Install Windows from USB Flash

[Mardak]

Would it be possible to install Windows (7) for BootCamp from a USB Flash Drive instead of burning it to a DVDROM?

Installing Windows (Vista) from a Flash Drive (http://kurtsh.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DA410C7F7E038D!1665.entry) [live.com] is possible and potentially faster than installing from DVD or ethernet. I'm assuming this should work for Windows 7 as well.

So the question that remains is if BootCamp can boot? install from? USB. (I've never tried BootCamp, so I'm not familiar with the process of even starting an install.)

(I don't think it'll affect much, but I'm using a new Al MacBook.)

[r.j.s]

No, I don't think BC will recognize a USB drive as a boot option.

[2ndtoJohn]

No, I don't think BC will recognize a USB drive as a boot option.

Damn. I was also hoping to install Windows 7 from a flash drive as my DVD burns have been failing (tried 5 times).

Can anyone else confirm/deny his claim?

[Animalk]

I would like to know the answer to this as well.

[Killthee]

From what I've read, that method will work for Windows 7 on a PC/anything that allows you to boot off of USB. I'm not sure about the new Unibody Mac's, but unfortunately the old MB/P's EFI is unable to boot legacy OS's (Windows & Linux) off of USB. The same is probably true for the Unibody Mac's but it wouldn't hurt to try.

Booting into a bootloader that allows you to boot the Windows 7 installation from a USB drive should work, this is what I'm currently trying to do to bypass the USB boot limitation on my MBP with a busted superdrive.

As for BootCamp, it's nothing but a glorified partition editor that has nothing to do with the boot process.

[cathyy]

I'm not sure about Windows 7, but it's not possible on Vista and XP. I recall reading something about the USB port turning off halfway in the boot-up process, and I figure it should be the same for Windows 7.

Your best bet (and probably your only bet) would be to burn it into a DVD.

[hullscott]

cathyy, I work in a school and we have a group of netbooks, all of which have had microsoft XP installed through a USB pen drive. We have also installed Vista with this method.

We are currently trying to install Windows 7 in the same way, so I will let you know how it goes

[thefunkymunky]

It is possible because thats how I installed Windows 7 on my Rev. A. MBP.

First make sure that you have first made the USB flash bootable by following the instructons in Mardak's first post an copied the Windows DVD/ISO to the flash drive as instructed. I also copied the Boot Camp drivers folder on to the flash drive as well for convenience.

You need to download and install rEFIt (http://refit.sourceforge.net/) on your OSX drive. This allows more EFI options during the boot process, e.g. booting another operating system besides OSX off of USB drive.

Plug in the USB flash drive, boot your Mac, hold down Option, select the rEFIt option on the boot menu then you should see the USB drive as an option to boot. You also need to do the following to allow Boot Camp to run successfully under Windows 7 - you can install the drivers manually but some options like keyboard support don't work this way.

'setup.exe' works fine under W7, its the .msi package that 'setup.exe' links to that doesn't work - its this bit that does the Windows version checking. To get Boot Camp setup working correctly on W7, do the following.

First off, copy the Boot Camp drivers folder to your Windows hard drive.

Download and install Easy MSI Editor (http://www.brothersoft.com/easy-msi-editor-download-70589.html).

Run Easy MSI Editor and open up the BootCamp.msi file from your hard drive. You'll see a table in Easy MSI. Scroll down the left hand column and delete the entry that says "LaunchCondition". Save and exit Easy MSI.

Now run setup.exe from the drivers folder you copied to your hard drive from the Leopard DVD. The setup should run and install the neccessary drivers for your system.

Thats how did it albeit for a Rev. A. MBP and W7 32-bit but the procedure should work for W7 64-bit. Though I can seem to get Bluetooth pairing working properly even though Windows says everything is installed OK.

You should edit BootCamp64.msi if you want the 64-bit drivers.

[Mardak]

First make sure that you have first made the USB flash bootable by following the instructons in Mardak's first post
What exactly are you referring to? The USB flash should have a FAT32 partition with a GUID partition map?

I've tried both Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and FAT on GUID, but both don't seem to work; however, with the Mac OS Extended partition, rEFIt sees the USB drive but I keep getting "Error: Unsupported while loading bootmgr.efi" when selecting the USB drive from rEFIt.

[thefunkymunky]

What exactly are you referring to? The USB flash should have a FAT32 partition with a GUID partition map?

I've tried both Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and FAT on GUID, but both don't seem to work; however, with the Mac OS Extended partition, rEFIt sees the USB drive but I keep getting "Error: Unsupported while loading bootmgr.efi" when selecting the USB drive from rEFIt.

You need to format the drive with FAT32 and MBR partition map not GUID. MBR is needed for a bootable Windows drive. GUID is used to boot OSX on Intel Macs.

[Mardak]

I reformatted my USB Flash to MBR with a FAT32 partition for my MacBook5,1.

I also copied the boot directory contents under /efi/microsoft directory to /boot.

I get one of these two errors from rEFIt:

Error: Unsupported while loading bootmgr.efi
Error: No mapping returned from cdboot.efi

Should I be doing something from the rEFIt shell?

(Just to clarify if it wasn't clear. I'm trying to install from a USB Flash with the contents of the Windows 7 iso -- not install Windows 7 to a USB flash and boot from it. You mentioned booting a Windows drive from FAT32, but I'm not sure if that's as important for the installer.)

[thefunkymunky]

I reformatted my USB Flash to MBR with a FAT32 partition for my MacBook5,1.

I also copied the boot directory contents under /efi/microsoft directory to /boot.

I get one of these two errors from rEFIt:

Error: Unsupported while loading bootmgr.efi
Error: No mapping returned from cdboot.efi

Should I be doing something from the rEFIt shell?

(Just to clarify if it wasn't clear. I'm trying to install from a USB Flash with the contents of the Windows 7 iso -- not install Windows 7 to a USB flash and boot from it. You mentioned booting a Windows drive from FAT32, but I'm not sure if that's as important for the installer.)

Do you have access to a PC running Vista? I've got a feeling OSX isn't formatting the flash drive correctly. I did the following on my flash drive in Vista - the same procedure you linked to in your first post - and it worked for me. If you don't try formatting the flash drive via Disk Utility to FAT32 (MS-DOS) and MBR partition map. Then drag and drop the contents of the Windows 7 ISO directly to the root directory of the flash drive. Make sure the root directory matches that of the W7 ISO exactly.

Format Flash Drive
Run CMD.EXE and type the following. Note: This set of commands assumes that the USB flash drive is addressed as "disk 1". you should double check that by doing a list of the disks (type "list disk") before cleaning it. If you have multiple hard drives, like an SDFlash drive or a Multibay drive, you could end up wiping your second drive using this command.
(This was a warning that Josh added to his post along with the following commands that I copied from him, so kudos to Josh)

1. diskpart
2. select disk 1
3. clean
4. create partition primary
5. select partition 1
6. active
7. format fs=fat32
8. assign
9. exit

# Copy Windows Vista's DVD ROM content to the Flash Drive
Simply issue the following command to start copying all the content from the Windows Vista DVD to your newly formatted high speed flash drive.

* xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\

[Mardak]

Then drag and drop the contents of the Windows 7 ISO directly to the root directory of the flash drive. Make sure the root directory matches that of the W7 ISO exactly.
I've got a machine with XP, but I had to install an unofficial Microsoft virtual CD tool to mount the ISO. Now when I boot up in rEFIt, it gives an option..

Boot Windows from USBCARD

But when I select it..

Starting legacy loader
Using load options 'USB'
Error: Not Found returned from legacy loader

The firmware refused to boot from the selected volume. Note that external hard drives are not well-supported by Apple's firmware for legacy OS booting.

Perhaps it's something with the newest unibody MacBooks.

[thefunkymunky]

I've got a machine with XP, but I had to install an unofficial Microsoft virtual CD tool to mount the ISO. Now when I boot up in rEFIt, it gives an option..

Boot Windows from USBCARD

But when I select it..

Starting legacy loader
Using load options 'USB'
Error: Not Found returned from legacy loader

The firmware refused to boot from the selected volume. Note that external hard drives are not well-supported by Apple's firmware for legacy OS booting.

Perhaps it's something with the newest unibody MacBooks.

Have you got Fusion or Parallels? Or try burning the ISO to DVD. Maybe the ISO is corrupt but if it boots in Fusion or Parallels you know it's OK.

[Mardak]

The ISO for the 64bit was fine. The md5 and sha1 both matched up.

I also tried the 32bit version, and I ran into the same problem of "legacy boot firmware issues."

