I need help with a Windows 7 install

[Pavilion]

Hi. I know this is going to invite deep groaning and tuts but I have a Windows 7 install issue with a HP Pavilion 15-eO2sa Laptop. I wish to install Windows 7.

The problem is I cannot get either of them to recognise a Win7 OS disc when booting. Neither Laptop will boot even with a Windows 7 HDD installed



I have 2x Pavilions , one has Win10 and the other Win8.1



Is it possible to install Win7 on one of these Laptops ? and if it is how do I go about it?

I’m unfamiliar with both W8.1 & W10 and cannot even manage to boot to the BIOS .

I’d be extremely grateful if someone could help.... It has been driving me nuts for days but I’m not giving up without a fight

 

[Pavilion]

I've probably joined the wrong forum to get help with this .
I'm sure if I can just find a way to get into the bios on this Win10 laptop I will be able to set it to accept an install of Win 7 from the CD drive .
I'll try google again.

 

[Pavilion]

Try Esc and F10 as per https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Noteb...OS-setup-on-an-HP-15-Notebook-PC/td-p/4456994

The boot sequence is probably set to the HDD only so it ignores your CD boot disc / USB drive or you haven't made the boot media correctly. W7 will probably get its knickers in a twist if you try putting a hard drive from another machine in the notebook as a boot drive unless the hardware is pretty similar so doing it that way isn't a good idea.

I would wipe the W8 notebook as its no longer supported, the W10 laptop should still receive security updates until Oct next year.

Is it just because you dont like W10 or are you trying to get some obscure piece of software / hardware working?

I assume you know W7 isnt supported, it doesnt get security updates and a lot of things simply won't work on it now. I managed a large W7 network with circa 120+ devices but its time to move on unless you've got some ancient CNC machine etc that doesn't work with anything newer and you can isolate it from the internet.


You can probably get W11 working if you use Rufus to create the boot media to bypass TPM requirements, but there are some CPUs that dont meet the min requirements e.g. core2duo's.

If its just because you hate W10 have a look at creating a linux live cd and give mint a go as an alternative:

Linux Mint Installation Guide — Linux Mint Installation Guide documentation

linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io

Hi . thank you both for your advice its very much appreciated.

Last night I attached a spare drive to my Win7 PC and formatted it and created a single active partition.
I managed to access the BIOS using cntrl F4n and made legacy drives active.
I shuffled the boot order for internal CD drive first for both Legacy and UEFI option .

I used a Win 7 CD to install Win7 but still kept getting the same message about it being an MBE partition on the HDD
This morning it immediately occured to me that I was formatting and partitioning the HDD whilst attached to my Win 7 PC so of course it was still going to be a MBE partition ...Doh !

So I need to find a way to partition this drive to GPT in disc management. I still have Win 8.1 on the other Laptop so if I attach the drive to that I should be able to format and partition the spare drive to GBT and then swap it back into the former Win10 laptop . ....I have an appointment this morning but will try that this afternoon and report back

Bluddyell this is all making me ed hurt.

So the reason I wish to use Windows 7 is because it is a format that I am thoroughly used to and it is compatible with all the various software that I use . Even if I spent Months trying to get used to 8.1 and 10 I could never afford the cost of all the replacement software that I would need. it would run to £thousands . Win7 is very user friendly and doesn't have all the complicated blocky picture user interface of Win8.1 or Win 10 which I truly detest. I can never find anything I want and frankly haven't got the time ot inclination to learn a new OS at my time of life. Yes Win 7 hasn't got any support and yes there are lots of incompatibities with newer programs etc but it will still do all the stuff that I need and I can do it without needing to search for every little thing I need every time I wish to do some image, Audio or video editing etc .

Thank you for the links I'll take a look later .
ps whats with the default avatar image on here ?

 

[Pavilion]

now that... sounds like a winning plan ! thank you for the clear detailed instructions
I found something similar on the tube this morning. I found out how to convert to gpt by right clicking on part of the partition table.
Just about to give this a try .

 

[Pavilion]

Just deleted all partitions. Setup will create new suitable partitions.

If you get stuck on this god knows what you'd be like in the ms dos era with Xms and Ems memory requirements multuple config.sys and autoexec
Bat

there's always one isn't there

 

[Pavilion]

no...you were rude and insulting and unconstructive to a new member is what you were. You clearly didn't bother to read the rest of the thread either otherwise you'd know that other members have already been helpful with detailed instructions and guidance .

