Realtek, Broadcom, and so on... doesn't take more than an hour or two to build that image, sysprep, and imagex it to USB, saving me hours a week for the numerous systems I may reimage which only takes 8 minutes and is completely automated with a little script to just kill the HD0 and deploy the image.
trumanhw - Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - link
Hey dude - you seem very knowledgeable; I've been struggling for days now to find USB 3.0 drivers for my Gigabyte H370M ... I have the unit installed and have TeamViewer running on it so I can transfer files to it ... but I cannot! for the life of me figure out how to get it to accept the USB drivers I have found - or find the USB drivers that it would accept. While I'm at it -- in addition to the extensible USB 3.0 drivers it SHOULD be accepting ... it's also rejecting the HD 630 integrated GPU built in to the 8700k which showed up just fine when I loaded Windows 10 ... in fact; I backed up all drivers from my Win10 build on the same hardware; but still I'm SUFFERING and wasting GOBS of time trying to get this stupid thing working -- and I need to ... bc doing data recovery, I just CANNOT use Win10 and deal with no updates - or updates occurring when I least can tolerate them; potentially causing a drive which was mounted to come along for the reboot-ride ... and never mount again.Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep my eye on this thread for a few days.
Kind regards,
Truman
Nite2ru - Thursday, November 23, 2017 - link
If you install Win10 on Ryzen system, you will very likely encounter another kind of problems.If you use Win10 1709 distribution to install or later update to 1709 you can have problems like intermittent freezes of you PC or blue screen with subsequent reboot.
The solution is to install Win10 November 2017 cumulative update and then install latest chipset driver from AMD (currently v.17.30). After the reboot go to the Power Plans and you will see that the AMD installer created new power plan "Optimized for Ryzen" and switched to it.
Don't switch back to standard power plans if you don't want the problems back. If you need to disable system sleep or disk sleep just disable it in the settings of this power plan.
Surprisingly Win7 doesn't have these problems with Ryzen (at least with High Performance power plan).
ruthan - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Great, its there same article for Kaby lake?Ian Cutress - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
100-series and 200-series motherboards should all now have an option in the BIOS to allow Win7 installs. It usually goes by the name xHCI or EHCI handoff.Cygni - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
I've done Win7 installs on a few Z170 and H170 boards and can confirm that it works. It's a bit of a hassle on the higher end boards with lots of 3.1 Gen 2 ports, as those generally can't be used for install, but it's mostly just a matter of tracking down a lowly direct from chipset 2.0 header somewhere on the board.ekon - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Noticed while checking out Z270 boards that many specify support for Windows 7 and 8.1 and have full sets of driver downloads available, but with disclaimers that those OSes are only (officially) supported when using Skylake CPUs.Calis206 - Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - link
Think there is, found this video:https://youtu.be/LUT0LM2OwYY
nathanddrews - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Are you sure this isn't an article about Windows 98? Windows 7 install supports USB just fine. I've been using the same USB mouse and keyboard to install Windows for a decade.Ian Cutress - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Windows 7 supports USB install sure, but not if it can't recognize the USB host. That's platform dependent. Try installing Win 7 on a system where it doesn't recognize the USB host, and you'll hit a brick wall. That was a main issue on the original 100-series motherboards, which was fixed via motherboard firmware including drivers, and it comes up again in AM4.nathanddrews - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
OK I get it now. Specifically USB Install, not simply using USB mouse/keyboard. I'm old-school, still use the DVD.Strunf - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
It's still a problem, your windows installation will start but then it will ask you a few things and since the Win7 DVD doesn't have the right USB drivers you can't do anything. It's like when you try to install win 7 on a hard drive connected to a more recent chipset and you have to provide the drivers at the beginning of the installation if not it doesn't see the drive where you want to install it.nathanddrews - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Interesting, I have never encountered that.Alexvrb - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Nor will you, unless you use a new chip that the Win7 install doesn't have functioning USB drivers for. If you read the article there's several possible ways around this.racermd - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
There are two WIM files in the installation media for Vista and onwards. The boot.wim is the environment the media boots into for the installation process. The install.wim is the image laid down on the target disk. Adding drivers (including USB) to each of them is not for the feint of heart but is very do-able with the guide Microsoft supplies here:https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh8250...
Copying the modified installation sources to a USB stick for boot purposes is my preferred method but could also be burned to DVD, as well.
