[CLOSED, because Outdated] Intel USB 3.0/3.1 support for the newest Intel Chipsets running Win7

I have used that site before, it’s not too bad. The driver you are referring to doesn’t work on my gigabyte, but may work on yours?

Fernando, I consider officially to mean downloaded from Intel’s website. Intel stopped motherboards with Z87. I thought it was X79 but apparently they made one more attempt with Haswell.

Intel USB 3.0 xHCI drivers v5.X seems to be the last official ones from their site. I see only USB 3.0 but not USB 3.1 which either aren’t supported in Windows 7 or Intel USB 3.1 has backward compatibility with USB 3.0 drivers?

The fact the driver numbers jumped from 5.X to 15.X+ seems highly suspicious. I don’t think Intel would purposely skip version numbers that drastically.

Intel USB 3.1 drivers v15.2.30.13 WHQL dated 02/08/2016
Intel USB 3.1 drivers v17.2.70.3 WHQL dated 10/18/2017

Where did these two 15.X,17.X drivers originate? I googled them and found them mostly from Russian weblinks. What were the original links you obtained them?

Have you done USB transfer speed tests with the USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 drivers to notice any difference?

Intel has never published on its Download Center USB drivers for mainboards/systems, which have not been manufactured by Intel.

Contrary to the older Intel USB driver platforms v1 (only USB 3.0 support) and v15/17 (only USB 3.1 support) the newest Intel USB drivers of the v5 platform do support Intel USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 Controllers while running Win7.

Intel neither jumped from 5.X to 15.X (it was vice versa) nor is that action suspicious. What Intel has done at the end of 2016 was a driver support unification for their USB 3.0/3.1 Controllers by starting a new Intel USB 3.0/3.1 driver platform v5.

They were released by Intel and are WHQL certified by Microsoft. The Intel Download Center doesn’t offer them anymore, but you can still get them >here< at Station-Drivers.



I have a similar problem finding a driver for A36D (USB 3.1). Available installed windows 7 x64 in which I can test the driver in case if any found

@Fernando
Intel does not have to publish USB drivers for other manufacturers but if the other manufacturers which now produce MBs with the Intel USB 3.0/3.1 xHCI Intel can release a generic USB 3.0/3.1 driver which should work with those MBs if the proper hardware IDs are added if they are missing. The other MBs probably used this generic driver release and added their own specific hardware IDs to it and posted on their own site.

I have located an updated Intel one for you to examine/modify.
This an official Intel USB 3.0/3.1 Unified driver as you called it and newer than yours.
Version: 5.0.4.43 v2
Date: 9/28/2018


https://downloadmirror.intel.com/22824/e…5.0.4.43_v2.zip

So v15-v17 at one point had links on the Intel Website? Any chance you archived these links as they can be redownloaded directly from the official link on wayback and the original page is still preserved which may contain download links for readme or other files at the time which are not included in the driver package?

One issue with Intel branded USB 3.X drivers that seem different than USB PCIe card ones that I have noticed that maybe you have explored and can explain what is the purpose of the HCSWITCH folder drivers? When are these used?

At one point I recall before you started to release certificate integrated drivers on your site there was a writeup that explained how to generate your own certificates from several users. Where is that instructional page or was it removed by you? I’d like to learn how to insert the certifications myself to do some XP, Vista, and W7 driver slipstream testing for other device drivers.

Why should Intel do that without any order and payment done by the OEMs?

That is nonsense. No mainboard manufacturer has ever touched and will ever touch any driver or INF file delivered by any chipset manufacturer.

There is nothing to examine or modify by me. Please have a look into the start post of >this< thread. There you can read, that only the installer has been updated in August 2018, but the drivers themselves were still the old ones dated 05/11/2017.

Why should Intel do that without any order and payment done by the OEMs?
Why should Intel provide drivers for their Intel USB 3.0/3.1 devices to other manufacturers?



