Unable to install Windows 7 to 2nd Drive on 2012 Macbook Pro

[Hoverstop]

Originally Posted by noodile

anyone end up finding another solution to this? all i want is SSD with OSX in primary and HDD with Win7 in secondary. i was hoping someone would've found a solution by now

That's what I'm hoping for as well - without taking my iMac to pieces..

[asicshu]

I was seriously thinking of doing that to my MBP mid 2012. But after thinking about the steps in doing that, I'd rather save the hassle by partition my ssd for Window 7 with my Os X.

Currently my main drive is a 256gb ssd running on Window 7 and Os X. I'm planning to erase my original 500gb hd to have it as storage on my optical bay.

Interesting topic though, since I read off from another thread on this site from someone saying that it's NOT a good idea to have Window 7 and Os X on the same ssd. I'm guessing that's why you wanted to do this maybe? If not, can someone verify me if that's true or not? :/

[mindquest]

Originally Posted by Hoverstop

That's what I'm hoping for as well - without taking my iMac to pieces..

Would love to hear form anyone with a solution on this.

[LukeSchmidt]

I'm having the exact same problem as many users here. I have a Mid-2012 Macbook Pro 13. I put the 500GB HDD that came with it into the OptiBay, and put a 120GB SSD into the main bay. I want to partition the HDD for Windows 7. I really hope someone can find a solution!

[MJL]

Originally Posted by asicshu

Interesting topic though, since I read off from another thread on this site from someone saying that it's NOT a good idea to have Window 7 and Os X on the same ssd. I'm guessing that's why you wanted to do this maybe? If not, can someone verify me if that's true or not? :/

OS X wants to be installed on a drive that has a GUID partitioning scheme. If you try to install it on a drive that has a MBR partitioning scheme: it won't. Work around is to install it under GUID and then make a backup with time machine, change the partitioning scheme to MBR and restore to MBR.

Bootcamp does not function on a MBR partitioned drive.

Windows does not want to install on a GUID drive, it wants to see a MBR paritioning scheme.

Apple does some tricks in order to install Windows and you'll finish up with a "hybrid partitioning scheme". It works but if you have an issue then you may loose both the Windows and the OS X installation. (e.g. using Windows install DVD to do an automatic repair when you have a bootup problem)

If you have two internal drives then it is best to allocate one to windows and the other to OS X and you may want to use "Boot Runner" to select which one to boot rather than using some option key or changing the settings. More safety against loss when using a dedicated drive for an OS.

[bergui45]

Originally Posted by poppakristof

You cannot have two drives visible during the Windows 7 install.
For my 2012 MBP15, I have my original 500 GB hard drive and the 80 GB SSD in the opti drive bay.
This is what I did to get it installed and I have installed on both drives, opti and hdd bay.
I had Win7 installed to the HDD but I dumped that and installed again to the SDD, I like the speed.

1) Create a working BOOTABLE Installation flash drive of Windows 7 (if you don't know what this is, google it to find out how to create one)
2) Decide which drive you want to install windows too
3) From Mac OS X, Plug in the flash drive with the Win7 installer on it
4) Run Boot Camp and start the installation
5) After partition OS X will reboot automatically, do not let it reboot, when the screen goes dark, hold the power button to turn off the machine, do not start the Win7 installer
6) Unplug the flash drive and all cables
7) Take off the back cover of the MBP and disconnect the ribbon to the drive that Windows is NOT being installed to
8) Put a piece of paper between the ribbon and the connector on the logic board so it does not make a contact. This will define the drive as drive0 for the install process.
9) Put the back cover on but do NOT screw it closed
10) Plug the flash drive back in and power cable
11) Boot the computer holding down the OPTION key
12) Select the flash drive, it is orange in color, NOT Macintosh HD or Recovery HD
13) Windows 7 installer starts... format the BOOTCAMP partiton... and install windows to that just formatted partition
14) The Win7 install may reboot once or twice do not do anything, let it do its thing
15) When Win7 is installed, running windows, desktop and programs can be ran, shut down the computer *you cannot install the apple drivers just yet, be patient*
16) Unplug all cables and the flash drive
17) Take cover off and reattach the ribbon you disconnected earlier, you dont need the paper either
18) Screw down the cover
19) Reconnect the power cable and start up the computer, holding OPTION, and boot to Mac OS X
20) Take a 2GB flash drive, formatted in Disk Utility using FAT
21) Run Boot Camp, download the latest drivers from Apple, save it to the external drive which is the 2GB flash drive
22) You will need to install an utility to allow Mac OS X to be able to write to NTFS partitions. Google it to find a couple of shareware/trial utilities, don't buy it as you will only use it once. *There is a terminal command but it is unreliable and could cause data loss*
23) After installing the utility, copy the folder WindowsSupport to the Windows 7 hard drive, it should be called Untitled by default. If you copy it directly to there, the folder will be located at the root of C:
24) Install the utility, not needed anymore
25) Restart you machine, hold Option and boot to Windows
26) Go to the WindowsSupport folder and start the driver installation *I did not have any issues with unrecognized drivers after the complete driver install. It complained once during the install but after the reboot I checked Devices and all are ok, no exclamation marks for unknown hardware*

