mac drive under windows 7

[steaney]

hey there,

i've tried out some tools like macdrive and hfsexplorer under windows 7 without success..

is there a working tool or solution?

[stainlessliquid]

No and there probably wont be until it comes out, the Macdrive developers tend to be pretty incompetent when it comes to supporting OS's, it took them forever just to support Vista 64.

[CoolMe]

Support for Vista 64 is TERRIABLE. the program BSOD me many times!

I will not use it on 64 again. Only 32 :)

[steaney]

would be great if there were just a freeware google code like macfuse for the mac to access the windows drive!

or ntfs-3g..

[thefunkymunky]

You can get MacDrive installed in Windows 7 by modifying the setup .msi install package. Unforunately even though I can get MD installed and it says it's working it doesn't see any Mac drives or partitions so I guess we all have to wait for an update. Which no doubt MediaFour will charge for. Grrr!

[SnowLeopard2008]

Yup won't work. I was going to use this to transfer a ISO file which I was rebuilding. Seems like there is a bug in the 64-bit version of Windows 7 that screws up the EFI boot. Had to rebuild in Windows 7 32-bit, tried to use Mac Drive to send the rebuilt ISO file to Mac partition so I could burn it to disc.

[ebony]

I've installed windows 7 32 bit on an imac, no problems with install.

I'm trying to map a drive shared out from a mac mini, I can mount this drive to another computer that has windows xp on it, but I cannot map the drive to the windows 7 computer.

To try and do this I select map network drive and type \\192.168.0.10\external

I've tried with and without user/password, and also setup duplicate users/passwords on the mac and the windows 7 machine.

To summarise heres what works and does not:

share drive from mac to xp - works
share drive from xp to mac works
share drive from xp to windows 7 - works
share drive from windows 7 to xp - works
share drive from windows 7 to mac - works

share drive from mac to windows 7 - does not work.

When I diagnose the problem I get error 50.

Any clues or does it just not work yet ?

Thanks

[gmcouto]

Install MacDrive 7.2.5...

How to do it:
1. Extract the MSI from exe using Winrar
2. Edit the MSI to accept windows 7(at LaunchConditions tab... where is something like WindowsNT=600 you put >=600)
http://www.brothersoft.com/easy-msi-editor-70589.html
3. Set compatibility mode for the MSI to Windows Vista.
4. Install normally.


I'm running MacDrive 7.2.5 at Windows 7 64-bit build 7000.
Works perfectly


(i 'heard' that an old installation trick used in Vista64 for activation still works)

Dont install macdrive_7.2.2 or macdrive_7.2.4.... it brokes Widows 7

[rdoane]

Install MacDrive 7.2.5...

How to do it:
1. Extract the MSI from exe using Winrar
2. Edit the MSI to accept windows 7(at LaunchConditions tab... where is something like WindowsNT=600 you put >=600)
http://www.brothersoft.com/easy-msi-editor-70589.html
3. Set compatibility mode for the MSI to Windows Vista.
4. Install normally.


I'm running MacDrive 7.2.5 at Windows 7 64-bit build 7000.
Works perfectly


(i 'heard' that an old installation trick used in Vista64 for activation still works)

Dont install macdrive_7.2.2 or macdrive_7.2.4.... it brokes Widows 7

I got it to install following your instructions but I still can't see my HFS+ partition in MacDrive. Any suggestions?

[Stridder44]

Support for Vista 64 is TERRIABLE. the program BSOD me many times!

I will not use it on 64 again. Only 32 :)


Troll much? Mac Drive does not come in 64-bit but that's because the developers are idiots and have no foresight. There is a ridiculous amount of 64-bit support, in fact to get Vista Certification for your driver(s) they must be offered in both 32 and 64-bit.

[stainlessliquid]

The newest version works in 64bit, it just took them about a year and half to do it.

[steaney]

Install MacDrive 7.2.5...