However, I just tried the 32bit version on my USB flash on my 6 year old PC, and it's booting just fine after I select the USB boot option. So I guess it's just something rEFIt + unibody MacBook doesn't support.

[Ldoh]

Same here,

funkymunky, you're the only person I've heard of so far who managed to do this,


It's this problem: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=510030&page=9 (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=510030&page=9)


I'm on MBPC2D on Leopard with MBP21.00A5.B08, 1.14f5, rEFIt 0.12

I've tried this several times now, even with a firewire drive, and it still gives the same problem,



Starting legacy loader
Using load option 'USB'
Error: Not Found returned from legacy loader
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Load Error while (re)opening our installation volume

The firmware refused to boot from the selected volume. Note that external
hard drives are not well-supported by Apple's firmware for legacy OS booting.

* Hit any key to continue *

[thefunkymunky]

I thought for a minute that it might be the 64-bit version of W7 as this has a problem with efi booting as listed for Vista here (http://blog.aproductofsociety.org/?p=13).

Mardak, you say you've tried 32-bit and that also failed, correct? I've installed on a Rev. A. MBP 15-inch with 32-bit W7.

[Mardak]

That's correct. I tried the 32bit one and it gave the same legacy boot problem, but it works fine on my Dell desktop.

Curious, what option in rEFIt did you select?

[thefunkymunky]

That's correct. I tried the 32bit one and it gave the same legacy boot problem, but it works fine on my Dell desktop.

Curious, what option in rEFIt did you select?

The boot from USB drive option, far right.

[cronnos]

The boot from USB drive option, far right.

So if I follow this instructions here, I'll be able to install any Windows OS into my Intel Macbook (4,1 I believe) through a USB drive or USB pen drive? My Macbook's superdrive is busted...

[thefunkymunky]

So if I follow this instructions here, I'll be able to install any Windows OS into my Intel Macbook (4,1 I believe) through a USB drive or USB pen drive? My Macbook's superdrive is busted...

Thats the theory yes. Some people are having problems though. It worked for me first time but I'm on an old(ish) Mac. Think it might have something to do with the unibody notebooks.

[MattZani]

Im hoping to do this too, as i have no DVD-R's. Will try tomorrow. Would be great if this worked for Snow Leopard too!

[MattZani]

rEFIt isnt even seeing my 8Gb USB Stick Formatted to MS-DOS with the W7 ISO on, the USB is working as the light is pulsing, but rEFIt see's nothing.

Trying 10.6 now, to see if the .iso couldnt be seen, and the .dmg can, either way i want them both installed.

[kinkster]

Same problem as matt for me. My USB drive isn't showing up with rEFIt. Would this mean I haven't correctly copied the Win 7 files over and refit recognizes that the usb drive isn't bootable or would it show up none the less?

edit: Rev B mba

[laughinghan]

@ MattZani, kinkster:

I encountered the same problem and nearly gave up until I realized that even if you have rEFIt set to 'enabled-always', it won't detect CDs or USB drives unless you press Option on startup, select rEFIt in Apple's built-in boot menu, and then you'll get the rEFIt boot screen complete with CDs and USB drives.

Unfortunately I'm about to give up again, because I'm getting the same error message Mardak is getting:

Starting legacy loader
Using load options 'USB'
Error: Not Found returned from legacy loader

The firmware refused to boot from the selected volume. Note that external
hard drives are not well-supported by Apple's firmware for legacy OS booting.

Although the fact that I'm on a Al MacBook too does seem to lend credence to Mardak's suggestion that it's a problem with the new MacBook, I still don't believe it. Perhaps someone with more expertise can tell us exactly what rEFIt can't find?

Mardak, if you have any progress please post, many will be grateful. Thefunkymunky, did you actually use the instructions in the first post, or did you follow a different but seemingly equivalent tutorial? Perhaps there's some nuanced step we're all skipping.

When I have the opportunity, I'm going to attempt to boot a PC and a crusty old white MacBook from my USB drive, which I'm pretty sure is fine. I'll report back here when I do.

I'm trying to boot Tiny XP on a Late 2008 Aluminum "Unibody" 2.4 GHz MacBook5,1.

Many thanks,

Han

[laughinghan]

I just found a page on rEFIt's official website specifically about "Error: Not found while loading legacy loader" errors. It doesn't say anything about the new Al MacBooks, but it dates from 2006, so that's not the point. The point is this problem has appeared in previous Macs and apparently, it's resurfaced. Insert expletives or self-encouragement here (not that they're mutually exclusive).

http://refit.sourceforge.net/doc/c4s1_notfound.html

[kinkster]

I believe the problem that you encountered with having rEFIt automatically enabled is that your mac doesn't have time to recognize cd/usb drives before it boots up. Someone on the bug reporting part of refits site had a similar problem when he was trying to boot up from his super drive.

I tried booting into refit with option-key at start up but usb still wont show up.

[laughinghan]

Can't help you there, then. Just to make sure, you do know to copy the files and folders in the downloaded .iso or .dmg to the USB drive, not the .iso or .dmg file itself, right? And you know to copy the files and folders to the root directory of the drive, right?

I tried booting with the same USB drive using a white MacBook and while rEFIt didn't return any errors, I got a "Remove disk or other media" error. According to my research, this suggests that the BIOS was correctly launched when it realized I was booting a "legacy" OS (as in doesn't support EFI) from the USB drive, but because of some missing files on the drive it still wouldn't boot. This is in contrast to the new MacBook which apparently won't even launch the BIOS. I'll reformat and recopy all the files to the drive and try again later.

Han

[laughinghan]

@Kinkster:

Did you format with Disk Utility and copy the files with Finder in Mac OS X? Because that won't work. I just tried that and it doesn't show up in rEFIt. Then I used Disk Utility to reformat the USB drive as entirely free space, Boot Camp-ed over to Windows XP and used Diskpart to partition it, Windows Explorer to format it and xcopy to write all the necessary files.

I think the key is the Diskpart Active command, which sets the partition as bootable or something. There seems to be no equivalent in Mac OS X Disk Utility or Finder.

Note that the USB drive initially won't appear in Diskpart, try this excellent hack: http://www.lancelhoff.com/make-windows-see-any-usb-flash-drive-as-local-disk/

Also, the Windows XP version of Diskpart does not have a Format command, unlike the Vista version, so skip that line in the instructions in the first post. Instead, after partitioning, go to Windows Explorer, right-click the USB drive and use the Format... option to format it. Make sure to use FAT32 not NTFS.

I still get the same error in rEFIt on my Al MacBook and haven't retried booting the white MacBook, but this is one more piece of the puzzle.

Han

[laughinghan]

http://www.lancelhoff.com/multi-partition-a-usb-flash-drive-in-windows/

Sorry if I'm taking over the whole thread...

Han

[kinkster]

ah that must be it. I did format in disk utility. I was thinking refit would show any device regardless of what was on it. ill try it with your advice tomorrow, already 4:30 heh.


You should make a little guide in a new thread. it would probably help quite a few people that won't find this slightly obscure thread.

[Stormwolfski]

I have managed to get Windows 7 (RC1 build 1700) running on my MacBook Pro (MacBookPro1,1). It'd like to say it was easy, but in truth it's taken me about 12 hours.

Reason: My CD/DVD will READ but not WRITE (burn).

The basic steps I went through:


Install rEFIt
Create USB install, as described by thefunkymunky
Use Boot Camp Assistant (10.5.6, BCA 2.0) to repartition the internal drive
Boot holding Option, select rEFIt option, boot Windows 7 installer
Proceed through installer
Install Boot Camp drivers (downloaded via Google, because we can't get them off the 10.5 disk)
Installer drivers for graphics card (X1600) and airport via Windows Update


Now me bitching about why it took so long:

The first issue I had was with rEFIt. It didn't seem to activate itself, so I had to manually run /efi/refit/enable.sh. Easy enough to do, but I had to check the documentation for it.

Then I have some problems creating the USB installer. Formatting in Disk Utility (quick format I think), and copying the files across does not appear to create a bootable disk that rEFIt can use. I didn't have a proper Windows machine to go through the process described by thefunkymunky, but I did have a VM (VMware Fusion) with Vista. So, I mounted the USB stick directly to the VM, and created the disk. I can now boot into the installer using rEFIt.