Fernando I don’t work for Intel or any MB manufacturer to answer that question or have inside knowledge so I can only speculate how Intel profits from this. I don’t know what their deal is with MB manufacturers as there is a NDA most likely. Intel could decide to not allow or give information on how to integrate their USB 3.X controller with their new CPU / chipset so new MB manufacturers would be screwed. Larger well known MB manufacturers such as Asus would probably have enough power and knowledge to create their work around. One such work around is partnering up with another USB controller manufacturer. Asmedia USB controllers are commonly found on some of their motherboards which they can use as a shield if Intel were to flex their muscles and decide to disallow ASUS from knowing how to integrate USB v4.0 into their MBs due to a dispute ASUS could still survive and offer Intel MBs that used only Asmedia USB controllers and being in the motherboard business for long long I can’t see any reason why they couldn’t figure out how to make a future Intel CPU work on their MB if Intel shut them out completely

If I were to guess Intel wants to control your equipment and what you use it for or on. Take for example the introduction of USB 3.0 xHCI which excluded Windows XP and Vista support from the beginning. By making people deal with having dead USB ports on those operating systems they caused people to either update to Windows 7 or not be able to use those USB 3.0 ports. That’s control plain and simple. Whether or not Intel gets a cent from MB manufacturers at all for using Intel based USB controllers I have no clue.

At one point Firewire from Apple had to be licensed if I remember correctly but now that USB has killed Firewire there is only one show in town and it’s USB so with that power, exclusivity, and dominance they can decide what Operating systems to support and write drivers for since most motherboards had mainly Intel based USB controllers. This is why I predict Intel when USB v4.0 is finally released they may consider not providing USB v4.0 drivers for Windows 7 or 8.X and will only be made exclusively for Windows 10 as a deal with Microsoft to force more users to upgrade if DirectX 12.0 wasn’t enough of an incentive and the security threats scare tactic which will begin for Windows 7 as it was done for XP and Vista when they don’t change their minds.

But by Intel controlling and manipulating users to upgrade an OS means profits for them. A unsavy computer user may decide to buy a new computer with Windows 10 on it which means a new Intel CPU and a new Intel MB which means $$$ to Intel and MB manufacturers. They both win.

My Intel USB 3.X official driver link was only to demonstrate that Intel still releases USB 3.X drivers on their website despite no longer making desktop Intel MBs since Haswell.

That is nonsense. No mainboard manufacturer has ever touched and will ever touch any driver or INF file delivered by any chipset manufacturer.



I took a peak at some SATA floppy drivers released by Intel officially from their site and compared it to some Asrock ones just to be certain if manufacturers ever tampered at all with the driver zip found on Intel.

Let’s assume MB manufacturers get the drivers first from Intel because this is what the evidence indicates. One thing I noticed is Asrock did tamper with the file but not the actual driver or .INF was modified but the TXTSETUP.OEM was altered from what Intel has on their site.
The TXTSETUP.OEM date released from Intel is after the date of the MB manufacturer. Also besides the dates being different the file sizes are also. Examining both files I noticed what they had done differently to suit their motherboard. So this indicates that manufacturers do not always release the same exact driver zip that Intel publishes on their official site for download.

This is not exactly nonsense as you can see the proof below it has been done.


[Asrock] TXTSETUP.OEM v10.8.0.1003
Monday, May 09, 2011, 4:18:10 PM
2.43 KB (2,493 bytes)


; Copyright (c) 2003-11 Intel Corporation
;#############################################################################
;#
;# Filename: TXTSETUP.OEM
;#
;#############################################################################
[Disks]
bit32 = “Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology Driver”, \i386\iaStor.sys, \i386
bit64 = “Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology Driver”, \AMD64\iaStor.sys, \AMD64


[Defaults]
scsi = iaAHCI32_DesktopWorkstationServer

;#############################################################################
[scsi]

; iaAHCI.inf
iaAHCI32_DesktopWorkstationServer = "Intel(R) Desktop Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller - Windows XP"
iaAHCI64_DesktopWorkstationServer = “Intel(R) Desktop Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller - Windows XP64”

; iaStor.inf
iaStor32_DesktopWorkstationServer = "Intel(R) Desktop Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller - Windows XP"
iaStor64_DesktopWorkstationServer = “Intel(R) Desktop Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller - Windows XP64”


;#############################################################################

; iaAHCI.inf
[Files.scsi.iaAHCI32_DesktopWorkstationServer]
driver = bit32, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = bit32, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = bit32, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI64_DesktopWorkstationServer]
driver = bit64, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = bit64, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = bit64, iaAHCI.cat

; iaStor.inf
[Files.scsi.iaStor32_DesktopWorkstationServer]
driver = bit32, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = bit32, iaStor.inf
catalog = bit32, iaStor.cat

[Files.scsi.iaStor64_DesktopWorkstationServer]
driver = bit64, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = bit64, iaStor.inf
catalog = bit64, iaStor.cat



