[Tips] To create a dedicated Windows 7 ISO image that belongs to Dell XPS 13 (9350)

MacBook Air, the Dell XPS 13 and Thinkpad X1 Carbon are a great example of design excellence in lightweight notebooks and are sought after by many users.

But for Windows Camp notebooks, there's been a bad rumor lately: the Intel 7 Series CPUs only support Windows 10 systems and do not support Windows 7 and Windows 8. In order to confirm the authenticity of this message, I specifically investigated the driver download support page for each manufacturer. The latest drivers for Intel's official website still support a variety of operating systems, but some notebook vendors are already not providing a complete set of system drivers for Windows 7, such as Dell's latest XPS 9360 series.

So for desktop users, the follow-up to the 7 Series platform problem may be small, but for notebook users, it is more troublesome. So the author took advantage of this year's double 11 period hurriedly started a 6 series of XPS 13 (9350). Drive support for the XPS 9350 series that's really pretty thoughtful, except that Windows 7/8.1/10 even offers all the drivers that Ubuntu 14.04 needs, while the 9360 series driver Support list is only a single Windows 10. Want to start the classmate must seize, now inventory is not much.

Although Windows 7 is supported by the XPS 9350 series, it is not easy to install. If you follow the normal process of writing Windows 7 MDSN ISO to a USB flash drive, and then booting the installation, first of all, because of the lack of NVME driver can not find the hard disk, and after solving this problem, the lack of USB 3.0 XHCI driver appears "Missing required CD/DVD drive Device driver "problem. After both of these problems have been solved, after entering the system, there is a lot of unknown devices with question marks need to install the driver, the whole process is really very troublesome.

To solve these problems, let the reload system once and for all, this article teaches you to build a dedicated Windows 7 ISO image that belongs to Dell XPS 13 (9350).

The standard for making this ISO image is to add only absolutely necessary, without adding any other components if you do not install a driver that generates an unknown device in Device Manager.

1. Back Up Windows 10

Dell XPS 9350 is typically preinstalled with Windows 10. Before reloading the system, it is strongly recommended that you perform the following steps first :

• Get your own service tag and express service code
• Backup the entire SSD drive with a NVME-enabled Windows PE

The preinstalled Windows 10 system desktop should have a Dell service app that opens to get the "service tag" and "Express service Code" for the machine. The service tag can be used to download the driver for yourself on the Dell Drive download page and the Express service code can be used to contact Dell Manual customer service.

The other is to use Ghost to back up your entire hard drive, so you can replace Windows 10 later. Currently some of the online Windows PE is capable of supporting XPS, but there are a lot of unsupported, not recognized SSD. Try a few more times, usually you can find a suitable PE, there is no special recommendation.

2. Prepare the relevant documents

First prepare the following files and tools:

• Windows 7/8.1/10 working system, ensuring that the system can run Dism commands
• Windows 7 ISO image (CN_WINDOWS_7_ULTIMATE_WITH_SP1_X64_DVD_618537.ISO-MD5 6625b122837b7f6f38997e23b3eb30cc)
• 7-zip-For extracting ISO images and EXE installation packages
• UltraISO 9.6.1 or later-for editing ISO images
• Rufus 2.11 or later (http://rufus.akeo.ie/)-writes an edited ISO image to a USB flash drive (The write step does not recommend the use of UltraISO)
• NVME Driver (https://downloadmirror.intel.com/25165/eng/f6flpy-x64.zip)
• USB3.0 XHCI Driver (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/22824/ Usb-3-0-driver-intel-usb-3-0-extensible-host-controller-driver-for-intel-8-9-100-series-and-c220-c610-chipset-family )
• USB3.1 XHCI driver (chipset_driver_6y1x2_wn32_15.2.30.280_a01. EXE)
• Intel 100 Series Chipset driver (9350_CHIPSET_DRIVER_P1X3X_WN32_10.1.1.13_A01. EXE)
• Intel HD Graphics Driver (9350_video_driver_99v3h_wn32_20.19.15.4483_a06. EXE)
• Intel MEI Drive (chipset_driver_mx1jj_wn32_11.0.0.1162_a01. EXE)
• Dell 1820A wifi/bluetooth driver (9350_network_driver_7xrrv_wn32_1.400.87.0_a01. EXE)
• Dell Wlan Switch Driver (9350_network_driver_n2w2c_wn32_1.0.0.4_a00. EXE)
• Dell Sensor Driver (9350_CHIPSET_DRIVER_2T0W9_WN32_8.1.10605.221_A01. EXE)
• Dell Card Reader Driver (chipset_driver_mdr6d_wn32_10.0.10586.21289_a03. EXE)
• Realtek sound card driver (audio_driver_876vv_wn32_6.0.1.7917_a06. EXE)
• Synaptic Touch pad Driver (9350_input_driver_377d1_wn32_19.0.27.6_a01. EXE)
• Kernel-mode driver Framework (KMDF) 1.11 (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38423)

Create a new temporary directory (such as C:\Temp) in the C drive, and create a new three folder in this directory, called:

• Boot
• Install
• Mount

Open the original Windows 7 ISO image with 7-zip, extract the Boot.wim and install.wim two files from the sources directory into this directory, and then put all the drivers in this directory. Directory status when ready to complete:

3. Unzip the driver

The drivers we call here are the driver files that the cat, INF, SYS and other systems can directly identify, not the EXE installation package.