It is at this point I realise, Windows doesn't let you install it to an external drive (in the way that OS X will quite happily allow you to). So, time to break out Boot Camp and make a partition on my internal drive. The first time around, Boot Camp Assistant tells me it can't move some files, and so can't finish the repartition. I've had this error before. When people first get a Mac, I tell them to create a partition, even if they aren't going to install Windows right away. Disks get themselves confused, and this breaks. Anyway, I tried fixing any errors using Disk Utility from the Leopard install DVD (running on an external firewire drive), but the same error happens. So, I backup and wipe the internal drive, reinstall OS X, then go back to trying to install Windows. It should be noted at the time of writing this, my Windows install is actually more configured than my OS X - ugh!

The installer is running, but at around 44% it complains some install files are missing or corrupt, and it can't continue. Great. So, I boot back into OS X, delete (but not format) all the files on the USB stick. Then I copy them using Finder from the mounted ISO in OS X. Reboot, and another go at installing Windows.

This time it gets all the way through the installer (including reboots where appropriate). It's not until the end it complains that drive C: is corrupt and unreadable. Thankfully these errors don't seem to have caused any real problem. The installer reboots, and next I'm looking at the Windows 7 first run screens.

Once I've got myself logged in, I install the 32-bit (for my lowly Core Duo) drivers from Boot Camp, as downloaded from the Interwebs. The main thing I notice working is audio! Still no graphics acceleration though.

I tried downloading the X1600 Vista 32-bit drivers from the ATI/AMD site, but they didn't seem to do anything. A quick Google, and I see someone asking the same question. Turns out you can download the right drivers (for both gfx and airport) via Windows Update (found in the Control Panel).

So now I have an install of Windows 7. Already they new task bar is creeping me out. This better be worth it.

Update: Things seem to be running fine, with one major exception: If I try to play any games, after a little while (5-20 minutes) the machine will suddenly shutdown, as if it's lost power. *poof* - gone. I don't know if this is a general problem with Win7, or if it's Mac-specific. Either way, it makes it pretty useless to me. :(

Update #2: Installed Vista with similar method, and have the same problem. I don't get this in OS X, so I guess it's an issue with Windows. I don't know if I can be bothered to install XP to test that.

[ken694]

I'm on a C2D MacBook2,1 on Leopard (MB21.00A5.B07, 1.17f0, rEFIt 0.13)

I tried everything as described by the previous posters, but I get the same error as Ldoh:

Starting legacy loader
Using load option 'USB'
Error: Not Found returned from legacy loader
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Load Error while (re)opening our installation volume

The firmware refused to boot from the selected volume. Note that external
hard drives are not well-supported by Apple's firmware for legacy OS booting.

* Hit any key to continue *



It looks like it's possible to do this only on that particular model of MacBook Pro.

[wesrk]

First of all, thanks to all that took some time to post in this thread and share their experiences. I am looking to install windows 7 from my USB drive since my optical drive is messed up and won't read properly.
I will try this sometime during the week and post results here.

[wesrk]

I'm just trying to install windows 7 from the USB drive.

I created the USB boot disk following the instructions, then copied the contents from the ISO to the USB using winrar (extract to), is this ok?
Then I turn on my MBP (not aluminium) with the USB and press the option key, I get the RefIt disk and press enter, then 3 options, boot MAC OS, boot MAC OS from HD and the far right says: Boot Windows From ____ and there is nothing after from, I don't know if this is how it's supposed to look, if it should say boot from USB. Anyways, I select this option, then it goes black and that's when I get: not bootable device, insert disk and press any key

And that's how far I am, up to that message. I followed the guide to create the USB boot, so I'll do it again using a Vista machine (same one I used before) and see if that helps out.
Any tips?

[wesrk]

same problem over and over again creating the bootable USB from Vista, using the same USB flash drive and another one of also 4gb capacity....
any ideas?

Is there a way to extract the DVD image to a new bootcamp partition and boot from there and have it install it in that drive?

[Consultant]

All that to save ONE dollar? wow.

[wesrk]

All that to save ONE dollar? wow.

is that the cost of a dvd-r?
my optical drive is messed up and won't burn or read, so for me, this is the only way, if any.

[Stridder44]

All that to save ONE dollar? wow.


Well when you say it like that...

Really though, I just don't want to re-burn new Windows 7 builds. Plus it'll make me feel like I'm putting this spare 4GB flash drive to use. But yeah, a 100 pack of DVDs are only like $20-$30. It's more about the technological hurdle/challenge to actually do it.

Also thanks for the info in the thread guys. :) Been looking for something like this for a while.

[wesrk]

I'm stll having problems with it. I can create the bootable flash drive using a Vista machine, then I reboot and connect it, refit sees it and it appears in the boot manu, I select it and then it tells me that the device is not bootable.

[Stridder44]

I'm stll having problems with it. I can create the bootable flash drive using a Vista machine, then I reboot and connect it, refit sees it and it appears in the boot manu, I select it and then it tells me that the device is not bootable.


But we're pretty certain it's the EFI that's to blame for this, right? Or is it simply a boot option issue?

I originally had tried using this guide but (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1381323) came up empty.

[wesrk]

But we're pretty certain it's the EFI that's to blame for this, right? Or is it simply a boot option issue?

I originally had tried using this guide but (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1381323) came up empty.

I thik it's a boot option issue. I mean, the thumb drive is properly formatted since it acts like a bootable disk in other machines, and my mbp sees it accordingly, it's just that the next step comes up empty.
I have an early 2008 mbo by the way.

Can I use daemon or other tool under XP to mount the image and install into that same partition XP is on? (this would be in another mbp, not mine)

[wesrk]

But we're pretty certain it's the EFI that's to blame for this, right? Or is it simply a boot option issue?

I originally had tried using this guide but (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1381323) came up empty.

hmm this guide mentions ntsf and we're doing fat32 here, however some members have been successful with fat32

[wesrk]

update:
I think the problem is that my flash drive is just not bootable, even though rEFIt sees it when accessing the options, every time I stick it into another computer it still treats it like a flash drive, so that might be it. I'm calling it quits on this one. Cheers to those that got it working.

edit:
would just mounting the image from inside XP or Vista and then proceed with the installation work? I thought that it wouldn't because of reboots and all of that, but some say that windows 7 just copies the necessary files to the hard drive before the 1st reboot, then goes to work on the installation... again, this is not for my computer but a friend's mbp.

[Stridder44]

hmm this guide mentions ntsf and we're doing fat32 here, however some members have been successful with fat32

I kept running into the problem when entering:

bootsect /nt60 F: (F being the flash drive)

I get the message:

Target volumes will be updated with BOOTMGR compatible bootcode.

Could not map drive partitions to the associated volume device objects: Access is denied.

Mind you I was trying this within Windows 7.

[wesrk]

I kept running into the problem when entering:



I get the message:



Mind you I was trying this within Windows 7.

yeah I got the same thing when I tried that using Vista.

And this is new, apparently my USB flash drive is bootable,my friend used it to install Win 7 on his mbp, no problems at all, so now I know it's my computer that's preventing me from installing. He formatted my usb, so I might stil be doing something wrong although I'm following the guide to the letter.

[spriter]

Add me to the list who've tried with a USB flash drive but get stuck with the error from rEFIt about newer Mac hardware - I tried on a Rev A MBA.

I know what follows uses a SuperDrive but someone ma find it ueful:

After the USB boot drive didn't work, I used my MacBook's Superdrive. Did a clean install of 7100 then shutdown immediately - no installing any updates, no activating or anything else.

Rebooted into OSX, deleted pagefile and hibernating file (which saved around 5GB) and used WinClone to shrink the partition down to 5GB.

Imaged this (again using WinClone) to an external USB hard drive, plugged it into the Air which had already ran BootCamp assistant prepare a partition.

Fired up WinClone again, restore from the 5GB clean install of 7100 and all was fine (after one check of the disk by Windows on first boot at least).

Copied BootCamp drivers to pen drive for the Air and went from there.

[Stridder44]

yeah I got the same thing when I tried that using Vista.

And this is new, apparently my USB flash drive is bootable,my friend used it to install Win 7 on his mbp, no problems at all, so now I know it's my computer that's preventing me from installing. He formatted my usb, so I might stil be doing something wrong although I'm following the guide to the letter.


I'm wondering if mounting the image to a flash drive using a non-Mac machine (i.e., a Dell, home-built comp, etc.) and then trying to use it on my MBP would yield positive results?

[wesrk]

I'm wondering if mounting the image to a flash drive using a non-Mac machine (i.e., a Dell, home-built comp, etc.) and then trying to use it on my MBP would yield positive results?

up to this point, in all my tries, I've never used my mbp to mount the image to the flash drive and it hasn't worked for me yet. I don't have anything on my mac except mac os X.