For the record, this is how I usually handle new storage and network controllers that are not bundled with the OS or to provide newer, better ones during the installation process.
Of course, if you do a lot of installs (and why wouldn't you as a site that reviews hardware), using WDS is a lot easier than modifying the WIM files directly. WDS allows you to add drivers to the boot and installation phases using Windows management tools:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd3484...
lefty2 - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
I heard that AMD was originally going to offer Windows 7 support, but Microsoft discouraged them from doing that. They were worried that Microsoft would provide "reduced" Windows 10 for Ryzen if they went ahead.ddriver - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
M$ is obligated to force their crapware spyware adware everywhich way. It would not be surprising if they blackmailed AMD, seeing how AMD is in a position were it has a lot of profit for showing users some love, a much appreciated instance of which would be to allow for pain-free installation on windows 7.BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Although I prefer Windows 7 over 10 specifically because of what appears to be invasive data collection that can't be fully disabled, I don't think it's realistic at this point to try to stick with 7 on new hardware. Microsoft holds almost all of the power in this case and can use that power to drive the market in a direction that benefits the company. Until there's a viable alternative that grabs a bigger chunk of the market, this is what we get to deal with.Besides the lack of competition, there's a lot of other players in the data mining business these days. Whole industry segments are quietly reaping profits by collecting and analyzing user information we willingly surrender in exchange for free or low cost services. Pandora's proverbial box has been opened and there's really nothing we can do about it beyond trying to make collection efforts a bit harder or going off the grid (which simply isn't an option for the majority of people).
As a Linux user, I'd love to see my favorite OS go mainstream and compete with Windows in order to force some change. I'm not delusional though. Even after decades of development from dedicated people and being offered free of charge, it hasn't gained more than a the slimmest shred of the market. Meanwhile 7's coffin is getting nailed shut, leaving the average person with the option of buying a data collection device to get their computing chores done. Your best bet is to get some control over outbound traffic to keep telemetry data from leaving your local network. There's a few lists of IPs and hostnames out there on the web that appear to be fairly complete. I think they'd do for a home computing situation if you're stuck with 10.
ddriver - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Well, the only thing w7 doesn't have is DX12, which as a non gamer I couldn't care less. The other possible aspect is driver support. Luckily all the hardware I currently use on windoze has w7 drivers, as for new hardware, I am gradually moving towards enterprise, where linux driver support is stellar and windoze becomes obsolete.IIRC actually all of the telemetry on w10 can be disabled, at least all the announced telemetry, as with closed source software you can never know what happens internally. You cannot even do that with open source 100% of the time. Modern software is just so big and bloated it is possible to hide malicious intent in plain view.
On windoze, you cannot really disable internet access of the system without disabling internet access of every application running on it. That's a huge "dick move" by the company named after a small and unable to get erected sex organ. On top of the mountains upon mountains of settings that are non configurable and pretty much every person who knows shit about shit would want to configure in a more optimal setting.
Also, unless you disable updates or become fanatical about their content, telemetry will infect your w7 machine too. I noticed one day my HDD array was grinding like crazy for no good reason, just to find out a w7 box has gotten infected with telemetry through an update. And they keep on pushing that crap through new updates, often hiding their actual content with some over-generalization of what the update is about.
Things are slowly changing, I went from 0% Linux software couple of years ago to doing 50% of my work on it today. Linux is a great OS in the context of a "system to be used by the hardware" but it is awful in the context of a "system to be used by the user". Poor shell, forcing people to type cryptic commands in the terminal, which is so very off-putting. Lack of power user software with the exception of development and such. I mostly use ubuntu and mint which are more on the OK spectrum, but recently had to use debian, and I was stunned by how user unfriendly and broken in terms of GUI it was. The graphics shell was something a kid with down syndrome could put together in a day, and much of it was non functional. WTF? Stuff like "if you specify a user with password account during install, you will have to manually install apt later by typing a bunch of cryptic stuff in the terminal, but if you don't specify a user, it gets installed by default". Seriously...
I myself am slowly but surely migrating away from windows entirely. I still need it for some software, but all that software works perfectly well on w7. Mostly content creation and engineering stuff, much of which doesn't run anywhere else, not even on macos.
