Using Win7 drivers with 2008 R2

RoyalTech

Can someone verify whether Win7 drivers are compatible with 2008 R2 and if not, what is the solution when looking for drivers for 2008R2? Thanks

NotHackingYou

For which hardware? I found these links for you which suggest they will work.

will the windows 7 drivers be compatible with windows server 2008 r2 , or do I hav to downlad a seperate dirver for it ?

Convert your Windows Server 2008 R2 to a Workstation! - Drivers

sratakhin

Windows 7 and 2008 R2 are based on the same code, so there is no reason why drivers should not be compatible. Actually, with printers you could even use even older drivers, as long as they have a 64-bit version.

RoyalTech

CarlSaiyed: I have been using Windows 7 x64 on the machine I am installing 2008R2 on. It has two Xeon5472 processors. Thanks for the links.

BTW, I have seen both of those posts. I'm not looking to make my server a workstation so the one doesn't really apply. As I stated in the post below, my main worry is about the part where one of the posts says there is no guarantee.

RoyalTech

sratakin: The main reason I am worried is that I have read exactly what you just said but I have also heard about many people having problems with one thing or another. I can say that I am getting more and more confident that things should be alright considering my Windows 7Pro was running quite well.

ptilsen

Vista and 2008 are based on the same kernel, while 2008 R2 and 7 are based on another, but both 2008/Vista nd R2/7 kernels are similar enough that virtually any drivers compatible with one will be compatible with each other. However, a driver's INF file designates what builds of Windows it is compatible with. Many consumer-grade hardware will have INF files that only specify the client OS, as that will be the intended hardware and it costs more to get WHQL certified for both server and client operating systems, and even lacking WHQL, there are potentially increased support costs for a company officially supporting client and server. Similarly, some INFs will specify server OS support and not client support.

That being said, since as I indicated, the kernels between client/server as of Vista and on use the same code base. Thus, the only thing preventing functionality will be the INF file. So "hacking" the INF file (changing a text value) should allow almost any Vista/7 driver to work on 2008/2008 R2, with very few exceptions potentially having issues.

As a side note, a similar INF "hack" allows laptops with discrete graphics to use the latest AMD/nVidia drivers. Laptops' hardware will not usually be recognized using the stock AMD/nVidia driver installer, and the OEM will rarely update their version of the vendor driver. A quick INF hack makes the vendor driver work on any laptop, regardless of OEM. This is, sadly, an important aspect of laptop gaming as the performance of new games on old drivers can be pretty terrible.

Anyway, long story short, INF hacks fix almost everything as long as the driver is for the right hardware and the right Windows kernel.

Edit: On another side note, 32-bit XP and 32-bit server 2003 do not use the same kernel but use a very similar kernel (along with Windows 2000). If you apply this type of INF hack to any pre-Vista NT-based OS, you are less likely to have success for this reason. Certain hardware, such as printers, can often be hacked to work between any NT-based OS, but others, such as storage and display, tend to be trickier between versions.

sratakhin

RoyalTech, it's not guaranteed to work but I have yet to see a case when it didn't work Of course, it's not approved by vendors but who cares. I probably wouldn't risk installing any unapproved drivers on a production server though.

P.S. What exactly are you trying to install?

Added later. Actually, I took the risks a few times. We needed to update BIOS and some firmware on a few Dell R710 and 2950 Servers and they all run ESXi. I used a Live Windows 7 CD to run .exe files as installing the same updates in ESXi wasn't as easy as using Windows. Needless to say, Windows 7 is probably not supported on a server with 288 gigs of RAM