H61 install hell!

January 2, 2013 9:37 AM

Getting the dreaded "Required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing" during Windows 7 install, but no drivers are working!

I'm trying to install Windows 7 x64 on a Shuttle XH61V barebones system, when I boot into the Windows install after cliking "install now" I get the "Required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing". No problem, I've had this before! There is no optical drive installed on the system, so I'll just go get the RAID or Chipset drivers from the Shuttle website and load them at install!

NO DICE!

I've tried every available H61 driver I can find and none of them will take.

I've gone into the BIOS and changed all the SATA options too. Tried ACHI and IDE modes with the same result.

Any ideas before I throw these against a wall?

thanks!

posted by lattiboy to computers & internet (7 answers total)

I know your going to hate me for saying this, but not all operating systems play nice with all hardware. Ive had problems before trying to install win 7 onto machines that dont have an optical drive. One thing that you might want to try before throwing the box out a window would be to see if you could get some type of PXE boot going. If that fails then I would just put CentOS on it and virtualize windows. Setting up a linux machine that auto starts a virtual windows machine isnt that tricky and once you get it going Ive had computers where windows ran faster inside the vm then running natively.
posted by KeSetAffinityThread at 10:19 AM on January 2

Does your BIOS let you boot from a USB key / USB hard disk? Make a USB Windows 7 installer.
posted by dobi at 10:39 AM on January 2

There is no optical drive [...]

Hm, you got me confused. So are you already using an USB thumb drive? If so, try using another port, or even swithing the USB port just the second the driver missing message comes up. I know it sounds stupid, but it did help me once to install Windows 7 on a system, when even the manufacturer had no answer.
posted by oxit at 12:09 PM on January 2 [1 favorite]

Agreed. How are you installing the OS if not from a DVD? And why does windows think it needs a driver for a device that isn't installed?

(IDE and AHCI have nothing to do with optical drives. You want to use AHCI with Windows 7.)
posted by gjc at 12:12 PM on January 2

Sorry, should've added details:

I'm installing with a known good USB ISO Win 7 x64 (I've used it for countless builds in the last month or two)

I originally used USB to ISO freeware to create it, but just tried again with the official MS USB creation tool to be sure. Still not working.

I added the drivers to ANOTHER USB stick to access during the install.

I was referring to the SATA operation in the BIOS. The two options are ACHI and IDE. I've tried both.

thanks!
posted by lattiboy at 12:28 PM on January 2

Are you by any chance using the USB3 ports? Win 7 seems to have some problems with that.
posted by Thug at 12:52 PM on January 2

I have no idea why, but this worked:

SOLUTION!

Can't explain it, but I'm not going to 2nd guess. Used same ISO source and same drive, but the old school magic of DiskPart fixed it. Huh.....
posted by lattiboy at 12:53 PM on January 2