Linux is not without its problems, it is too open for its own good. The foundation has been infiltrated by corporations which do things that benefit them, not only in terms of using it for their direct needs, but also from impeding it to be used by people they target with their own products. The kernel is bloated. All kind of useless stuff gets in there, and it is there unless you invest the time and effort in a streamlined build.
A huge portion of Linux' problems is due to the fact all of the people who develop it use Linux for nothing more than... developing Linux. They don't know what other people use computers for, they have memorized the small yet complex subset of stuff it takes to get Linux running and assume everyone else will be limiting their mindset to that same stuff. As a result, Linux is the most user-unfriendly OS ever, at least in my opinion, and I have used computers since 1984 and have been through pretty much every generation of hardware and software there is.
25 years old, Linux has only gotten to the point where, if you are a lucky non-power-user, you could install it, have you essential hardware running, and do stuff like text documents, spreadsheets, listening to music, watching movies, browsing and possibly do some coding. But other than that - el zilcho. You have the gimp, which... ain't no photoshop, as lacking as the latter might be, the linux/fos alternative cannot compete. Same thing for blender. And that's if you are lucky. If you are not, your hardware doesn't run. You search for solutions on the internet, type stuff, it doesn't work, and you are stuck. Sorry, but in order to get it running you have to give up on everything else in your life and dedicate to learning how to get it running. Which is like... what's the point. If I have to give up on the stuff I wanted to use linux for just to get linux running, what's the point?
Of all the software I use, like 2% supports linux, and most of that is backends - like "you can use linux for a cluster to compute your simulation/rendering, but the front end to set up the simulation/scene only works on windoze, sorry!".
Couple of years ago I was thinking "once I get some free time, I will write a Linux shell and software that will make it useful" today I am more like "once I get some free time, I will write an OS from scratch, designed to be useful".
Alexvrb - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
You should make your bunker airtight.ddriver - Wednesday, March 8, 2017 - link
Way ahead of you ;)LMF5000 - Saturday, April 8, 2017 - link
"A huge portion of Linux' problems is due to the fact all of the people who develop it use Linux for nothing more than... developing Linux."That line actually made me laugh out loud :). Well-said, having tried to switch to linux since the Ubuntu 5.04 days, I fully agree with all of your post. The only distribution that really impressed me, out of the top 10 on distrowatch this month (April 2017) was linux mint 18. I actually managed to use it to partition a USB thumb drive into one NTFS partition (accessible on windows), one ext4 partition (linux root) and a swap partition, and run the whole OS off the drive. I was able to install custom nvidia drivers just by ticking a box in the driver manager. I installed intel integrated GPU drivers with the beigenet package. I got virtualbox, teamviewer, dropbox, chrome, wine and most importantly BOINC (crunching for science) to work. And it was actually quite easy. Seriously, after 10 years of dabbling in linux, this is the first time I actually thought to myself "man, I could actually use this OS day-to-day". If only the UI didn't have the ugly colours and large fonts, and the office programs didn't have buttons that looked like they were drawn by a 2-year-old.
I didn't have much luck with other distros. Fedora, and all the other ones that use the stock GNOME desktop, are basically unusable for me because by default they don't have a taskbar for seeing which programs are open and switching between running programs with a mouse click (you have to alt-tab). My reasoning is, this is a PC dammit, not an iPad wannabe!
Ninhalem - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Why not just edit the Win7 install ISO to support USB 3.0 drivers? That's what we've had to do at work. Takes about 10 minutes of your time on a decent desktop machine to accomplish the task using the DISM GUI.A5 - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
"Potential Install Solution 1.2: Use an Unattended Windows 7 Install" is that. The guide assumes that people who already know what DISM is and know how to use don't need the guide.Visual - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
I don't see how slipstreaming some extra drivers is equivalent to "unattended install"...And for people who DON'T already know what DISM is, a less vague mention would be appreciated - especially one pointing out the GUI variant as well.
det_bradlee - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
It's not at all the same. DISM GUI is super easy to use. Afterwards, the install is identical to a standard install.Topweasel - Friday, March 10, 2017 - link
Yeah I was thinking about this as well. Ran into a problem recently with getting an NVME computer setup for Windows 7 at my work and studied DISM for awhile. Now it would be a piece of cake for me to pop a new driver or two in (realistically I would just import all the drivers to make my life easier when it finished).Calis206 - Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - link
Found a video to install Win7 on an nvme ssd:https://youtu.be/LUT0LM2OwYY
Appears like it works on a Ryzen & Kaby Lake board
det_bradlee - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Inject proper USB3 drivers into boot.wim (both indexes) and install.wim (whatever version index you plan to install - 4 is Ultimate). Copy new WIM's back to flashdrive and install as normal.Problem solved.