[wesrk]

using this guide:
http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide

I was able to get rEFIt and windows in other machines, to see my flash drive as bootable... now, using another guy's mbp -Currently he has XP installed- rEFIt gave two options, boot windows from partition1 and from partition 3, I chose 1 and it booted into XP, next time around I chose 3 and booted into XP. I don't know if that's because he has Xp already installed, or because this was NTSF instead of FAT32 (I don't even know if it would make a difference), but that's where I'm at right now.

[wesrk]

somehow my optical drive started to read my XP disc, so I installed XP and then just mounted the ISO image and went from there, a couple reboots later and this is being written in Windows 7.
my other friend did the same thing with his mbp, also worked

the only problem I have now is that bootcamp installation, that won't even run under Windows 7.

edit:
fixed using the steps in post #8 in this same thread
thanks a lot guys

edit:
except for right clic, everything else was installed fne by bootcamp, including sound

[Stridder44]

I came across this thread and (http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/1460-how-do-you-make-usb-drive-bootable-so-i-can-load-w7-netbook.html) it seems to include a lot of ways to install an OS via flash drive.


EDIT: This link here (http://kurtsh.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DA410C7F7E038D!1665.entry) is probably the most comprehensive guide I have found on the subject.

[wesrk]

yeah that's the link that started this thread
very good info

[roaminggnome]

Has anyone accomplished this on a Unibody machine? I gutted (and destroyed) my optical drive while putting in a MCE Optibay with a Vertex SSD - the SSD has a buggy, awful, nevershouldhavebeenshipped, firmware version and the only way to update is with a CD (which I do not have and even if I did there is no telling with fw version I have) or through windows. I am desperately trying to get my SSD to work so I can go about my business (my HDD, the secondary drive just crashed too - which was wonderful).


Bad bad luck. I'll do whatever it takes, even if it means I have to rent a computer from kinkos and do all this dos stuff over there.

[Infrared]

A bit off-topic but...

I installed Windows 7 without a DVD. I copied the .ISO image
contents to an empty internal HD FAT32 partition using Finder
and booted from that partition. The only tricky part is getting
the volume boot record for that partition set up. I did that by
running the Windows 7 recovery tools in VMWare Fusion.

If you do it that way, you don't have to worry about booting
off USB sticks. However, this whole USB issue is curious. I will
follow this thread with interest.

[roaminggnome]

Infared, I think you may be able to help me a lot and I'm pretty frustrated with my new machine. Did you need rEFIt for your installation? I copied all the contents to an empty FAT32 partition that I created using the bootcamp utility and rebooted my machine with no luck.

Did you use GUID or Master Boot Record for the partitioning of your FAT Drive?

Hopefully this will get me closer to where I need to be to get my machine working the way I want it to :( The SSD eats battery life and won't sleep so my machine will just die...

[Infrared]

Infared, I think you may be able to help me a lot and I'm pretty frustrated with my new machine. Did you need rEFIt for your installation? I copied all the contents to an empty FAT32 partition that I created using the bootcamp utility and rebooted my machine with no luck.

Did you use GUID or Master Boot Record for the partitioning of your FAT Drive?

Hopefully this will get me closer to where I need to be to get my machine working the way I want it to :( The SSD eats battery life and won't sleep so my machine will just die...

rEFIt is not necessary. What you need is the bootloader code in
the first sector of your FAT volume. One way of creating this is
to use bootrec.exe:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

Now, bootrec.exe is in the Windows 7 ISO image, but how do you
run it if you can't burn that ISO image to a disc and boot from it?

One option is to use VMWare Fusion. Using that you can boot off
an ISO image of Windows 7 held on your hard drive. You can use

/Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/vmware-rawdiskCreator

to allow your virtual machine access to the physical FAT partition.

This has been covered before in this thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-601414.html

There may be other ways of creating the VBR, but that's the one I
happen to know about. Would be nice to hear of others (hint hint) :)

[Lahr]

Update: Things seem to be running fine, with one major exception: If I try to play any games, after a little while (5-20 minutes) the machine will suddenly shutdown, as if it's lost power. *poof* - gone. I don't know if this is a general problem with Win7, or if it's Mac-specific. Either way, it makes it pretty useless to me. :(

I am having this exact same problem with Windows 7, and I have the same hardware.

It gets absurdly hot and I believe is overheating in my case. Unable to come up with any solution for this.

[Discourse]

Well I did it and I don't know how I was so lucky, but I was. So I am just going to explain the pieces involved.

First of all I had tried to use bootcamp to install windows repeatedly and it would never read my windows DVD. So after wasting 5 DVDs trying to do it all kinds of different ways like making the .dmg bootable using disk utility to just copying the files onto a disk and burining in mac os x. Also on my desktop that has windows 7 on it right now, hence the desire to put it on my mac, I tried burning the directory directly on a dvd, burning from iso all with no luck.

So I decided to try and boot from USB. I drove to walmart and got the only one that was on a security locked hanger. A PNY 4GB usb drive for $14. I wasn't even sure if it was bootable from. I am not familirar with usb boots.

So I got home and I tried to find a program that would do it all for me, make the usb bootable and load the directory on perfectly. I found this http://www.askvg.com/a-bootable-usb-utility-to-create-bootable-usb-drive-to-install-windows-vista-server-2008-and-7/ and the program related with it.

I downloaded the program and tried several times to format the usb drive and put the iso on it. I am very impatient like most of the internet generation so I ended the task a lot. Finally, I had the iso directory on the thumb drive and i plugged it into my mac and restarted, upon startup i held down 'c' to boot from disc, and it did boot from the thumb drive. However, it gave the bootmgr error.

So frustrated I plugged it back into my pc, this time i ran the program again and it did its thing, however nothing was copied over to the thumb. So I tried copying the directory onto the thumb. I plugged it back into my mac, booted with 'c' held down and the installation started. Everything went fine.
I now have Windows 7 on my macbook pro, no cd required.

[ken694]

I don't fully understand what this guy is doing, and have not tested it myself yet. But looking at the comments it looks like this method works.
http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html

[Sedul]

I thik it's a boot option issue. I mean, the thumb drive is properly formatted since it acts like a bootable disk in other machines, and my mbp sees it accordingly, it's just that the next step comes up empty.
I have an early 2008 mbo by the way.

Can I use daemon or other tool under XP to mount the image and install into that same partition XP is on? (this would be in another mbp, not mine)

wersk, i have the same problem as you, early MBP 2008 133 and I created a USB boot disk with Win 7 ISO, formatted NTFS using RPREPUSB under WinXP running in Parallels.

When I select the far-right option in Refit 0.13 to boot from windows on Partition something, it loads for a bit grey screen, then black screen and says "No Bootable Media..."...

I tried using the USB stick on a Windows machine and it booted up fine to Win7

Any idea / solutions as to why this is the case?

[ken694]

I don't fully understand what this guy is doing, and have not tested it myself yet. But looking at the comments it looks like this method works.
http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html

OK I tested this and it WORKS like a charm on a MacBook mid-2007 too.
Oh, and I have a broken Superdrive (DVD player). The only thing you need is an hour or so of spare time, it should work on all recent laptops reading at the comments.

[CJ Berri]

A few months ago I managed to install Windows 7 on my MacBook from the ISO using VMware. I recently got a uMBP and tried the same method but couldn't get past the stage where I use rawdiskcreator to recognise the physical partition.

I have finally managed to get Windows 7 installed from a USB flash drive last night when I tried formatting the drive and copying over the files using cmd.exe on the Windows 7 ISO in VMware. Please note that this is the first time I have actually got this to work and I needed to use rEFIt to boot from the flash drive.


Partition your HD using Boot Camp. Quit the application when you get to the step where you're asked to insert your Windows installation disk.

In VMware, create a new vm using the Windows 7 ISO as an installation disk image.

Once the ISO is booted access cmd.exe via the repair options. If you haven't already done so plug in your flash drive and mount it on the vm.

Now to use diskpart to format the flash drive. Type the following into cmd.
diskpart
Then..
list disk
You'll get a table of recognised drives. Then we need to select the flash drive..
select disk #
# being the disk number of your flash drive in the printed table.
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=ntfs
I have not tried this with FAT32, so can't say if it will work. Once the formatting is done you need to assign a drive letter and you're done with diskpart..
assign
exit

Now you need to copy the contents of the ISO to the drive. I used..
xcopy D:\ E:\ /E
The /E flag copies the directories as well as files, so just replace the drive letters. The first drive letter is the source(Windows 7 disc) and the second is the destination(USB flash).

