XPS 15 9550 Windows 7 Install?

When you upgraded the bios did you reset to factory defaults and then reconfigure everything? I find that dell bioses have to be reset to defaults otherwise they do some weird things

 

I did, been caught out with that before on other dell machines.

I'm considering buying a small (128GB) m.2 drive to run the OS from and use the 240GB for storage if I come across any more "issues" like this one and I'd rather put up with a few workarounds on Windows 7 than use Windows 10 as it is!

 

That's so strange to me though, I'd figure if anything you'd have issues with a m.2 and not a 2.5"...

 

I guess most people with this model lean towards the faster m.2 drive and not many take a step down to the SATA SSD like I did.

This machines very sensitive to any "tweaks" it seems

 

If I invest in an m.2 drive for my 9550 will I be able to move the pre installed Win 7 Pro x64 OS from the SATA drive to the m.2 without having to reinstall it?

I have image backups using Windows Backup saved on an externl drive, my main aim is to (hopefully) be able to use the machine in UEFI mode - although secureboot isn't available using this version of Windows - booting from the m.2 drive and using the Sata SSD as storage. If I have to use some backup software to do this rather than reinstall I'd prefer that than having to go through the list of Windows updates again removing all the Telemetry & Install Windows 10 ones!

 

Hi @custom90gt

I've exhausted trying to get the 2.5" drive to work with UEFI boot mode, nothing I try works on this model so I'm going to reluctanly throw in the towel and buy an m.2 pcie ssd, plonk the OS on there leaving the 2.5" drive just for data. Is there one make/model you would recommend with regard to reliability? It doesn't have to be the fastest on the market, just one that you'd put in your own machine if you were doing the same - if that makes sense!I'm aware I'll have to do yet another clean install but hey ho!

Appreciate the help

 

Yeah sorry that it's such a pain for you, if you were close I'd say we could meet up and you could try one of my m.2 drives.

In terms of recommendations there are two options I would go with.
1. a 256/512 samsung 950 pro drive - absolutely the fastest drive but a lot of money. I like running it, but not convinced the juice is worth the squeeze...
2. a 500gb samsung 850 Evo m.2 sata drive - it's sata so it's not the insane write and read speeds, but it's still plenty fast. I would say buy this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=AFC-C8Junction-_-HOCP16218-_-na-_-20-147-399 and use coupon HOCPSSD218F (expires 2/26) and pick it up for 139 shipped.

That's what I would do

 

Honestly, I just run Win7 64bit in a VirtualBox for work.

 

I was hoping you'd mention the 850 Pro, I was considering that one as a trade off between speed and value for money.

Appreciate your recommendation (& coupon), thanks!

 

Win7 Pro runs well on the 9550 - all drivers available and no issues other than I would like it in UEFI Boot mode - I just cant get it to work in my current setup (using a 2.5" SSD rather than the m.2 slot).

 

I don't think there is a 850 Pro in m.2

 

I wrote Pro when I meant Evo! I ordered the model MZ-N5E500BW- Samsung 500GB 850 EVO M.2 ssd.

Not looking forward to yet another clean install and filtering out all the Win 10 and telemetry updates, it takes ages

But at least this will give me the setup I would prefer and I'll have a lot more storage space in the process.

 

Well at least it'll be setup and done then. Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

 

Hi Woodking.
I've got a dual boot W10 / W7 running OK on my 9550 (512GB toshiba NVMe).

From the installed w10 I did:
1. Repartition the HDD so I have my C drive, then a new partition for W7, and another new partition for the W7 installer files (5GB will do it).
2. Using this forum as a guide, I added USB3 and RST drivers to the install files.
3. Using EasyBCD, I added a boot entry (winPE) for the installer partition.
4. Set boot to UEFI with secure boot OFF.
5. Boot into installer partition and install windows.
6. Using one of your earlier posts to guide the way, I installed the missing drivers. - hope this post can help in return!

I think the key is that you must boot the install process using UEFI.
Previously, I tried installing using a USB stick but it would not let me install windows to a GPT drive. This is because the USB stick could only be booted in legacy mode, not UEFI.

Let me know how you go.

 

Hi Diz.