DISM GUI is a very simple to use tool to accomplish this.
Ian Cutress - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
+1lefty2 - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Apparently, there is a good reason to run Windows 7 on Ryzen: It performs much better than Windows 10:https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/ryzen-strictl...
AndrewJacksonZA - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Totally minor nitpick, Ian:"(because the CPU is an SoC) "
*AN* SoC?
KompuKare - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Well, some extra nitpicking could be:A SoC (one word rhymes with sock)
An S.o.C (pronounced letter by letter so 'ess o cee' hence the an).
ddriver - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
SoC is an acronym, it is pronounced "sock", not an abbreviation that would be pronounced es oh si. So yeah, definitely A SoC, and definitely A system-on-chip.mkaibear - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Google suggests that SoC is an initialism, not an acronym, it's pronounced "ess oh cee" not sock.Pcmag and techterms agree, can't find any source for SoC to be pronounced "sock".
I'm afraid I'd have to agree that it's an SoC not a SoC.
Flunk - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
I think you might be reaching into the depths of pedantry here.erple2 - Wednesday, March 8, 2017 - link
But pedantry is exactly what the OP is about, so I think it's OK in this case. Also, I've always pronounced it "ess oh see". Interesting that Google thinks it's an initialism though, as it's clearly pronounceable. But I'll defer to the professionals on this matter.Mr Perfect - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
This is kind of off topic here, but the bit that says "the PS/2 keyboard injects its commands, but this means a lack of n-key rollover support" isn't quite correct.PS/2 can do N-Key rollover just fine, assuming the controller on the keyboard can handle it. In fact, before the recent mechanical keyboard renascence, USB controllers where all limited to 6-Key rollover and gamers deliberately grabbed PS/2 boards for the N-Key.
edwpang - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
There is another way to do it:Just seach for install driver into wim image.
Gothmoth - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
AMD is shooting it´s own foot with not providing drivers for win7.many of the potential AMD customers are cheapos who will stick to win7 until the end of their days.
ddriver - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
You don't have to be a "cheapo" to stick with windows 7. It is the better and the more expensive OS.It may not be up to AMD, if M$ threatened to poorly support zen they would not have a choice, as most new systems sold would be with w10. Still, as long as there are windows 7 drivers for the chipset and peripherals, I'd say good job AMD, even if the installation process is deliberately hampered to appease M$.
R7 - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
But AMD does provide Win7 compatible drivers. The article links to chipset drivers specificallly but there's a overall package that also includes USB 3.0 drivers: https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/am...From there one can integrate both chipset and USB 3.0 drivers to Win7 image and procedd to install as normal even from a USB stick. Motherboard manufacturers even prove their own tool for integrating USB 3.0 drivers tho im unable to find them under utilities section for X370 ASUS boards for example.
Still. Even having installed Win7 on H110 series motherboard with a Skylake CPU getting USB to work has never been a problem for me even with vanilla Win7 image. The real problem occurs during disk selection when the installer does not find any drives. That's why integrating both USB 3.0 and Chipset drivers is a must.
DARK_BG - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Well as a tech support i know the clasicall microsoft way of doing things unpack the iso use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management(DSIM) tool to add manually the unpacked drivers and then build a new installation ISO or instalation Flash Drive.Any way will we seee some Windows 7 benchmarks after you made the hustle to install windows 7 on Ryzen ?
cygnus1 - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
"The main reason why PS/2 should work where USB doesn’t is due to the protocol. PS/2 uses interrupts through the system, compared to USB which is based on polling. This results in different levels of engagement: the PS/2 keyboard injects its commands, but this means limited n-key rollover support, whereas a USB keyboard will bundle its commands up and send it over when the system requests it. Unfortunately, the latter requires a default driver to be able to do this."Wow, what is this garbage??? The reason PS2 works has nothing to do with interrupts or polling. It's entirely because the Windows 7 media doesn't have drivers for modern USB chipsets. That's it. That's the whole reason. It has PS2 drivers and that and only that is why it can still work with PS2 when the USB on a system isn't recognized.