And finally, make the drive bootable. Navigate to the flash drive you copied the files to and then the 'Boot' directory.
E:\
cd Boot
Then to make the device bootable.
Bootsect.exe /nt60 D:
Again, replacing the drive letters to your own. I encountered an error during this step but was still able to boot from the drive using rEFIt. I'd think you would be able to boot from a flash drive without rEFIt if you managed to get past the last step with no errors. This may also be possible using an SD card on the MBP but I've yet to try it.

[mrs.bass]

HELP! I tried everything to reformat my USB in Disk Utility but it won't work! Please help.
Here's a picture:

[ken694]

@mrs.bass

I'm no IT guy but it looks like your problem is the FAT16 format (look in the bottom left)

Try this:
- click on 972 MB Generic USB SD... in the left of the window
- choose the "Partition" tab in the top center of the window
- under volume scheme choose "1 partition" and take up all the space available since it looks like you are not using 300MB of the disk
- under format choose "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) if you're planning to use it on Mac, or choose FAT32 if you're planning to use it on PC
- EDIT: click apply ;)

Hope it helps :p

[EX1127]

Hey this is probably a stupid question. But can you put windows 7 on a external hard drive and just plug in a firewire to your mac and run it from there?

[Stridder44]

Hey this is probably a stupid question. But can you put windows 7 on a external hard drive and just plug in a firewire to your mac and run it from there?

Unfortunately, no. I've read that some people have done it, but it takes quite a bit of work.

[EX1127]

Unfortunately, no. I've read that some people have done it, but it takes quite a bit of work.

Ok well crap i was hoping to do it so i wouldnt have to waste gigs of space just to run mathematica on my mac :p guess il have to

[pysen]

Hi,

I'm still having trouble with this. I'm trying to install the recently released Windows 7 on a bootcamp partition alongside Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro 2.5 Penryn (May 2008).

I've formatted and copied the Win7 install DVD contents after the instructions. The only thing I never did was edit that .msi which thefunkymunky mentioned. Mostly because I didn't understand it. Did you other guys who got this to work do that part aswell?

My errors have been two, but similar. I manage to get the USB to show when booting with rEFIt, but when selecting it (it never says USB anywhere, I just regocnize that little yellow disc icon) to the far right, I get this message:

"No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"

and once I got this instead:

"non-system disk. Press any key to continue".

Any thoughts?

[ggutenberg]

And finally, make the drive bootable. Navigate to the flash drive you copied the files to and then the 'Boot' directory.
E:\
cd Boot
Then to make the device bootable.
Bootsect.exe /nt60 D:
Again, replacing the drive letters to your own. I encountered an error during this step but was still able to boot from the drive using rEFIt. I'd think you would be able to boot from a flash drive without rEFIt if you managed to get past the last step with no errors. This may also be possible using an SD card on the MBP but I've yet to try it.
[/LIST]

The reason you got that error is because you had open handles to the drive that you're trying to modify the boot sector on (i.e. you're running the .exe from a directory on that drive). I had the same issue, but if you add /force to the bootsect.exe parameters it forces a dismount and no errors are generated.

Thanks for your post though... wouldn't have been able to make it work without bootsect.exe and your post specifically :)

[ggutenberg]

My errors have been two, but similar. I manage to get the USB to show when booting with rEFIt, but when selecting it (it never says USB anywhere, I just regocnize that little yellow disc icon) to the far right, I get this message:

"No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"

and once I got this instead:

"non-system disk. Press any key to continue".

Any thoughts?

Hey pysen. Just follow CJ Berri's post above re. bootsect.exe and you should be up and running. For the record, navigate to the \boot directory on your Windows 7 install source. Assuming it's mounted as drive E:, you'd then type
bootsect /nt60 e: /force
This has to be done from a Windows machine (XP worked for me).

And no, I didn't do anything with the MSI editor.

[croxall]

i finally got win7 to install from the usb. On a pc running vista, i mounted the .iso and made the drive bootable. I used a program to mount it (the icon was a sheep, don't remember the name) and another program to copy it to the usb. Then i ran boot camp assistant on my aluminum mb and partitioned the drive, but did not try to install. Next, i installed refit and manually made it run on startup. I also ran the blesser. In finder, i copied the contents of the mounted image (shows up as folders and files) to the BOOTCAMP partition. I restarted, and when refit started up i hit + (shift and =) to get more options on the windows icon with the hard drive image in the bottom corner ( i also had a windows icon with a removable drive icon). I chose the first option and the screen went grey with a windows-like icon and kind of just froze. I held down the power button till it shut off and restarted it. This time i just tried to run the same windows and it loaded the windows installer. When it asked where to install, i chose bootcamp and had it formatted by the installer. the rest is history.

[laughinghan]

Croxall: More details please!!!

Specifically what machine do you mean by Aluminum MacBook? Is it the one without Firewire? What kind of USB drive did you use?

[croxall]

i'm on one of the early aluminum 13 inch macbooks (no firewire). i used a western digital passport, 120gb. I don't have bootcamp in windows, so i'm trying to get the drivers installed, but it's running fine right now (i'm on it).

[croxall]

i got the drivers installed and everything is working perfectly (sound, scrolling, right click, etc).
I skipped the serial number entry during the install, and when i downloaded microsoft's free antivirus, i passed the validation. not sure how that worked

[Jawad]

It worked perfectly for me. I have an old black MacBook (feb 2007)

Here is how I made it.

1°) Make a bootable NTFS USB key with the installation of Windows 7 on it using the official tool by Microsoft (http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool); you must have a working Windows copy for this
2°) Make another USB key (HFS+) with rEFIt on it (I think that installing rEFIt on your hd should be ok too but I personally preferred to avoid it); look a the doc here : http://refit.sourceforge.net/doc/c1s1_install.html
3°) Reboot your computer with both keys plugged in; select rEFIt and then in its menu, simply launch Windows

Hope it helps someone.

Thanks everyone for the help.

[Utamaru]

This guide helped me come to this this http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html . I don't know if it's to late for that but here is what i did. I have pre unibody macbook pro early 2008 version with out superdrive. For this guide you do not need a usb! What you need: rEFIt (to be installed and working every time you boot), a Windows 7 iso and Parallels Desktop 5 (this is what i used).
1)So star by making a bootcamp partition (if you haven't already).
2)When bootcamp askes you to start instaling windows quit it.
3)Go to Disk Utility and unmount the bootcamp partition! If you don't parallels may start bitching.
4)Start Parallels 5 and create a new virtual machine
5)In first window push "Skip Detection"
6)Select witch windows you wont to install
7)Virtual machine type: Custom
8)CPU and RAM default
9)Hard Disk Option: No hard disk
10)And start, a window should appear prompting you to push start to install windows. Don't do that yet!
11)In the lower right corner of the windows installation window there is a button "virtual machine configuration", push it.
12)There you will have 3 options. Go to "Hardware" option.
13)Select "CD/DVD-ROM" and from a drop down menu select the windows 7 iso
14)Then push "+" and add Hard Disk. From the drop down menu select bootcamp
15)Go to Boot Order and be sure that the order is like this "1)CD/DVD-ROM,2)Hard-Disk,3)Floppy,4)Network Adapter"
16)Push ok and start installing windows 7
17) Watch closely when the installation prompts you to restart the first time STOP! the virtual machine and quit parallels.
18) Now comes rEFIt in.
19)Restart your Mac. And when it boots to rEFIt you will see that the windows partition is there. Enter it. The windows 7 will start re configuring stuff. And will continue to install windows normal. After it's done.
20) After you installed the bootcamp 3 drivers got to nvidia page and download the latest video card drivers for your mac. Coz bootcamp has old ones. Well that's all. Hope this guide will help some.

[ken694]

This guide helped me come to this this http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html . I don't know if it's to late for that but here is what i did. I have pre unibody macbook pro early 2008 version with out superdrive. For this guide you do not need a usb! What you need: rEFIt (to be installed and working every time you boot), a Windows 7 iso and Parallels Desktop 5 (this is what i used).

*ahem* Same link I posted one page ago :)
Worked for me too

[dextro]

I have tried both ways in MBA 2,1. and none of them work form me.

-Using parallels 5 (latest build) I don't get the same options during VM setup. After selecting "No hard disk" I have to configure networking and the optimization options, but the problem comes when I have to select the Name and Location of the VM. I have tried everything and nothing seems to work. Has anyone tried this?

-Regarding the use of aUSB flash, rEFIt gives me error "not found while loading legacy loader"

Any ideas

Regards

[dextro]

I have tried both ways in MBA 2,1. and none of them work form me.