3.1 Decompression NVME Driver

Unzip the F6flpy-x64.zip to get 6 files simultaneously in Boot\nvme and Install\nvme two directories.

3.2 Decompression USB3.0 XHCI driver

Unzip the Intel (R) _usb_3.0_extensible_host_controller_driver_4.0.6.60.zip and put the Drivers directory in BOOT\USB3 and INSTALL\USB3 two directory.

3.3 Extracting Intel 100 series chipset Drivers

First Use 7-zip decompression 9350_chipset_driver_p1x3x_wn32_10.1.1.13_a01. EXE can get SetupChipset.exe. However, try to use 7-zip further decompression when the problem arises: direct decompression can only get some look very strange files u0, U1, ... Later I saw the actual usage in this EXE's Help document:

Follow the instructions, open cmd, enter C:\Temp, and then run

Setupchipset.exe-extract Install\chipset

3.4 Extracting Intel HD Graphics drivers

Unzip the 9350_video_driver_99v3h_wn32_20.19.15.4483_a06. EXE to extract the Graphics and displayaudio two directories into the Install/graphics directory, and then delete the displayaudio\8.20 directory.

3.5 Extracting the Intel MEI driver

Unzip the CHIPSET_DRIVER_MX1JJ_WN32_11.0.0.1162_A01. EXE to get SetupME.exe, and then follow the same method as in section 3.3:

Setupme.exe-extract Install\mei

Unzip to get 11 MSI installation packages:

Then we further use 7-zip decompression Me_mei_drivers_x64.msi, the Heci directory in which drivers.cab in the Install\mei directory, and finally delete all the MSI installation package files.

3.6 Extracting the Dell 1820A wifi/bluetooth driver

Unzip the 9350_NETWORK_DRIVER_7XRRV_WN32_1.400.87.0_A01. EXE to extract all the files under the drivers\production\windows7-x64 directory into the install\wireless directory.

3.7 Extracting the Dell Wlan Switch driver

Unzip the 9350_network_driver_n2w2c_win32_1.0.0.4_a00. EXE to extract all the files under the drivers\production\windows7-x64 directory into the Install\wlanswitch directory.

3.8 Extracting the Dell sensor driver

Unzip the 9350_CHIPSET_DRIVER_2T0W9_WN32_8.1.10605.221_A01. EXE to extract the four directories under Drivers\production\windows7-x64 to the Install\sensor directory.

3.9 Extracting the Dell reader driver

Unzip the CHIPSET_DRIVER_MDR6D_WN32_10.0.10586.21289_A03. EXE to extract all the files under the Install\drvbin64 directory into the Install\cardreader directory.

3.10 Preparing the kernel-mode driver framework

The Intel MEI driver relies on the patch. Copy the Kmdf-1.11-win-6.1-x64.msu file to the install directory.

3.11 Decompression USB3.1 XHCI Driver

At this point we have completed all the necessary driver preparation work. Note: The necessity here is that there is no unknown device in Windows 7 Device Manager. However, there are some useful drivers that are not installed but do not display a question mark in Device Manager. One of these is the USB 3.1 driver, which is ready to work as follows:

First unzip the CHIPSETDRIVER_6Y1X2_WIN32_15.2.30.280_A01. EXE, you can get setup.exe. Next, adjust the system UAC settings to "do not degrade desktop brightness" and then run Setup.exe, pausing when the UAC confirmation dialog pops up, opening the directory for the corresponding MSI file (similar to C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\ Xxxxxxxx.xxx\intel), copy the two directories under USB 3.1 (x64) to the Install\usb31 directory.

3.12 Remove unwanted x86 drivers

Re-check the boot, install directory files, if found both x86 directory, and x64 directory, the x86 directory is deleted, so the next step of the command will be executed faster.

4. Update Boot.wim, Install.wim and ISO images

First upgrade the antivirus software to the latest version, and then temporarily shut down the anti-virus software. If you still encounter an error "Unable to install driver package" (Access is denied), it is recommended that you copy the entire directory C:\Temp another Windows Plus system and then continue.