Also, as another commenter said PS2 can definitely do n-key rollover. That too doesn't work anything like what is explained in the article.
eriri-el - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Yes it does. All Windows needs to do is recognize it as an interrupt from the PS/2 and what command it is. Where else for usb, Windows needs to know how to interact with the usb controller in order to poll the devices connect to it for commands, hence the driver required. So yes while you are correct that its entirely because Windows 7 lacks drivers, you are also wrong when you say interrupts and polling have nothing to do with it. Cmon, I expect Anandtech readers to know better.vladx - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Meh, he tried to be a smartass but failed miserably.cygnus1 - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Nope, sorry buddy, you're missing the point. There still has to be some sort kernel driver to know how to respond to the interrupt... Windows 7 (and basically all other versions as well) has a PS/2 driver (i8042prt.sys) and not a modern USB chipset driver. It really is as simple as that. It doesn't matter if the device uses interrupts or depends on polling. Drivers make it happen, not how the device gets the kernels attention.BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
PS/2 does rely on an IRQ to send keyboard commands to the system as explained in the article. However, PS/2 is also capable of NKRO as posted elsewhere. It's a matter of isolating each key's switch circuit and adding the necessary controller inside the keyboard to support it. There weren't many NKRO keyboards on PS/2 because, before recent times when mechanical keyboards made something of a comeback, keyboard-specific features weren't very important differentiators when it came to production and sales. They were commodity items that were cheap or bundled with a PC so companies that made them weren't fighting for attention among one another for direct sales with end users. Now that they are, they need bullet point features to attract interest and that pushed NKRO into the minds of Joe/Jane Gamer. Had keyboard sales gone this same competitive route when PS/2 was still the primary interface, you would likely have seen more NKRO efforts back then.In short, PS/2 can do it, but the market forces weren't there until USB had already started replacing it as the preferred keyboard interface.
Sttm - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Windows 7 Lifer survival diagrams are great. Don't worry Timmy you can still upgrade and not have the evil man in Redmond spying on you with that witch Cortana!blaktron - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Did you try a PXE boot from a WDS server? That would be my first go-to...cygnus1 - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
You know lots of people with WDS servers at home? Or hell, do you know lots of people that know what WDS is??bananaforscale - Thursday, March 9, 2017 - link
Exactly what does WDS have to do with this?Byte - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Another idea is to have RDP or something like VNC/Teamviwer ready to fire up, you can remote into the Win7 machine to install USB drivers.mapesdhs - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Alternative solution: buy a Gigabyte model. Gigabyte has Win7 drivers on its site for its Ryzen range, and they include a boot tool for rolling USB3 support into the Win7 inst procedure, same way ASUS does for its X99 mbds.vailr - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
Only a PS/2 mouse can be used, if you don't have a PS/2 keyboard. At least, that's how I was able to install Wn7 on an Intel Z170 system, using only a PS/2 mouse and an unmodified Win7 bootable optical disk. At the point (later in the install process) that requires typing in a user name, the on-screen keyboard can be invoked. Once booted to the desktop, the USB drivers that enable USB mouse and keyboard can be installed still using the PS/2 mouse.bananaforscale - Thursday, March 9, 2017 - link
So... In theory I could take a Windows install and just change the hardware from under it and it would work after a bit of fiddling with drivers? (I have actually done this back in the 486 era with W95.)nt300 - Saturday, March 11, 2017 - link
Great Article.Once again Anandtech comes through with much needed info and assistance. Good Stuff,
Ray890 - Saturday, March 11, 2017 - link
ddriver, you should seriously consider checking out "Simplix Update7" on an 'uninfected' Windows 7 installation; one of their main goals are to be all in one while the developer tests each and every update as they come out, avoiding bad updates such as those that have telemetry features built in. ...also don't forget to disable Windows updates alltogether, and just occasionally check the update7 website for updates from time to time.OrphanageExplosion - Monday, March 13, 2017 - link
This bit - "Windows 7 USB Driver Install 2.2: Set Drivers To Install at Boot" - seems to be missing a crucial step.On your original system, you should turn off UAC before you transfer the SSD to the Ryzen system.
If you don't, you simply get the 'do you really want to install this' prompt and without USB drivers, you can't say 'yes'.
