XPS 13 2015 - Windows 7 Support?

Hi All,

Does anyone know if windows 7 is supported in the new XPS 13 2015? I can't find any info - certainly doesn't appear as a config option on Dell's site...

Thanks,

Martin

 

I suppose someone would have to take the risk of doing a clean install of windows 7 and then try installing the drivers. What brave soul would accept this challenge ??

 

Keep in mind that if you use Windows 7 battery life will probably take a hit. I would recommend using Stardock's Start8 ( The Windows 8 Start menu returns with Start8!) until Windows 10 is released later this year, which should solve most of the issues people have with Windows 8.1.

 

Hi everybody. This should answer velvetjoker's question. I am a new user of notebookreview.com, and I just came across this thread a little bit ago because I had the same question. It has obviously not been answered, so after an extensive 1.5 hour Dell phone support circus ride (I don't have an express service code because my laptop hasn't arrived yet...they don't like talking with people who don't have the code), I eventually got into contact with one technical support rep who told me that it can indeed be installed, but that it must be installed using Legacy rather than UEFI BIOS mode. Already knew that, but still great info coming from a representative. Still not completely satisfied, I gave up the phone circus and used Dell live chat. Take this with a grain of salt, but this was our conversation, and according to her, it will work just fine. I tried to be as specific and direct as possible, and for the most part, she answered my questions well. As you all probably know, Dell's website lists Windows 7 drivers for this specific laptop, XPS 13 2015 model (9343). She seemed to be basing her conclusions off of that, and, of course, that simple fact alone is indeed a good indication that it does.. but I made myself perfectly clear that I did not want to purchase windows 7 and then have the computer be unable to install it in place of Windows 8.1. Apparently there is also an option to install dual operating systems, but I haven't checked out her link yet so I'm not really sure how to go about doing that. Here is our conversation:

01/26/2015 08:51:03PM Session Started with Agent (TIP_Marineil D)

01/26/2015 08:51:33PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "Welcome to Dell Electronics and Accessories Chat! My name is Marineil_***. I will be your Dell.com Sales Chat Expert. I can be reached at (removed by me). How can I help you today? ""

01/26/2015 08:51:34PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "Hi . I hope you are doing great today.I'd be glad to assist you. =)"

01/26/2015 08:51:52PM AKmotorider: "Hi! I would like to know if the new XPS 13 2015 model laptop will support Windows 7."

01/26/2015 08:52:13PM AKmotorider: "I aim to install it using legacy mode rather than UEFI mode, but am worried that Windows 8 is encoded into the BIOS and is unable to be overwritten. Only dell can answer this question."

01/26/2015 08:52:15PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "Let me go ahead and check this for you"

01/26/2015 08:52:17PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "I'd be happy to help you out with that. Thanks for chatting in =)"

01/26/2015 08:53:54PM AKmotorider: "I was told to contact tech support, but I have not received the laptop yet so I do not have a service express code, and it seems I cant get in touch with them without one. This question applies to all XPS 13 2015 model laptops, so it is not specific to my purchase, and therefore a service express code is not applicable.

01/26/2015 08:54:02PM AKmotorider: "Thank you."

01/26/2015 08:54:15PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "may I sak, do you have the service tag # of the xps?"

01/26/2015 08:54:18PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "** ask"

01/26/2015 08:55:18PM AKmotorider: "No. Please read my previous message."

01/26/2015 08:55:27PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "my apologies"

01/26/2015 08:55:29PM AKmotorider: "I do have the order number, but the laptop is not here yet."

01/26/2015 08:55:35PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "I'll go ahead and check on this. May I have a couple of minutes."

01/26/2015 08:56:10PM AKmotorider: "Absolutely, take your time. I just do not want to purchase windows 7 and then be unable to install it."

01/26/2015 08:56:31PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "thank you"

01/26/2015 08:56:38PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "While checking, kindly allow me to inform you about our Deal of the day for the
JBL Bassline - Headphones with mic - full size – black on sale for only $ 34.95 ( original price : 119.95 )"

01/26/2015 08:56:43PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "XPS 13 (9343, Early 2015)"

01/26/2015 08:57:20PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "got it"

01/26/2015 08:57:21PM AKmotorider: "Yes, that is the laptop in question."

01/26/2015 08:57:29PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "let me give you a link for the drivers and bios for the laptop"

01/26/2015 08:57:31PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/xps-13-9343-laptop/drivers"

01/26/2015 08:57:57PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "and"

01/26/2015 08:58:07PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "it has drivers for :
MS Windows 7 32-bit
MS Windows 7 64-bit
MS Windows 8.1 64-bit"

01/26/2015 08:58:38PM AKmotorider: "Thank you. I have seen those on the website, and ...exactly. It has drivers for windows 7, so I am assuming it can run Windows 7. But I just wanted to make sure of it."