I rarely post here, so if you have any questions I'm sorry in advance when I don't reply.

--------------------------
OK PoppaKristof, I've tried another way avoiding Bootcamp and had success with one OS only in each disk (HD Apple in original bay + SSD in the optical bay)
I will try your method to check if it works on my mid 2012 MBPRo 15"
Anyway, congrats to Apple for such a crapy software aka Bootcamp, since obviously it's designed for untouched laptop with an optical drive still inside, + the genuine HD in it's bay...

[bergui45]

Originally Posted by bergui45

--------------------------
OK PoppaKristof, I've tried another way avoiding Bootcamp and had success with one OS only in each disk (HD Apple in original bay + SSD in the optical bay)
I will try your method to check if it works on my mid 2012 MBPRo 15"
Anyway, congrats to Apple for such a crapy software aka Bootcamp, since obviously it's designed for untouched laptop with an optical drive still inside, + the genuine HD in it's bay...

---------------------------
OK i tried your method with some differences:

Bootcamp utility 5.0 didn't let me format with my usb stick but only blessed the DVD Windows 7 Pro installer!
When the computer was about to restart i used the USB stick because it's much more responsive than the DVD...
I format NTFS with the Windows installer.
When done i choose to go back and click on Repair the computer letting me to use a recent working saving of my Bootcamp partition.
This worked flawlessly and the computer restarts with Windows working!
Next shutdown with pressing alt for rEFIt to choose the Mac Os side: OK
Next going back again to check if Windows restarts with no black screen with the flashing _: OK
Then i reattach the small SATA lid that connects my SSD in the optical bay
next boot the SSD with MacOS reboots with no problem and last test, i could go back to Windows again!
Everything is OK
Thank you for the trick
Note that i didn't have to reinstall the windows drivers because i was restoring a working Bootcamp partitiond before it has crashed for unexpected reason...

[rocketsheep]

Originally Posted by Hoverstop

That's what I'm hoping for as well - without taking my iMac to pieces..

i dont care about taking my macbook it apart, i just want SSD/ML/Mainbay - HDD/W7/Optibay. Is there a solution?

[Sincci]

The only solution that I have found to work is to have the drive that you are planning to use for Windows in your mainbay and whatever you want to use with OSX in your optibay since OSX doesn't care where it's installed. If you don't mind taking your macbook/imac etc apart, just try swapping the drives with each other and it SHOULD work.

[rocketsheep]

Originally Posted by Sincci

The only solution that I have found to work is to have the drive that you are planning to use for Windows in your mainbay and whatever you want to use with OSX in your optibay since OSX doesn't care where it's installed. If you don't mind taking your macbook/imac etc apart, just try swapping the drives with each other and it SHOULD work.

Thanks a lot. That worked perfectly!

[illa4rillakilla]

I figured it out,

I was encountering the original problem on my 2012 rMBP installing Windows 7 from USB.

Things that made it work: ** Not sure if it was a combination or just one of them**

1) Connect to the interent.

2) Switched USB ports (ex: left to right, right to left)

I'm assuming the internet had nothing to do with it.
Merry Christmas!

[andyrugbyref]

I am trying this with win 8 on a mid 2012 MBP

SSD has 10.8.2 installed. (in optibay)
1TB Samsung 2nd drive. (in main bay)

I have tried all sorts. Nothing seems to work apart from.

