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Bootcamp install of Windows without using the super drive
- Thread starter BeachChair
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Is it even possible? I have an assignment in SAS and Im pretty screwed if I cant get it running lol
Not without a CD drive, at least, not easily. Your best bet would be to use some sort of virtualization software as an interim solution as these generally allow the use of a ISO as a virtual CD drive. There is the free (for personal use) VirtualBox; it's not the best but it should work. If you want a better solution there is also VMWare and Parallels.
unless you have virtualisation that can boot from the EFI level (and you know how to program it) you are stuffed... (is this even possible??)
you could definetely boot virtually thought using the demos from parallels/vmware. they boot from images
you could definetely boot virtually thought using the demos from parallels/vmware. they boot from images
A solution I developed that worked for me
I had this same problem - superdrives suck. but moving on.
i searched for a solution and found none, i found a number of partial solutions and present it here for your pleasure.
The basic process is this, create partition with boot camp assistant. trick VMware into installing windows on a physical disk. use a free program winclone to clone the disk, delete partition, use boot camp again, restore winclone image. voila. windows 7, no physical media.
detailed steps as follows for macbook pro:
1. create your boot camp partition of desired size. (i had to defrag first, hopefully you don't)
2. create vmware package pointing to the partition you just made. make sure vmware is closed.
my steps in terminal:
Then create your virtual machine, specify your installation media. a mounted toast or dmg or iso disk image of a windows cd from another computer will work fine. save the machine as let's say 'Windows7.vmwarevm' in our /Virtual Machine folder
Close vmware.
Open the file contained inside the windows7 package. you can right click on it and select show contents or use terminal like so.
add two lines:
at this point, you can return to boot camp, select your virtual machine, select settings and add the Bootcamp.vmdk - boot the machine and install windows.
then when it's all running... we're going to use winclone very simple and free software. clone your boot camp drive.
then use boot camp to delete the partition and then use it again to make another one of the same size. (possibly unnecessary step> --->)with the windows media mounted through toast I restarted, rebooted into os x and used winclone to restore the image.
after this i could reboot the machine, hold down the option key and boot into windows no worries. then you need the boot camp drivers to fix things up, but there are lots of the threads on that...
hope this helps, there may be possible free substitutes for vmware and toast, but they are what i used...
feel free to ask questions and i will give my best answers.
I had this same problem - superdrives suck. but moving on.
i searched for a solution and found none, i found a number of partial solutions and present it here for your pleasure.
The basic process is this, create partition with boot camp assistant. trick VMware into installing windows on a physical disk. use a free program winclone to clone the disk, delete partition, use boot camp again, restore winclone image. voila. windows 7, no physical media.
detailed steps as follows for macbook pro:
1. create your boot camp partition of desired size. (i had to defrag first, hopefully you don't)
2. create vmware package pointing to the partition you just made. make sure vmware is closed.
my steps in terminal:
Code:
mkdir /Virtual Machines
cd /Virtual\ Machines
/Library/Application Support/VMware/mware-rawdiskCreator" print /dev/disk0
/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-rawdiskCreator" create /dev/disk0 3 Bootcamp ide
#in the above line disk0 is the harddrive 3 is the volume of your fat32 drive from the print command before, Bootcamp is the name of the file to create and ide is the connection
#This creates two files in the current directoryThen create your virtual machine, specify your installation media. a mounted toast or dmg or iso disk image of a windows cd from another computer will work fine. save the machine as let's say 'Windows7.vmwarevm' in our /Virtual Machine folder
Close vmware.
Open the file contained inside the windows7 package. you can right click on it and select show contents or use terminal like so.
Code:
pico /Virtual\ Machines/Windows7.vmwarevm/Windows7.vmxadd two lines:
Code:
ide0:3.present = "TRUE"
ide0:3.fileName = "/Virtual Machines/Bootcamp.vmdk"at this point, you can return to boot camp, select your virtual machine, select settings and add the Bootcamp.vmdk - boot the machine and install windows.
then when it's all running... we're going to use winclone very simple and free software. clone your boot camp drive.
then use boot camp to delete the partition and then use it again to make another one of the same size. (possibly unnecessary step> --->)with the windows media mounted through toast I restarted, rebooted into os x and used winclone to restore the image.
after this i could reboot the machine, hold down the option key and boot into windows no worries. then you need the boot camp drivers to fix things up, but there are lots of the threads on that...
hope this helps, there may be possible free substitutes for vmware and toast, but they are what i used...
feel free to ask questions and i will give my best answers.
Ok, so far so good. The rest appears more complicated than
it needs to be. I can't understand why you're cloning the drive
and then restoring it.
