Windows 7 clean install (micro guide)

Last time I clean installed Windows 7 I decided I will write about the experience so that I might help others do the same. I have now edited this first post to include information from below. I will continue to do this as new things come up.

While I tried this on a T500, it should work with at least the T400 and possibly with other Lenovo ThinkPad systems as well.

Before we begin

I have used Windows 7 since it was available on MSDN in August. At that point some drivers were missing and all were still labeled "beta". Now that the OS is officially released and most of the Lenovo drivers are available for Windows 7, I thought it would be time to clean install the operating system (at the time of this writing the Ricoh Card Reader drivers are still in beta, all other necesarry drivers have been released by Lenovo).

I though I would share the order in which I installed the different drivers, because this seems to be the hardest part for those who are doing a clean install, and do not wish to use Lenovo System Update. There can also be problems with certain things not working at all or only working partially when not all necessary drivers are installed.

After this installation was completed, everything works for me, OSD items are displayed, switchable graphics is working, etc.

Install order of drivers

Most of the drivers wanted to reboot the system - based on previous experience I opted out in some of the cases. The list below will specify when exactly I did reboot.

1. Windows 7 installation (this included some reboots)
2. System Interface Driver
3. ThinkPad Power Management Driver
4. Hotkey driver
5. Intel Turbo Memory driver
6. --Reboot--
7. wait until the installation of hardware devices is complete
8. --Reboot--
9. Power Manager
10. --Reboot--
11. Ultranav Driver
12. Ultranav Utility
13. ThinkVantage Active Protection System
14. Monitor driver (use the that is for Vista, dated August 2009)
15. --Reboot--
16. Switchable graphics
17. Fingerprint software
18. --Reboot--
19. Ricoh card reader
20. WLAN drivers (only drivers, not the intel management software)
21. Windows Update

The last step was running Windows Update. There were some security updates but this also installed some drivers. The Audio driver was updated by Windows Update, for example.

At this point all drivers were from either Lenovo or the default ones from Microsoft.

The only one device that does not have a driver is the Intel AMT, which I never use. This shows up as a unknown communications device in device manager. As I have AMT disabled from the BIOS, I don't know why it shows up, but I never really bothered with this either (it was like this in Vista as well, and all pre-release versions of Windows 7). If you are using Intel AMT, you can install drivers for it either before or after you run Windows Update.

Missing a driver for Windows 7?

As ThinkPads come with many different hardware elements, you might still find some devices that lack a released Windows 7 driver. If you did not find a driver amongs the released drivers at the Lenovo site, nor did Windows Update help you, there are still ways to get a driver for your device.

1. Try the beta drivers at Lenovo. You will find them at http://www.lenovo.com/windows7beta
2. Install a driver that was released for Vista. You might need to start the installation in compatibility mode

System image

As a last step of the installation process I created an image of the system that can be used to restore the state I ended up with. I used the built in utilities of Windows 7. While I used this to save the clean installed state of the system, you can actually create a image at any later time, when you have installed all (or some) of the applications you use. The image will contain all of your applications in this case.

I am not sure which editions contain this feature, but I think Home Premium should have it (and everything higher than that, of course).

Type in Backup into the start menu, select Backup and Restore from the list that appears. From the Window that appears next, select Create a system image from the left side and follow the instructions.

If you are unsure what you are doing, either don't do it, or read the help You can also find information about this around the internet, such as:

How to Create a System Image Backup in Windows 7
How to Create a System Image in Windows 7

There is also information on how to restore such a backup, should it become necessarry:

System Image Recovery

Because restoring overwrites your entire hard drive, please be sure to backup any data files (documents, images, music, etc) you might have on the drive you are restoring. If possible you should consider (from the very beginning) having a separate system and data partition (if you don't already have one). This way you can always safely restore the system partition without affecting your data. I cannot go into details on creating partitions here, but there should be other resources in this forum or over the internet.

