I bought a license for Windows 7 Professional 64-bit from an authorized Microsoft reseller, and was given a product key and a link where I downloaded the .iso file from the reseller's website. When I initiated the install in Parallels Desktop, setup started normally, but soon there was a window stating, "A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now." There are options to Browse or Cancel. I can't seem to get beyond this point (there is no "Ignore" or equivalent), so all I can find to do is to abort the install. Is this a known problem when installing Windows 7 in Parallels Desktop? I've done a number of installs of other Windows versions (10, XP, etc), and have never seen this error before.
Dear Frank, Thank you for your feedback. Kindly follow the steps below to download and create a new Windows 7 Pro 64-bit virtual machine: 1. Create a new Windows 11 Virtual Machine (If you already have a Windows 10/11 virtual machine you can follow step 2 directly): 1.0) click the Parallels icon on top of the mac menu bar > Control Center) 1.1) In the upper right corner, click on the "+" button. 1.2) In the window that appears, click "Continue". 1.3) In the window that appears, click "Get Windows 11 from Microsoft" > "Install Windows". 1.4) Wait until the virtual machine is installed. 2. Once you are on the Windows 11 Desktop > Open Edge Browser > open the link below : https://archive.org/download/windows-7-pro-64/Win7Pro64.iso 2.1) Download the ISO (It will be downloaded to the mac's download folder). 2.2) Shut Down the Windows Virtual machine (Actions > Shutdown) 2.3) Click on the Parallels Icon on top of the mac menu bar > Control Center > In the upper right corner, click on the "+" button 2.4) In the window that appears, click "Install Windows or another OS from a DVD or image file" > Click Continue > Choose Manually > select a file 2.5) Navigate to the Downloads folder > Select the "Win7Pro64.iso" and click open > Continue > If you have the activation key, enter it and press Continue. 2.6) Click continue > Create > Select Windows 7 Professional > Next > The installation shall begin. Thank you!
Actually I tried searching here on the phrasing of the error statement, and saw posts (all quite old) from people who encountered the error when installing Windows 7. It seems that a corrupt .iso file was the most frequent cause. I downloaded again from the reseller, but got the same error when I tried the install within Parallels Desktop. When I did a web search for Windows 7 download, the Microsoft links all reported that Windows 7 support had ended. Is there anywhere trustable where an .iso file for Windows 7 Pro 64-bit can be downloaded?
Per instructions from the reseller that I bought the Windows 7 Pro 64-bit license from, I downloaded the .iso install file from their website and used an ISO-to-USB utility they recommended to burn it onto a 32GB USB thumb drive, set to make the thumb drive bootable. I then started Parallels Desktop and made selections to install Windows 7 from the bootable thumb drive. However, a short time into the install I am still seeing this error message about the need for a driver: Any suggestions on how to resolve this? The reseller is certain that the .iso file is not corrupted; I've downloaded it several times and am reasonable sure there wasn't a problem during download.
Dear Frank, Thank you for your feedback. Kindly follow the steps below to download and create a new Windows 7 Pro 64-bit virtual machine: 1. Create a new Windows 11 Virtual Machine (If you already have a Windows 10/11 virtual machine you can follow step 2 directly): 1.0) click the Parallels icon on top of the mac menu bar > Control Center) 1.1) In the upper right corner, click on the "+" button. 1.2) In the window that appears, click "Continue". 1.3) In the window that appears, click "Get Windows 11 from Microsoft" > "Install Windows". 1.4) Wait until the virtual machine is installed. 2. Once you are on the Windows 11 Desktop > Open Edge Browser > open the link below : https://archive.org/download/windows-7-pro-64/Win7Pro64.iso 2.1) Download the ISO (It will be downloaded to the mac's download folder). 2.2) Shut Down the Windows Virtual machine (Actions > Shutdown) 2.3) Click on the Parallels Icon on top of the mac menu bar > Control Center > In the upper right corner, click on the "+" button 2.4) In the window that appears, click "Install Windows or another OS from a DVD or image file" > Click Continue > Choose Manually > select a file 2.5) Navigate to the Downloads folder > Select the "Win7Pro64.iso" and click open > Continue > If you have the activation key, enter it and press Continue. 2.6) Click continue > Create > Select Windows 7 Professional > Next > The installation shall begin. Thank you!