I was considering a dual boot system in the near future and really pleased to see you have one working and thanks for taking the time to post your setup on here. I'll give this a go when I get time soon and will report back.

Thanks again

 

So I've wrestled with this for about a day now, and have gotten closer, but not close enough. I finally have the Windows 7 USB booting, using the F12 selection method. I'm using Rufus to create the boot USB. I'm using the dism method to slipstream USB3, RST and NVMe drivers, but I am continuosly getting this error:



I've tried 3 different NVMe drivers, all with the same result, so I suspect I'm doing something else wrong. Thoughts?

 

Hi kind sir,

I also have a 9550 with toshiba nvme, and I am looking at fresh install for win7 but I was not able to get the nvme to be loaded after I click install win 7 from my bootable thumbdrive. I have tried all the methods listed in the forum (setting Bios to legacy/AHCI, injecting usb3.0 drivers/RST drivers + hot fix into boot/install wims) but still I am not able get it done .

Would you be kind enough to share with me exactly how you got the nvme to be loaded (driver?hot fix?) during win7 installation.

P/S: I used ntlite to load and inject the drivers/hot fix into the installer

A big thank you in advanced!

 

I am getting the same issue as well....

 

I think the best case would be for someone to upload a working Win7 install image somewhere. We'd still require our own licenses at that point, but at least we could stop wasting time on what appears to be a fruitless effort :/

 

Thank you for the info. I integrated USB 3.0 drivers to install.wim, boot.wim. How to integrate NVME drivers. Which one I need to use for 9550.

 

Same here! Just got my 9550 and did a fresh install of Windows 7 slipstreaming USB3.0 drivers and NVMe drivers. All goes well until it restart and boots into Windows 7. Anyone with a solution, please let us know! Once I get this figured out, I will create a definitive guide on installing this.

EDIT: Figured it out. The trick is to load the correct NVMe drivers while at the installation menu.

 

I am able to install Win 7 with no issues

 

As I have most Dell Windows 7 Reinstallation DVDs to hand I updated the "Dell Windows 7 Home Premium with SP1 64 Bit", "Dell Windows 7 Professional with SP1 64 Bit" and "Dell Windows 7 Ultimate with SP1 64 Bit" to June 2016 including IE11, SP2 (the convenience rollup), added USB 3.0 support and NVMe:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/windows-7-sp1-iso-download/
Dell OEM SLP still works on eligible systems.

The procedure for acquiring up to date Dell Windows 7 Reinstallation Media is quite cumbersome but I have done my best to document it here:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationgui...reinstallation-dvd-into-a-reinstallation-usb/

 

From which medium did you install the drivers?
I have the 9550 with 256 gb Toshiba drive. Tried all the tips here but have not been able to see the drive to install W7. During W7 install I could not see the USB stick to point to the SSD driver, ( f6flpy-x64).. After adding the driver to the W7image I could see the c:drive with the original W10 on it and selected the driver from there but it does not work. I gave up

 

I installed Windows 7 using the USB flash drive. You need to have the USB3.0 drivers slipstreamed in order to be able to browse the USB for the NVMe drivers. Is your 256GB Toshiba an NVMe SSD? The steps are for NVMe SSDs. For me, once I am able to browse the NVMe drivers, the trick is to choose the right drivers. The structure goes like this on the USB flash drive:

Windows 7 (C
- BOOT
- EFI
- nvme
- - 32bit <-- Choose this folder, then "Samung NVMe Controller (C:\nvme\32bit\nvme.inf) (x64)"
- - 64bit
- SOURCES
- SUPPORT
- UPGRADE
Boot (X <-- not relevant

It's odd, but choosing the 32bit folder with the 64bit driver is the key. I tried the 64bit folder with the 32bit and 64bit drivers to no avail.

Once you load the drivers, the menu should go to the partition screen where you see drive 0, drive 1, etc. for installing Windows 7. Good luck!

 

Thanks! I injected the usb 3.0 drivers (Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver) into the W7 image, the USB does not show but the install files have been copied over to X: even though. I am able to point to the driver ( Intel RST) I put on the W10 home system partition.
The problem seems to be that it's a Toshiba NVMe drive and there is no separate driver for that like there is for the 512 GB Samsung.