How to do it:
1. Extract the MSI from exe using Winrar
2. Edit the MSI to accept windows 7(at LaunchConditions tab... where is something like WindowsNT=600 you put >=600)
http://www.brothersoft.com/easy-msi-editor-70589.html
3. Set compatibility mode for the MSI to Windows Vista.
4. Install normally.


I'm running MacDrive 7.2.5 at Windows 7 64-bit build 7000.
Works perfectly


(i 'heard' that an old installation trick used in Vista64 for activation still works)

Dont install macdrive_7.2.2 or macdrive_7.2.4.... it brokes Widows 7


for me its the same.. installs fine but no mac drive.. a shame!! :( anyway.. thanks for the try!! maybe theres another step to make it work?

[rdoane]

Install MacDrive 7.2.5...

How to do it:
1. Extract the MSI from exe using Winrar
2. Edit the MSI to accept windows 7(at LaunchConditions tab... where is something like WindowsNT=600 you put >=600)
http://www.brothersoft.com/easy-msi-editor-70589.html
3. Set compatibility mode for the MSI to Windows Vista.
4. Install normally.


I'm running MacDrive 7.2.5 at Windows 7 64-bit build 7000.
Works perfectly


(i 'heard' that an old installation trick used in Vista64 for activation still works)

Dont install macdrive_7.2.2 or macdrive_7.2.4.... it brokes Widows 7


On a fresh install of Windows 7 this method works. Thanks.

[gearhead364]

Install MacDrive 7.2.5...

How to do it:
1. Extract the MSI from exe using Winrar
2. Edit the MSI to accept windows 7(at LaunchConditions tab... where is something like WindowsNT=600 you put >=600)
http://www.brothersoft.com/easy-msi-editor-70589.html
3. Set compatibility mode for the MSI to Windows Vista.
4. Install normally.


I'm running MacDrive 7.2.5 at Windows 7 64-bit build 7000.
Works perfectly


(i 'heard' that an old installation trick used in Vista64 for activation still works)

Dont install macdrive_7.2.2 or macdrive_7.2.4.... it brokes Widows 7

This method worked fine for my Win 7 x64 install. I did have one bug, but it seemed to fix itself or maybe I just pushed the right button at the right time.

[drayon]

Macdrive 7.2.6 was released yesterday. The installer has the same message as the 7.2.5 that it wont install on the system. Has anyone modified the .msi with the method above on the new 7.2.6 and have it running successfully? If someone else wants to be the test pilot that would be sweet ;-)

Thanks

[trancepriest]

If you will be using a shared media hard (network) drive... a good solution now is to use AEBS disk. I have no problem with Airport Utility/Airport Disks accessing the shared media volume off of a USB 2TB drive connected to AEBS. This set up is great for watching bluray/hddvd in PowerDVD. Shows up on the Windows side as FAT32 and on the mac side as AppleShare.

[steveza]

Macdrive 7.2.6 was released yesterday. The installer has the same message as the 7.2.5 that it wont install on the system. Has anyone modified the .msi with the method above on the new 7.2.6 and have it running successfully? If someone else wants to be the test pilot that would be sweet ;-)

Thanks7.2.6 has the same issue on Windows 7 x64 and Windows Server 2008 R2 x64. You still need to edit the .msi and it still does not see the OS X drive. It did work fine with one of the older versions but broke when I updated to 7.2.5. When I find the one that works I'll let you know.

UPDATE: It was 7.2.2 which works fine under both Windows 7 and Sever 2008 R2 64bit versions.

[petejk]

Just had some success with Macdrive 7.2.5.

Installed using the MSI edit mentioned above, but when I rebooted, my drive was still not visible.
However, when I installed Ext2IFS 1.11a (in order to view my Linux partition), and rebooted, I was able to use the IFS control panel utility to assign a drive letter to both Mac and Linux partitions.

