Windows 7 Installer with USB 3.0 and NVMe Drivers Slipstreamed

Sun 28 April 2019
Tech

The original Windows 7 Installation media does not have support for USB 3.0 or NVMe devices. This creates a situation where Windows 7 cannot be installed to systems that do not feature SATA components.

The solution is modification of the Windows 7 installation .wim (Windows Imaging Format) files by manual addition of the required drivers. This process is laborious and time intensive. Copy from WaybackMachine

Conveniently, Gigabyte supply a tool called "Windows USB Installation Tool" Asia China America Europe which is effectively a GUI that automates the whole process.

It's super easy, assuming you already have a Windows 7 installation USB:

Ignore the Sourec Path(CD-ROM) field
Set the Destination Path(USB Drive) field to be your Windows 7 USB
Tick the three seashells
Hit Start.

Come back in about 20 minutes and you're good to go, plug the USB drive back into the system that was giving you grief and you'll be pleased to find a lack of HI I'M CORTANA.

Download Mirror

Because these resources seem to go missing and all documentation referencing them leads to dead ends, I'm supplying a mirror of this tool here: mb_utility_windowsimagetool.zip.

This zip contains a copy of the "GIGABYTE Windows USB Installation Tool" at version B16.0120.01