Windows 7 setup fails on HP laptop 17-by2631ng

I'm trying to install Windows 7 64-bit on the HP laptop 17-by2631ng.

• Booting from the Windows 7 DVD started working after disabling Secure Boot in BIOS. The "Windows is loading files" screen works, but then the animated Windows logo at the "Starting Windows" screen freezes before the installation can start.

  I saw here that setting BIOS from UEFI to Legacy can help, but there is no such option in the BIOS. Updating the BIOS didn't help.

  The file D:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setuperr looks as follows:

  2019-12-10 02:07:53, Error [0x0602a9] IBS CallBack_AddDriverPackageIntoDriverStore:Failed to install the driver package [C:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iastorac.inf_amd64_eea3cf789013ad4f\iastorac.inf]. Driver package is [Critical]. Error code is [0x32][gle=0x00000032]

  2019-12-10 02:07:53, Error [0x0602ab] IBS CallBack_AddDriverPackageIntoDriverStore:An error occurred while installing the driver package [] offline GLE is [0x32][gle=0x00000032]

  Does it really mean C:\windows\ rather than D:\$WINDOWS.~BT\windows\, i.e. the existing Windows 10 is messing with the Windows 7 setup? Anyway, I can't find any files with iastorac in their filename anywhere.

• Booting from a Windows 7 USB key doesn't work, the PC doesn't recognize it. Booting from USB is enabled in BIOS, but when pressing F9 during startup to list the boot options, the USB key doesn't appear in the list.

• Starting Windows 7 setup from a DVD or USB or ISO while running Windows 10 fails as follows:

  • "Check compatibility online" fails with "Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor was unable to reach the Microsoft server for compatibility information" even though the internet connection works.
  • With "Install now" → "Go online to get the latest updates for installation", the download of updates (only 1089 KB) works, but their installation fails with "Windows could not update the installation files. To install Windows, close Setup and restart the installation. Error code: 0x6"
  • With "Install now" → "Do not get the latest updates for installation" → "Custom (advanced)" and choosing an empty partition, I get the warning "The partitions on the disk selected for installation are not in the recommended order", click OK, "Copying Windows files" finishes, but "Expanding Windows files" fails at 20% with "Windows installation cannot continue because a required driver could not be installed."

• The attempts above (I think the ones made while running Windows 10) managed to create a boot menu with the options "Windows Setup" [that's Windows 7 Setup] and "Windows 10" [the currently installed OS]. "Windows Setup" freezes at the animated logo, as described above. Pressing F8 offers more options for "Windows Setup":

  • Safe Mode reveals that the freeze happens after disk.sys is loaded. Renaming pcmcia.sys to pcmcia.bak as recommended here doesn't help.
  • Another boot option promises to create a file Ntbtlog.txt that would reveal what exactly fails, but I can't find such a file later anywhere.

Drop plans for Win 7 on this machine.

"Intel® Core™ i5-10210U Processor" : The 10th generation ( Comet Lake ) Intel processor.

From 6th generation ( Skylake ) onward , the things have got a little difficult for win 7. But there are hidden drivers available for those notebooks & their devices.

As you move to later generations : Kabylake /CoffeLake /Ryzen Threadripper ( 7th /8th /9th generation ), It gets more & more difficult to deal with. People are still so keen on Win 7 that they are managing with modded drivers, degraded functionality & Image Updaters. 10th generation processor may take some time for that!