Introduction
The computer at hand is an HP 15-f233wm. This was acquired at the end of 2015 brand new, and had Windows 10 on it. This remained until 2019 when I got a shiny, new laptop. A few months afterwards, I decided to install Windows 7 on it and got it working.
I then decided to split equal space from the 7 partition and plop Vista on the newly created partition. To achieve this, I had to install it through the CD drive. It worked and the built-in keyboard and mouse of course worked. The one big problem I noticed besides the other missing drivers was the lack of any USB support. If I needed files on this laptop, I either would have to use another laptop with a CD drive and copy them that way, or restart into the 7 installation.
On the first take with this, I had working Ethernet, but now I can't seem to remember how I got it working. Anyways, I decided to see if I could get USB 3.0 drivers working by editing the INF files. I did that, got the driver installed, but with an Error 39 in Device Manager. Here is the Vista Device Manager for proof.
I will show you how I got it "working". Hit yes to the UAC prompts as they pop up, and if you get a red pop up when installing the driver, click Install Anyways. Also, this was done using an HP version of the Intel USB 3.0 driver. These instructions should work for any other laptop unless your laptop manufacturer has made USB 3.0 drivers for Windows Vista, which is highly unlikely. Also, before beginning, make sure "Hide Extensions For Known File Types" is unchecked in the folder options.
Step 1:
Navigate to "C:\SWSetup\sp72662\Drivers\Win7" (Note: This directory may be different if you are not using an HP laptop). Select both the x86 and x64 folders, right click, and click copy.
Step 2:
Go back one level, right click, hover over New, and click Folder. Agree to the UAC prompt and call the folder WinVista. Open it up.
Step 3:
Inside the folder, paste the files we copied earlier. Open up the x64 folder.
Step 4:
Open up the file called iusb3xhc.inf. Navigate to [Manufacturer] and between Intel and Intel.AMD64.6.1, add in Intel.AMD64.6.0. Next, head to [Intel.AMD64.6.1] and copy that value. Go to the end of its table and paste it below it. Change the 1 to a 0 (E.G. [Intel.AMD64.6.0]).
Step 5:
Open up Device Manager by Start Menu, Computer, Right Click, and Manage. Agree to the UAC and it will open. Go to Other Devices and click on the USB Device. Go to Details and select Compatible IDs from the drop down menu. Copy the first value you see by clicking on it and right clicking and hitting Copy. Paste this under [Intel.AMD64.6.0]. After that, save this to the desktop. If you try to save this to the folder directly, it will error due to Notepad not having sufficient privileges to save, so that's why we have to save this to the desktop. Make sure Save As type is changed from txt to All Files. After saving, delete the old file from the x64 folder and move the new one in. Agree to both the UAC's.
Step 6:
Next up, open up iusb3hub.inf. Navigate to [Manufacturer] and repeat Step 4 for it. After that, navigate to [Intel.AMD64.6.1] and copy that and everything below it until the end of the row. Paste it below the row and change the 1 to a 0 by repeating the second part of Step 4. Save the file, again to the Desktop. Delete the old file from x64 and move the new one in.
Step 7:
Go back to Device Manager, using Step 5 as references if necessary. Right click the USB Device and click on Update. Click on "Browse my computer for driver software" and then "Let me pick from a list of device drivers". A list will pop up so scroll down until you see USB Drivers. Click it and another box should pop up. Click on Have Disk and navigate to "C:\SWSetup\sp72662\Drivers\WinVista" Open one of the INF files and it will install. A box with a red header will pop up. Click "Install Anyway".
After a few minutes or so, it will say the driver was installed but that there was an error. It should list this error as Error 39, Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. Driver software may be corrupt or missing. We have now just successfully installed an incomplete USB 3.0 driver.
Research and Development:
Now with that out of the way, it is clear something is still not right. The driver installed, but cannot be loaded. This is where you can come in. If anyone knows how to get this driver fully working, or can point me towards a program that can be of help, then please let me know. If this succeeds, we may have stumbled upon a huge breakthrough here.
I know Windows Vista is not widely used, but this is definitely interesting for sure, and maybe, this will spur someone to make an Extended Kernel a la Windows 2000 that allows Windows 7 programs to run on Vista. Since Vista and 7's version numbers are very close, much like 2000's and XP's, it shouldn't be that hard right?
Next up, getting Intel HD Graphics to work under Vista. This should be as simple as grabbing a Graphics Installer for the Intel Celeron N3050 processor, extracting the files, and editing the INF's followed by Have Disk installing the driver.