Clean Install with an upgrade media

If you have received an upgrade media and still want to do a clean install of Windows 7, it is still possible. Please read the following article which tells about how it is possible, what problems might arise, and how you should solve them:

Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media

When you are done

When you are done, why not learn some cool new keyboard shortcuts for Windows 7, for example at Lifehacker - The Master List of New Windows 7 Shortcuts

 

Thanks for posting this. Where did you get the monitor driver? I couldn't find the lcd/monitor driver in the driver download page for windows 7.

 

lol.

there's no such thing.

 

It has it for vista.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-72858

 

does your brightness control for the dedicated graphic card work?

 

Thanks for the mini guide. I did mine in a different order, but works okay now.

The "released" drivers for Windows 7 make a huge difference over the beta ones.

One thing you left out was the Intel Storage Manager driver; you should update that early in the process. It's not the normal install, so read the readme.txt on it.

 

Mine does.

 

I think the Turbo Memory driver updates the Intel Storage Manager. You should only install that separately if you don't have Turbo Memory.

If I would be wrong please correct me

 

Yep, I did use the Monitor driver for Vista. I added this info to the first post.

It worked "out of the box", I did not need compatibility mode of anything.

 

mine doesn't work until i switch graphic cards once. I don't get it....

*edit *
Version 8.641.1.1-090824a-089811C

* (Fix) Fixed an issue where the LCD brightness could not be changed when the graphics mode was set to high performance on starting the computer.


reinstalling it right now

*EDIT 2*

for people who can't control brightness if their T400 boots with SWITCHABLE in HIGH PERFORMANCE, just reinstall to the latest switchable graphics driver and it gets fixed. http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-73641

 

thank you for the guide. small question:

if i get win7 for free as part of the vista upgrade (premium edition) can i also use that to clean install my laptop?

if yes, what is better? to upgrade from vista or format and do a clean install

thanks

 

My brightness control also works for both modes (dedicated and integrated).

Before I installed the switchable graphics driver itself the OSD did not show the usual scale for the brightness, but the keys did actually change the brightness itself.

Are you having problem with the OSD only or also with the actual changing of the brightness?

 

Generally you will hear that a clean install is a better option. That said at my workplace I had a one week old installation of Vista that was upgraded to Windows 7, without any problems. So if you haven't used your installation too much, and really don't want to reinstall everything, you could try the upgrade path.

Note that the upgrade process can take very long, depending on what you have installed. Very long can mean many hours, depending on how you have your computer and partitions setup and what you have installed. For me (at my workplace) it took about 2 hours. You can read more about it in the original blog post in Chris Hernandez's blog, or a nice summary on Gizmodo.

It is possible to perform a clean install with the upgrade media, but there might be some problems. Please read the following article, which describes in detail what problems might arise, and how you can solve them:

Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media

If you end up doing an upgrade from Vista, you can also read the following guide about the process:

Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7

 

Thank you so much for this. I've been hesitating to upgrade because I didn't know what drivers to install and in what order. Its hard going through all the posts and seeing everyone has different experiences.
Now I feel a little more comfortable. Not 100% yet

I googled each of the drivers on your list that applies to my system. I don't have a fingerprint reader or Ricoh card reader.
One thing, did you update your bios before or after installing windows 7? Or is updating bios necessary?

So these are the drivers I found from your list.

1.System Interface Driver
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-67228.html

2.ThinkPad Power Management Driver
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-4GXPEG.html

3.Hotkey driver
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-68000.html

4.Intel Turbo Memory driver
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-67820.html

5.Power Management Driver
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-4GXPEG.html

6.Ultranav driver
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-42487.html

7.Ultranav Utility driver
Can't find

8.ThinkVantage Active Protection System
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-53150.html

9. Monitor driver (use the that is for Vista, dated August 2009)
this one where to find?

10. Switchable graphics
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-73641

11.WLAN drivers (only drivers, not the intel management software)
can't find this

Just checking to make sure i'm on the right track. I have an upgrade disc but want to do a fresh install.
Thanks for this tips.

