Windows 7 install can't find DVD drive


  • BINNED

    I am currently livid. Excessive swearing and incomprehensible sentences, possibly using non-English words are possible in this post.

    I'm upgrading an ancient computer. I bought a new MoBo, CPU, and RAM. So I ripped out all the old shit and put my new stuff in. And since the chances that Windows will boot on new hardware are slim, and I'll have a bunch of old drivers lingering, I decided to just reinstall.

    Now, the new MoBo has a grand total of 0 IDE ports. And only optical drives I have on hand are old IDE ones. That's not a problem, really, I rarely use any kind of optical medium anymore. So I just created a bootable Windows 7 USB stick from my install DVD and it happily booted.

    Kind of...

    Fucking Windows 7 installer outright refuses to continue because it can't find the optical drive. Now, I installed Windows 7 from USB multiple times now, hell, I almost always do it because it's faster. But no, it wants it's DVD. Even though, even if it could find it, it wouldn't use because THE INSTALLATION MEDIUM IS A USB DRIVE.

    And, even if I wanted to, I can't even go and buy a drive right now, because it's a state holiday.

    FUCK



  • Odd... I've done it on my laptop and desktop, and neither has any kind of optical drive (desktop is custom hand built by me)


  • BINNED

    Oh this is just awesome ❗

    It works if I switch to IDE mode. Just lovely. Welcome back to 1998. 😫



  • That is amusing... good ol' windows. 😁

    Where's @blakeyrat when you need him to defend M$?


  • BINNED

    @DrakeSmith said:

    Where's @blakeyrat when you need him to defend M$?

    Even if he were here, you just ruined it. You used M$ rather than MS or Microsoft, which means that's what the topic would be about at this point, followed by an anecdote where a freshly released Linux distro wouldn't boot for him on an IBM 5050.



  • Unless he also went and trashed on Linux and FOSS, then he'd be just like kinda like mimicking one thing of @morbiuswilters.


  • BINNED

    I can take @morbiuswilters' bashing of Linux much better, even when/if I think he's wrong. At least he uses it and can raise valid problems he has with it.


  • BINNED

    On topic update: for shits 'n' giggles, I tried switching back to AHCI once Windows installed. It failed miserably.

    Now running some kind of startup recovery thing. No idea what it does or will it work, but it has a indeterminate progress bar travelling from left to right, so confidence is high.

    Edit: It failed. Shock. Awe. Surprise.


    Filed under: Too lazy too look up unicode for sarcasm sign



  • I forget the exact details, but you have to delete or modify a couple registry settings before turning on AHCI otherwise it will BSOD. But it is possible and I've done it before.


  • BINNED

    It's a battle for another day I think, I want to try and enjoy the rest of my day off, as little of it that's left at this point.



  • @Onyx said:

    Oh this is just awesome

    It works if I switch to IDE mode. Just lovely. Welcome back to 1998.

    If you've learned anything form this forum, it should be that if something doesn't work, you're doing something wrong.



  • @Onyx said:

    Fucking Windows 7 installer outright refuses to continue because it can't find the optical drive. Now, I installed Windows 7 from USB multiple times now, hell, I almost always do it because it's faster. But no, it wants it's DVD. Even though, even if it could find it, it wouldn't use because THE INSTALLATION MEDIUM IS A USB DRIVE.

    Plug your USB stick to USB 2 port (if the board has only USB3 ports, set them to Auto mode in BIOS, that should make them appear as USB2 to Windows <8).
    @Onyx said:

    On topic update: for shits 'n' giggles, I tried switching back to AHCI once Windows installed. It failed miserably.
    You need to enable the AHCI driver in Registry first (change Start to 0 in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci).



  • @Onyx said:

    Fucking Windows 7 installer outright refuses to continue because it can't find the optical drive.

    No repro here. I've been installing Win7 on a netbook at least two times, and when I actually got it to boot off the damn drive, the rest was just a formality.

    I remember ThePirateBay putting out "tweaked" versions of XP with drivers and fixes (and AFAIR you could even activate them with a valid key). Maybe there's something like that for Win7 too.



  • @Maciejasjmj said:

    No repro here. I've been installing Win7 on a netbook at least two times, and when I actually got it to boot off the damn drive, the rest was just a formality.

