F6flpy-x64 (intel® Vmd).zip Windows 10
Chloe Sarnoff
I need to install Windows 7 x64 over the existing OS (unwanted factory issued Win8, for which I've already made restore media for) on a Dell XPS 15 (L521x). It needs to use UEFI boot and use the 128GB mSATA drive to cache a 1TB 5400rpm HDD using Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST).
You need a Win-PE DOS command prompt, boot your computer and activate your boot menu (F12 for the Dell XPS 15) and UEFI boot the Win7 install disk and choose Repair. Jump through whatever hoops it asks until you can open a Command Prompt.
Use the Advanced tools to select the large hard drive for the Windows install. Windows will insist on three partitions for UEFI, if you don't see three partitions UEFI is not set correctly. Either, the BIOS is not set correctly, or you chose to legacy boot your install media. Do nothing with the mSATA drive.
Load the Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers! Select the Drivers option and browse to the files from f6flpy-x64.zip unzipped to a USB stick earlier. This stops the "Windows can not install on this hardware" issue mentioned earlier.
Install Windows, you know how you like it. Install all the drivers, except the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver and application. Install Win7 SP1, you'll need windows6.1-KB976932-X64.exe. Run Windows update until it stops whining.
After rebooting until the driver installs and Windows updates are satisfied, open the Intel Rapid Storage Technology application. There should be an Accelleration icon, use this to set up as large a cache on the mSATA SSD as you'd like (I chose 60GB), but do not use the Maximised option, it seems to cause trouble. Again with the rebooting.
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