 

I updated the BIOS as soon as it came out in the beginning of October. But I had already installed Windows 7 at that point (I installed the RTM version the same day it hit MSDN, that was in the beginning of August.

So you can update your BIOS whenever you want, it will not impact the installation.

As for the drivers, I guess you can google, but you are better off checking the lists of driver releases and the driver matrix on Lenovo's site. Anyway, here are your missing links for your drivers list:

UltraNav Utility for Windows 7
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67226

Monitor driver (Vista version, but install it anyway)
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62923

WLAN drivers are tricky, because your computer might have a different wireless card than what I have. I have the Intel 5100, and for that, the driver can be found here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-73611

This is for these cards:
- Intel WiFi Link 1000, 5100, 5300
- Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AG, 4965AGN
- Intel PRO/Wireless 3945BG, 3945ABG Network Connection

As I wrote earlier I only installed the driver from this package, and not the other Intel utilities included.

I also added a link to the first post about clean installing with upgrade media, make sure you check it out if you take that path.

 

thanks, this is going to help me out alot.

I checked device manager --> Network adapters and it shows I have a

11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter III
and Intel(R) 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection.

I'll search for these models.

I also checked my PCMCIA adapters and it shows i have a
Ricoh R/RL/5C476(II) or Compatible Cardbus Controller
Is this the card reader you were talking about?
My T400 only came with Smartcard and Exprescard slots.

 

Did you install the System Update 4.0?
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-73695

This sounds like a all in one update for windows 7?

 

I am not sure which wireless driver package you need for that wireless card. Maybe someone else could help out?

You might want to check the drivers list on Lenovo page. For example, go here (this is for the UK / Europe): http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/homeLenovo.do?country=uk
and enter your model numbers. That is where I looked up the drivers (although it is a UK page where it starts from, the driver pages themselves are not tied to a region/country).

You might also try the driver matrix for the T400:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=TPAD-MATRIX

While this lists older versions for some of the drivers, you should still click on the actual link. At least for the T500, many pages were updated with the latest Windows 7 drivers, while the table itself was still showing the old text.

I checked the driver matrix for the T400 but it only had Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter II and not the III you listed, so I am puzzled at what you need.

If you find no driver for that separately, there is still a good chance Windows 7 includes a driver by default. Download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. This will check your system to find any problems that might be trouble when installing Windows 7. It will specifically scan all devices in your system and determine if a Windows 7 driver is available for it.

If all else fails you should be able to install a Vista driver for the wireless card, but I doubt it will come to this.



For that Cardbus Controller you mention I did not install any drivers myself: Windows 7 has a driver included for that. What I was referring to was a SD/xD card reader that is included in some ThinkPads.

 

Many use System Update - it will update your drivers, BIOS, etc. I am not really familiar with it because I like doing the installation by hand, but I know many use it here on the forums.

 

I double checked if i entered an extra"I" for my adapter type but indeed it is III. I'll see what i can find.
I don't have an SD card reader, so that driver is of my list

thanks for all the help.

 

What thinkvantage apps did you install? I found when i got mine there was a lot of Lenovo apps I don't use or know what there for.
I've got 96 processes running with 9 of them related to Thinkvantage/thinkpad. I don't know if they are needed or just bloatware.

Thinkvantage Productivity Center and Presentation Director i need.

Is there any order to installing these apps?

 

Hi guys,

i just did a clean install on my new t500 that i received today.

I have installed almost all the drivers and the only thing i am missing is the wireless card. I have the basic Thinkpad Wifi card however, when i go through device manager, i don't see the card in network devices. Anyone know how to fix this problem?

I downloaded the drivers from the lenovo website but i can't seem to get it to work.

 

My list actually contains the only two ThinkVantage utilities I installed: Power Manager and Active Protection System.

