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lilcorey10

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 5, 2012
39
0
I was wondering if anyone has installed Windows 7 or any version on the new Macbook Pro with Retina display?
 

Gata

macrumors regular
Mar 23, 2010
248
149
I was wondering if anyone has installed Windows 7 or any version on the new Macbook Pro with Retina display?

In short, no, namely due to the lack of BootCamp drivers available from Apple.

I think there might be a few folks who figured out how to get it working, but for the most part, nobody has.
 

mfvisuals

macrumors regular
Sep 9, 2009
193
71
SacTown, CA
I would imagine it'll be easier once Mountain Lion is released, as they tend to release updated BootCamp software with each new OS iteration.
 

ladeer

macrumors 6502
Feb 15, 2007
391
10
someone said Apple just released driver for Windows 7 for rMBP last night and it's working. Default to maximum resolution w/ 150% dpi. Please someone confirm w/ screenshot, thanks.
I will get mine on Tue and post screenshot too.
 

acrafton

macrumors 6502
Jan 18, 2006
267
1
I have it running

It installed easily and works fine.

I have the MBP Retina with 512GB. Setup bootcamp in the usual way after creating a cd of the drivers. Installed Windows 7 and then ran the apple drivers.

It runs fast and fine.

I tried to install a game or two and got an error that the graphics card didn't support this or that. . it is showing up as the generic VGA Adapter at present.
 

ladeer

macrumors 6502
Feb 15, 2007
391
10
It installed easily and works fine.

I have the MBP Retina with 512GB. Setup bootcamp in the usual way after creating a cd of the drivers. Installed Windows 7 and then ran the apple drivers.

It runs fast and fine.

I tried to install a game or two and got an error that the graphics card didn't support this or that. . it is showing up as the generic VGA Adapter at present.

How did u install W7? Shared CD drive? How did u install game or software from CD in W7? shared drive?

So apple didn't provide the real video driver after all???? Dang playing game is the whole reason people boot camp!
 

acrafton

macrumors 6502
Jan 18, 2006
267
1
How did u install W7? Shared CD drive? How did u install game or software from CD in W7? shared drive?

So apple didn't provide the real video driver after all???? Dang playing game is the whole reason people boot camp!

I installed it with an external CD drive.

No real drivers for the display yet. . .some work being done hacking it in another thread.
 

killmoms

macrumors 68040
Jun 23, 2003
3,752
55
Durham, NC
I installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, just so I could get the drive partitioned with Boot Camp before I filled up the OS X side with too much stuff. At least its generic display driver works up to 2880 x 1800, though the DPI scaling is messy at 200%, even the mouse cursors don't look right (and the Metro stuff is hit or miss in terms of scaling).

Anyway, I probably won't play with it more until NVIDIA has a proper display driver out for the 650M and the Windows 8 final build is out.
 

Trey M

macrumors 6502a
Jul 25, 2011
954
323
USA
I was wondering if anyone knows how to install Win 7 to Bootcamp if I only have a Windows 7 install disc. I don't think you can install using shared drive because the computer has to reboot and such. Aside from using an external drive, how would I go about getting my Win 7 install disc to run on my cd-less RMBP? I talk a lot of crap about Cd's but this is probably the only time I'll ever need one for my RMBP :)

Is it possible to convert my Win 7 install disc to a USB drive or something?
 

pesos

macrumors 6502a
Mar 30, 2006
684
190
I downloaded the boot camp drivers via the assistant this morning and when I installed win8 and ran the boot camp drivers it picks up the NVidia 650. performance is atrocious though - I can't scroll down any website smoothly - it's extremely jerky. Video plays fine though.

AHCI is enabled by default which, while great and ABOUT TIME prevents the boot camp assistant from properly launching, squawking about admin rights to the startup disk. Same error that would come up if you hacked ahci into win7. This prevents me from enabling tap-to-click :mad:
 

ladeer

macrumors 6502
Feb 15, 2007
391
10
I was wondering if anyone knows how to install Win 7 to Bootcamp if I only have a Windows 7 install disc. I don't think you can install using shared drive because the computer has to reboot and such. Aside from using an external drive, how would I go about getting my Win 7 install disc to run on my cd-less RMBP? I talk a lot of crap about Cd's but this is probably the only time I'll ever need one for my RMBP :)

Is it possible to convert my Win 7 install disc to a USB drive or something?