    The error is worded badly - it requests the install DVD, but what it actually wants is any kind of install media. If the USB stick was connected to USB3 port, it'll boot up fine (because BIOS calls are used to load the ramdisk), but once the install environment is started, the USB stick won't be visible anymore (because Windows 7 doesn't have USB3 drivers built-in).


  • BINNED

    @ender said:

    Plug your USB stick to USB 2 port (if the board has only USB3 ports, set them to Auto mode in BIOS, that should make them appear as USB2 to Windows <8).

    USB setting is Auto. Not sure if it's USB2 or USB3 tbh. Should look in the manual, says nothing next to the port (I was using the front panel).

    @ender said:

    You need to enable the AHCI driver in Registry first (change Start to 0 in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci).

    Thanks, will give it a go.



  • @ender said:

    The error is worded badly - it requests the install DVD, but what it actually wants is any kind of install media. If the USB stick was connected to USB3 port, it'll boot up fine (because BIOS calls are used to load the ramdisk), but once the install environment is started, the USB stick won't be visible anymore (because Windows 7 doesn't have USB3 drivers built-in).

    I'm not certain installing Win7 from non-optical media was a supported feature from the start. So it might make sense that when Windows can't see its installation disk, it assumes it was being installed from a DVD.

    A bit like having "insert floppy #2" shown when you're installing something from an image on a VM.



  • Actually, Windows 7 was the first one you could make install media by simply copying the files from a DVD to a USB stick, so I believe it was intended. As long as the port was USB<3, of course.



  • @DrakeSmith said:

    Actually, Windows 7 was the first one you could make install media by simply copying the files from a DVD to a USB stick, so I believe it was intended. As long as the port was USB<3, of course.

    Works with Vista as well.



  • Forgot about Vista. But doesn't everyone?



  • To tell you the truth, I've never personally met Vista. But I've heard from several people that they'll NEVER forget it.



  • That's probably a good thing.

    What's really disturbing is the Mojave experiment Microsoft ran where they rebranded Vista as Mojave and apparently people loved it.


  • BINNED



  • @Arantor said:

    they rebranded Vista as Mojave and apparently people loved it.

    I've seen interviews where people, when asked directly, claim to love bands that do not exist.

    Is that a thing Jimmy Kimmel does? I can't remember.

    @DrakeSmith said:

    Forgot about Vista. But doesn't everyone?

    I'm still on Vista.
    I don't care.


  • BINNED

    @dhromed said:

    I don't care.

    And now I have an annoying pop song in my head.

    Thanks!





  • @Onyx said:

    And now I have an annoying pop song in my head.

    Thanks!


    I love it!


  • BINNED

    No. That one is strangely awesome. Though I have a bit of a problem understanding all the words. And I managed to watch Red Dwarf without subtitles.


    Filed under: Dave Lista



  • It doesn't help that Chas 'n' Dave regularly add the occasional London slang into their songs. For example 'Rabbit' makes little sense until you understand that 'rabbit' is London slang for 'talking' though one could perhaps infer that from the lyrics to the song that aren't 'rabbit'.

    Chas And Dave Rabbit – 02:24
    — 890777654

    Also... Dave Lister.



  • @Arantor said:

    'rabbit' is London slang for 'talking'

    Ryming slang?



  • It is but only very indirectly rhyming slang. Most people wouldn't even know it's more fully 'rabbit and pork' which is 'talk', of course.



  • All I know is up the apples.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    So what's the rhyme?



  • To what? Rabbit? Rabbit -> rabbit + pork -> talk

    To 'up the apples' -> 'up the apples and pears' -> 'up the stairs'



  • I dealt with that braindead bug with the USB installer before. There's something you have to press in the installer that'll get it to stfu. I may have been selecting the USB drive as the DVD drive that shut it up. Or there was another install path in the settings somewhere.



  • @Arantor said:

    What's really disturbing is the Mojave experiment Microsoft ran where they rebranded Vista as Mojave and apparently people loved it.

    I used Vista before Windows 7 came out, and I never understood what all the hype about 7 was - to me it was just a slightly polished Vista.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Arantor said:

    To what? Rabbit? Rabbit -> rabbit + pork -> talk

    I can't figure out what sort of accent would make this true.