As for Presentation Director I was thinking about it, but found that because I do not do a lot of presentations, for those times that I do, Windows Mobility Center really fits my needs (press Win+X to bring it up).

The best recommendation I can give (which is the same I have gotten) that if you don't know what it is / are in doubt if you will ever need it, why install it?

I don't really have any experience on the order of installation, but I guess after all drivers are up, you can pretty much install them in any order you like.

 

I am guessing you still have unknown devices in Device Manager?

There are different types of wireless cards that ThinkPads are built with, are you sure you downloaded the right kind of driver for your particular card?

Have you tried running Windows Update if that finds any drivers for your card?

 

I fixed it. I had the correct driver but since there wasn't a specific version for the windows 7 out yet, i used the vista version and as such, i had to run it under compatability mode.

 

Have you looked at the beta drivers page ( http://www.lenovo.com/windows7beta)? There might be a driver there that is for Windows 7.

But you should have no problem running Vista drivers. Despite the naming, internally Windows 7 is very close to Vista.

 

Hey, what's the difference between the two Power manager drivers on this list? Thanks

 

hmm, they appear to be the same driver. File details are identical.

 

The second power management driver in the list - at position 5, without ThinkPad in the name - should probably be just Power Manager - at least I am guessing that is what Seven7 intended originally. Now they just point to the same URL with the driver.

The Power Manager itself can be found here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-70601

 

Thats what it was Power Manager. I didn't install it and just installed the driver. I was wondering why I couldn't find my switchable graphics and the battery icon.
I also had to manually install two drivers by going into computers>drivers. They didn't install automatically. Now I can't remember which ones they were.
Other then that followed your driver installs and boot sequence and windows 7 works great.
But I did run into two issues. I posted it on sevenforums but i'm wondering if they might be lenovo/thinkpad specific problems.

In the device manager i found windows 7 didn't recognize two devices.
The PCI Serial Port and PCI Simple Communications Controller. They don't have driver info or coes for them.



Also during windows update it failed to install MobileIntel display driver


Do you know of any possible solutions or am I being overly worried. Everything seems to be working fine.
Thanks for all the help.

 

Well, if you have switchable graphics enabled (in BIOS: graphics is set to switchable and os detectable to enabled) and you have the Lenovo provided switchable driver installed, that already includes drivers for your Intel display. So you don't need to worry about the failed installations in Windows Update.

For the serial port: I usually just disable that in the BIOS, along with the parallel port. That should get rid of it in the device manager. I really doubt that you would have any use for it

The last device, the simple communication one is the Intel AMT device I have wrote about in the initial post. I have that also disabled in BIOS, but it still shows up in the device list. If you use your computer at home (personal use) its best to just have it disabled. But it will still appear in Windows Device Manager for some reason. I don't know if this is intentional or not. However, I did not want to install drivers for it, because I would not use it anyway. So I just let it be there, without a driver. If it really bothers you, you can always disable it in Device Manager (right click and select Disable).

 

haha i didn't even know what a serial port was. i see its a legacy port and its hardly in use anymore. For some reason i thought it might have to do with my PCMCIA card slot which gave me some problems in Vista. Its good to know what these things are for i guess
I just updated the bios and installed the Lenovo Toolbox.
Do you think its necessary to install Rescue and Recovery
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4Q2QAK
if i can't back up to a DVD drive? mine only came with a CD ROM drive. It doesn't say you can back up to an external harddrive.

 

I have T500 with Vista Business 32-bit installed and purchased Windows 7 Professional Upgrade DVD.

1. Could I upgrade from Vista Business 32-bit to 7 Pro 64-bit using the upgrade DVD?

2. If not, could I clean install 7 Pro 64-bit using the upgrade DVD, or do I have to purchase a full version.

3. Do I otherwise have to swtich to Vista Business 64-bit from Business 32-bit first before upgrading to 7 Pro?

4. What is my best option?

5. In case I need clean install, how should I proceed?

I look thru MS sites, but the info avail there is not very helpful.