01/26/2015 08:58:52PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "yes"

01/26/2015 08:59:00PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "it can run on windows 7 =)"

01/26/2015 08:59:26PM AKmotorider: "It cannot be purchased with Windows 7, but I can purchase a copy of Windows 7 and install it using an external DVD drive?"

01/26/2015 08:59:42PM AKmotorider: "and overwrite Windows 8?"

01/26/2015 08:59:46PM AKmotorider: "8.1*"

01/26/2015 09:02:17PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "I see"

01/26/2015 09:02:30PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "as you install the windows 7 full version ,
this will reboot the laptop"

01/26/2015 09:02:39PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "and delete the windows 8"

01/26/2015 09:02:41PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "or"

01/26/2015 09:02:57PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "may I suggest setting up a dual Operating system instead"

01/26/2015 09:03:33PM AKmotorider: "How could that be done?"

01/26/2015 09:03:39PM AKmotorider: "And what is the difference?"

01/26/2015 09:04:04PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "your laptop will carry 2 operating systems
as you install win 7, no files will be deleted"

01/26/2015 09:04:12PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "you may refer to this link"

01/26/2015 09:04:15PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ph/windows/install-multiple-operating-system-multiboot"

01/26/2015 09:05:06PM AKmotorider: "Thank you very much. This is the information that I was looking for. I appreciate your help today, Marineil."

01/26/2015 09:05:19PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "welcome =)"

01/26/2015 09:05:21PM AKmotorider: "I can do either one and it will work, correct?"

01/26/2015 09:05:28PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "if you don't mind me asking, Was I able to address all of your concerns in this chat session?"

01/26/2015 09:05:29PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "It is important for me to make sure that I am able to cover everything, is there anything else that I can assist you with today"

01/26/2015 09:06:05PM AKmotorider: "Absolutely, you were able to address all of my concerns today."

01/26/2015 09:07:06PM AKmotorider: "There is nothing else that you can assist me with today. I appreciate your help, thank you."

01/26/2015 09:07:16PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "thank you so much"

01/26/2015 09:07:20PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "Thank you so much for the opportunity to help you today. It was a pleasure chatting with you. Our Chat team strives to provide the very best levels of customer service.

If you have a minute, we would really appreciate your feedback on a 1 minute survey"
that will appear above this chat once the session ends. My manager gets all the feedback and we use it to help our customers.

01/26/2015 09:07:41PM AKmotorider: "I would be glad to take it."

01/26/2015 09:07:51PM Agent (TIP_Marineil D): "thank you so much"

The session has ended!

 

I might try to install Windows 7 tomorrow. 8.1 is pretty good despite all the negativity towards it. Can always use start8 as posted above.

 

I'm still trying to decide whether or not I should purchase a $140 copy of Windows 7 AND an external DVD writer from the best buy website, and then try to install it.. or just try and get used to 8.1, at no charge. Hmm...

 

Many thanks to AK motorider, that's exactly what I wanted to know - great info - as you say, they fact that the drivers are available is a huge indicator it will work fine. Just to note you should be able to install from USB stick without DVD drive? Is there a blocker to that??

 

I realize now that I probably could've made that post a lot shorter and still have gotten the message across, but anyone who takes the time to read the entire conversation will be rewarded with plenty of useful info. As for the USB drive, yes, that should work just fine. Cheaper than buying an external DVD drive, but you lose convenience. The problem herein lies in the transfer of all the installation files to the USB drive, which, although totally possible, will screw up your whole life should you fail to successfully and appropriately transfer every single one of them.. or at least the important ones. How could it screw up your whole life? Well, you could quickly get stuck with a computer completely void of an OS in a hurry should something go wrong. For very tech-savvy individuals, this probably isn't a problem; however, personally, I prefer the simplicity of the DVD drive.

Therefore, when I say it will work, I mean the computer will recognize and be able to boot from the USB drive in the same way that it will recognize and be able to boot from the external DVD drive. All that's required is a quick boot order change, the computer doesn't know any different. As for the integrity of the USB installation files.. well, that's your job, not the computer's.

 

Can I just recommend to everyone to actually just try to upgrade to the technical preview of windows 10 instead of windows 7. I have run windows 7 all this time and loved it, have used windows 8 as well and hate it to death. Windows 10 though is really neat and it's better one just gets used to it now rather than later and it would support all drivers etc. The install is really simple to do as well and it might provide some good features to actually make this laptop even better.