The only bug seems to be that I have to run the control panel utility after each reboot to reassign letters.
Update to 7.2.6 resulted in failure to load Macdrive on boot however.
Regards,
Pete

[yadvani]

Just had some success with Macdrive 7.2.5.

Installed using the MSI edit mentioned above, but when I rebooted, my drive was still not visible.
However, when I installed Ext2IFS 1.11a (in order to view my Linux partition), and rebooted, I was able to use the IFS control panel utility to assign a drive letter to both Mac and Linux partitions.

The only bug seems to be that I have to run the control panel utility after each reboot to reassign letters.
Update to 7.2.6 resulted in failure to load Macdrive on boot however.
Regards,
Pete

Thanks your for tip my macdrive now works flawless.

I read through the website of Ext2IFS and it mentioned about a command line access. So i created a batch file and stuck in it my startup folder. Now I don't have to assign a letter at every start up:). Here are the steps:

1) Assign a Drive Letter using EXT2IFS

2) Run cmd.exe and type "mountvol X:\ /L" (without the quotation marks; and replace X: with the current letter the drive is assigned to)

3) Now mountvol will report the persistent volume name (example):
\\?\Volume{241c8cc6-c4e4-11db-8168-c5932447ec37}

4) Copy that

5) Open Notepad

6) Type: "mountvol X:\ \\?\Volume{241c8cc6-c4e4-11db-8168-c5932447ec37}" (again without the quotation marks; replace X: with whatever letter you want to assign it too; replace the last part with what you got from cmd)

7) Save it as a .bat file (you can name it whatever as long as it ends with .bat)

8) stick it in your startup folder

Thats what I did ..

Thanks again :)

[kennytech]

The following works for me on 3 macs -- x86 and x64, using macdrive 7.2.5:

1. Modify .msi as many have already explained.
2. Install it, reboot.
3. HERE IS THE KEY: Install Ext2Fsd 0.46 (which should include Ext2Mgr 2.26).
4. Run Ext2 Volume Manager, assign a drive letter to the MacOS HFS partition, and check the box to make it permanent.
5. Reboot
6. The end. My MacOSX partition lives as D: and stays as such. It has worked flawlessly for me since day 1.

[steveza]

The following works for me on 3 macs -- x86 and x64, using macdrive 7.2.5:

1. Modify .msi as many have already explained.
2. Install it, reboot.
3. HERE IS THE KEY: Install Ext2Fsd 0.46 (which should include Ext2Mgr 2.26).
4. Run Ext2 Volume Manager, assign a drive letter to the MacOS HFS partition, and check the box to make it permanent.
5. Reboot
6. The end. My MacOSX partition lives as D: and stays as such. It has worked flawlessly for me since day 1.Thanks for the tip - Windows 7 RC broke my MacDrive again and just installing 7.2.2 (which worked before) wouldn't show the drive letter. I don't have 7.2.5 so I'll stick with 7.2.2 for now.

[runebinder]

7.2.6 has the same issue on Windows 7 x64 and Windows Server 2008 R2 x64. You still need to edit the .msi and it still does not see the OS X drive. It did work fine with one of the older versions but broke when I updated to 7.2.5. When I find the one that works I'll let you know.

UPDATE: It was 7.2.2 which works fine under both Windows 7 and Sever 2008 R2 64bit versions.

I've tried running 7.2.2 using trouble shoot compatibility, this managed to get it to install using XP SP 2 compatibility mode. But does not see my OS X partition, yet can read the HSF side of the Leopard disk. How did you get it to work? (using 32 bit Windows 7 BTW).

Edit: Just realised haven't assigned it a drive letter, d'oh. Will Check Computer Management and see if I can.

Edit 2: Nope that didn't work, can see partition in Computer Management but Windows doesn't know what to do with it :(

[killmoms]

Anyone have luck with 7.2.6 at all, or is 7.2.5 it? And, with having to manually assign drive letters, I'm guessing this remains a VERY incomplete solution for removable drives, no?