Turning off UAC skips this step and then it auto-installs all the driver.
kingmustard - Monday, March 13, 2017 - link
What sort of knob buys Ryzen hardware and installs Windows 7 to use it with?Greenhorn__ - Monday, March 13, 2017 - link
Hi,I tried to install Windows 7 and also had this problem with USB xHCI driver issue,
Board: Asus Crosshair VI Hero
So, no mouse or keyboard was recognized by Windows setup.
The solution is very trivial !
I was googlin' for hours until my eyes got bloody but then I found this most simple solution in a FAQ. Most easy things ... lost in mind.
However, here it is:
1.) Take an USB installation thumb drive and stick it into USB port.
2.) Turn your PC on
3.) Take the support CD of your motherboard and put it into your optical drive (if you have one)
4.) Install Windows 7
That's all ...
Regards
Greenhorn__
Greenhorn__ - Monday, March 13, 2017 - link
e2a, if you want to install Windows 7 on a M.2 SSD ...1.) Take the steps above but install it on a SATA SSD
2.) Install the M.2 driver from SSD's manufacturer (e.g. Samsung or Intel)
3.) Clone your drive to the M.2 SSD
This is the most easy way, imho.
rarson - Thursday, March 16, 2017 - link
Why not just use NTLite to inject the drivers into the ISO? Seems like the easiest option.rarson - Thursday, March 16, 2017 - link
Not that I'd ever want to use Windows 7 on my brand new Ryzen computer...Thepunk007 - Saturday, March 18, 2017 - link
Do what this guy says plus http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-automatically-lo...So it will autolog in and it works perfect! Wow what a lifesaver... that was driving me nuts. Hope this helps someone!
bill.rookard - Thursday, March 23, 2017 - link
Quick note on this, users going with the Asus boards - Asus has a utility to create an installer for Windows 7 with the USB3 drivers loaded to ease the pain of installation. That being said, the board I'm using (Asus B350M-A) has PS2 for both mouse and keyboard, so installation was pretty straightforward.rpierce01440 - Monday, April 3, 2017 - link
I sysprepped an image of a win7 machine. Then I copied all drivers to a ntfs formatted hard drive. I had to use a ps2 keyboard but was able to install the drivers with keyboard shortcuts. I think that giving network and usb priority made the rest of the build go smoother but man what a ride.sleepeeg3 - Thursday, June 8, 2017 - link
Thanks, Anandtech! $1.99 keyboard at Fry's (Digital Innovations Classic PS/2 - ask them. They hide them, but have millions) + lots of tab, tab, tab alt-tab, spacebaring and Win7 working with Ryzen! Saved me $99 from buying an OS I didn't want.Stupid Microsoft/Intel monopoly...
kithylin - Sunday, June 11, 2017 - link
Has anyone tried installing a PCI VIA-Chipset based USB 2.0 card? They make both PCI-Express and PCI Versions (Some AM4 motherboards have PCI). These should be 100% native supported during windows 7 setup and make win7 a breeze.teknikally_void - Monday, June 19, 2017 - link
Use a second system, install from usb, let it restart now, after second restart after completion & before User creation, switch off & remove hdd.At this point in the windows install no hardware has been installed, base drivers are initialised for boot.wim preinstallation, drivers are installed after 2nd restart during setup registry stage :)
Clone this pre setup condition & be a nerd :)
aolsupport123 - Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - link
Hi Ian,As according to news as of now its will become difficult for the Window 7 users by facing usb support issue and not supporting Ryzen on OS.If anyone is facing any issue in window opertions or services can contact us at <a href="http://emailsupportnumber.org/aol-support/"&g... Support</a>
almostgem - Sunday, September 3, 2017 - link
Thanks so much, as you mentioned, the ps2 port is all but gone. In my case the motherboard I installed didn't have one. I tried installing through usb, and loading the drivers and rebuilding the install package, and a host of other things. I hadn't tried creating an unattended install, but what did finally work, was creating a base installed windows 7 o/s on another system then transferring the drive to the new system. Two things ... when it asks you to enter a password ...don't! Also before removing the drive, turn UAC to it's lowest setting. The batch file has to run without asking first for permission.spielzigmacher - Friday, September 29, 2017 - link
For those that don't want or know how to patch usb 3.0 drivers into their win 7 install, Asrock already has an easy utility that will do that. Go to:http://www.asrock.com/MB/AMD/AB350M%20Pro4/index.a...
and download the final version of the Windows 7 USB Patcher. I think the same program works for all recent Windows versions, I ran it on a 32-bit netbook and it took the official Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit iso from the MS website, patched in the usb drivers, and created a bootable flash drive that worked without a hitch.
