Installing Windows 7 on a Samsung Ultrabook

Windows 8 seems still hated by many. After using its successor, the 8.1 upgrade briefly, I have actually grown to accept it. I like its hot corners and the ability to search for apps or online resources in a single search box. When a friend asked me to install Windows 7 on his new Samsung Ultrabook, I upgraded it to Windows 8.1 first and asked him to give it another try. But he asked again in a few weeks, so I accepted the challenge.

His Samsung Ultrabook NP540U3C-A03UB is a nicely built little machine, thin, light weight, with a battery that seems to last long enough, although with the screen size it could have had a higher resolution display. I didn't expect it to be an real challenge, so I was a little disappointed to find it not able to connect to my home wireless network, or even the wired Ethernet after finished installing Windows 7. But when I found no Windows 7 driver download on Samsung's website for this model, I became a little annoyed.

Samsung was nice enough to have a live chat link on the support site. So I started a chat window and connected to a support tech pretty quickly. We went back and forth for a few rounds on what my OS was and my dilemma of not being able to find drivers on the website for it. Then he told me that it meant that the PC was not compatible with Windows 7. I told him that was the most incredible thing I had heard in a long time and closed the chat.

I don't blame the support tech. It was not his fault that Samsung decided to not provide any Windows 7 support for this laptop. Samsung probably got financial benefits from Microsoft for doing so to push Windows 8 and ignore their own customers.

So I had to go on my own. The support tech did provide a useful tip, which was that I could use the Samsung SW Update tool on a non-Samsung PC. I did that. First I found an earlier model of the Ultrabook, NP540U3C-A03UB, which did support Windows 7, and downloaded the Wireless LAN drivers. Luckily, the two models did use the same (or similar) Intel Centrino wireless chip that the driver worked.

Once on the network, I was able to download and install the Samsung SW Update tool on the Ultrabook. Then I was able to find a list of the drivers available for Windows 8 on this machine and compare the list to other Samsung models with the same or similar hardware that support Windows 7. From there, finding and installing all drivers, except for the touch screen, became much easier.

It turned out, I was able to get all drivers from two other Samsung models:

From NP530U3C-A03US, I got:

• Wireless LAN driver, which I later upgraded to the latest version found on Intel's website.
• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000, Intel® Iris™ and HD graphics Driver
• USB 3.0: Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver

From  NP550P5C-A03US:

• Chipset: Chipset Driver
• Intel Management Engine (ME)  Interface: Intel ME Interface Driver
• Ethernet: LAN Driver
• Utilities:
• Easy Settings
• Easy Software Manager
• EasyFileShare
• ExpressCache
• Intel Rapid Storage Technology

After that, the Ultrabook became a fully functional Windows 7 machine.