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chmedly

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 14, 2006
20
0
I've been tweaking around with making a Windows 8 WinToGo disk for use on my macs. I finally got it setup on a 32GB class 10 SDHC card using windows 7 on a 2012 macbook pro. As soon as I got the image setup I tried to boot it on my 2012 macbook air 11" but it won't boot all the way before giving me the new BSOD (your pc encountered a problem, blah blah). But, it works just fine on the Macbook Pro. I figured it was a driver issue so I installed bootcamp drivers while booted on the pro. But, it still won't work on the air. I was able to catch the message at the bottom of the BSOD and it says "inaccessible boot device". I'm not finding much info on this on the google so I'm not sure how to proceed. Any suggestions?
 

Dalton63841

macrumors 65816
Nov 27, 2010
1,449
8
SEMO, USA
I'm not really familiar with Windows to GO, but generally, after the first boot of Windows, it ties itself to the hardware. This causes a host of issues ranging anywhere from needing reactivated to a BSOD if you try to move the drive to a different system.
 

chmedly

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 14, 2006
20
0
I'm not really familiar with Windows to GO, but generally, after the first boot of Windows, it ties itself to the hardware. This causes a host of issues ranging anywhere from needing reactivated to a BSOD if you try to move the drive to a different system.

Wintogo is supposed to configure itself for different machines so that it is portable. I was able to boot a friend's wintogo drive on this machine awhile back but something is obviously different with my current configuration. His was a usb3 drive while what I'm using is basically just usb2. I'm not sure that that should make a difference. For instance, my config is working just fine on this macbook pro.
 

Dalton63841

macrumors 65816
Nov 27, 2010
1,449
8
SEMO, USA
Wintogo is supposed to configure itself for different machines so that it is portable. I was able to boot a friend's wintogo drive on this machine awhile back but something is obviously different with my current configuration. His was a usb3 drive while what I'm using is basically just usb2. I'm not sure that that should make a difference. For instance, my config is working just fine on this macbook pro.

Hmm... Not sure. I remember the old method of modifying XP to boot on an external drive would work sometimes, but on some machines would just throw a fit.
 

MeatRocket

macrumors regular
Jun 9, 2013
142
0
In the Sandbox
I'm not going to go digging for where I read it, but I'm almost positive I stumbled across this the other night when I was trying to do a restore from Acronis to a Parallels installation using an Acronis USB bootable thumb drive (which won't work, Parallels doesn't support booting from a USB drive).

The jist is that the Windows To Go will have to be on a USB drive. You could load it on an SD card and then plug it into an SD-USB adapter. I think this has something to do with the SD card readers being on different buses. One device has the SD reader on the USB bus & the other one having the card reader on the PCIe bus, but I couldn't tell you which is which. Check it for yourself though, I'm getting old & have ADD.
 

johnjey

macrumors regular
Jun 17, 2013
245
2
Northern CA
How to Install Win8 on Mac OSX 10.8.4

Guys,

I am really new to the whole Windows Installation & it's working on a Mac OSX 10.8.4

Currently i have the following things installed on 11' 2013 i5/8GB/512 SSD mac:

1. Parallels
2. VM Ware Fusion
3. Windows 8 (2 .iso img files that regularly opened with mac shows me setup.exe)

4. Do i need a USB to be able to install it ? I tried doing it using VM Ware Fusion and it couldn't recognize the setup and said it's corrupt. It did allot 60GB SSD space to it.

5. What are different ways of installing it?

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-install-windows-8-on-a-mac/
THe above link seems too many steps...

6. Is installing windows 7 first the only way out ?

7. If yes to #6, what are the steps for doing that now?

8. And then is Win8 worth the upgrade ?

I think i would also need to use BOOTCAMP to install windows.

If the windows 8 is too much pain (based on the rants i have heard online about its drivers not working/supported and other troubles), then i would like to rather install Windows 7 and be happy.

And before we go down the route of oh...why do you want to run a windows on an expensive mac....well sadly the softwares like Visio etc do NOT work on Mac and i need them.

Thanks :)
 

Dalton63841

macrumors 65816
Nov 27, 2010
1,449
8
SEMO, USA
Guys,

I am really new to the whole Windows Installation & it's working on a Mac OSX 10.8.4

Currently i have the following things installed on 11' 2013 i5/8GB/512 SSD mac:

1. Parallels
2. VM Ware Fusion
3. Windows 8 (2 .iso img files that regularly opened with mac shows me setup.exe)

4. Do i need a USB to be able to install it ? I tried doing it using VM Ware Fusion and it couldn't recognize the setup and said it's corrupt. It did allot 60GB SSD space to it.

5. What are different ways of installing it?

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-install-windows-8-on-a-mac/
THe above link seems too many steps...

6. Is installing windows 7 first the only way out ?

7. If yes to #6, what are the steps for doing that now?

8. And then is Win8 worth the upgrade ?

I think i would also need to use BOOTCAMP to install windows.

If the windows 8 is too much pain (based on the rants i have heard online about its drivers not working/supported and other troubles), then i would like to rather install Windows 7 and be happy.

And before we go down the route of oh...why do you want to run a windows on an expensive mac....well sadly the softwares like Visio etc do NOT work on Mac and i need them.

Thanks :)

Just use the tutorial in number 5. It's actually not that many steps. They are just being as detailed as possible to make it easier for people who may not understand. It's not as difficult as you seem to be making it out to be.

Also, it is typically considered bad form to ask a question different from the OP's question. In the future, make your own thread for a faster answer that won't side track a thread already looking for a different answer.
 
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