Why are you doing that?
Thanks.
I know, i messed around with the installed partition for ages at work yesterday, vmware does something that makes the bootloader ignore the partition. i had a look at the partition table, it was still marked as bootable and the rest of the business...
winclone does *something* to make it bootable again... if you figure it out, let me know.
winclone does *something* to make it bootable again... if you figure it out, let me know.
How did you check the partition was marked as bootable?
I know that, for example, diskutil can report partitions as
bootable when they're not.
I'm pretty sure we can avoid winclone if we think through
this carefully!
Hi, i have mbp and my superdrive is dead
You have got very interesting solution, could You please explain the
step : 2
Thank You!!!!!!!
You have got very interesting solution, could You please explain the
step : 2
Thank You!!!!!!!
I've got this:
Starting legacy loader
Using load option 'USB'
Error: Not Found returned from legacy loader
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
Error: Not Found returned from LocateDevicePath
And i did format on the other vista laptop: usb flash to fat32, i don't know what to do else.
Hmm, I've seen other people get that error, not sure why. Did you do the following from a Command Prompt in Vista to make the flash drive bootable and copy the ISO using xcopy?
Hello, I am in the same predicament; my SuperDrive is broken, and I have been searching for a way to install Windows XP from within my Mac. I have been following the steps in this thread, but I have the same problem as Yevgeniy26... "Insufficient permission to access file" when I try to add the Bootcamp.vmdk file.
I ran into a similar problem when attempting to add the Boot Camp partition as a hard disk in my Parallels virtual machine... no permissions. Does anyone have a solution? All I do is create a partition in Boot Camp Assistant, nothing more. So it is formatted in Fat32, and Disk Utility says that I am able to write. One parameter, though, "Owners Enabled" is listed as No. I don't know if that's significant or not. I did try entering something called "sudo chmod" in Terminal to change it, but that didn't seem to work.
There must be a simple way to install Windows XP on Mac without a flipping SuperDrive...
I ran into a similar problem when attempting to add the Boot Camp partition as a hard disk in my Parallels virtual machine... no permissions. Does anyone have a solution? All I do is create a partition in Boot Camp Assistant, nothing more. So it is formatted in Fat32, and Disk Utility says that I am able to write. One parameter, though, "Owners Enabled" is listed as No. I don't know if that's significant or not. I did try entering something called "sudo chmod" in Terminal to change it, but that didn't seem to work.
There must be a simple way to install Windows XP on Mac without a flipping SuperDrive...
I'm working on installing Windows 7 without a DVD (broken SuperDrive here) using VMWare Fusion and the instructions provided by melchior.
I think I've figured out a way to make VMWare install Windows 7 to the Boot Camp partition.
I'll try and see if it works, and if it does I will post instructions.
Edit:
Great news, I got the Boot Camp partition to show up in VMWare Fusion when installing windows. I'm going to install it!
Here's what I did:
Step 1: Installed VMWare, opened up the application to make sure everything worked correctly, then quit.
Step 2: I created a folder in the root of my hard drive (Macintosh HD) entitled "Virtual Machines"
Step 3: I typed the following into Terminal:
Then..
A list of my computer's partitions appeared, then I typed..
You can see a screenshot of Terminal after typing in these commands below.
After that, I opened up VMWare Fusion. I chose to make a new machine, I hit Continue Without Disc.
I chose Use existing virtual disk, then selected windows7.vmdk out of the Virtual Machines folder in root of Macintosh HD.
VMWare asked me if I wanted to convert the disk into an "updated" version, I chose not to convert the disk image.
After that, I unchecked "automatically open machine when VMWare starts", then hit finish. I opened up the settings for the newly created virtual machine, and changed the disc to point to my Windows 7 ISO file.
I started the machine, and VMWare successfully recognized my Boot Camp partition and I'm installing Windows 7 onto the partition right now.
Screenshot of Terminal after typing in commands:
![picture4cx8.png]()
Update:
Setup completed successfully in VMWare and rebooted. I'm going to try and natively boot off of this, if it doesn't work I'll try winclone (I think winclone might set the partition to active when it copies the flies to the partition, that's why that "trick" causes the partition to become bootable again).
Side note: The reason why you type disk0 into Terminal instead of the actual ID of the Boot Camp partition (usually it's disk0s3) is because the VMWare Raw Disk Creator considers the Boot Camp partition a "special" partition and tags it with a 0 rather than using the usual disk0s3 stuff.
I think I've figured out a way to make VMWare install Windows 7 to the Boot Camp partition.
I'll try and see if it works, and if it does I will post instructions.