Remove one of the drives, either or. Then install windows on a partition. Loads, works brilliant.

But and its a big but,

As soon as the other drive goes back in, windows fails to load, just shows a blinking cursor.

Both bootcamp and refit.

Interestingly Ubuntu installs flawlessly, so I think its a windows issue not a mac.

[Terbear]

I hope someone can help me. Tried to do the partion everything worked out great. I think I did all the steps correctly got all the way to "completing instulation" and then it said "wondows could not complete one or more blah blah blah" not it keeps restarting and going straight back to the same message of blah blah blah restart. I can't do anything else. And I can't boot back into Mac os . Hahlp!!!! What do I do now .... Thankfully I did back my system up on my external right before all of this. Now I posting on my iPod touch....

[Ccrew]

Originally Posted by mindquest

Would love to hear form anyone with a solution on this.

Windows can't correctly write the bootloader on many *nix based systems. Since the bootloader is on the first drive and you're trying to write to the second, it bails. The 0x80300024 is indicative that Windows can't understand the partitioning scheme. Secondly, it's a HDD in an Optibay. To windows that's an external disc and the installer will not correctly talk nor install to a disc that's external

First, preferably be using ax X64 version of Windows that includes SP1. second, boot to USB or DVD with the Windows installer and disconnect the first drive. You can get all the Mac Drivers via extract from the ML disc image beforehand

It's the 2 drive scenario that's the issue.

[kensic]

still no go on this set up?

(windows on hdd in optical bay and osx in ssd in main bay)

----------

it seems like this person has done it


http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...769&highlight=

[simon201]

I suppose my problem seems similar to all the posts above, but I get the black screen and flashing dash on trying to start windows (7) that is installed on a partition on my stock 1tb HDD in my iMac since putting in a new crucial 512gb ssd. I don't really want to install windows on the SSD (would that solve it?).
The only way I seem to be able to get windows to boot is to put in the windows 7 install disk and then it shows the 'press any key to boot from cd or dvd' - I don't press any key and windows boots then....
Does anyone think it would make a difference if I erased my HDD and re-partitioned and put the bootcamp partition first on the HDD? (I believe its on 'partition 3' at the moment.

[Stan Mikulenka]

Hi,
what a bunch of yahoos…

Where should I start:

WinOS needs to be installed on 1st (:C) hard drive.
This is BUILD-IN limitation of Windows OSes…
(To prevent 'stealing' the 'Intellectual Properties' of Microsoft…

So even IF YOU MANAGE to install the winOS (with 26 point walk-thru - hahaha),it'll be a 'HACKED' winOS...
It WILL (sooner or later) stop working (with whatever update of winOS - as noticed by hundreds of complains: "…my Windows stopped working - what to do…).
(…or Micro$ will get whiff of what is happening on Mac side…)

Just fair warning...

[Stooby Mcdoobie]

Originally Posted by Stan Mikulenka

Hi,
what a bunch of yahoos…

Where should I start:

WinOS needs to be installed on 1st (:C) hard drive.
This is BUILD-IN limitation of Windows OSes…
(To prevent 'stealing' the 'Intellectual Properties' of Microsoft…

So even IF YOU MANAGE to install the winOS (with 26 point walk-thru - hahaha),it'll be a 'HACKED' winOS...
It WILL (sooner or later) stop working (with whatever update of winOS - as noticed by hundreds of complains: "…my Windows stopped working - what to do…).
(…or Micro$ will get whiff of what is happening on Mac side…)

Just fair warning...

[Stan Mikulenka]

Hi Stooby,
did you want to add something useful or I just missed it...

[Stooby Mcdoobie]

I just don't even know where to start. Your post is filled with inaccuracy.

[dikafe]

Hi!

My two cents on the issue, although being put in a lot of mills(?) , so you will need some patience, if you you'd like to look through. Also, I'd like to make myself clear that I'm not an experienced person on technical stuff and I only did what I did by moving carefully, reading and your help. Therefore, some things may should/could had been done differently:

My story / Introduction: I have a MBP mid2009 and I decided to substitute the, originally installed from Apple, 128 GB SSD (it's Toshiba) with a Samsung 512GB 840 Pro SSD, then to replace the superdrive with a SATA caddy (OWC) and install on the later the Toshiba SSD, formatted and dedicated for Windows. I also replaced the 2x2GB RAM cards with 2x4GB ones and, finally, did a clean install of Mountain Lion.

