Windows 7 - Slipstream USB 3.0 / NVMe drivers into the install media

Windows_7_Slipstream_USB_3.0_NVMe_drivers.txt

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If you have tried to install Windows 7 on a system that only has USB 3.0 ports, you might have found that you could not get past
the language select screen of the installer as your keyboard and mouse suddenly stopped working the moment that screen appeared.
This is due to the Windows 7 install media lacking native USB 3.0 support, meaning drivers needs to be embedded in the install media.

The below instructions works for all missing critical drivers, including e.g. NVMe drivers (if the drive does not appear).

1. Download the appropriate missing Windows 7 drivers from the motherboard support page (e.g. USB 3.0 drivers, or NVMe drivers).

2. Create a couple of folders that we will be working within.
WorkDir
WorkDir\drivers\
WorkDir\mount\

3. Extract the drivers from the installation media and move them to the "drivers" folder. Be sure to select the correct architecture(s)
based on the installation media (e.g. x64 drivers for 64-bit Win7).

4. Move/copy the following files from the installation media (e.g. the USB stick) to the WorkDir folder:
sources\boot.wim
sources\install.wim

You should end up with a structure like this:
WorkDir\drivers\
WorkDir\mount\
WorkDir\boot.wim
WorkDir\install.wim

5. Do the following to embedd the drivers into the bootable Windows 7 installer (boot.wim):
    i. Launch CMD as an Administrator.
   ii. Use "cd" to navigate to the WorkDir folder (e.g. "cd /D D:\WorkDir")
  iii. Run the following DISM commands:

dism /mount-wim /wimfile:boot.wim /index:2 /mountdir:mount
dism /image:mount /add-driver:"drivers" /recurse
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:mount /commit

6. Now we need to do the same but for the actual Windows 7 media (install.wim). This file has a couple of different index values
correlating to the different editions the install media supports.
Start by listing all the indexes and their contents using the following command:

dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:install.wim

This will give you the output of the different supported editions and their indexes.

7. Run the following commands for each of the editions you want to embedd the drivers into, replacing the <index_number> with
each relevant edition:

dism /mount-wim /wimfile:install.wim /index:<index_number> /mountdir:mount
dism /image:mount /add-driver:"drivers" /recurse
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:mount /commit

e.g.

dism /mount-wim /wimfile:install.wim /index:3 /mountdir:mount
dism /image:mount /add-driver:"usb3" /recurse
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:mount /commit

If you are encountering dism errors when trying to run the above commands make sure that the wim files unmounted successfully by running
the following command "dism /cleanup-wim". After that command finishes, try mounting the wim that was giving you errors again and adding
the drivers.

8. Now replace the original "boot.wim" and "install.wim" files in the "sources" folder with the modified copies on the install media.
Once that is done, you can boot from the install media again and the drivers should automatically be loaded and the
peripherals/components will work as expected.


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