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MBP and Windows 7

C

caliglas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
16
0
I have read thru many threads and posts for the last few days and I cannot seem to get an answer for this. I am trying to install W7 on a 2012 13" MBP. I put the BC drivers on the usb just like BC says and continued. Partitioned 40mb for Windows. The computer rebooted and started with the opening screens, English etc, then started installing. I get to the point where the computer says it need the driver CD or DVD, (which I also created.) It says to remove the Windows installation disk and insert the driver disc. I cannot figure out how to open the superdrive to insert the driver cd. I tried directing the computer to the usb drive which has the drivers and nothing. I see this problem has been going on for a long time and honestly cannot believe there is not a fix to this by apple. What the heck do I need to do? Thanks,
Jerry
 
iVikD

iVikD

macrumors regular
Sep 11, 2011
227
11
Spain
caliglas said:
I have read thru many threads and posts for the last few days and I cannot seem to get an answer for this. I am trying to install W7 on a 2012 13" MBP. I put the BC drivers on the usb just like BC says and continued. Partitioned 40mb for Windows. The computer rebooted and started with the opening screens, English etc, then started installing. I get to the point where the computer says it need the driver CD or DVD, (which I also created.) It says to remove the Windows installation disk and insert the driver disc. I cannot figure out how to open the superdrive to insert the driver cd. I tried directing the computer to the usb drive which has the drivers and nothing. I see this problem has been going on for a long time and honestly cannot believe there is not a fix to this by apple. What the heck do I need to do? Thanks,
Jerry
Click to expand...

I've had this happen when installing non-English versions of Windows on several computers, PCs and Macs alike. Are you using an original, English Windows 7 DVD?
 
C

caliglas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
16
0
As far as I know it's English. Nothing leads me to believe otherwise.
 
C

caliglas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
16
0
Installing from a usb? Not sure what that means. I know a little bit about macs.... but how do you install from a usb? And it's not as odd as you think. If you google windows 7 macbook bootcamp you'll see.

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I'm taking a wild guess and thinking the usb is not formatted correctly.Nope...........
 
iVikD

iVikD

macrumors regular
Sep 11, 2011
227
11
Spain
caliglas said:
Installing from a usb? Not sure what that means. I know a little bit about macs.... but how do you install from a usb? And it's not as odd as you think. If you google windows 7 macbook bootcamp you'll see.

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I'm taking a wild guess and thinking the usb is not formatted correctly.Nope...........
Click to expand...

Well, I've installed Windows 7 and 8 on several MBPs, including my own, and haven't had much of an issue, however, it seems the 2012 models don't like to behave.

EDIT: That link up there from takeshi74 will probable be more useful :)
 
J

jenzjen

macrumors 68000
Aug 20, 2010
1,734
6
I've installed Windows via USB since the 2nd gen MBA (onto Mac Pro, MBP, etc) and have never been prompted for a driver CD. Google for the mydigitallife URL where you can download the latest W7 ISO and try installing with that one. Use boot camp assistant to burn that ISO onto a USB along with the drivers.
 
C

caliglas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
16
0
Ok. I am downloading the ISO on one computer and burning an ISO on another. We'll see which one finishes first. Had I known what a hassle this was I would have never done it. I had no clue the difference between an optical drive and a superdrive. I see that I have a "superdrive" and think , cool! Wrong. I'm having better results learning 4 different Adobe CS6 programs at a time than doing this.......Windows absolutely sucks.
So I'll get the ISO on the usb and go from there. Bettin I'll be back. Thanks for the help.
 
D

dma550

macrumors 6502
Sep 3, 2009
267
4
CT
caliglas said:
I have read thru many threads and posts for the last few days and I cannot seem to get an answer for this. I am trying to install W7 on a 2012 13" MBP. I put the BC drivers on the usb just like BC says and continued. Partitioned 40mb for Windows. The computer rebooted and started with the opening screens, English etc, then started installing. I get to the point where the computer says it need the driver CD or DVD, (which I also created.) It says to remove the Windows installation disk and insert the driver disc. I cannot figure out how to open the superdrive to insert the driver cd. I tried directing the computer to the usb drive which has the drivers and nothing. I see this problem has been going on for a long time and honestly cannot believe there is not a fix to this by apple. What the heck do I need to do? Thanks,
Jerry
Click to expand...

I'm hoping you did 40gb, right? I had no problem doing this, of course I started with an ISO of the Win7 disk.
 
C

caliglas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
16
0
"Your bootable usb drive could not be created." An error occurred while installing windows installation files."

Great...........

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I put this on my windows computer and it cannot format the drive. I try to open and it says "insert a disk into drive E."
I'm not believing this.
 
C

caliglas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
16
0
I have a 2012 13" MBP. I have the ISO on my HD which took hours to accomplish. I went thru BC and followed the steps. I read the BC guide over and over.
I searched the problem and found that I needed to unmount the usb. That got me past that step. I waited over an hour for the ISO to load onto the usb. Windows started. I got past the initial screen and windows started. When I got to the partition phase, there were 5 partitions. 3 small partitions, the mbp partition and the bc 37.5 partition (Shouldn't this be 40?). I picked the the bc partition. It said it could notload because the partition needed formatting to NTSB. I said ok. Next the computer could not format the partition. I tried a couple times. Nothing. This truly is windows. I have had 2 other MBPs and never had a problem installing XP.
 