-Using parallels 5 (latest build) I don't get the same options during VM setup. After selecting "No hard disk" I have to configure networking and the optimization options, but the problem comes when I have to select the Name and Location of the VM. I have tried everything and nothing seems to work. Has anyone tried this?

-Regarding the use of aUSB flash, rEFIt gives me error "not found while loading legacy loader"

Any ideas

Regards

Some news here: actually I installed completely Windows 7 under Parallels in the bootcamp partition. When trying to boot I get the known error (in Vista) stating that winload.exe is missing or corrupt. Can someone that has managed to install win7 the output of the bcdedit (I want to know the booting partition).

Regards

David

[cowboyjebus]

Instead of doing USB booting or trying to break EFI by booting a Legacy OS, couldn't you just make a bootable USB version of Win, and then just run the installer off of there. I mean, once the installer starts running, it just copies the install data to the appropriate drive, then reboots to that drive and runs the installer from there. At this very moment I'm doing this on my Mac Pro 1,1 and it seems to be going without a hitch. I'm installing x64 too, which seems to be the biggest pain in the ass ever, but no problems here.

Edit:
Yep it works. I just installed Windows 7 x64 from a "bootable" USB drive with no hitches whatsoever. And there was much rejoicing!

[ken694]

Instead of doing USB booting or trying to break EFI by booting a Legacy OS, couldn't you just make a bootable USB version of Win, and then just run the installer off of there. I mean, once the installer starts running, it just copies the install data to the appropriate drive, then reboots to that drive and runs the installer from there. At this very moment I'm doing this on my Mac Pro 1,1 and it seems to be going without a hitch. I'm installing x64 too, which seems to be the biggest pain in the ass ever, but no problems here.

Edit:
Yep it works. I just installed Windows 7 x64 from a "bootable" USB drive with no hitches whatsoever. And there was much rejoicing!

Could you please explain how you create a "bootable" USB drive?

[dextro]

Instead of doing USB booting or trying to break EFI by booting a Legacy OS, couldn't you just make a bootable USB version of Win, and then just run the installer off of there. I mean, once the installer starts running, it just copies the install data to the appropriate drive, then reboots to that drive and runs the installer from there. At this very moment I'm doing this on my Mac Pro 1,1 and it seems to be going without a hitch. I'm installing x64 too, which seems to be the biggest pain in the ass ever, but no problems here.

Edit:
Yep it works. I just installed Windows 7 x64 from a "bootable" USB drive with no hitches whatsoever. And there was much rejoicing!
This might have worked for you in a Mac Pro but it does not work with a Macbook Air, not even with rEFIt.

Regards

[Mafetapaz]

I'm trying the method posted by utamaru, but when it comes to restart the iMac 27" and boot the windows partition, i get an error:

WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER

Windows failed to start

File: \boot\BCD
Status: 0xc0000034
Info: "The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information".

[Mafetapaz]

maybe i've found the problem... while installing Windows 7 in parallels, i get an alert message:

Mac OS X has prevented the guest operating system from changing the boot loader on your physical hard disk.

Could this be the problem? how can i solve this?

[anibalin]

macbook. Totally hostile to install windows 7. Tried 3 dvds, all where "empty" to finder.
Did the refit to pendrive, booted with it (holding option upon startup) and booted the win7 pendrive. (used Windows7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool to make it bootable).
Windows 7 setup, choose the bootcamp partition, formated, and error. It couldnt install on that partition. Deleted it, formated, restarted. Made the partition again. Nothing. Always the same error.

Took the hdd of the macbook, installed it on my pc, booted with the win7 pendrive, choose the bootcamp partition and setup went, thankfully, smooth.
On first restart I shutdown the pc. Took the hdd off it and installed back to the macbook. Setup continued then 'till it finished.

[squirrel77]

@ MattZani, kinkster:

I'm trying to boot Tiny XP on a Late 2008 Aluminum "Unibody" 2.4 GHz MacBook5,1.

Many thanks,

Han

I had a copy of Tiny XP, I was never able to boot from it on my mac mini using boot camp to install it, though it worked on an actual PC to work from booting off the cd and it also worked in paralells desktop.
Another version of XP installed fined though leading me to think Tiny XP is missing something macs need.

[okdone]

Exactly the same. Mine also Macbook 2,1 (Boot Rom - MB21.00A5.B07). My superdrive is broken so got no other option.

1. I tried the usb drive approach. I used the same usb drive to install win7 on another pc - worked like a charm. But on my machine it would never boot gives -

Error: Not Found returned from legacy loader
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
........
........
The firmware refused to boot from the selected volume. Note that external
hard drives are not well-supported by Apple's firmware for legacy OS booting.

2. I tried the virtual machine approach mentioned here. (http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html) Didn't work. Blank screen with error saying \boot\winload.exe.... error. I tried copying the files from the disk to "\boot" folder in bootcamp drive - didn't work.

3. Again cleared the drive. Reformatted again. Created bootcamp partition. Tried the approach as mentioned by Utamaru in one of the posts above - same post, page 4, reply #77 (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=631901&page=4). Didn't work. Gives an error:-

0xc999999e
\windows\system32\winload.exe
......the application is missing or corrupt.

So finally - 2 days, 1 night of frustration, my opinion is - Macbook is made for Mac OS, even the firmware is like that only. Win 7 - just by chance.

I just bought a usb dvd-drive for me for this sole purpose. I'll try to burn it to disk and try. But I don't know - coz mac wouldn't allow booting from usb disk either I think. I'll try rEFit. Thanks all for the posts.


I have tried both ways in MBA 2,1. and none of them work form me.

-Using parallels 5 (latest build) I don't get the same options during VM setup. After selecting "No hard disk" I have to configure networking and the optimization options, but the problem comes when I have to select the Name and Location of the VM. I have tried everything and nothing seems to work. Has anyone tried this?

-Regarding the use of aUSB flash, rEFIt gives me error "not found while loading legacy loader"

Any ideas

Regards

[okdone]

OK. I give up. I used Aopen usb-rw to boot windows 7 using Boot Camp. Then I tried another Benq Dvd-rom, it booted with none of them.

The first attempt it restarted and hanged at the startup with first a crossed circle and then a folder with question mark blinking. I searched the answer and was able to boot my macbook with big difficulty.

[okdone]

Below are the steps which finally helped me install windows 7 to my macbook 2,1. I just wonder why I didn't reach this thread early. Thanks a lot to everyone for the informative posts:-

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=10601274#post10601274

This does not work with Parallels 5. The problem is that when windows tries to restart for the first time and you stop the VM, then the bootcamp volume is not properly mounted.

The solution I found after spending the whole weekend is:

-proceed to the installation as mentioned in the article you mention until the first reboot is necessary. This is actually only to make the partition bootable. Probably it is already when you create it in bootcamp, but as the system works now I don't want to try.
-Stop the VM
-properly unmount the drive with disk utility, remount it
-delete all the contents of the bootcamp partition
-copy the contents of the Windows installation CD (only tried with Windows7).
-reboot the mac and keep the option key pressed.
-select the windows volume to boot.
-proceed with windows installation normally selecting the same drive that contains the installation files (the bootcamp partition).
-when windows boots for the first time you can delete the files and folders of the installation
-install the windows bootcamp drivers
-install the nvidia driver.

DONE

Cheers.

David

Now I'm using windows 7 on my machine.... its running super hot. Touchpad - cranky, no-right click either. Once it went to sleep - backlight didn't turn on automatically. Got to fix this but even the bootcamp drivers downloaded from apple site aren't working fine either.

[Tex-Twil]

Hello,
I created a USB from my original Win7 using Flash2drive (http://wintoflash.com/home/en/). I installed rEFIt. When I boot my mac with the USB inserted, I do see a "Boot Windows" option but when I selected I then get "No bootable device found".

Any ideas ?

[Tex-Twil]

I also tried using the Microsoft tool (http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool) to create the USB stick and it also won't boot. It boots fine on a PC. I just found on a rEFIt site that it's not well supported (http://refit.sourceforge.net/help/usb_disk.html) :(

[registred]

maybe i've found the problem... while installing Windows 7 in parallels, i get an alert message:

Mac OS X has prevented the guest operating system from changing the boot loader on your physical hard disk.

Could this be the problem? how can i solve this?