Woaliullah Olee - Sunday, December 10, 2017 - link
Many of us afraid of installing windows and seeking help from others. But it’s just a guideline to follow, nothing else. Be confident about yourself and If you would like to install windows but don’t have CD or DVD drive, there is a solution for you. You can install windows 7 without CD and It’s really easy to create a bootable USB flash drive with the right installation. >>http://enlightentricks.com/install-windows-7-using...Chiron121 - Sunday, January 7, 2018 - link
I'm currently building a Ryzen 7 multi-OS (Windows 7, Linux, and Mac OS) computer using a Ryzen 7 1800X. I have installed Windows 7 and it installed USB 3.0 and 3.1 in Device Manager but both are disabled (No drivers for USB installed).Is there a way to get them to install with (or without) using the AMD installer?
(Running the individual installer for each aborts with an error message stating the AMD installer muster be used to install the driver.)
I was able to install the AMD Chipset driver but it only loaded the Radeon RX driver for the video. (I do bare metal installs - each OS on it's own physical drive.
Once I have all three OS's installed I intend to create VM's for Windows and Mac OS X on the Linux OS.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Fidelius - Tuesday, February 13, 2018 - link
Hola buenos dias, ayer compre un ordenador a piezas para un amigo y al instalar Windows 7 en principio no me dio problemas, pero luego da pantalla azul y no me deja hacer nada, se reinicia continuamente en pantalla azul con mensaje stop 0x000000a5, tendre que instalar el windows 10 por lo que leo.Scoffer - Sunday, March 25, 2018 - link
For Ian Cutress:Thank you thank you... was fighting the no USB functionality and your process to load drivers when OS loads (Windows 7) fixed them problem. I only had to run it once, then remove the startup shortcut and it has done great.
Thanks a ton,
David S.
Systems Engineer
jzimmerman - Wednesday, April 25, 2018 - link
I transferred a windows 7 install to an amd ryzen system and the mouse and keyboard would not work. I first injected the boot.wim file from the windows cd with the chipset drivers of the motherboard using dism. Then once that was done, i booted to the recovery console of the windows cd and used dism again to inject the windows install with the chipset drivers.. once the machine booted up, it found all the drivers and the mouse and keyboard worked again. I installed the rest of the drivers as normal and I have a fully functioning windows 7 system.cdb000 - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
Hmmm... As an old hardware hacker, I solved this another way.I plugged an old VIA chip based PCI USB card into a PCI to PCIe adaptor (bought on eBay for a few pounds), fitted this to the machine and plugged a keyboard and mouse in there.
After one false start I plugged the install USB stick into the VIA card as well and that just worked.
Mugsy323 - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
Pardon me if this has already been asked, but there are 9 pages of comments.If my MoBo has a PS/2 port (and I have a PS/2 keyboard) and I install Win7 from a CD, do I need to alter the installation files in any way? Did I still need to slipstream the USB3 driver (or anything else?) TIA
mactronix - Saturday, August 4, 2018 - link
I have a really old PC that the grand kids use to do homework play games etc. Its a Phenom II based system just for info.Anyway I was thinking I could swap out the Motherboard CPU and Ram to upgrade it to play games that it struggles with now.
I looked at the low end Ryzens to do this with until I found that they don't officially support W7.
I have no interest in upgrading the system to W10.
What would people recommend for the best architecture to upgrade to to ensure compatibility with Windows 7 ?
thanks in advance.
Evanite - Sunday, August 12, 2018 - link
What about getting internet? I was able to install the necessary usb drivers through physically storing them on there while in Windows 10, but now I can't get any internet whatsoever. None of my network peripherals will work. Any idea of how to help me here?MohammadAJ - Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - link
First Thank you for trying to help.and second, after 2 days of struggling with this i found an easy and ridiculous solution. simply go to your motherboard's support site (in my case it was MSI) and look for "Utility" option and then choose Win 7 64bit and look for the Windows Installer Tool (if you own MSI MOBO it will be called "MSI Smart Tool") its probably has a different names for other manufacturers, download the tool and simply install Win7 using the tool what this tool does is it creates a USB drivers within the Win7 installation files so when you do install windows it will be automatically installing the drivers with it.
and that's it really! you have no idea how much i cursed and throw things around only to find this simple solution lol :)
polskamon - Tuesday, November 20, 2018 - link
My batch file runs the original cd chipset setup install but stops at a "yes" or "no" question in the beginning."Setup.exe -install" isn't enough.