EDIT: I should point out that I downloaded 7.2.6 yesterday and was going to give this a shot, but ran out of time (had to sleep) and likely won't have any time tonight or tomorrow night to test it myself. Damn busy weeks.

[assassinm4]

7.2.5 needs no MSI editing or whatsoever.
i started the installation with 7.0.10, then 7.2.2, 7.2.4 and lastly 7.2.5.
no problem at all.
running a penryn macbook pro

[Andrmgic]

Do you need to write files to your mac partition or just need to pull some files over? If you just need the files, there's a nice free app that will do that..

HFS Explorer

http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/hfsx.html

[steveza]

I've tried running 7.2.2 using trouble shoot compatibility, this managed to get it to install using XP SP 2 compatibility mode. But does not see my OS X partition, yet can read the HSF side of the Leopard disk. How did you get it to work? (using 32 bit Windows 7 BTW).

Edit: Just realised haven't assigned it a drive letter, d'oh. Will Check Computer Management and see if I can.

Edit 2: Nope that didn't work, can see partition in Computer Management but Windows doesn't know what to do with it :(I had to use kennytech's suggestion (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7507169&postcount=20) to get it working.

[runebinder]

I had to use kennytech's suggestion (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7507169&postcount=20) to get it working.

Cool. Gone back to Windows 7 64Bit today and installed 7.2.5 as atrial using compatibility mode set to Vista SP 1, worked perfectly, didn't need to do anything else. Just need to be able to afford a license now lol

[myosx86]

use ext2fsd give macVolume a drive letter
and install macdirve 7.2.5
you can read&wirte macVolume now!
file here:http://www.easy-share.com/1905172458/macdriveWin7_C3-.rar
win7 7100 success
http://i44.tinypic.com/24l2zon.png

[uwantjesse]

Im having and issue with the newest version of macdrive. got it installed good and such and it sees my drive without using the other program but it wont let me go on it say that it need to be formated.... so i got the program to relabel my drive and i looked and it under property in the program says the it has 800gb of room and that is using all 800gb also it tells me it RAW. so i dont know whats going on but its confusing as heck.

[donjondodi]

I dont know but I found bootcamp 3.0 on mininova, installed it and was able to access my mac drive on win 7...

[runebinder]

I dont know but I found bootcamp 3.0 on mininova, installed it and was able to access my mac drive on win 7...

Had a look for this, so pre-release Snow Leopard Bootcamp? So is that definitely legit? Was surprised that Bootcamp didn't have HSF+ support built in, so hope this is the real thing. Will give it a try, after a full virus scan of course lol

EDIT: Gave it a try, won't install on 64 bit Win 7 as it has digitally unsigned drivers. Can use the Limo msi's to get it to install but doesn't install the HSF+ support. Will post if I work out a solution to that

EDIT 2: Found a solution to get it working, have posted it at http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7627387#post7627387

[steveza]

Found this page on Mediafour's website for W7 support: http://assist.mediafour.com/index.php?_a=knowledgebase&_j=questiondetails&_i=131. I think I'll stick with the current version and ditch it when SL an boot camp 3 are released.

[Mr K Dilkington]

Mediafour have released a beta of MacDrive 8 with Windows 7 support!
Link (http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive8/)

I am installing it now, will see how it goes.

[METOO999]

I dont know but I found bootcamp 3.0 on mininova, installed it and was able to access my mac drive on win 7...

Does this have just read-only access, not write access?

[thardmann]

Hello all..

MacDrive 8 has been released, as a beta tho.. BUT it works like a charm on windows 7!

http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive8/

have a nice day..

[illegallydead]

Hello all..

MacDrive 8 has been released, as a beta tho.. BUT it works like a charm on windows 7!

http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive8/

have a nice day..

For everyone's benefit, here is a bump. I will try this out next time I boot into Win7...

[hoonu]

Hello all..

