[Intro; Subtitles by Eversiege] Windows 7 is one of the best and once the most popular version of Windows for many years.
Windows 7 is one of the best and once the most popular version of Windows for many years.
This system saw the light in 2009, and its development began almost immediately after the release of Windows Vista.
Windows 7 added many new features: full support for touch screens; ...
...improvements in Windows Aero; the ability to pin applications to the taskbar for quick access without using the Start menu; ...
...some unpopular components like "Windows Meetings" and "Calendar" were removed; new DirectX 11 and much more.
This OS held its primacy among all Windows on the market until January 2018.
I talked more about Windows 7 in this video. If you're interested, take a look yourself.
Despite its advantages, Windows 7 acquired critical shortcomings with the development of the computer industry, ...
...and Microsoft put an end to this system back in 2020 and completely forgot about it, ending support for paid updates on January 10, 2023.
I'll give an example that most users encountered, namely - the bootloader problem.
Nowadays, all laptops and modern motherboards have UEFI Class 3 or 3+ installed, which implies the absence of CSM, leading to system hang during startup.
Also, there is a known issue with NVMe drives, but it can be resolved by integrating the update with this number (KB3087873), ...
...and with the ACPI driver, but there are numerous modifications available on the internet that allow for startup without any blue screens.
Since 2016, various hardware manufacturers have started putting obstacles in the way of Windows 7 users, ...
...for example, completely discontinuing support for the CSM module in UEFI due to "lack of security".
And the most common method, as Intel did, is to remove drivers for devices for all versions of Windows below 7 (inclusive).
And in general, I have seen many videos where people try to run Windows 7 on modern computers with various modern configurations.
Some of them even succeed!
In this video, we will explain in detail how to install Windows 7 on modern hardware, bypassing the bootloader issues without CSM, NVMe drive, and have a little fun.
Of course, all the shown video is strictly for demonstration and educational purposes.
First of all, it would be nice to understand: what is UEFI and how it differs from BIOS, and why CSM exists.
I warn you, there will be a lot of technical information here.
When you turn on your computer, the first thing you may see is the manufacturer's logo or a hardware testing display in the form of ...
...firmware readiness checks for the motherboard and computer hardware
By the way, there are two types of firmware: BIOS and UEFI.
UEFI [or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface] is a modern way to manage the boot process.
In short, UEFI is simply an improved BIOS that has eliminated complexities and added a bunch of enhancements.
To elaborate, the main difference between UEFI and BIOS is the use of a new version of the Graphic Output Protocol (GOP) module.
Thanks to its operation, UEFI supports mouse navigation, displays normal screen resolution, shows animation, and draws beautiful images.
UEFI also includes another innovation called Secure Boot.
Its purpose is to verify the electronic digital signature in UEFI applications using cryptography.
Full support for Secure Boot appeared with the update of the Windows Boot Manager in Windows 8.
I don't think I need to explain what happens if you run unsigned EFI code with Secure Boot enabled.
And thanks to these innovations, Secure Boot protects you from harmful software, "but unfortunately, it won't protect you from Petia."
Legacy BIOS is an outdated type of bootloader.
And by the way, they should somehow teach about BIOS in computer science classes in schools; at least in grades 6-7.
However, if someone didn't have computer science classes or simply missed the information at school, then...
...BIOS is the Basic Input/Output System that has been present since the emergence of the IBM PC.
The name stands for Basic Input/Output System and was invented by IBM engineers.
BIOS has several limitations and drawbacks.
It only supports hard drives with MBR partitions and their formatting, which limits the use of newer technologies.
It cannot work with GPT-formatted disks - it won't understand.
In addition, BIOS has limited support for code tampering protection and backup boot records, making it less reliable and secure.
Moreover, the design is pseudo-graphical: all elements are built using a limited color palette, various symbols, and letters.
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So, UEFI is the latest type of bootloader that supports modern security features and provides the user with a modern, more user-friendly interface.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, manufacturers have gradually transitioned to using UEFI firmware in their motherboards.
Legacy has been forgotten like a bad dream, but not completely yet.
Meet - Legacy remnant or "CSM" (Compatibility Support Module).
This bootloader module allows running operating systems
that do not support UEFI, such as Windows XP or Windows 2000.
A kind of compatibility bridge between [old] BIOS and UEFI.
And now you might ask: "Well, just enable this CSM of yours and enjoy life."
But what if it's not there?
Yes, most new equipment comes with UEFI already without CSM.
So, here we will consider how to bypass this problem.
But let's talk a little about the computer on which the experiments will be conducted: this is an ASUS laptop released in 2020.
Equipped with an Intel Pentium Gold 5405U processor released in 2019.
This laptop does not have a discrete graphics card - only Intel UHD Graphics.
The storage here is a 256 GB SSD, and the RAM here is 20 GB.
By default, it is 8 GB, but the owner of this computer decided to upgrade a bit and improved the RAM to 20 GB. Why not...
Let's try as an experiment to run the original Windows 7 image with integrated updates for 2020 on this laptop.
What do we see?
Windows 7 crashed at the startup stage, never reaching full operation.
The problem here is that Windows 7 does not support GOP, a revered graphical UEFI bootloader module.
And this is an excellent opportunity for Microsoft to move users to new versions of Windows.
But there is one small BUT...
But there is one small BUT: that didn't stop anyone.
Windows NT runs smoothly on computers with Intel Core 14th generation processors, and Windows XP even more so.
You think it's a lie? No.
Take a look at these screenshots, the results are quite impressive.
And now it's time to move on to the most interesting part of the video - installing the OS, but before that, you need to prepare the Windows 7 installation image.