I have working mouse/keyboard during win 7 install but after install usbs die including 2.0.
My mb: ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING with Ryzen 2700
If anyone knows of the attributes to add to this or a working pcie ps/2 controller for pcie x2 (that's not an existing usb extention) - please let me know. I've been at it for ever.
NightSpeed - Saturday, July 20, 2019 - link
This is the exact same setup did you ever get this working?WWG1WGA - Friday, August 2, 2019 - link
Asus has a tool for this problem.It requires a Windows 7 installation DVD or a mounted iso file of the installer and a USB stick.
It creates a bootable stick with the USB drivers built in for diverse chipsets.
HTH
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/Utility/V1.0...
cdb000 - Monday, November 11, 2019 - link
To install Win7 on Ryzen systems, including Threadripper, the method I use is to plug in an old PCI USB card on a PCIe to PCI bridge card. This works for both keyboard and USB stick as Win7 has drivers for old PCI USB2 chips.Once the system is running and drivers are set up, remove the old tech and put it back in the drawer for next time.
cybersirf - Monday, February 24, 2020 - link
yea I did similar trick. I had pcie usb card which installed drivers on its own then I used the usb keyboard to install usb drivers and chipset drivers that way.does not matter if it is usb 2.0 or 3 card
motherboard manufacturers should have kept the ps2 ports for issues like this. idiots
c0f7e3 - Thursday, March 5, 2020 - link
I'm trying to add driver (usb 3.0, chipset) to windows 7 iso file. Hope it work.Gamesturbator - Saturday, April 4, 2020 - link
The amd site just doesn't seem to provide driver packages with USB30_ZP and USB31_PT. I downloaded the 370, 470 amd 570 chipset driver packages and they do not contain those drivers. I got ahold of the relive drivers but those only contain the graphic drivers fthe USB30_ZP USB31_PT drivers so no kbm for Windows 7. Maybe I'm just too thick to grasp something. Help if you can. Thanks.skullcmdr - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
Question, I have this USB 2.0 PCI Express from ebayhttps://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-to-PCI-e-x1-expan...
Will it work for motherboard that doesn't have PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports?
Azertyboy - Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - link
This option > 2.2: Set Drivers To Install at Boot < worked just fine for a Win7 SSD install from Pentium2 to Ryzen51.Just I did not find the AMD folder before installing the Radeon driver exe (downloaded here: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn... I had to full install (even with a fail message) to find the right folder
2.I used a PS/2 mouse because the USB wifi mouse driver wasn't working after reboot...
Your smart TY
Azertyboy - Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - link
Download your USB device drivers there : https://www.amd.com/en/products/chipsets-am4AMD rules!
twathle - Monday, October 12, 2020 - link
See "In-Place Win7 Upgrade To x570 Mobo With A Ryzen CPU" at the below link for detailed instructions about how to upgrade to a new x570 mobo without reinstalling Win7 -- even with a new Ryzen CPU.https://www.overclock.net/threads/in-place-win7-up...
Agent Smith - Wednesday, October 28, 2020 - link
Link down?DaveBG - Monday, April 5, 2021 - link
Thanks for this clear explanation! Very useful!Bazza778 - Wednesday, October 19, 2022 - link
Hey I have a HP Laptop that I would like to dual boot windows 11 and windows 7 from the same drive. I have partitioned the drive and used Rufus 3,20 to create a bootable windows 7 usb drive.I restart my laptop and depending on which version of windows 7 i try to install one of two things happens. 1. windows 7 loads the files before the choose your language screen appears and then freezes at starting setup or windows 7 goes through its setup process, asks to restart and then freezes at the starting windows screen after restarting. In both cases I can use my laptops keyboard but can not use the mouse pad.
Any advice please.
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 4500U with Radeon Graphics 2.38 GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.36 GB usable)
Device ID 7E606C80-95F0-45CC-9B44-A987F39021A4
Product ID 00325-82042-74878-AAOEM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display
Edition Windows 11 Home
Version 22H2
Installed on 09/10/2022
OS build 22621.674
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22634.1000.0
Thanks in advance
Barry