Hi Mafetapaz, I have the same problem, have you found a workaround ?
Regards,
Pietro

[rangerrick337]

Hi Mafetapaz, I have the same problem, have you found a workaround ?
Regards,
Pietro

I am having the same issue. I get this message a few times while installing windows through parallels onto the bootcamp partition. When I restart after everything is done, the windows partition is visible but when I boot to it a boot manager comes up midway and says windows encountered an error.

This is a bit out of my league now because I think the format is not changing correctly. It seems that snow leopard is stopping parallels from altering the drive. Any suggestions?

[rangerrick337]

If you follow okdone's instructions it works (even when you get the warning that I was getting). His speculation of this process working without doing the Parallels part was wrong though.

You need to run the installation through parallels at first because it allows you to reformat the bootcamp partition to NTFS otherwise it's just in FAT32. So just ignore the warnings as you go through Parallels installation and be sure to stop the virtual drive as soon as it tries to reboot the first time.

Then erase everything on that partition (this took quite some time and you may need to have NTFS-3G installed to read the now NTFS bootcamp partition, I'm not sure). Then copy all the files from your windows 7 iso to the hard drive and reboot! Hold option to get to the windows partition and you're golden!!!

Thank you so much okdone! Your good deed of following up with your posts has made my day a success.

[msvtck]

If you follow okdone's instructions it works (even when you get the warning that I was getting). His speculation of this process working without doing the Parallels part was wrong though.

You need to run the installation through parallels at first because it allows you to reformat the bootcamp partition to NTFS otherwise it's just in FAT32. So just ignore the warnings as you go through Parallels installation and be sure to stop the virtual drive as soon as it tries to reboot the first time.

Then erase everything on that partition (this took quite some time and you may need to have NTFS-3G installed to read the now NTFS bootcamp partition, I'm not sure). Then copy all the files from your windows 7 iso to the hard drive and reboot! Hold option to get to the windows partition and you're golden!!!

Thank you so much okdone! Your good deed of following up with your posts has made my day a success.

I confirm that this method is working!
I just installed it in a late 2006 macbook pro.

Thanks everybody for your efforts!

[mthq]

Using Diskutil (Mac OS X only)


Download the desired .img file
Open a Terminal (under Utilities)
Run diskutil list to get the current list of devices

Insert your flash media
Run diskutil list again and determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g. /dev/disk2)

Run diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN

Execute sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.img of=/dev/diskN bs=1m

Run diskutil eject /dev/diskN and remove your flash media when the command completes

[Tex-Twil]

Using Diskutil (Mac OS X only)


Download the desired .img file
Open a Terminal (under Utilities)
Run diskutil list to get the current list of devices

Insert your flash media
Run diskutil list again and determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g. /dev/disk2)

Run diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN

Execute sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.img of=/dev/diskN bs=1m

Run diskutil eject /dev/diskN and remove your flash media when the command completes

Can you then boot from the usb ??

[arsenalgun]

Thats the theory yes. Some people are having problems though. It worked for me first time but I'm on an old(ish) Mac. Think it might have something to do with the unibody notebooks.

Well, mine is an old MacBook Pro as well, MacBook Pro3,1 which I bought in 2007, I still have the same firmware not supported stuff going on when using 32bit Windows 7 USB drive made from an ISO

I've installed the rEFIt tool

[moonfirebogdan]

I'm trying to install W7 on a 1st gen MBA but I get the "The firmware refused to boot from the selected volume" error when trying to boot from the USB with rEFIt.

[balamw]

Consider one of the alternative approaches from the "without super drive" thread: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=601414.

Either use VM software to boot and initially copy the W7 install files or create a throwaway internal partition for the installer.

B

[CGGuy84]

A few months ago I managed to install Windows 7 on my MacBook from the ISO using VMware. I recently got a uMBP and tried the same method but couldn't get past the stage where I use rawdiskcreator to recognise the physical partition.

I have finally managed to get Windows 7 installed from a USB flash drive last night when I tried formatting the drive and copying over the files using cmd.exe on the Windows 7 ISO in VMware. Please note that this is the first time I have actually got this to work and I needed to use rEFIt to boot from the flash drive.


Partition your HD using Boot Camp. Quit the application when you get to the step where you're asked to insert your Windows installation disk.

In VMware, create a new vm using the Windows 7 ISO as an installation disk image.

Once the ISO is booted access cmd.exe via the repair options. If you haven't already done so plug in your flash drive and mount it on the vm.

Now to use diskpart to format the flash drive. Type the following into cmd.
diskpart
Then..
list disk
You'll get a table of recognised drives. Then we need to select the flash drive..
select disk #
# being the disk number of your flash drive in the printed table.
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=ntfs
I have not tried this with FAT32, so can't say if it will work. Once the formatting is done you need to assign a drive letter and you're done with diskpart..
assign
exit

Now you need to copy the contents of the ISO to the drive. I used..
xcopy D:\ E:\ /E
The /E flag copies the directories as well as files, so just replace the drive letters. The first drive letter is the source(Windows 7 disc) and the second is the destination(USB flash).

And finally, make the drive bootable. Navigate to the flash drive you copied the files to and then the 'Boot' directory.
E:\
cd Boot
Then to make the device bootable.
Bootsect.exe /nt60 D:
Again, replacing the drive letters to your own. I encountered an error during this step but was still able to boot from the drive using rEFIt. I'd think you would be able to boot from a flash drive without rEFIt if you managed to get past the last step with no errors. This may also be possible using an SD card on the MBP but I've yet to try it.



I've tried this one but i still get the "non-system disk" error. I tried to format the Boot camp partition in ntfs and copied the content of the Win7.iso to the partition. Somehow it worked and loaded the installer but this time i've got the missing installer files error.

I think something went wrong by the last step by "bootsect.exe" thing...

[CGGuy84]

Well,
I found a very simple solution! I'll share it in case someone will need it!

- I converted the windows.iso file with "disk utility" to compressed dmg file.
- Restored the dmg file to the USB with the "disk utility"
- Removed and recreated the Boot Camp partition
- booted the with refit and it worked perfectly without any of the problems I experienced before.

[aquariusjanak]

I came across this thread and (http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/1460-how-do-you-make-usb-drive-bootable-so-i-can-load-w7-netbook.html) it seems to include a lot of ways to install an OS via flash drive.


EDIT: This link here (http://kurtsh.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DA410C7F7E038D!1665.entry) is probably the most comprehensive guide I have found on the subject.


Very nice posting.Thanks for sharing the link with all.

[mknabster]

I was thinking about doing the same thing, installing Windows 7 via USB because my Superdrive has died in my machine, and all I have is an external USB drive. Now I know that an external USB CD/DVD drive doesn't allow me to install Windows, but what about using a virtual machine like Vmware fusion to install it, would that be an option? I was thinking of just completely taking out the superdrive and putting in another hard drive in its spot, so I was wondering about installing Windows 7 on this drive and how to do it.

[balamw]

what about using a virtual machine like Vmware fusion to install it, would that be an option?

Read this thread. http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=601414 using VM software like Parallels or VMWare is one of the two methods that usually works.

B

[mknabster]

Oh that's awesome then, problem solved, thanks

[Veyo]

I finally managed to get this work with my mid 2009 MBP with optibay. I tried a lot of methods and what finally worked for me was this guide:

http://www.tokyobit.com/2010/01/install-windows-7-in-bootcamp-on-macbook-pro-with-broken-superdrive/

It basically follows these steps:

1) Use bootcamp to partition your HDD
2) Install Windows 7 into the bootcamp partition using parallels, abort installation halfway before restart
3) Update the physical MBR of that partition with that of the VM
-> Problem here: You'll need a bootable OSX, from an external drive for example
4) Finish installation of windows by natively booting into the bootcamp partition

The steps are described very detailed in the guide but I have a suggestion for those trying to do this:

Getting the rEFIt bootmanager will safe you a lot of time^^

Hope this helps someone.

[mulo]

BUMP!

whenever i'm loading the thumb drive the emulated BIOS says "no bootable device found"

[bchuertas]

BUMP!

whenever i'm loading the thumb drive the emulated BIOS says "no bootable device found"

I was getting the same thing. This is on a new 2011 MBP 8.3

I tried several guides to install from either a USB Thumbdrive or DVD with no avail. So I gave up on any USB method.

At the end I followed the guides to install using a VM machine and it worked like a charm. I was running Windows 7 in 10 minutes.

http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html

Cheers

[Harrynelson]

I am installed windows 7 on my PC through USB Pendrive.I am sure that it will also work on macbook.There just need to boot laptop from USB and follow the instruction.Because Only Windows OS are able to install on every system in the world.Thanks

[balamw]

I am installed windows 7 on my PC through USB Pendrive.I am sure that it will also work on macbook.There just need to boot laptop from USB and follow the instruction.Because Only Windows OS are able to install on every system in the world.Thanks

Not so. Read this and other threads on the subject.