Before starting any future actions in the video, we want to state that everything shown here is provided solely for educational and demonstration purposes.
If you attempt to conduct the experiment without any backup copies, all responsibility lies solely on your conscience and hands.
Let's continue.
This will be helped by the program FlashBoot Pro. The author is a certain PrimeExpert Software.
There is a free and full version of the program.
The free version, of course, costs 0 dollars, but for the full version, you will have to pay - a whole 30... :(
After installing the program, we select "OS Installer to USB" in it.
Next, we select the option "Windows 7 Installer with added drivers (for UEFI-based computers)."
We set the source of the Windows 7 installation disk in the program (in our case, ISO, but you can also use an ESD file).
After selecting the image, we are offered to slightly modify the system...
...more specifically, integrate universal drivers for basic system operation and patch the stock Windows 7 bootloader to work on modern PCs.
In our case, our computer has USB 3.0 ports and an NVMe SSD drive, so we check the boxes for "NVMe drivers" and "USB 3.x drivers."
And of course, we agree to modify the bootloader, how can we do without it.
Done, click on "Format now" and wait for the image to be written to the flash drive.
Now let's address two questions.
First: why didn't we use NTLite, but another third-party utility?
NTLite is a program that does not provide any drivers: you have to find, integrate, configure, and build everything into an ISO yourself.
And we are trying to take the path of least resistance and avoid any difficulties.
And second: what clever thing did enthusiasts "magic up" that they wrote their own bootloader?
No, they didn't invent a bicycle here.
It's simple.
The developers made a modified version of the boot file with these names, and probably they are based on the open-source project "Uefi Seven".
But here's the problem - these files access the system kernel: ntoskrnl.exe, which unfortunately had to be replaced as well.
All this is done in such a way that the bootloader supports outputting the image with the GOP graphics module, which prevented the original OS from fully starting.
How did they modify the bootloader to achieve such a result?
Unknown, but surprisingly, it works.
Flashboot provides this feature for a fee (and really, why?), so there can be no talk of revealing its "secrets," unfortunately.
As much as I would like it myself, it's sad, of course.
And here is one big BUT.
We have dealt with the UEFI, NVMe, and USB 3.0 issues, but what if we encounter BSoD 0x000000A5?
A fairly common problem, here we can turn to forums like win-raid and MyDigitalLife.
There are plenty of modifications there that can help you run the OS even on a helicopter or toaster.
Look for them, replace the original acpi.sys in install.wim and boot.wim with the modified one, and voila, the problem is solved.
I wanted to explain it more simply, but it turned out to be very detailed.
Great! The installation flash drive is ready, so it's time to start the installation.
We boot into the BIOS, note that we are booting in pure UEFI mode. Without CSM, but with Secure Boot disabled.
As we can see...
The installation program has loaded successfully.
I want to emphasize that our installer is in Full HD, no VGA or other low resolutions.
Because of UEFI.
Next is the usual Windows installation, which hasn't changed at all in 15 years.
Well, at most, the logo and background will change, nothing more.
The installation is completed successfully. Let's move on to installing the drivers, which is also quite sad.
The SDI Tool (Snappy Driver Installer) will help us with driver installation.
Here, I recommend installing ONLY drivers for WLAN, USB, Bluetooth, and the video adapter.
If you want to install any other drivers, for example, for a printer, it can all end with BSoD 0x7E.
Drivers and system are installed, now you can test the system.
Starting system testing: at idle, it feels very fast.
Even explorer.exe crashes, which is surprising.
[for legal reasons that's a joke]
First, let's install a browser for internet surfing: after all, we obviously go online every day.
The browsers here will be Google Chrome and Firefox.
Unfortunately, both of these browsers have already stopped supporting Windows 7, ...
...but that doesn't prevent them from opening popular websites designed for newer operating systems on the latest supported versions.
Discord, YouTube, and other small websites - all of this is available.
Now let's install the office suite: Microsoft Office 2010. Why 2010?
Because it will perfectly fit with Windows 7 in terms of design and optimization.
Moreover, this version can open all presentation formats, documents, and spreadsheets without any issues.
And overall, we can afford it :3
I don't think it's necessary to analyze basic programs like Total Commander or 7-Zip in detail.
They perform their basic functions perfectly, carry out file operations, and even work on Windows XP.
Also, for entertainment purposes, I ran a benchmark in CPU-Z.
Here are the results: ...
As you can see, Windows 7 scored 689 points.
Let's compare this with the scores on Windows 11: ...
Let's compare this with the scores on Windows 11: it turns out that Windows 7 performs 10 points faster.
The difference is ridiculous because even such a small error can go unnoticed during operation.
In terms of testing, I think it's enough. Now we can move on to the results.
As a result, I have many questions. The longer we work with the system on the computer, ...
...the higher the probability of encountering an error with Explorer crashing or Internet Explorer crashing.
Why does this happen?
It is unknown, although the health of the SSD on this computer is at 92%, so this can simply be attributed to an error.
Although... we may not be aware of something.
Another problem may be the permanent absence of some drivers from the manufacturer's side, ...
...which can cause certain difficulties in using the system on a modern computer.
Well, for example, there are no drivers for your printer for Windows 7; at least Windows 8 or Windows 10 is required.
And in that case, you'll have to accept it.
Well, and thirdly, seriously, I personally cannot understand the specific reasons for using Windows 7 on modern hardware.
Purely out of nostalgia? But you can build some old computer and install Windows 7 on it.
For all times, there are not only idols or TV shows, but also operating systems.
However, no one prevents you from expressing your opinion here in the comments - on the contrary, a series of various discussions, perhaps we suddenly don't understand something.
And that's all for now.
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