;#############################################################################
[Config.iaStor]
value = “”, tag, REG_DWORD, 1b
value = “”, ErrorControl, REG_DWORD, 1
value = “”, Group, REG_SZ, "SCSI Miniport"
value = “”, Start, REG_DWORD, 0
value = “”, Type, REG_DWORD, 1

;#############################################################################

; iaAHCI.inf
[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI32_DesktopWorkstationServer]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C02&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI64_DesktopWorkstationServer]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C02&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

; iaStor.inf
[HardwareIds.scsi.iaStor32_DesktopWorkstationServer]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2822&CC_0104”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaStor64_DesktopWorkstationServer]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2822&CC_0104”,“iaStor”



[Intel] TXTSETUP.OEM v10.8.0.1003
Monday, October 17, 2011, 3:34:12 PM
5.19 KB (5,322 bytes)

; Copyright (c) 2003-11 Intel Corporation
;#############################################################################
;#
;# Filename: TXTSETUP.OEM
;#
;#############################################################################
[Disks]
disk1 = “Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology Driver”, iaStor.sys, <br />
[Defaults]
scsi = iaStor_Mobile

;#############################################################################
[scsi]

; iaAHCI.inf
iaAHCI_7RDH = "Intel(R) ICH7R/DH SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_7MMDH = "Intel(R) ICH7M/MDH SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_9RDODH = "Intel(R) ICH9R/DO/DH SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_9MEM = "Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_10DDO = "Intel(R) ICH10D/DO SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_10R = "Intel(R) ICH10R SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_5 = "Intel(R) 5 Series 4 Port SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_5_1 = "Intel(R) 5 Series 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_5_1_1 = "Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_DesktopWorkstationServer = "Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_Mobile = “Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller”

; iaStor.inf
iaStor_7RDH = "Intel(R) ICH7R/DH SATA RAID Controller"
iaStor_7MDH = "Intel(R) ICH7MDH SATA RAID Controller"
iaStor_DesktopWorkstationServer = "Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller"
iaStor_Mobile = “Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller”

;#############################################################################

; iaAHCI.inf
[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_7RDH]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_7MMDH]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_9RDODH]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_9MEM]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_10DDO]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_10R]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_5]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_5_1]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_5_1_1]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_DesktopWorkstationServer]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat

[Files.scsi.iaAHCI_Mobile]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf
catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat


; iaStor.inf
[Files.scsi.iaStor_7RDH]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaStor.inf
catalog = disk1, iaStor.cat

[Files.scsi.iaStor_7MDH]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaStor.inf
catalog = disk1, iaStor.cat

[Files.scsi.iaStor_DesktopWorkstationServer]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaStor.inf
catalog = disk1, iaStor.cat

[Files.scsi.iaStor_Mobile]
driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk1, iaStor.inf
catalog = disk1, iaStor.cat


;#############################################################################
[Config.iaStor]
value = “”, tag, REG_DWORD, 1b
value = “”, ErrorControl, REG_DWORD, 1
value = “”, Group, REG_SZ, "SCSI Miniport"
value = “”, Start, REG_DWORD, 0
value = “”, Type, REG_DWORD, 1

;#############################################################################

; iaAHCI.inf
[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_7RDH]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C1&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_7MMDH]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C5&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_9RDODH]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2922&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_9MEM]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2929&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_10DDO]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3A02&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_10R]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3A22&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_5]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B29&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_5_1]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B2F&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_5_1_1]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3B22&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_DesktopWorkstationServer]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C02&CC_0106”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI_Mobile]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C03&CC_0106”,“iaStor”


; iaStor.inf
[HardwareIds.scsi.iaStor_7RDH]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C3&CC_0104”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaStor_7MDH]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C6&CC_0104”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaStor_DesktopWorkstationServer]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2822&CC_0104”,“iaStor”

[HardwareIds.scsi.iaStor_Mobile]
id = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_282A&CC_0104”,“iaStor”

@XPLives :
Although you have again written a lot of things, I couldn’t find any proof for your statement, that a mainboard manufacturer has changed a single character in any driver file, which has been released by Intel.
Intel can customize as often as it wants its own drivers, but it would never allow any OEM to touch Intel drivers (not even the content of a simple text file like a txtsetup.oem).
Furthermore I repeat: Intel’s Download Center has never “officially” released any Intel drivers for customers, who are using an ASUS, Gigabyte, ASRock or MSI mainboard. The delivery of suitable drivers for their mainboards is the task of the mainboard manufacturers themselves and not the Chipset manufacturers.
Nevertheless all drivers, which are (and have to be) offered by the OEMs, are made by the Company, which had built the related on-board Controller (here: Intel). Intel has never allowed and will never allow any mainboard manufacturer to touch Intel’s drivers.

so, has 0xDEAD given up yet? :slight_smile:

I read in another thread that he thinks there are unreferenced calls to kernel that don’t exist in win7, would it be that hard to include missing functions or infact the whole ntoskrnl into the drivers? maybe just copying win10 ntoskrnl to win7/system32 might do something?

