Windows 7 Pro on Inspiron 11 3000

Thank you, Jon and Jay -- these are all great tips, further increasing the value of this thread as a very pertinent go-to spot for folks embarking on an installation procedure that Dell should really make a lot easier and available from the get-go for those Windows users who aren't interested in Windows 8.1.

(Just wondering: I read that Windows 8.1 Pro allows a native downgrade to Windows 7. If this is true, does Dell somehow then provide the necessary drivers and needed instructions for BIOS changes?)

FWIW, I did notice that in the Dell drivers download area (on the Dell site), where Windows 8 drivers are located for this laptop, some of the drivers mention in the info/description area that they also work for Windows 7. (Haven't tried 'em yet myself. Also wonder if the ones listed as just for Windows 8/8.1 may also work for Windows 7?)

hi JSMORADA, i just wanna ask how you downgrade win 8 pro to win 7 pro, i already have the legal copy of both but dont know how to downgrade,. they say it needs to setup some boot configuration.. thanks...

I wouldn't be concerned about that message; just make sure you have setup reformat the drive (a quick format is sufficient) in order to completely remove Windows 8.

Can anybody else shed some light or perhaps share some tricks to get Windows 7 installed on this little machine?

I have the latest BIOS (I believe A08) ... and no option for "Legacy Boot", although I have disabled UEFI security with no luck.

Tried booting WIndows 7 from a USB flash drive created with Rufus and again no luck. Have even tried booting from an external DVD with several versions of Windows 7 (OEM and MSDN), again nothing. Even tried installing from within Windows 8 and same issue.

The computer "appears" to boot with the "starting windows" logo on screen ... then just hangs ... no activity from the USB light, nor the DVD drive.

Perhaps there is a trick to allow the install of a driver on disk if you pressed F4/F8 as older versions of WIndows had (I used to do something similar with RAID drivers) ?  My guess is that some piece of hardware on these Dell 11 3000 - 3138 hangs Windows 7 install.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, as browsing through the forums give a slight indication that more than one individual has successfully installed Windows 7.

I had absolutely no problem installing Windows 7 on two of these machines and there was nothing special I had to do.  The only problems you should have is getting the drivers to work post-installation.

Did you verify that the BIOS sees the hard drive? If it does make sure the BIOS is set to ACHI. I don't remember where it is in the BIOS but it should be easy to find. It that doesn't work I'd place a call to Dell Support. There may be a hard drive or motherboard issue. Keep in mind that they will only support the O/S that came with the machine so be prepared to downgrade again to Windows 7.

I put together some drivers here:

• Inspiron 3137 -Windows 7 64 Bit
• Inspiron 3138 – Windows 7 64 Bit

I got W7 working on a 3137 without much difficulty. I think 3137 and 3138 are pretty similar, with the main difference being the number of USB 3.0 ports.

No Legacy Boot option? That's odd. Mine was easy to find, either in the BIOS or in the F12/boot menu.

My experience concurs with jsmorada - easily done, but post-install driver challenges exist, that I eventually got squared away.

I even installed W7 originally with the same Rufus-to-USB procedure you're trying.

Sounds like a weird motherboard/PC issue you're having.

One sidenote... After getting everything installed and running fine (I used Legacy Boot, btw), I made a HD image (Acronis True Image), mucked around with some settings, then later decided to restore the image and have a fresh machine again. It went fine, but I was surprised to discover the following: I had booted the Acronis DVD from UEFI, then performed the restore. As a result, my W7 installation was imaged onto the hard drive in "UEFI mode" -- and it subsequently would only boot when the machine was in UEFI mode, and not Legacy mode. Not a problem at all, and the machine seemed to work fine, but an interesting observation, and evidence that perhaps you can install W7 from scratch in UEFI mode.

Philip Yip : Thanks for consolidating those drivers on your blog!

BTW, I've had problems with Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver in the past, and also with this latest W7/3137 installation. It bugged out Windows Update, preventing it from functioning, so I never use IRSTD anymore.

Hi Guys. It's very common to see a blue screen stating that the BIOS is not compatible with ACPI when installing windows 7 in this computers. Some of you managed to install windows 7 anyways. I am a qualified technician and no mater what I try it wont work. Could you please supply the Bios version running on the computers that allowed Windows 7 to be installed?

The bios only allow you to edit some basic parameters; Could you also transcribe the exact value of each critical parameter related with this matter?

Thank you,

Gonzalo