Actually, it's not just possible, but pretty straight forward if you follow these detailed steps:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/15075274/

1. I took my windows 7 home premium disk, and put in in my early 2011 Macbook Pro.

2. I used disk utility to burn an image to the desktop.

3. I used a converted program to convert the .dmg file to a .iso file

4. I put the .iso on a USB

5. I put the usb into the Retina MBP, and used the boot camp assistant to install the .iso onto the USB.

6. I downloaded the drivers and placed them onto a separate USB.

7. I partitioned the disk and installed off the first USB.

8. On Windows 7, I put in the second USB and installed the drivers.

----------

This post at stackexchange suggests it isn't possible.

it's possible and has been done easily.
 

PackFan

macrumors 6502
Apr 22, 2009
274
103
Twin Cities, MN
Actually, it's not just possible, but pretty straight forward if you follow these detailed steps:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/15075274/

1. I took my windows 7 home premium disk, and put in in my early 2011 Macbook Pro.

2. I used disk utility to burn an image to the desktop.

3. I used a converted program to convert the .dmg file to a .iso file

4. I put the .iso on a USB

5. I put the usb into the Retina MBP, and used the boot camp assistant to install the .iso onto the USB.

6. I downloaded the drivers and placed them onto a separate USB.

7. I partitioned the disk and installed off the first USB.

8. On Windows 7, I put in the second USB and installed the drivers.

----------



it's possible and has been done easily.

What I'd really like to do once I get my 512-GB RMBP is set up an entire Windows 7 installation on a USB 3.0 flash drive (64-GB maybe) so that I don't need to waste precious drive space on the computer itself... I'm guessing this still is not doable though...
 

iMacDragon

macrumors 68020
Oct 18, 2008
2,358
704
UK
What I'd really like to do once I get my 512-GB RMBP is set up an entire Windows 7 installation on a USB 3.0 flash drive (64-GB maybe) so that I don't need to waste precious drive space on the computer itself... I'm guessing this still is not doable though...

It's possible but not with vanilla windows, at least for usb 2.

thunderbolt drive should be perfectly doable though.

I believe an SD card might be doable also.
 

PackFan

macrumors 6502
Apr 22, 2009
274
103
Twin Cities, MN
It's possible but not with vanilla windows, at least for usb 2.

thunderbolt drive should be perfectly doable though.

I believe an SD card might be doable also.

Interesting - the SD card thing... Wonder how fast/slow that would be...

If there were flash drives for thunderbolt - I would love to go that route.
 

iMacDragon

macrumors 68020
Oct 18, 2008
2,358
704
UK
Interesting - the SD card thing... Wonder how fast/slow that would be...

If there were flash drives for thunderbolt - I would love to go that route.

The sd card reader isn't on the USB bus, so would depend how much willing to spend for a fast card most likely. Most are pretty slow, but there's some relativel fast ones about.

Not tried it myself mind, just read that it has been done without verifying.
 

mistapony

macrumors newbie
Mar 15, 2008
5
0
It installed easily and works fine.

I have the MBP Retina with 512GB. Setup bootcamp in the usual way after creating a cd of the drivers. Installed Windows 7 and then ran the apple drivers.

It runs fast and fine.

I tried to install a game or two and got an error that the graphics card didn't support this or that. . it is showing up as the generic VGA Adapter at present.

So whats the screen look like on windows?
 

Squuiid

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2006
1,860
1,607
So whats the screen look like on windows?

Windows 7 Enterprise installed perfectly on mine. Bootcamp drivers installed without a single issue and the storage controller in now AHCI! Good work Apple.

As for what it looks like at default resolution without changing the DPI settings in Windows? INCREDIBLY TINY, but readable with perfect eyesight.
Given that I use my rMBP on a Dell 30" 2560x1600 at work every day, I don't change the DPI setting as it is well suited to this large display. But if I ever use the MBP display in Windows, it really is small.
I tend to use OS X when not at work though, so not an issue. Just wish Firefox would hurry up and update for Retina. I can't live without 'Roomy Bookmarks' add-on and the Chrome equivalent sucks.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/roomy-bookmarks-toolbar/
 
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