Pendrives that work fine for installing Windows to other computers do not necessarily work on Macs. In some cases they may natively, in others rEFIt helps and in still others it remains invisible to the boot loader.

None of my Macs are capable of booting from the USB flash drive I installed W7 from on my PC using the standard boot loader. I have not tried them with rEFIt.

This has a lot to do with the fact that Macs are EFI not BIOS based and as such, the boot process is quite different than a "standard" PC.

It could certainly work on some specific Macs under certain conditions, but is not guaranteed to.

B

[golgo1313]

so i have a 2011 MBP with optidrive, so i don't have a superdrive installed anymore. i've followed instructions on making USB bootable with win7 (64bit) installer on it. i did not do the bootsect /net60 yet.

the usb worked like a charm installing win7 on a sony vaio.

the usb will not bootup in refit. i see three options, bootsect.exe, memtest.exe, and windows. i chose windows. then i get "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"

i then tried "bootsect.exe /nt60 e: /force" and that won't work... i get "could not map drive partitions to the associated volume device objects: access is denied"

e is my usb drive letter.

any thoughts? i don't want to do the parallels/vmware method if i can help it, but if there are no ideas as to booting off of USB in the 2011 mbp, then i might have to resort to it.

thanks!

***figured the bootsect thing out... needed to run cmd as administrator.

but,

it still won't install... getting the "no bootable device"

[maxgohan]

anyone figure this out??

i have the windows 7.iso on my PC, just need to figure out how to install it on my MBP via flash drive...

halp

[golgo1313]

anyone figure this out??

i have the windows 7.iso on my PC, just need to figure out how to install it on my MBP via flash drive...

halp

sadly, i think it is not possible on the 2011 mbp. there are people who were successful with older machines (e.g. 2008s). i tried, but it was a no go. i'm actually thinking of putting the superdrive back in...

[mac.fly]

Well,
I found a very simple solution! I'll share it in case someone will need it!

- I converted the windows.iso file with "disk utility" to compressed dmg file.
- Restored the dmg file to the USB with the "disk utility"
- Removed and recreated the Boot Camp partition
- booted the with refit and it worked perfectly without any of the problems I experienced before.

When I try to restore to my USB flash drive using "disk utility"
I get this error message:

"Restore Failure - Could not validate source - Invalid argument [OK]"

Erased the USB and tried it again:

"Restore Failure - Could not validate source - error 254 [OK]"

What's wrong here? :confused: Thanks!

[P0CKS]

Does having your usb set in NTFS mode, while your bootcamp partition in fat 32 be responsible for getting the "no bootable device" error? I want to avoid using parallels and virtual machines if possible, I have an early 2008 MBP, I know a few got Windows 7 to work, but the answers are all over the place. Ill try piecing the info together, and hopefully finally get Win 7

[mac.fly]

Does having your usb set in NTFS mode, while your bootcamp partition in fat 32 be responsible for getting the "no bootable device" error? I want to avoid using parallels and virtual machines if possible, I have an early 2008 MBP, I know a few got Windows 7 to work, but the answers are all over the place. Ill try piecing the info together, and hopefully finally get Win 7

Called Apple Support and they told me that the installation from ext. DVD drive does only work on iMacs with very few certain drives - never with USB flash drives. I tried all - nothing worked.

Then I downloaded Parallels 6 trial and used the following Sources:

1.
http://www.tokyobit.com/2010/01/install-windows-7-in-bootcamp-on-macbook-pro-with-broken-superdrive/ Windows 7 in bootcamp on MacBook Pro with broken superdrive (based on insidethebrackets...)

2.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15195201 How I managed to Bootcamp my Imac without internal CD

3.
http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html ORIGINAL IDEA - Remote Disc computer IS NOT REQUIRED!!! even on an mac book air the OS X install disk can be copied to an USB flash drive TOO! (from discussion)

It's all a bit confusing because they used different versions of Parallels, but finally I managed it. :D

In the end buy "Find any file" (£2.39) from the App store to get rid of all "Parallels" stuff which remained on the HDD after uninstalling Parallels.

[P0CKS]

This guide helped me come to this this http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html . I don't know if it's to late for that but here is what i did. I have pre unibody macbook pro early 2008 version with out superdrive. For this guide you do not need a usb! What you need: rEFIt (to be installed and working every time you boot), a Windows 7 iso and Parallels Desktop 5 (this is what i used).
1)So star by making a bootcamp partition (if you haven't already).
2)When bootcamp askes you to start instaling windows quit it.
3)Go to Disk Utility and unmount the bootcamp partition! If you don't parallels may start bitching.
4)Start Parallels 5 and create a new virtual machine
5)In first window push "Skip Detection"
6)Select witch windows you wont to install
7)Virtual machine type: Custom
8)CPU and RAM default
9)Hard Disk Option: No hard disk
10)And start, a window should appear prompting you to push start to install
windows. Don't do that yet!
11)In the lower right corner of the windows installation window there is a button "virtual machine configuration", push it.
12)There you will have 3 options. Go to "Hardware" option.
13)Select "CD/DVD-ROM" and from a drop down menu select the windows 7 iso
14)Then push "+" and add Hard Disk. From the drop down menu select
bootcamp
15)Go to Boot Order and be sure that the order is like this "1)CD/DVD-ROM,2)Hard-Disk,3)Floppy,4)Network Adapter"
16)Push ok and start installing windows 7
17) Watch closely when the installation prompts you to restart the first time STOP! the virtual machine and quit parallels.
18) Now comes rEFIt in.
19)Restart your Mac. And when it boots to rEFIt you will see that the windows partition is there. Enter it. The windows 7 will start re configuring stuff. And will continue to install windows normal. After it's done.
20) After you installed the bootcamp 3 drivers got to nvidia page and
download the latest video card drivers for your mac. Coz bootcamp has old
ones. Well that's all. Hope this guide will help some.

thanks mac.fly :)
But im confused with the whole mbr thing @.@ im really afraid to try it, Utamaru didn't mention it on his post, so is it possible to not have to go through the process of setting up the mbr? Though it's probably just wishfull thinking, ahh been at this for days im close to being tempted into saving up for a superdrive....which ill only use for this..ugh

[mac.fly]

thanks mac.fly :)
But im confused with the whole mbr thing @.@ im really afraid to try it, Utamaru didn't mention it on his post, so is it possible to not have to go through the process of setting up the mbr? Though it's probably just wishfull thinking, ahh been at this for days im close to being tempted into saving up for a superdrive....which ill only use for this..ugh

I was also afraid, but there's no risk if you have a backup (better two backups). ;)

[P0CKS]

I used time machine to back up all of my hardrive into an external, is that good, or should I back it up with a different program? Im worried because i have a lot of programs from photoshop to zbrush some whos cds i dont know where they are anymore :[ just dont want another giant set of problems to deal with =_=

Think before I try this method ill try funkymunkys, my mbp is pre unibody (early 2008) and ive been formatting my usb to ntfs instead of fat32, hoping that will make the difference, but im running short on time, need this done in two days hopefully i can pull through !!!

[mac.fly]

I used time machine to back up all of my hardrive into an external, is that good, or should I back it up with a different program?

I'm using a RAID 1 drive with TimeMachine. I wouldn't rely on just one backup.

[P0CKS]

Oo, i only have my lacie hardrive, should i make a new partition, and back up with time machine again?

[mac.fly]

Oo, i only have my lacie hardrive, should i make a new partition, and back up with time machine again?

I would use a 2nd, independent drive.
I would NEVER rely on just one backup.

[P0CKS]

thats a problem, its the only drive i have, i cant afford another.

[paulfdumas]

For all of your folks that have been having problems with your Superdrive, run down to Best Buy and buy a drive cleaner... about $14.00...

Finally remembered an old school solution to repair old floppy drives, so I went looking for a CD/DVD drive cleaner. Fixed the problem in 5 minutes...no more discs being rejected, no more problems reading, writing or burning to the drive...

Not too often that we find a quick, easy and effective solution for under $20...

[matleo]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to install Windows 7 from a USB stick, so far I've succeed to install rEFIt and partition my disk. But when I'm trying to launch the Windows install (after rebooting) it doesn't work.

When I compare my files to some in Youtube it looks like I'm missing bootmgr.efi

Can you help me?
Thx

I'm using a MacBook Pro with Lion