In worst case you only spend at most an hour to try win 10 as drivers will be transfered instead of 5 to get get all drivers installed and working in windows 7.

 

How about i do both ? I'll do windows 7 first, then I'll do the upgrade to windows 10 via windows update though the insider program and then i'll a clean Windows 10 install. I log everything and hopefully this gives everyone a good idea. I have created a bootable Dell recovery usb to return to factory. Starting on Windows 7 now. Ill keep you guys posted.

Windows 7 Install Progress -
I had to go into the bios/uefi and disable secure boot, exit back into the bios and enable legacy reboot.
Booting of a usb bootable version of Windows 7 Enterprise SP1. ( make sure you have downloaded the Rapid Storage Driver and Extract it to the usb drive )
I deleted all the partitions Dell created and started a clean install.

Ok so make sure you select Windows 7 Drivers - They are different then the Windows 8.1 drivers.

All installed and working. The touch pad driver is different and gives various options.

So there you have it. Windows 7 SP1 Enterprise fully installed with all working drivers.

Windows 10 preview is next.

 

r0c, thank you so much for taking the time to report your progress, it's very appreciated.
Could you tell us if the adaptative contrast problem is solved when using Win7 ?
Cheers!

 

Yes it still persists with Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 Tech preview. Might be a hardware thing, hope its not.

 

Here's Windows 10! Lacks some drivers including video. Intel drivers don't install.

 

Hmm thanks for the effort! No compability mode etc will allow it to work? Kinda sad I think =/

 

These are relatively new CPU models, that's why they probably not in the windows bundled drivers yet.
Let's wait a bit and either intel or ms should catch up. Windows update on my win10 updates video drivers very often.

 

You sure theres no compatibility mode?

 

Didnt try compatibility mode. I would advise you guys to try the upgrade to win10 by going to the tech preview page and look for upgrade. Give it a shot and if you dont like it you can revert back real easy. Its actually a boot option. Restores your machine exactly how you left it prior to the upgrade in like 5 mins!

 

I've also successfully installed Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on top of Dell XPS 13 2015. (Non touch screen version). So far it is really nice and all features are working well EXCEPT one thing.

The trackpad is acting really really weird. Scrolling or any other gestures don't work. Even though you go into trackpad settings, and you try to save the changed settings, the program won't save it. The backlit keyboard light won't show up until few minutes after bootup. I've tried generic Synaptics driver as well, but trackpad sometimes freezes and it is quite annoying. Wonder if Dell is going to bring up a new version for this driver.

Other than that, I am a happy camper. lol.

 

Editing this post because I still can't resolve this issue. Let me know if anybody is runnning into this problem.

 

Was just about to purchase Windows 7 until I read that. This could be a problem. I'm not too worried about the potential loss in battery life or boot-up speed with Windows 7, but having a faulty trackpad would not make me happy. Even after installing all Windows 7 drivers from the dell website for this computer, it is still having this problem? Let me know if you get it worked out.. I am very interested in the outcome.

 

This is greatly appreciated r0c, thank you. Did you experience any of the trackpad driver problems that DarkSilentSC mentioned in his first post? Trackpad issues can be a dealbreaker. Also, what is the OS that you currently prefer, or plan on staying with, and why?

 

I got Win 7 loaded here too. Scaling even at 150% is very very small. Touchpad scrolling is horrendous.. Navigation is fine. Yeah it is what it is. But rather use this than Win 8...

 

I had some funkyness going on with the touch pad also on Win7. Has to be the driver, it definitely doesn't happen in Win8.1.

 

I think ill stay with Win 8.1 for now. Seems to be the most solid choice driver wise. I really like Win 7 but Win8.1 is really a good OS. The start screen is what alot of people really dont like.

 

i have screen set up at 1080p with 125% scale now. Scales very good. There is only one app that utilizes this resolution anyways so this setting is what works for me.

i agree, Win 7 is where the drivers suck for touchpad! Navigation is fine, but scrolling is literally worst thing I have ever used on WIn 7!

Touchscreen is actually pretty good though. So I will use touchscreen for scrolling stuff.

 

Yeah also on Win 7 64-bit and scrolling doesn't work properly. Scrolls very slowly. Changing sensitivity doesn't seem to do anything. Perhaps you could modify the registry directly to make scrolling sensitivity changes?