Last edited:
iVikD

iVikD

macrumors regular
Sep 11, 2011
227
11
Spain
caliglas said:
I have a 2012 13" MBP. I have the ISO on my HD which took hours to accomplish. I went thru BC and followed the steps. I read the BC guide over and over.
I searched the problem and found that I needed to unmount the usb. That got me past that step. I waited over an hour for the ISO to load onto the usb. Windows started. I got past the initial screen and windows started. When I got to the partition phase, there were 5 partitions. 3 small partitions, the mbp partition and the bc 37.5 partition (Shouldn't this be 40?). I picked the the bc partition. It said it could notload because the partition needed formatting to NTSB. I said ok. Next the computer could not format the partition. I tried a couple times. Nothing. This truly is windows. I have had 2 other MBPs and never had a problem installing XP.
Click to expand...

First off, stop blaming Windows, many other people have installed it without a problem.
When you get to the part inside the Windows installation that shows you the bunch of partitions, pick the BOOTCAMP partition (37.5GB is fine, the other 2.5GB are used for other stuff) then click Drive Options (bottom right, blue link) and then click format. Did you do all this?
 
J

jenzjen

macrumors 68000
Aug 20, 2010
1,734
6
Unsure why you are still having an issue especially since you've done this before ... as the poster above said, W7 is a pretty painless install if you use boot camp assistant. W8 is the one that is more complicated.
 
C

caliglas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
16
0
I'd hardly say painless. I've gone by the book on this. Every step I've taken has been by the book and I've hit a wall at every turn. I have searched and seen that every single time I've had a problem, that same glitch it is all over the internet and mac/windows forums. I have a MBP 2012, a windows ultimate retail disk, a brand new 8g DOS fat 32 formatted flash drive. First off, I kept trying to install the W7 from the disk in the superdrive. The software could not recognize the drivers that were clearly on the flash AND on a separate dvd. Then I went with the flash attempt. It took over 5 times trying and over 5 hours to get the ISO from the BC initial step. BC started the windows install. I finally got past the initial preferences screens and to the install. I chose the 37.5g BC partition. Windows said it could not install into the partition until it's formatted. I clicked on "format". It came back and said the partition could not be formatted. I have yet to search for that particular glitch on the net. I've spent too much time on this and I'm ready to sell the software and just keep my '08 MBP that has winxp.

I did a search and it could be a number of things.
 
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C

caliglas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
16
0
Thanks jentzen. Allz well. FWIW I did a search and tried reloading BC AFTER unplugging the external HD. It worked and W7 is installed. I wasn't giving up just to give up but I just have other things I should be doing.

So just to recap for those that might need help:
1) Most people don't know that Apple is not using optical drives in their newer macs so you cannot use the W7 disks and you must use the usb flash to load.
2) Use the BC option to download the ISO. Be patient. It may take hours. Don't skip the 2nd step of downloading the drivers even when using the first option. Load them to a dvd and install after W7 is installed.
3) Unplug any external disks/hard drives during BC.

Knowledge of these 3 would have saved me hours of aggravation. Time to go to work.

Jerry
 
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J

jenzjen

macrumors 68000
Aug 20, 2010
1,734
6
caliglas said:
Thanks jentzen. Allz well. FWIW I did a search and tried reloading BC AFTER unplugging the external HD. It worked and W7 is installed. I wasn't giving up just to give up but I just have other things I should be doing.

So just to recap for those that might need help:
1) Most people don't know that Apple is not using optical drives in their newer macs so you cannot use the W7 disks and you must use the usb flash to load.
2) Use the BC option to download the ISO. Be patient. It may take hours. Skip the 2nd step of downloading the drivers when using the first option. The drivers come with the ISO.
3) Unplug any external disks/hard drives during BC.

Knowledge of these 3 would have saved me hours of aggravation. Time to go to work.

Jerry
Click to expand...

Glad it is working, maybe it was something in the connection that made ISO/drivers take that long as both are under 30min for me.

Note, though, that step 2 is misleading. The OS does have base drivers so everything *should* work, but you always want to download and install the boot camp drivers, as these are device specific, ie if I didn't install the boot camp drivers, my external display would not display its higher/native resolution.
 
C

caliglas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
16
0
So you think the ISO downloaded by BC would or would not have the required drivers? I'll see how the OS works later when I get back to the computer.
 
J

jenzjen

macrumors 68000
Aug 20, 2010
1,734
6
caliglas said:
So you think the ISO downloaded by BC would or would not have the required drivers? I'll see how the OS works later when I get back to the computer.
Click to expand...

I does not have all the specific, tailored to your machine, drivers. You should re run the boot camp assistant to get all the right drivers.

Think of it like tires, you may be able to slap any 4 on a car and drive, but the car will drive better if you use the 4 specified by the manufacturer.
 
C

caliglas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
16
0
I installed the drivers with the dvd that I downloaded from BC. Went smooth.
 
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