 

Michaelhryu, unfortunately you cannot upgrade from a 32bit version to a 64bit version. That does not mean you cannot use your upgrade media, only that an "upgrade" operation is not supported, and you will be required to do a clean install.

That said, you should have no problem running a clean install from your upgrade DVD.

You also cannot upgrade from 32bit Vista to 64bit Vista, that would also be a clean install, and in this case, not necessary. As a general rule, you cannot just simply upgrade from 32bit to 64bit, no matter what OS combination you try to use. They are just completely different worlds, and for that reason an upgrade is not supported.

If you insert your Windows 7 upgrade DVD and boot from it, it should say that you cannot upgrade your current operating system, and that you will need to clean install. You can then proceed with the clean install. Please remember to backup your data before proceeding.

Also, refer to my initial post. At the end there is a link which explains how you can do a clean install from an upgrade media, when you do not have a previous version installed. That of course does not apply to you at the moment, but you might need to know that if in the future you decide to clean install again.

 

Thanks a lot!

I took a look at "Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media" article. I doubt I could handle such workaround.

Basically, could I clean install W7 Professional 64-bit on T500 with Vista Business 32-bit using the DVD labled W7 Professional "Upgrade"? Or do I have to exchange the Upgrade DVD with a "Full Version" DVD? Would it be easier using full version DVD?

I have a desktop PC with Vista Home Premium 64-bit installed. (In fact, I purchased another copy of W7P Upgrade DVD for this PC. Anyway, the info on the web order page was not clear on upgrade path.) What is the best way to switch it to W7 Professional 64-bit machine? The reason is that I am trading stock, so added security feature of W7 Professional would be beneficial I think. Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

You can "migrate"/update from a 64bit Vista to 64bit Win7 with a Win7Pro "upgrade" (using the 64bit option). It is easier than a clean install, as existing programs will be preserved. A 32bit Vista upgrade to 64bit Win7 needs to be a "clean install" upgrade, so programs will need to be reinstalled after the OS is installed.

If you do a "clean install" "upgrade", in no case do you need a Win7 "full version" to go from any version of XP or Vista to any version of Win7.

In every case, first ensure an up-to-date copy of all data files onto external media (preferably an external HDD). Better still, also have them all on a separate partition to the OS.

 

I have a similar problem where the device manager doesn't recognize one PCI device. This is on Win 7 pro 64 bit. See attached pic.

Do you guys use the built in Windows Update utility or Lenovo's System update to get your latest drivers? Or do you instal drivers manually?

 

download and install manually lenovo graphics drivers.

 

One last time, please! That is, "Upgrade" label on the DVD is still confusing.

Basically, as long as I have a machine installed any version of XP or Vista, I could use the Win7 Upgrade DVD if I were to clean install. In my case, both Vista Home Premium 64-bit desktop and Vista Business 32-bit laptop could be clean installed to Win7 Pro 64-bit, by using the Win7 Pro DVDs. So I don't need to return or exchange any of the two Win7 Pro DVDs?

Thank you so much for your time to answer such a basic question!

 

I'm also a bit confused. I plan to install Win7 using the Lenovo upgrade disc on a totally new hard drive so there'll be no Vista on it and no Lenovo partitions. Is this going to work as a completely clean install, or will I have to install the factory image (Vosta) on the enw drive first using the recovery discs I have?

And if I do install vista via the recovery discs, will this automatically create the hidden Lenovo partitions on the new drive? The partitions I do not want?! Thanks.

Oh, one other question... are any folks having issues installing the ATI drivers/utility?

