At some point the install drive access is handed over to the newly-booted install code, which doesn’t have 3.0 drivers. What happened is that the initial boot was done via BIOS functions. Huh? You’ve already booted from the flash drive, so how can that be?

What it means is that the installer is missing the driver it needs to access the flash drive. This can be a little startling, especially if you’re installing from a flash drive. The strange outcome of this is the misleading “ A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing” error. The chipsets don’t support plain-old USB 2.0 sockets. Many, if not all laptops these days are USB 3.0 only. This makes a “clean” install impossible without some work. OEM images like Lenovo’s preload and recovery media will include appropriate drivers but Microsoft media will not. Lack of USB 3.0 drivers can make the install media unbootable (past the initial boot) and lack of NVMe SSD drivers can render the target drive invisible to the installer.

This has become more of an issue lately with Windows 7 installs and contemporary hardware. It’s the same old story: hardware marches on, and operating systems play catch-up. This is the 4th and final (for now…) in a set of small articles on modification and use of Windows 7 install media: multi-version, UEFI boot, driver injection, and downgrade activation. Those with weak stomachs may want to look away… It may be worse watching install media being modified. You know what they say about watching sausage getting made.

Download windows 7 3.0 creator utility