I PM’ed both Fernando and Mov AX, 0xDEAD the generic xHCI and Hub drivers from the Windows “8” 6.1.7850 beta which have a different “failure code” than the newer drivers do (meaning they might not require the kernel calls that they do, and might possibly be modded.) I’m just waiting to see what the consensus is on them and why they fail, or if they possibly might work as a fix for this.

@Omicron :
Contrary to his previous announcement our Forum member Mov_AX, 0xDEAD has told me recently, that he is not willing to modify any real driver (= *.SYS file) and to release such driver to the public, because he doesn’t want to get in conflict with the Copyright rules of the chipset manufacturers and I absolutely understand his decision.
So you can forget your idea. I am sorry about that.

Okay, fair enough - I can understand that. Probably about time I started to look at Linux anyway as even if this problem is fixed, Windows 7 is still on its way out.

@XPLives :
Since your initiated discussion about the questions “Do Motherboard manufacturers modify Intel Drivers?” had nothing to do with the topic of this thread, I have split this thread and moved our discussion into >this< freshly created separate thread.
By the way: No Intel USB driver (topic of this thread) and no Windows OS, which is topic of this Sub-Forum (Win7/Vista/W2k8), needs a driver, which contains a file named TXTSETUP.OEM.

I highly doubt even Mov_AX could reverse engineer this USB driver from Windows 10 back to work in Windows 7 even if it were legal to do so. You would still require the source code if you wanted to make this happen and all those dependencies missing from Windows 7 would be another issue that wouldn’t make it easy. For the very same reason why Vista never got Intel USB 3.0 drivers even though it’s much more similar to Windows 7 than Windows 10 is to 7.

I think it might be possible and maybe easier to modify the native MS Windows 7 USB 3.0 driver to work from within. However I don’t know if USB 3.1 is backwards compatible to USB 3.0 driver so I cannot be certain even if this will work. USB 3.1 could be as foreign as USB 3.0 is to USB 2.0. If Windows 10 USB 3.0 specific drivers work on USB 3.1 controllers then that would be a sign that USB 3.1 is backwards compatible with USB 3.0 drivers. If your Z390 MB only has USB 3.1 controllers and no USB 3.0 controllers and if USB 3.1 is not compatible with USB 3.0 drivers then at this point I would say it might be a dead end considering a W10 to W7 USB modded driver. The easier more likely option for you would be to get a USB PCIe 3.0 card and slipstream the USB 3.0 drivers into a custom W7 OS installation DVD and that would be the only way you could possibly use the system with USB 3.0 support.

If you’re lucky I would assume your MB has a mix of USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 controllers so maybe checking the specs if there are any headers on the MB for USB 3.0 controllers and you might be in luck as some only have USB 3.1 ports on the rear of the motherboard and the motherboard headers will have the older USB 3.0 assuming they haven’t phased out USB 3.0 entirely on the Z390.

The driver mentioned was a beta 8 driver for the 6.1.7850 version, not 10 (which no, you cannot mod due to function calls it makes.) There are no native MS xHCI 3.0 drivers for 7.

I was thinking about Windows 8 for some reason which has it. Then you can only rely on the Intel USB 3.0 driver v1.0 and test that one. But it sounds like you tried a modified version of that and failed so the USB 3.0 PCIe card is your only hope.

So, just another train of thought… Are there any drivers for Z390 on linux? Since linux is open source, the drivers might be recompilable to winblows.
For those willing to try… https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows…d-on-a-template :slight_smile:

You’d need access to the source code of the driver to begin with, the drivers for Linux - to my knowledge, are provided in some sort of binary blob just like they are on Windows and are not open source.

EDIT: Maybe not, it does sound like the USB driver is open source for Linux. The task would still be complex though as you’d need to actually reprogram the driver for Windows for its "driver model."

Maybe someone familiar with programming Windows and Linux drivers could try it…

Meanwhile this problem has been solved (look >here<).
That is why this outdated thread has been closed by me.