 

Ok I will try to solve this confusion. So you have an upgrade disc ... the following scenarios can apply to you:

• If you have Windows XP installed, the upgrade disc will do a clean install upgrade. You cannot do a traditional upgrade in this case.
• If you have Vista 32bit installed, and you want 64bit Windows 7, the upgrade disc will do a clean install upgrade. You cannot do a traditional upgrade in this case. (this is also the case if you would want to go 32bit after having 64bit Vista, but I do not think many have this scenario)
• If you have Vista 64bit installed, and you want 64bit Windows 7, you can do an inplace upgrade or clean install. See below.

Note that when doing an inplace upgrade from Vista to Windows 7, not just the bits but also the edition must match. That is, you can inplace upgrade Home Premium --> Home Premium or Business --> Professional. But not from Home Premium to Professional. If you want to do this, you will have to do a clean install upgrade (if I know correctly).

If you currently have Windows Vista or XP installed, but do not want to save it, do not want an inplace upgrade (even if it would be possible) then boot from the Windows 7 DVD, and choose Custom install. This will allow you to wipe your hard drive and clean install Windows. I think this is the scenario that applies to most of you who want to clean install.

If you have an empty hard drive (no Windows version installed currently), and want to clean install (not upgrade) Windows 7, that might work or might not work. If you own a previous version, you are of course entitled to the upgrade price - media. It is sad Microsoft makes this path so difficult.

So if you want to clean install (and not upgrade), you have an upgrade disc, and no Windows on your hard drive, in that case applies the link I wrote about in the initial post. Here is the link again:

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_install_upgrade_media.asp

There are three things you should try, the first one being that just insert the DVD, boot from it, and try to install.

Please let me know if this is still unclear. Also please tell if this helped, I will then update the initial post.

 

Read the post above for Upgrade questions.

If you restore from the recovery disc, that will create the partitions as well.

I had some issues with ATI drivers IF you try to install it after you have install Visual Studio 2008 (might be caused by others versions of VS as well). If you have VS, I suggest installing the video drivers before Visual Studio. Other than that, I am not aware of any problems with ATI cards.

 

useful info... thanks. It'll probably be easiest for me to custom (clean) install on my current Vista drive then simply clone that to the new drive.

 

Solved part of your problem. The unrecognized PCI Simple Communications Controller is Intel AMT. Download this driver http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-73723#version

 

Hi lenardg,

Thank you very much for this guide, I appreciate it. Can I ask you why you didnt install the following drivers?

1. Bluetooth with Enhanced Data Rate Software II for Windows 7
2. Conexant Audio Software for Windows 7
3. Thinkvantage Access Connections for Windows 7

 

I have a problem that maybe you can shed some light on.

My brightness buttons. Don't do a damn thing.
I don't know which driver is causing this but I think the fact that when I try downloading GM45 Display driver it says: "This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing this software"
Which doesnt make sense to me. ..Is it the wrong display driver?
Core 2 duo t400 T9600 2.80Ghz 4GB 64-BIT business.

 

i'd suggest installing win7, THEN install system update 4.0, then hunt for the remaning not-installed drivers (which probably is only intel amt). it's much MUCH easier, with much less hassle from the user's point of view

for those who have problems with the brightness buttons and volume and what not, just run system update and see if it finds any drivers/utilities necessary but not yet installed. chances are it probably would.

 

I made a clean install of W7. System Update is seriously worth it, considering all the problem descriptions I have read from doing it all manually.

Here is how I did it with no issues (except having to configure a power profile on Power Manager).

Plug in an ethernet cable.
Boot into the W7 DVD.
Wipe the partitions, format, and follow install instructions.
I then popped in the complimentary DVD lenovo sent which included System Update 4. In two reboots, System Update got my T400 back with all its features such as thinklight, volume and brightness bars, OSD's for all the fn-key combos, etc.

System Update did an excellent job, can't complain at all.

 

can someone link me to the clean install guide made by one of the mods here.

ive seen it before but cant find the thread now.

 

just install win7, then install system update, then figure out what the remaining drivers are (which probably is only one or two)