Installing Windows 7 on the NUC5CPYH or NUC5PPYH

(Braswell NUC) – Also valid for Skylake NUC!

BY OLLI · PUBLISHED JULY 27, 2015 · UPDATED JULY 7, 2016

The following instruction tells you how to install Windows 7 on a Braswell or

Skylake NUC.

Installing Windows 7 on the NUC5CPYH or NUC5PPYH (Braswell NUC) is a

bit tricky. The reason is that Windows 7 starts to be rather old already and the
basic installation does not support more modern hardware. Specifically it is
lacking USB 3.0 support. Unfortunately the NUC does have only USB 3.0
ports, so something must be done (there are internal USB 2.0 ports, but these
are rather inconvenient to use) as the only way you could control your NUC is
through the USB ports.
EDIT: Intel has now released a Windows 7 USB 3.0 Creator Utility v3 that will
modify your Windows 7 installation USB stick automatically. This will help you
skip steps 5-22 of the instruction below. Basically it will do the same thing that
is described below, so if you want to be in control of what exactly happens you
can also follow the below instructions.
Without correct BIOS settings Windows 7 installation will give you blue screen
right at the beginning. Without adding the USB 3.0 drivers into the installation
image your keyboard and mouse will not work during the Windows 7
installation. Below I’ll explain how to avoid these pitfalls and install Windows 7
on NUC5CPYH / NUC5PPYH.

Intel has already published an instruction on how to do this, but I found it

rather confusing. Thus I wrote this article. Credit goes to Travis Payton
from Code A Bitwiser blog, where I read about this first. The instruction below
has been adapted to work with the NUC5CPYH / NUC5PPYH though.
You will need another computer that is running Windows 7 or 8 in order to
prepare the USB stick that you will use for installing Windows 7. The USB
stick should have 4 gigabytes or more space and should be formatted and
empty when you start. If you don’t have another computer at hand, you could
even create this image at work or while visiting a friend.

Preparation
1. Download or have your Windows 7 ISO image at hand. I used the image:
en_windows_7_professional_with_sp1_x64_dvd_u_676939
2. Download and install Windows USB/DVD Download Tool.
3. Plug in your USB stick to the other computer – not the NUC. The other
computer should be running Windows 7 or 8.
4. Use USB/DVD Download Tool to make a bootable USB using the ISO
image you downloaded. The program is really straightforward to use. You
should have no trouble with this.
5. Create a new folder for the installation image manipulation. In this
instruction we assume it is “wim” in the root of your c: drive (c:\wim).
6. Create two directories inside that directory: mount and usb3.

7. Download USB3 drivers for Intel Braswell NUC.

8. Copy the folders HCSwitch and Win7 that are located inside the zip file you
just downloaded (these folders are under folder Drivers) to c:\wim\usb3
9. Now both these folders contain 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the drivers.
Because I was installing 64-bit Windows, I deleted the folder x86 under both
of these folders (x86 = 32-bit drivers, x64 = 64-bit drivers). Probably not
absolutely necessary, but I wanted to only add the drivers I definitely need.
10.Then copy install.wim and boot.wim from the sources folder on your USB
stick to the wim folder.
Your wim folder should look like this now. usb3 folder contains your drivers
and mountis empty.
Injecting the USB 3.0 Drivers into the
Installation Image
11. Open command line as administrator (Click Start menu open on Windows
7 or press Windows key on Windows 8, type in “cmd” and then right click on
the cmd application and choose Run as Administrator).
A command line prompt will appear.

12. Change directory to your wim directory. In our case it should be \wim on c:

drive.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>cd \wim

13. Mount the install.wim image. Note that number after parameter index
depends on the Windows 7 version that you are installing! Choose the number
according to the list below.
1. Windows 7 Home Basic
2. Windows 7 Home Premium
3. Windows 7 Professional
4. Windows 7 Ultimate
I’m installing Windows 7 Professional, so I’m using index 3. Some Windows 7
versions unfortunately do not follow this numbering! If all else fails, repeat the
step below five times using indexes from 1 to 5.

