The standard Microsoft Windows 7 ISO does not contain drivers for modern USB 2 and USB 3 chipsets. This means that when you boot from E2B\agFM\Ventoy, etc. to Windows 7 Setup, the ISO file will not have been loaded as a virtual DVD because Win7 Setup cannot find the ISO file or even see the USB drive!
You will see a message about missing DVD device drivers because Setup cannot find the ISO which is on the USB drive.
If you cannot find a suitably modified Win7 ISO (see Tested ISOs page) then the next best solution is to make a new ISO file with added USB drivers. This is very easy to do using the Asus EZ Installer utility.
- Download the Asus EZ Installer utility from here. If your Windows PC that you are using is running Windows 10, then use the Windows 10 version. If you are downloading the utility on a Windows 7 PC, then choose the Windows 7 version. I chose the Windows 10 version as I am using a Windows 10 PC.
2. Extract the contents of the downloaded .zip file to a new folder on your PC. I used C:\temp.
3. Find the ‘ASUS EZ Installer.zip’ file and extract the contents to the same folder that it is already in – I used right-click – Extract here (7Zip),
4. Run the EZ Installer.exe utility which you will now find in the newly extracted folder.
5. Find your Microsoft Windows 7 ISO file in Windows Explorer and mount the ISO as a DVD virtual drive. I used ImDisk for this but you can right-click on the ISO file in Explorer and use ‘the Windows 10 Mount’ option instead. You should now have the Windows 7 ISO mounted as a new drive with a new drive letter – e.g. N:
6. In EZ Installer, select the new virtual DVD drive as the source after choosing ‘Windows OS disc to ISO file’
7. Browse to a destination folder where the new ISO can be stored – tick the two check boxes if applicable (I ticked only Compatibility Mode)
8. Step 3 is the creation of the new ISO file – it will take quite some time, so be patient.
The new ISO can now be copied to the \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN7 folder on your E2B USB drive and should work on systems with modern USB 2 or USB 3 ports.