MacDrive 8 has been released, as a beta tho.. BUT it works like a charm on windows 7!

http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive8/

have a nice day..

If the software was so overpriced... I would have bought it by now.

[illegallydead]

If the software was so overpriced... I would have bought it by now.

Ya the price is pretty obscene. That plus the fact that they are forcing you to upgrade to 8 to make it run on Win7 (when all they needed to change was likely a tiny slice of code that checks which OS you have), plus their pathetic short-sightedness with 64-bit support, all adds up to me not wanting to support them financially. Unfortunately, they are the only ones out there that make this sort of software (at the level of user transparency I am looking for), so it is down to either live without, pay, or "obtain" from other sources :rolleyes:...

[Pegasus665]

After reading this, I just want to get it clear, I'm thinking of buying Windows OS 7 32-bit as MS are doing a pre-order offer of £50 here in the UK. So will it work in the unibody MacBook Pro 13.3" mid-2009 release?

[steveza]

After reading this, I just want to get it clear, I'm thinking of buying Windows OS 7 32-bit as MS are doing a pre-order offer of £50 here in the UK. So will it work in the unibody MacBook Pro 13.3" mid-2009 release?Yes - W7 32bit will run on any Intel Mac.

[Gav Mack]

After reading this, I just want to get it clear, I'm thinking of buying Windows OS 7 32-bit as MS are doing a pre-order offer of £50 here in the UK. So will it work in the unibody MacBook Pro 13.3" mid-2009 release?

W7 32 bit will work great but their are some driver issues with the newer models particularly with the audio. By the time that arrives in October Snow Leopard's Bootcamp 3.0 will ship with HFS+ read and better driver support, the beta works ok on my earlier uMBP (for Apple - still unacceptable if it was Dell or Lenovo). They may even shock me sideways by having 7 compatible drivers ready for Snow Leopard's launch. You'll only need Macdrive if you need read/write.

You will have to download IE8 onto a USB stick before installing because MS's offer in the EU is without a browser and despite Microsoft's insistence on the contrary you'll need it installed.

[Winni]

Support for Vista 64 is TERRIABLE. the program BSOD me many times!

I will not use it on 64 again. Only 32 :)

MacDrive 7 never did that on my Mac Pro running 64-Bit Vista Ultimate Edition SP2. So all I can say is that MacDrive's support for 64-Bit Windows worked for me.

[valvehead]

I bought Macdrive 7 a while ago. It worked on XP, but it really slowed down boot/shutdown times. It also caused Windows Explorer to become unresponsive sometimes. I tried the updates to no avail. I gave up and uninstalled it.

Now that I'm using Win7 RC 64, I thought I'd give Macdrive 8 a shot. I tried the beta (v8.0.0.129). It could see the files on my HFS+ partitions, but it couldn't read the files. It kept giving me read errors. I uninstalled that one too.

With the release of Macdrive 8, I decided to give it one more shot. I've been using the trial for a couple of days (v8.0.0.148). It's working very smoothly so far. I can get version 8 for cheap since I own version 7 already, but I'm going to hold off until Boot Camp 3 is officially released before I consider an upgrade to Macdrive.

[hoonu]

I bought Macdrive 7 a while ago. It worked on XP, but it really slowed down boot/shutdown times. It also caused Windows Explorer to become unresponsive sometimes. I tried the updates to no avail. I gave up and uninstalled it.

Now that I'm using Win7 RC 64, I thought I'd give Macdrive 8 a shot. I tried the beta (v8.0.0.129). It could see the files on my HFS+ partitions, but it couldn't read the files. It kept giving me read errors. I uninstalled that one too.

With the release of Macdrive 8, I decided to give it one more shot. I've been using the trial for a couple of days (v8.0.0.148). It's working very smoothly so far. I can get version 8 for cheap since I own version 7 already, but I'm going to hold off until Boot Camp 3 is officially released before I consider an upgrade to Macdrive.

This. I would buy macdrive... just not for $50.