  • London wideboy. Sort of like a British twist on the New Yawker accent (though doing it long before New Yawkers were)... in this case you're talking about a pronunciation of talk that is closer to torque.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    This just makes me feel even better about the Revolution.


  • BINNED

    On-topic post: It boots in AHCI mode! Big props to @ender and his registry tip.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @dhromed said:

    I've seen interviews where people, when asked directly, claim to love bands that do not exist.

    A Google for 'cake fake drug' may prove amusing. 'Brass Eye' if further criteria are required. (Digging for URLs and posting them here on a mobile, after imbibing ethanol is somewhat tedious...)


  • BINNED

    FUCK! AGAIN!

    And this time I can't switch to IDE mode. The laptop BIOS / EFI won't let me.

    Fuck it. I'm done. You know what? A bunch of self-important IDIOTS who don't follow a single fucking procedure in the book can make an OS that fucking WORKS, what the fuck is your problem Microsoft?

    Hold on, this just in on IRC:

    <Lee-Yen> k, it's Windows-lvl-of-STUPID, so it should work - When Windows is asking for driver, just click Cancel. You will be brought back to the welcome screen. At the welcome screen, remove your USB drive, insert it back to DIFFERENT USB PORT. Click Install Now again. The installation process will be like usual.

    And it fucking worked!

    What? WHAT? WHAT THE FLYING FUCK?

    … I really am fucking Hanzo.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Onyx said:

    What? WHAT? WHAT THE FLYING FUCK?

    Quoted for Great Justice.

    (Sounds like some developer was trying for “dickweed” without “pedantic”. That will never do!)



  • That 'slight polish' is kind of the difference between 'EVERYTHING I DO IS NOT WORKING QUITE LIKE I WANT IT TO AND IT'S FUCKING ANNOYING' and 'Oh, that's a pretty useful feature'

    Discourse is currently more like vista than 7. But the potential is there! Just give them 10 years to figure out the design so their tool can be used in 10 years.



  • @Matches said:

    That 'slight polish' is kind of the difference between 'EVERYTHING I DO IS NOT WORKING QUITE LIKE I WANT IT TO AND IT'S FUCKING ANNOYING' and 'Oh, that's a pretty useful feature'

    Discourse is currently more like vista than 7. But the potential is there! Just give them 10 years to figure out the design so their tool can be used in 10 years.

    +1 because I'm out of likes and wished to express my admiration and support of this viewpoint.



  • I installed Vista on a bunch of computer in the last few months, because we have some clients that can't buy new computers, but their existing computers had Vista licenses with XP installed, and when I spoke with those users after they used Vista for a while, the only complaint was that it's somewhat slower than XP.



  • I'd guess you have multiple USB controllers on your hardware, and the installer only recognizes one. At least that's the issue with some of our HP workstations at work, OS installers will never pick up an external USB drive plugged into a USB 3.0 port.


  • BINNED

    I love it how it managed to boot though.

    And from what I saw, no, it's only one. Only 3 USB ports after all, would be crazy if there were 2 controllers.

    From a link a friend sent me, it's a semi-common bug and changing USB ports seems to force the installer to rescan and find the medium correctly.



  • @mott555 said:

    OS installers will never pick up an external USB drive plugged into a USB 3.0 port.

    Windows 7 doesn't support USB 3 controllers. If you have an Intel USB3 controller, it usually works as USB 2, but third-party controllers (which are common on older boards, because Intel was late releasing chipsets with their own USB 3 controller) don't work at all until you load a driver (and I'm not sure if it's possible to load a USB3 driver during install).


  • BINNED

    This was an AMD chipset. And finding Win7 drivers was a pain. But the install worked after the swapping trick.

    I don't know why, I don't know how, I just know I don't have to deal with it any more.



  • @Onyx said:

    I love it how it managed to boot though.

    It boots because BIOS calls are used to load the ramdisk image (which is why on some boards it boots in seconds, and on others it can take as much as half hour for the progress bar to fill up - and I'm not exaggerating).
    @Onyx said:
    This was an AMD chipset.
    I don't have any experience with how AMD chipsets handle USB3.
    @Onyx said:
    And finding Win7 drivers was a pain.
    Not as hard as finding Intel's drivers for Server 2008 (they don't exist for their recent stuff - Intel dropped support for anything older than 7/2008 R2 some time ago).


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