Error trying to install Windows 7 on Dell XPS13 9360

Question

I just bought a brand new Dell XPS13 9360. It came with Windows 10 but I'd like to install Windows 7 on it because I really, really want to stay on Windows 7 and not upgrade until they pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

When trying to install Windows 7, I ran into a few problems and I solved them. I used the DISM tool to load the drivers for USB3 which got me past an error in the installation. Now I'm able to see the partitions, I deleted the Windows 10 partition and created a new partition for Windows 7. But when trying to install in it I get a new error:

Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu.

This happens when I set the boot to UEFI mode. If I try to set the boot to legacy mode in the BIOS, then I don't see the drive at all in the Windows 7 installation. If I try to set the drive to AHCI (it's currently RAID) I get BSOD.

I googled this problem but no solution that I found worked.

Can anyone help?

Answer 1

I discovered that the Kabylake processor simply doesn't support Windows 7, so it can't be installed. Also the SDD (LiteOn NVMe CX2-8B512-Q11 NV) doesn't have Windows 7 drivers. (I called LiteOn and they told me that.) So I'll get another laptop.

Answer 2

So the workaround for this is to use a Samsung NVMe, and the drivers here: http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp71501-72000/sp71553.exe

here's an info page for it ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp71501-72000/sp71553.html

You'll start the installer, get to the step where you choose the drive you want to install on, browse to that driver and hit ok, then exit that and click Install again and the drive should be accessible.

Downside is the drivers on Dell's site are for Win10 only, and the Qualcomm Killer 1353 driver blue-screens when you connect to wifi