Edit:
Great news, I got the Boot Camp partition to show up in VMWare Fusion when installing windows. I'm going to install it!
Here's what I did:
Step 1: Installed VMWare, opened up the application to make sure everything worked correctly, then quit.
Step 2: I created a folder in the root of my hard drive (Macintosh HD) entitled "Virtual Machines"
Step 3: I typed the following into Terminal:
Code:
cd /Virtual\ Machines
Code:
/Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/vmware-rawdiskCreator print /dev/disk0
Code:
/Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/vmware-rawdiskCreator create /dev/disk0 3 windows7 ideYou can see a screenshot of Terminal after typing in these commands below.
After that, I opened up VMWare Fusion. I chose to make a new machine, I hit Continue Without Disc.
I chose Use existing virtual disk, then selected windows7.vmdk out of the Virtual Machines folder in root of Macintosh HD.
VMWare asked me if I wanted to convert the disk into an "updated" version, I chose not to convert the disk image.
After that, I unchecked "automatically open machine when VMWare starts", then hit finish. I opened up the settings for the newly created virtual machine, and changed the disc to point to my Windows 7 ISO file.
I started the machine, and VMWare successfully recognized my Boot Camp partition and I'm installing Windows 7 onto the partition right now.
Screenshot of Terminal after typing in commands:
Update:
Setup completed successfully in VMWare and rebooted. I'm going to try and natively boot off of this, if it doesn't work I'll try winclone (I think winclone might set the partition to active when it copies the flies to the partition, that's why that "trick" causes the partition to become bootable again).
Side note: The reason why you type disk0 into Terminal instead of the actual ID of the Boot Camp partition (usually it's disk0s3) is because the VMWare Raw Disk Creator considers the Boot Camp partition a "special" partition and tags it with a 0 rather than using the usual disk0s3 stuff.
ColinEC's steps on the mark: his results can be duplicated for a Windows XP as well. And if your Mac gives you slack about permissions when you try to add bootcamp.vmdk or whenever, just logout and re-login again as "Root": http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1528.
However... after the installation via VMware Fusion was complete, I restarted and tried to natively boot into the Boot Camp partition (I use rEFIt); all I got was a blank black screen followed by a blue screen for a brief moment. I couldn't read what it said because my computer automatically restarted afterwards.
So then I tried Winclone. I created an image and restored it and everything, but I got the same results: I still couldn't natively boot into the partition.
After that, I used Parallels 4 to boot the partition. It logged in fine, but the keyboard and mouse were unresponsive, so Parallels Tools installed automatically. After that I tried to natively boot again, and it worked! But the keyboard and mouse were unresponsive, so I couldn't do anything... So then I installed the Boot Camp drivers, but they didn't work--the keyboard and mouse still wouldn't work when I booted into Boot Camp natively.
So I'm convinced that my problem has something to do with how VMware and Parallels handle drivers and boot initialization. There has to be some sort of "switch" files somewhere--maybe inside the Boot Camp Assistant.app package or the Windows XP install disk--that could fix this problem. And I'm certain that Parallels configures the partition in some way to make it bootable (installing Parallels Tools is not necessary if all you want is to be able to boot into the partition).
I Just need to get the keyboard and mouse working properly...
ColinEC, you say that you're going to try and natively boot, did it work? Are your keyboard and mouse responsive?
However... after the installation via VMware Fusion was complete, I restarted and tried to natively boot into the Boot Camp partition (I use rEFIt); all I got was a blank black screen followed by a blue screen for a brief moment. I couldn't read what it said because my computer automatically restarted afterwards.
So then I tried Winclone. I created an image and restored it and everything, but I got the same results: I still couldn't natively boot into the partition.
After that, I used Parallels 4 to boot the partition. It logged in fine, but the keyboard and mouse were unresponsive, so Parallels Tools installed automatically. After that I tried to natively boot again, and it worked! But the keyboard and mouse were unresponsive, so I couldn't do anything... So then I installed the Boot Camp drivers, but they didn't work--the keyboard and mouse still wouldn't work when I booted into Boot Camp natively.
So I'm convinced that my problem has something to do with how VMware and Parallels handle drivers and boot initialization. There has to be some sort of "switch" files somewhere--maybe inside the Boot Camp Assistant.app package or the Windows XP install disk--that could fix this problem. And I'm certain that Parallels configures the partition in some way to make it bootable (installing Parallels Tools is not necessary if all you want is to be able to boot into the partition).
I Just need to get the keyboard and mouse working properly...
ColinEC, you say that you're going to try and natively boot, did it work? Are your keyboard and mouse responsive?