C:\wim>dism /mount-wim /wimfile:"install.wim" /index:3 /mountdir:"mount"

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Mounting image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

14. Then add the drivers into the mounted image. You should see 3 drivers
being added if you completed the above steps correctly.

C:\wim>dism /image:"mount" /add-driver /driver:"usb3" /recurse

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Searching for driver packages to install...

Found 3 driver package(s) to install.
Installing 1 of 3 - C:\wim\usb3\x64\iusb3hcs.inf: The driver package was
successfully installed.
Installing 2 of 3 - C:\wim\usb3\x64\iusb3hub.inf: The driver package was
successfully installed.
Installing 3 of 3 - C:\wim\usb3\x64\iusb3xhc.inf: The driver package was
successfully installed.
The operation completed successfully.

15. And finally write your changes.

C:\wim>dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:"mount" /commit

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image File : C:\wim\install.wim

Image Index : 3
Saving image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
Unmounting image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

16. Next we modify the boot.wim file as well. Mount the image. Do not change
the index here!

C:\wim>dism /mount-wim /wimfile:"boot.wim" /index:1 /mountdir:"mount"

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Mounting image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

17. Add the drivers into the mounted image.

C:\wim>dism /image:"mount" /add-driver /driver:"usb3" /recurse

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Searching for driver packages to install...

Found 3 driver package(s) to install.
Installing 1 of 3 - C:\wim\usb3\x64\iusb3hcs.inf: The driver package was
successfully installed.
Installing 2 of 3 - C:\wim\usb3\x64\iusb3hub.inf: The driver package was
successfully installed.
Installing 3 of 3 - C:\wim\usb3\x64\iusb3xhc.inf: The driver package was
successfully installed.
The operation completed successfully.

18. Save the changes into the image.

C:\wim>dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:"mount" /commit

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image File : C:\wim\boot.wim

Image Index : 1
Saving image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
Unmounting image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

19. We modify the second index in the same boot.wim. Do not change the
index here!

C:\wim>dism /mount-wim /wimfile:"boot.wim" /index:2 /mountdir:"mount"

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Mounting image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

20. Add the drivers.

C:\wim>dism /image:"mount" /add-driver /driver:"usb3" /recurse

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Searching for driver packages to install...

Found 3 driver package(s) to install.
Installing 1 of 3 - C:\wim\usb3\x64\iusb3hcs.inf: The driver package was
successfully installed.
Installing 2 of 3 - C:\wim\usb3\x64\iusb3hub.inf: The driver package was
successfully installed.
Installing 3 of 3 - C:\wim\usb3\x64\iusb3xhc.inf: The driver package was
successfully installed.
The operation completed successfully.
21. And commit the changes.

C:\wim>dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:"mount" /commit

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image File : C:\wim\boot.wim

Image Index : 2
Saving image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
Unmounting image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

22. Now copy the install.wim and boot.wim from your wim folder back to the
folder sources on your USB stick. Overwrite the existing ones.
23. Eject your USB stick safely.

Windows 7 Installation on the NUC

24. Insert the USB stick into the USB port of your NUC.
25. Boot your NUC and enter BIOS. Make sure that Windows 7 is chosen on
the Boot configuration page. Otherwise you’ll get a blue screen during the
installation.

Make sure Windows 7 is chosen before installing the OS.

26. Save settings and boot from your USB stick (if your NUC does not boot
from USB, you can press F10 at the boot to choose the boot device). Start
installation of Windows 7 normally. Remember to remove the USB drive when
your system boots for the first time, otherwise the installation might start over
again.
27. While installation is going on, it’s good idea to download the driver bundle
for Windows 7 from Intel’s download center and place it on a USB stick using
another computer. Windows 7 installation media does not contain drivers for
the WiFi adapter nor the LAN adapter, so you will not have network
connectivity after installation unless you update the drivers. It’s important to
install at least WiFi/LAN drivers, graphics drivers and the chipset drivers.