 

Ok managed to install the Synaptics drivers (non-dell) and here are the results after some quick testing:

Scrolling works OK
Two-finger tap deosn't seem to work
Small movements are jaggy/jumpy
Click buttons don't work

I wouddn't recommend it, but in case anyone else wants to try it out:

Uninstall Dell touchpad drivers if installed previously
Download driver from http://www.synaptics.com/en/drivers.php
Extract driver
Go to device manager (start -> run -> devmgmt.msc)
Right click PS/2 mouse and select "Update driver"
Select to manually choose driver
Browse to driver and select.
Restart once done and you will be able to access the Synaptics settings under Mouse in control panel.

I've also tried applying all registry settings from with the Synaptics drivers installed when having Dell drivers installed here:
HKCU\Software\Synaptics
This didn't make a difference to scrolling at all. So it seems it's the actual driver that needs to be fixed.

 

Guys,

DO NOT INSTALL WIN 7 ON THIS MACHINE.

AGAIN,

DO NOT INSTALL WIN 7 ON THIS MACHINE.

Because apparently there are real people even bothering,

DO NOT INSTALL WIN 7 ON THIS MACHINE.


You know what? How dare you not listen to ME. Go ahead. Re-install the OS 1000 times. You will face the exact same touchpad drivers crashing and battery lasting 4 hours. Go ahead. Go dare me.

 

Stop yelling you're hurting my eyes.

The only thing that doesn't work on Win7 is scrolling ATM. Hopefully there will be an update to the drivers soon. No drivers crashing and battery seems good (too early to tell but 10 hours should be achievable.
Not sure who would think a OS re-install would magically fix issues. Instead of spending time on re-installing your OS, you're better of fixing the issues you're having, learning along the way.

Cheers!

 

EDIT:

I just realized the touchpad drivers from Dell's support site were never installed. It's only been an hour but I see palm rejection turned on with no issue so far.

----Original-----
What funkiness are you getting? Anyone find any news on the touchpad for Win7 ?

We're testing Win7 on the i5 / 8gb / 256gb / 1080p model and the only issue I've come across in the 2 days so far is the touch pad picks up my palms while typing at times moving the cursor here and there. (that and no gesture support which I expected)

We only had a few XPS 13's in 2013 and they had a similar issue. Not sure if it's just the way it is with these models.

No wifi, battery or any other issues. Just the touchpad picking up

 

Hello Everyone,

Got yesterday my laptop, after four years with an Asus U36SD.

Although I am used to Win8, I do prefer Win7 and I just formatted the laptop and installed a clean version of Win7- 64.
Not to say, the touchpad is not the strenght of this machine. However, I am sure I will find out a way to use it or disable completely.

For a clean installation, beside the drivers, which Dell software would you recommend ? Apparently there is no need of any app to unlock any feature,, and the function keys work decently (as far as I've seen) without any additional app.
As I am a big supporter of "keeping it clean", if you don't recommend any additional Dell software that is a must, I am happy as it is.

Any hint?

Thanks,

Paolo

 

I do not like any Dell specific software. IMO, they add un-needed stuff.

I.E. I made a very clean image of the XPS 13 with Win 7, and someone added Dell Command Center update after the fact. It installed some Intel tools which was popping up an un-wanted notification in the notification area then Dell Command Center was popping up about updates. To me, it was a cluster to see a fresh PC do that.

 

I have bought a XPS13 laptop and downgraded from Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 7 Pro thinking I was getting a more stable platform, especially with VGA and HDMI interfaces. My machine locks up a time or two per day and I've gone round and round with Dell. Dell is sending me a Windows 8.1 Pro OS because they think the problem is with Windows 7 Pro. I would hesitate for you to try until you find someone who's been successful in making the OS change. I have not been successful.

 

My XPS13 is so sensitive with the built in mouse and is sensitive with an external mouse. The built in keyboard is also unreliable. I have to have a separate keyboard to minimize these problems. They don't go away but get better. Do I have an unusual or faulty machine or are there other people that are having similar problems with the internal mouse and keyboard?

 

Thanks for the reply regarding the apps. I have exactly the same view.

Rwgarding the keyboard issue highlighted by Mark, I am in the same position: sometimes some letters are types twice even if I pushed the key once only...

 

OK so I've spent quite a bit of time troubleshooting this issue and I have finally come up with a solution to my problem for Windows 7. This does not apply to Win 8 users, but it could provide some useful info nonetheless.

My findings

I found out that the intermittent behaviour of very slow scrolling in some apps were due to which input device is being used when launching the apps. For example, if I launch Firefox using the trackpad, I would get very slow two-finger (and mouse-wheel) scrolling. If however, Firefox is launched using my external mouse (Logitech M557), mouse-wheel (and two-finger) scrolling behaves normally.