I first installed the Samsung SSD, the new RAM and the ML OS and the computer was functioning flawlessly. But then, I was hesitating of how to start the procedures on installing windows to the Toshiba SSD on the SATA caddy. First, because I read for the various problems of people, who have tried it, and then, because I couldn't find a straightforward solution that should also work to my specific computer, with the specific setup. I even employed the knowledge and patience of an expert friend, who searched for the solution, too. He ended speculating issues of compatibility of Mac's EFI version with Windows requirements (if it makes any sense of how I translate his words). Before I continue with my description, I would like to express my vast thankfulness to poppakristof for his post above, whose analytical advice I have basically followed and my huge respect to gdmk for his great thread with the thorough troubleshooting guide.

The workaround:
1. I replace the superdrive with the caddy wearing the Toshiba SSD. While, still having the OS X on I tried a selected boot with Alt key from this drive to check if the hardware installation was successful. Since it was ok, I moved to the next step.

2. I perform poppakristof's 1st step: Using Bootcamp I wanted to create a bootable Installation flash drive of Windows 7.

2a)Bootcamp would not go through the process without an optical drive installed. In order to 'fool' Bootcamp, I mounted the Windows .iso file with Daemon tools.

2b)My Bootcamp version had no such option for USB installation flash drive. I resolve it with gdmk's instructions.

3. I go through the steps 2 to 11 of poppakristof's guide and at step 11, when the system boots and I hold the Alt key, nothing appears (no mounted drive) on the screen, I think the USB Drive has failed and I turn off the computer. I most probably shouldn't: NOTE: I turned it on again, holding the Alt key, and still nothing to select on the grey (in my case) screen, then it turns black with a bilking cursor at the up-left corner, if I recall correctly, and while I'm ready to turn it off again (lack of patience) I surprisingly see that the system starts "loading files" from the USB installation drive. Conclusion: please wait for plenty of time when you first reboot, after disconnecting the Mac OS hard drive, and the system will (probably) boot from the USB drive, even if it will not be displayed as option. After all, I'm not sure if pressing the Alt key is required or the system just boots from the only bootable drive it finds (in this case the USB key). Therefore, poppakristof's step 12, didn't happen in my case.

4. I follow the steps 13 to 26 as in poppakristof's post. I only don't know why he suggests the utility to copy into windows part (NTFS) is needed and not to just copy from the flash drive in windows environment later. Also at step 24, he obviously means "uninstall" the utility. Nevertheless, I followed his valuable instructions and it worked like a charm.

5. After running Windows Support drivers, I had issue with the Bluetooth drivers. Again check how to troubleshoot it, and particularly I followed these instructions.

Good luck!

P.S.s / Comments:
1. As I mentioned already, I eventually installed both a Windows 7 and Mountain Lion OSX during this upgrade. Without considering the (big) inconvenience of installing Windows to 2nd drive on a MBP, and by only comparing the ease of installing the 2 systems, the difference is day to night! With the Mac OS I had, quickly and easily, a ready to go, clean-installed operating system with my apps and stuff, from the former (Snow Leopard) setup, migrated. While with the Windows, I had a quite long process to follow, updating several times and so on. Just for the parallelism of usability, although I admit and understand that what I did, was on a natively Mac computer and, most probably, migration tools exist for windows backups too.
2. Please feel free to ask for whatever step of the whole upgrading attempt and I'd be glad in case I can help. It has been a long process and maybe you can save some time, if you're thinking to try something similar.
3. At last, I added the "so far" on the title, taking into consideration Stan Mikulenka's comments. Honestly, your writing style is enjoyable and made me concerned, but could you support a bit further your assumptions? Or else Stooby's reply is more reliable...

[MaxPower49]

Originally Posted by poppakristof

You cannot have two drives visible during the Windows 7 install.
For my 2012 MBP15, I have my original 500 GB hard drive and the 80 GB SSD in the opti drive bay.
This is what I did to get it installed and I have installed on both drives, opti and hdd bay.
I had Win7 installed to the HDD but I dumped that and installed again to the SDD, I like the speed.

