Is it possible that newer hardware only supports Windows 10? Can I use Windows 10 drivers during Windows 7 installation?
Skylake CPUs support a new feature called Intel Speed Shift where the CPU itself detects, ok there is nothing to do, let's clock down to save power and reduce heat. And here only Windows 10 supports this feature. So when time moves on, new hardware features are not supported by Windows 7, like UEFI Graphical Output Protocol and here Windows 7 still requires the old VGA Option ROM support to boot. Newer devices like Surface Pro doesn't support VGA and here you can't use Windows 7 at all.
If you don't like the Windows 10 UI/UX (like me), turn your Windows 10 into a Windows 7 by using some 3rd party tools.
- Install the Windows 7 Startmenu
- Install Glass8 to get the Aero Glass effect back
- Install OldNewExplorer to tweak Explorer to be more Win7 like (disable ribbon, change
- Install the Sidebar to have the old Gadgets back until Microsoft adds support for pinning the Live Tile to the Desktop
Now you have the under the hood improvements of Windows 8.x + the improvements from Windows 10, but use the fantastic UX of Windows 7 which is 1000 times better compared to the UX of Windows 10.
Actually, it's the other way around. Software is designed to be run on particular hardware. It's Windows 7 (and Windows XP) that doesn't have the necessary drivers for modern hardware.
However, by hacking around, you can get it to install on your new laptop by slip-streaming the necessary drivers into the Windows 7 installation medium.(I used nLite to slipstream drivers into my XP install ISO and install 32-bit XP on my 64-bit modern laptop.)
The exact procedure and drivers needed depends on your hardware. And as Windows 7 relies on support from third-parties for drivers (i.e. no official support is provided), lots of trial and error is involved.