How to install Windows 7 on a laptop without USB2.0 or DVD drive?

Question

I want to replace windows 10 with 7 on the laptop I just bought which does not have USB 2.0 or optical drive. Windows 7 does not come with USB 3.0 driver so flash drive or external DVD is out of question. Nor does this laptop has a SATA connected DVD drive. Any idea? thanks

Answer 1

So I got Windows 7 work perfectly on my laptop after the following steps:

1. create media http://codeabitwiser.com/2014/03/how-to-install-windows-7-with-only-usb-3-0-ports/ (thanks to cybernard)

2. after windows 7 is installed and rebooted, it will not recognize any USB devices nor touchpad, but keyboard works.

3. download Ubuntu from https://www.ubuntu.com/desktop and create a USB flash drive installation media using Rufus

4. reboot computer and enter Ubuntu installation. instead of install, select "try Ubuntu"

5. a modern Ubuntu should have a working etherenet and Wifi driver that's compatible with your device. you can download the USB 3.0 driver and save it in Windows 7's desktop

6. quit Ubuntu and boot back into Windows 7. now you can install the USB 3.0 driver and other drivers can be imported over via flash drive

Answer 2

Source: http://codeabitwiser.com/2014/03/how-to-install-windows-7-with-only-usb-3-0-ports/

Additional the drivers on Windows 10 may not be compatible with Windows 7, but some of them are. If you don't mind trying to figure out what is what the location is:

C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository

create a folder c:\drivers

Goto your laptop manufacturers web site get the drivers, and extract to c:\drivers

Here are the hightlights:

Update the “boot.wim” and “install.wim” Files

Open up your cmd shell as an administrator. (Click Start on Windows 7, or Windows Key + Q on Windows 8, type in “cmd” and then right-click on the cmd application and choose Run as Administrator.)

Once open, navigate to the USB3_Fix folder in the cmd shell, and type in the following commands in this order to update the boot.wim file:

dism /mount-wim /wimfile:boot.wim /index:2 /mountdir:mount
dism /image:mount /add-driver:"c:\drivers" /recurse
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:mount /commit

dism /mount-wim /wimfile:install.wim /index:2 /mountdir:mount
dism /image:mount /add-driver:"c:\drivers\" /recurse
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:mount /commit

If index 2 fails try index 1

Overwrite the boot and install files on your USB stick with these files.

Boot from your new USB stick.

Answer 3

I can propose two ideas, a little involved but works.

Idea 1: If you are willing to remove the disk from current laptop, slap it on another system, you can wipe all partitions and install Win7. Do not install any update or drivers just yet. Remove it from the second system and put it back on the laptop. Now find drivers and install other software.

Idea 2: Without removing the current disk, if you have a another disk with Win7 installed and external disk reader, you can boot your system from USB to a modern Linux live distro, then use a disk "cloning" utility to overwrite your laptop disk (destination) from external Win7 disk (source).