Open cmd with Administrator privileges , go to C:\Temp, and then run the following command:

Dism/mount-wim/wimfile:boot.wim/index:1/mountdir:mountdism/image:mount/add-driver:boot/recursedism/unmount-wim /mountdir:mount/commitdism/mount-wim/wimfile:boot.wim/index:2/mountdir:mountdism/image:mount/add-driver:boot/ Recursedism/unmount-wim/mountdir:mount/commit

Next, run the following command:

Dism/mount-wim/wimfile:install.wim/index:1/mountdir:mountdism/image:mount/add-driver:install/recursedism/image : Mount/add-package/packagepath:installdism/unmount-wim/mountdir:mount/commitdism/mount-wim/wimfile:install.wim /index:2/mountdir:mountdism/image:mount/add-driver:install/recursedism/image:mount/add-package/packagepath: Installdism/unmount-wim/mountdir:mount/commitdism/mount-wim/wimfile:install.wim/index:3/mountdir:mountdism/ Image:mount/add-driver:install/recursedism/image:mount/add-package/packagepath:installdism/unmount-wim/ Mountdir:mount/commitdism/mount-wim/wimfile:install.wim/index:4/mountdir:mountdism/image:mount/add-driver: Install/recursedism/image:mount/add-package/packagepath:installdism/unmount-wim/mountdir:mount/commit

Then open UltraISO, replace the original file in ISO with the edited Boot.wim and Install.wim and save it, and name the new ISO file cn_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_618537_ Xps9350.iso.

Note: The 4 index in Install.wim is the Windows 7 Home basic/home premium/business/ultimate, which can be adjusted according to the actual needs.

5. Write the ISO image to the USB flash drive

Finally, run Rufus to write the newly created ISO file to the USB flash drive (2.0/3.0 's USB stick is ok).

6. Edit the BIOS settings to start and install the system

Boot into the BIOS, disable Secure Boot, enable Legacy Option Roms, and then press F12 to start installing the system in UEFI mode when you restart.

Although we have integrated the USB 3.0 driver, it is likely that the error "missing the required CD/DVD drive device driver (A required CD/DVD drives driver is missing)" will still pop up.

At this point you can click "Browse", then navigate to the X:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3xhc.inf directory and click OK. After installing the USB 3.0 driver, you can start the installation.

Note: Many Windows 7 activation tools are incompatible with the GPT partition table. It is recommended to modify the partition to MBR for insurance purposes. Modify the partition table format can be done through the DiskPart tool, here will not repeat.

When the installation is complete, the system will automatically adjust the DPI to the appropriate value of 125%. When you open the Task Manager, you can see that there are no unknown devices:

Thanks to the integrated USB 3.1 driver, USB 3.1 is also available at this time.

7. Install additional components

Some of the basic features of the device are available, but some enhancements can be achieved if the official driver is installed. It is also cumbersome to integrate these drivers directly into the ISO file. So the final decision is to install the system after the installation is complete.

7.1 Installing the. Net Framework 4.6.2

Very many programs, including the Synaptic driver Control Panel, are dependent on the new. NET Framework, and Windows 7 itself integrates only the. NET Framework 3.5. So here first download the corresponding installer from the Microsoft website, and then perform the installation.

7.2 Installing the Synaptic Touchpad driver

Directly double-click Install 9350_INPUT_DRIVER_377D1_WIN32_19.0.27.6_A01. Exe. After installation can support multi-touch, chrome and other browsers can support two-finger page scaling. There are a number of other additional features, too.

7.3 Installing the Realtek high Definition Audio driver

Directly double-click Install AUDIO_DRIVER_876VV_WIN32_6.0.1.7917_A06. Exe. After the installation is complete, you can use the various additional features of Maxx Audio.

8. Simple performance evaluation

Finally, the system has been installed, but also to solve the future heavy installation of the system steps cumbersome problems. Save the resulting ISO file Cn_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_618537_xps9350.iso and then run for a minute to relax.

The above is the score that comes with Windows 7.

The Dell XPS 9350 comes with a strong SSD reading and sequencing performance that is roughly the same as the SATA 3.0 interface 850 PRO.

Future Mark has put some outdated evaluation software (from 3dmark99 to 3dmark06) in the DirectX 9.0 era on its own website for free use by netizens, and the URL is Http://www.futuremark.com/benchmar Ks/legacy.

Above is the run of xps13-9350 (Intel i5-6560u) in the default configuration. The score is probably behind the first two years of the mainstream mobile display card GTX 850M 25% or so, behind Radeon R7 M370 about 10%. There are now very few games that use DirectX 9, and the above comparison data is for entertainment only.

[Tips] To create a dedicated Windows 7 ISO image that belongs to Dell XPS 13 (9350)