 

[Pavilion]

So near and yet so far....

Couldn't access CMD so

I connected the spare drive to a win8.1 laptop .

I deleted the drive volume and converted the drive to GPT...

I put the drive back into the other laptop

Windows would not start to load and I got the message

‘Selected boot image did not authenticate ..press enter and the laptop turned off !

Figured it must be something to do ewith the BIOS settings so F10 and reset all the boot options in both GPT and Legacy .

Rebooted and Windows loaded the drivers and it got as far as asking accepting terms...Custome install...select the SSD drive Disc 0 partition 2 and then it cra**ed out ?

New message Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition ‘ ! Why is this so difficult ? Microsoft have had 30 + years at this and it should be plugnplay by now.

I would insert an image but it looks like that is not an option on this site?

 

[Pavilion]

I found a way to access the command prompt from this page and followed the instructions carefully .
On exiting Windows installed to the same page as previously .
I selected custom install sellected the correct unallocated partition and it failed again with the message

'cannot install to a MBE partition?????
How on earth did it manage to convert the partition back to a MBE ?

Will try again making sure that I include the command convert to GPT .
One step forward 2 x steps back .

 

[Pavilion]

Windows 7 finally installed Yeah! .... couldn't tell you precisely how it worked after a dozen failed attempts but it has. Can't tell you how pleased I am and a huge thank you to all those that helped, especially Mujja .....thanks buddy I owe you a drink
So now all I have to do is locate and install the drivers and configure everything fun fun fun..

 

[Pavilion]

oh how I wish I knew about being able to export drivers groan...
Spent over 4 x hours on my PC looking for a Wi-Fi driver and there isn't a driver anywhere on the net. By chance I searched various HP Support sites and found a whole load of drivers which I have now downloaded and transferred to the laptop
Finally I got my wireless network up and running yippee!..

I had an HP 15-eO21sa laptop with W8.1 to which I added Win7 as a dual boot but it wasn't working very well so I bought another identical laptop with Win 10 installed, planning to experiment with this one so I didn't screw up the working Win 8.1 laptop.
its the Win10 HP that I have finally got working . Its going to take me a few hours to install all my software programs and sign into all the various groups and forums etc .
I'll also have to vist task management and Services to turn off all the updates and background stuff I don't want.

if I find any missing drivers in System I'll use your suggestion of exporting them from the win 8'1 laptop and installing them in the Win 7 laptop.
Thanks so much for giving me so much help...I truly could not have managed this without your advice.

 

[Pavilion]

Using W7 to browse the internet isn't a good idea, I hope you're using a supported browser like Supermium and have found an AV solution that still works on W7. You shouldn't need to sign in to all the sites you use again you should be able to export the logins from the browser on your old PC and import them into the browser on your new installation.

I don't know what programs you use that "cost thousands" but W10 was pretty good at being backwards compatible with software from the W7 days so its odd that none of it works and you think it would all need replacing.

Once you've got your programs running and copied what you need I would wipe the dual boot laptop and install W11 or a linux distro and use that for internet access and your W7 laptop for the old programs.

A full screen browser looks pretty much the same regardless what OS you run it on and there are ways to replace the menus / make Windows 11 look more like W7:

The Best Windows 11 Start Menu Alternatives

Looking for a change? Check out these Windows 11 Start Menu Alternatives to customize your platform. Try StartAllBack and more now.

helpdeskgeek.com

How to make Windows 11 look like Windows 7

Give Windows a more retro look

www.techradar.com

thank you for your concern but I have been surfin the net with Win 7 for a decade now without any problems so far. If you read the whole thread you will see that I have successfully installed Windows 7 Pro on this UESI system and am installing all the drivers etc. I do not think it would be possible to export my logins from my MBE Win7 PC to this UFSI laptop but anyway I am changing all my passwords and will be installing a VPN for added security

I have already explained why I choose to stick with Win7 and have no intention of wasting my time justifying my personal decision and preference. I have no use for Win 11 whatsoever so that is not something I would consider.

Once everything is installed and configured I will clone the drive and store it so that I can install it in the other laptop and I will have an immediate recovery if I need it in the future.

I am very happy with what I have .....are you ?