Windows 7 Installation Needs a Driver

[RadCazz]

Hiya everyone!

I have an Intel G41 mobo with Windows XP installed. I want to install my licensed copy of Windows 7 and create a dual-boot setup.

However, during installation of Windows 7, it asks for drivers on a CD or USB stick.

What drivers is it looking for?

I'm assuming it has something to do with recognizing my hard drive so I can create a partition for WIn 7.

Now, I think I need a SATA, or RAID driver but when I got to downloadcenter.Intel.com, there are like 641 of them. :confused:
If I indeed need this driver, do you know what one I should download and unzip to my flash drive?

Also, I could try changing to SATA or IDE in Bios (F2), but if I do that, would I still be able to boot and run my Win XP?

Thanks for your time and help!

(I want to install Win 7 so my NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti can take advantage of Direct X 11 for gaming (Microsoft Flight Sim) and whatnot).

[Fire$torm]

Windows 7 has all kinds of SATA drivers, generic and vendor specific so that should not be an issue.

If you have a SATA HDD installed then you need to have SATA enabled in BIOS. Otherwise your system treats the HDD like an IDE drive which runs much slower. Note that the SATA function may not be called SATA in BIOS. Some BIOS call it AHCI mode or ICHxxx (like ICH10R) or ICH SATA. I've even had a motherboard that I had to enable RAID mode in order to activate the SATA ports.

For general dual-boot info, here is a good how-to from Lifehacker ---> http://lifehacker.com/5126781/how-to-dual-boot-windows-7-with-xp-or-vista

[RadCazz]

Arrgh! Now it's looking for a CD/DVD driver:
http://i1027.photobucket.com/albums/y335/RadCazz/missingdevicedriver.jpg

Anyway thanks for the dual-boot info link!

[RadCazz]

Okay, I downloaded a different Win 7 iso from Digital River and made an installation disc using ImgBurn. I then followed the link you provided and everything worked! I now have a dual-boot screen when I turn on my computer - I can either go into XP or Win 7. Cool beans!

Thanks again Fire$torm. :)

[Fire$torm]

To avoid all those driver issues (and maybe have new ones instead... :P) try installing Win7 from a USB thumb drive.

An easy program to get the installer files onto the stick is with YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/)

Installing from a USB stick is my preferred method. Way faster then any DVD drive.

Edit: If you would like to customize Win7 before installing it check this out ---> http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/how-to-create-a-usb-windows-7-install-stick-1039166