1) Create a working BOOTABLE Installation flash drive of Windows 7 (if you don't know what this is, google it to find out how to create one)
2) Decide which drive you want to install windows too
3) From Mac OS X, Plug in the flash drive with the Win7 installer on it
4) Run Boot Camp and start the installation
5) After partition OS X will reboot automatically, do not let it reboot, when the screen goes dark, hold the power button to turn off the machine, do not start the Win7 installer
6) Unplug the flash drive and all cables
7) Take off the back cover of the MBP and disconnect the ribbon to the drive that Windows is NOT being installed to
8) Put a piece of paper between the ribbon and the connector on the logic board so it does not make a contact. This will define the drive as drive0 for the install process.
9) Put the back cover on but do NOT screw it closed
10) Plug the flash drive back in and power cable
11) Boot the computer holding down the OPTION key
12) Select the flash drive, it is orange in color, NOT Macintosh HD or Recovery HD
13) Windows 7 installer starts... format the BOOTCAMP partiton... and install windows to that just formatted partition
14) The Win7 install may reboot once or twice do not do anything, let it do its thing
15) When Win7 is installed, running windows, desktop and programs can be ran, shut down the computer *you cannot install the apple drivers just yet, be patient*
16) Unplug all cables and the flash drive
17) Take cover off and reattach the ribbon you disconnected earlier, you dont need the paper either
18) Screw down the cover
19) Reconnect the power cable and start up the computer, holding OPTION, and boot to Mac OS X
20) Take a 2GB flash drive, formatted in Disk Utility using FAT
21) Run Boot Camp, download the latest drivers from Apple, save it to the external drive which is the 2GB flash drive
22) You will need to install an utility to allow Mac OS X to be able to write to NTFS partitions. Google it to find a couple of shareware/trial utilities, don't buy it as you will only use it once. *There is a terminal command but it is unreliable and could cause data loss*
23) After installing the utility, copy the folder WindowsSupport to the Windows 7 hard drive, it should be called Untitled by default. If you copy it directly to there, the folder will be located at the root of C:
24) Install the utility, not needed anymore
25) Restart you machine, hold Option and boot to Windows
26) Go to the WindowsSupport folder and start the driver installation *I did not have any issues with unrecognized drivers after the complete driver install. It complained once during the install but after the reboot I checked Devices and all are ok, no exclamation marks for unknown hardware*

I rarely post here, so if you have any questions I'm sorry in advance when I don't reply.

Is this still the only way to get Windows 7 installed on a different hard drive than OSX is on? Seems like a difficult procedure for a simple task. (I have a 2012 MBP with a SSD and a 1TB drive in an optibay.)

Thanks.

[MaxPower49]

Originally Posted by andyrugbyref

I am trying this with win 8 on a mid 2012 MBP

SSD has 10.8.2 installed. (in optibay)
1TB Samsung 2nd drive. (in main bay)

I have tried all sorts. Nothing seems to work apart from.

Remove one of the drives, either or. Then install windows on a partition. Loads, works brilliant.

But and its a big but,

As soon as the other drive goes back in, windows fails to load, just shows a blinking cursor.

Both bootcamp and refit.

Interestingly Ubuntu installs flawlessly, so I think its a windows issue not a mac.

I'm having the exact same issue. Went through the whole procedure (right up until the driver install at the end... can't find the WindowsSupport folder). Anyways, Windows booted fine when I had my other hard drive unplugged. As soon as I plug the OSX drive back in, I can't boot to Windows... I just get the blinking cursor. Can anyone help me?

[dikafe]

Have you followed poppakristof's guide? That's what I did, with only some steps slightly different. See my post above. It's quite long to follow, but you can give it a try. Although it was windows 7 what i have installed.

[chrfr]

Originally Posted by MaxPower49

I'm having the exact same issue. Went through the whole procedure (right up until the driver install at the end... can't find the WindowsSupport folder). Anyways, Windows booted fine when I had my other hard drive unplugged. As soon as I plug the OSX drive back in, I can't boot to Windows... I just get the blinking cursor. Can anyone help me?

In case you haven't resolved this by now, reverse the position of the two drives- the one with Windows on it needs to be in the original disk bay, not in the optical drive bay.
There's no performance penalty putting an SSD in the optical bay on the 2012 MBPs.