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The Intel USB 3.0 Creator Utility was a tool for adding USB 3.0 driver support to Windows 7 Installation Media. It is now obsolete and has been superseded by the far more reliable Windows USB Installation Tool by Gigabyte.
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The Windows USB Installation Tool adds USB 3.0 and NVMe hotfixes only. It does not add F6 Storage Controller Drivers which may need to manually loaded in order to read your System Drive during the Windows 7 Setup. It also does not update the installation media and as Microsoft’s Installation Media is typically from about 2011, it currently takes about 3 times as long to manually patch Windows 7 then to clean install it. I have created a Windows 7 Slipstream Script which slipstreams the Convenience Rollup and it’s perquisite update, IE11 and it’s perquisite update, the NVMe hotfixes, USB 3.0 Drivers and F6 Storage Controller Drivers. See Slipstreaming Windows 7. Slipstreaming Windows 7 is a bit advanced but I have made it as simple to do as possible, you only need to copy the files to the correct folders and run the script file. If it is a bit too advanced for you, you can use the Windows USB Installation Tool as outlined below and then manually install the Updates.
The Windows USB Installation Tool by Gigabyte may be found here:
It adds not only USB 3.0 drivers but the hotfixes associated for NVMe SSDs. You may need to however Load Intel F6 Storage Controller Drivers provided by your OEM during installation to see the SSD like I did when I tested this on a Dell OptiPlex 7040 and Dell OptiPlex 3040 6th Generation Intel Skylake System with a NVMe SSD. The USB was Created Fresh from the Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 2011 Installation ISO. These models are amongst the last newest hardware support to run Windows 7 64 Bit.
Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit can only run on systems with a 6th Generation Intel Processor or Earlier. The newest Dell Systems to run Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit are the OptiPlex 7040 and OptiPlex 3040. You can no longer get these on the Dell Website as they have been superseded by the OptiPlex 7050 and OptiPlex 3050 respectively but you can find plenty on Amazon (I’ll give affiliate US and UK links below, if you use these, it will help me cover the costs of running this website).
Notice: GIGABYTE Download Center is developed by Microsoft ActiveX technology. Please enable Active X related setting and use Windows XP/Vista/7 and IE 6.0 or above. Gigabyte Drivers Download. This site maintains the list of Gigabyte Drivers available for Download. Just browse our organized database and find a driver that fits your needs. If you has any Drivers Problem, Just download driver detection tool, this professional drivers tool will help you fix the driver problem for Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP.
These systems come with Windows 10 Pro however you can perform OEM Downgrade Rights on them to Windows 7 Pro. I make a video demonstration of doing so on a Dell OptiPlex 7040 Micro using the Generic Microsoft Retail ISO from 2011 however you will be able to use the Dell Windows 7 Pro Skylake Reinstallation ISO from 2016.
Micro
Desktop
Minitower
Serial Ports
If you need serial ports, I recommend these USB Adaptors. The Driver is automatically obtained via Windows Update in Windows 7:
It works reliably on Windows 7 and Windows 10 unlike the old Intel USB 3.0 Creator Utility.
Scroll down until you find it:
Alternatively press [Ctrl] and [ f ] and search for Windows USB Installation Tool.
Download the tool and extract it:
To proceed you will need to have already created a Bootable USB from a Windows 7 Installation .iso using Rufus.
To launch the utility double click the WindowsImageTool.exe and accept the User Account Control:
Check the three boxes to add the drivers:
Leave the Source Path as “None – Add USB Drivers” and change the Destination Path to your Windows 7 Bootable USB Flash Drive:
Select Start:
The tool will mount each index of your boot.wim file, add the drivers and then commit the changes. It’ll repeat the process for the install.wim file:
For a Bootable USB made from a English Windows 7 64 Bit .iso Downloaded Directly from Microsoft.
The process took about 16 minutes in my test.
The boot.wim found in the sources folder of the USB was updated from 160 MB to 189 MB.
The install.wim found in the sources folder of the USB was updated from 2.75 GB to 2.88 GB.
You may have slightly differing file sizes depending on your original installation .iso.
It is highly advised to download the standalone Updates, copy them to your Windows 7 Bootable USB and manually install them post installation. See Windows 7 Standalone Updates for more details.
Downloading Intel USB 3.0 Creator Utility
The Intel USB 3.0 Creator Utility for Windows 7 was available for Download here:
Unfortunately version 3 of this utility stupidly doesn’t work in Windows 7…
It only works on a system running Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 only.
In practice this utility is very fussy and only works on A Clean Install of Windows 8.1 or 10 only.
The utility must be used on a Windows 7 Bootable USB Flash Drive. If one attempts using a folder (e.g. from an extracted .iso) they will instead get error 0x80070057:
Without a complete Clean Install you will experience common errors like 0xC1420114. Such an error message may occur if the utility has been used and exited without completion. Essentially its attempted to extract a .wim file to a temporary location and can’t delete it. It uses this temporary location to remount the new .wim and can’t because the temporary location is occupied…
Using the Intel USB 3.0 Creator Utility
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Insert your Windows 7 USB Flash Drive:
The Installer Creator must be run as an administrator for this utility to work:
Right click the Installer_Creator and select “Run as Administrator”:
Select Yes at the User Account Control:
The Intel USB 3.0 Creator Utility will now open. Ensure all instances of Windows Explorer are closed in the VM:
Select the Browse button:
Select your Bootable USB:
Select Create Image:
It should mount all Editions in the install.wim and then slipstream the USB 3.0 drivers and then do the same with the boot.wim:
Once its done it will say success:
Note if you get an error message or it takes longer than an hour its likely stalled. Quit and recreate the Bootable USB with Rufus, you will need to do this on a fresh Windows Install.
For a Bootable USB made from a English Windows 7 64 Bit .iso Downloaded Directly from Microsoft.
Gigabyte Windows Usb Tool Download
The boot.wim found in the sources folder of the USB was updated from 160 MB to 164 MB.
The install.wim found in the sources folder of the USB was updated from 2.75 GB to 2.86 GB.
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You may have slightly differing file sizes depending on your original installation .iso.
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