The second thing I noticed is that some apps use scrolling based on lines (as configured in your windows/Logitech scrolling options), and some based on pixels. The problem with the touchpad drivers Dell have released for Win 7 (version 18.1.34 - A00), is that the pixel based scrolling (aka smooth scrolling) is way too slow. I tested changing the two-finger scroll speed in the Dell touchpad properties and this does change the pixel scrolling speed, however since the speed is so slow, the difference can be hard to notice.

The solution(s)

I tried fixing the slow scroll speed issue by changing registry values, but I didn't have any luck with this.

The solution in the end was to download a third-party tool called TwoFingerScroll v1.0.9

The tool allows you to set various options for two finger scroll and with this tool two-finger scrolling is working great. It is super smooth when using the "smooth" setting. Using this tool as opposed to Dell's two-finger impementation doesn't cause apps to scroll differently based on which input device was used to start the app.

I still had one more issue I wanted to sort out. This was the slightly too slow pointer speed even though the max speed was chosen in the Dell options, and middle setting was chosen in Windows options.

Note: In order to achieve accurate pointer operation at slow speeds (moving pointer with pixel precision) you need to have the Windows options pointer speed set to the middle setting.

I ended up changing the registry to increase the Dell pointer speed beyond what is possible in the app. The registry key in question is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Synaptics\SynTP\TouchPadPS2TM3038\PointerMotionSpeed

The Dell software allows you to set this between 64 and 1024 decimal (40 and 400 hex). I ended up changing this to 1536 decimal (600 hex). This gives me the pointer speed I want. Once you change the setting you need to apply the settings somehow. This can be done by running the following command:

"C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynReflash.exe" /R

Note that any changes made using the Dell touchpad software after this, will override the custom speed setting.

For ease of use, I created a batch file and a .reg file so that I can easily re-set my custom speed after making changes using the Dell software. These can be found here. You will need to modify the .reg file and set your own custom mouse pointer speed.

Instructions

Below are instructions from in the order to install/setup everything. Some of these settings are my personal preference as indicated (in italic).

1. Set Windows built-in mouse properties
   1. Pointer speed - middle setting (required to get accurate pixel precision cursor movement)
   2. Untick "Enhance pointer precision"
2. Install latest "Dell Touchpad" drivers from Dell
3. Configure Dell touchpad settings
   1. Set pointer speed to max (personal preference)
   2. Set touch pressure to min(personal preference)
   3. Disable palm rejection
   4. Disable two-finger tap
   5. Disable all gestures
4. Change Dell mouse pointer speed
   1. Run SetDellTouchpadSpeed.cmd
5. Run TwoFingerScroll
   1. Set to "Start with Windows"
   2. Set "Palm Detection Aggressiveness" to min (personal preference)
   3. Untick "Horizontal Scrolling" (personal preference)
   4. Untick "Keep scrolling on edges" (setting doesn't do anything)
   5. Set "Scroll mode" to "Smooth" (personal preference)
   6. Set scroll speed to max (personal preference)
   7. Set acceleration to very close to min (personal preference)
   8. Set two-finger tapping to right-click (all others to "Disabled") (personal preference)
   9. Disable all three-finger gestures (personal preference)
6. Optional if you have a Logitech mouse - Install SetPoint and change settings as you want

Don't make any changes to the Dell Touchpad settings after this, or you will need to repeat steps 4-5


Hope this helps someone out there!

 

Thanks Sooo much for this. Every time I switch between MacBook Air and this Dell the touchpad drives me absolutely crazy!

I tried to install it per your instructions, but unfortunately it was too late before I realized the order wasn't quite right...
The result - two-fingers scroll is very jumpy and that's not good...

I would like to do it right and start from the scratch, uninstalling Dell touchpad driver and TwoFingerScroll as well.
However I can't find how to uninstall that TwoFingerScroll program? Any idea?
Also not sure if I need to change registry back to default and what about the other comand?
I hope I don't need to reinstall Win 7 to do that...

Please let me know, I believe after this is done right the touchpad should work as close as MBA one which I like a lot! (compare to this garbage..)

 

After two restarts somehow I made it work so no need to uninstall. However I'm still puzzled how to take it out in case I ready want to get rid of it..
if anybody knows please let me know..

 

Glad you got it working.

To uninstall TwoFingerScroll, open the settings for the app, and untick "Start with Windows". Then exit the app, and delete the .exe and you're done.