Windows 7 Installing Windows 7 on Dell Inspiron 17-7778 Laptop

[BoKnows04]

Guys,
I'm trying to install Windows 7 on a Dell Inspiron 17-7778 that currently has Windows 10 installed.
This laptop does not have a CD-ROM drive and it only has (2) USB ports.

I'm having trouble getting Windows 7 intalled, here are the things I have done to boot to CD or USB
1. Disabled "Secure Boot"
2. Enable "Legacy Option ROMS"
3. Under Boot Sequence, I have selected the option "Legacy"

Now I select to boot from DVD (NOTE: I have also tried booting to a USB stick, but get same error message) but I get this message before even getting the option to select a harddisk to install Windows to.
Load Driver dialog box that says "A required CD/DVDdrive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now. Note: If the Windows installation media is in the CD/DVD drive, you can safely remove it for this step"

After I get to this point I have tried
1. Unplugging the USB CD/DVD drive from the laptop and plugging it into the other USB port
2. When I tried booting from the USB stick, I tried the same thing, unplugging it and plugging it into the other USB port
3. I have tried downloading a serial SATA driver but cannot get it to pick up the USB stick to select the driver when I select Browse option

I don't know if its looking for a CD/DVD or a Harddrive driver at this dialog box and It will not proceed any further with the installation.

This Dell Inspiron 17-7778 should be compatabile with Windows 7, but I having trouble just getting to the point to format the hardive and Install Win7

I appreciate the help and assistance

thanks alot!

 

[Neemobeer]

This laptop only supports Windows 10. There are no driver for it for Windows 7 nor does Windows 7 run on a 7th generation intel CPU.

 

[BoKnows04]

Ok...Thank You for helping!
That explains all my trouble

 

[BoKnows04]

Dumb question here, just want to know for future installs....how did you determine that the laptop was not compatible with Windows 7?

Thanks again for the help

 

[Neemobeer]

Well 7th gen and newer Intels CPU won't work with any Windows version but 10.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ported-together-with-the-windows-version-that

Also the fact that the support page for that model has only Windows 10 drivers.

 

[BoKnows04]

Thank You

 

[livix07]

This error message also appears if you try to install from a USB 3.0 memory stick. It happened to me yesterday.
Is your memory stick USB 2.0 or USB 3.0?

 

[BoKnows04]

The laptop actually didn’t have a CD/ROM
drive that I was installing win7 on so I was using a external cd/rom drive to install win7 when I was getting the error. I also tried using a usb Drive & got the same error message.

I ended up installing Win10 without any issues. I just preferred win7, that’s what I wanted to install

Thanks

 

[holdum333]

Hi You can find all windows ISO files here. Use them to create installation media for the OS you want to run on your PC. I like W10 and it's getting better every day IMHO. Before installing w10, I created a image of W7 that I can use, if I ever want to go back to W7. That's my suggestion to all Windows users.
Link Removed

 

[livix07]

I ended up installing Win10 without any issues. I just preferred win7, that’s what I wanted to install

That's the best choice. Windows 7 will be supported for a shorter period of time compared to Windows 10.
Read here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet