Bootcamp install of Windows without using the super drive

Discussion in 'Windows, Linux & Others on the Mac' started by BeachChair, Nov 16, 2008.

  1. balamw Moderator

    balamw

    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2005
    Location:
    New England
    #76
    From the vmware-rawdiskCreator help:
    Code:
       <adapterType> is the virtual disk type. It must be one of "ide",
          "buslogic", or "lsilogic".
    
    Can you boot natively in safe mode? (Hold fn-F8 during boot).

    B
     
  2. hallo123 macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2011
    #77
    Unfortunately, safe mode doesn't work either. It crashes while loading classpnp.sys. It doesn't seem to be able to access the harddrive at all.

    On some windows forums people get the same error code after switching motherboards/chipsets and have to change their BIOS settings. Macs don't really have anything like that right?

    I'm now trying to follow this tutorial: http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html#idc-cover

    Unfortunately it involves manually copying the MBR which I've tried to avoid so far ...
     
  3. Digital Artist macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2010
    #78
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I wrote my post for all the people who were fooled into buying an early 2008 Macbook Pro with a malfunctioning superdrive (one that can read CD's but not DVD's, lol).
    So yea, that's basically how to do it without a DVD drive :D
     
  4. DaSal macrumors regular

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2008
    Location:
    The Netherlands
    #79
    Is this guide actually comprehensive, containing all the steps? It doesn't seem to, cause it's not working...

    For starters, at step 3 I get two files instead of one: windows7.vmdk and windows7-pt.vmdk.

    Then at step 4 when I'm trying to do "Use existing virtual disk", the windows7.vdmk file is greyed out and I can't select it.

    If I got back to the original instructions and try to do the "pico /Virtual\ Machines/Windows7.vmwarevm/Windows7.vmx" command, I get the following error when trying to write out:

    [ Error writing /Virtual Machines/Windows7.vmwarevm/Windows7.vmx: No such file ]

    Besides that, trying to do it using "show package contents" is impossible too; the finder doesn't show such an option.

    I was hoping someone could make a comprehensive, step by step, up to date guide on how it works... cause it seems like either there are steps missing, or it doesn't work with the latest version of VMWare anymore...

     
  5. fl89, May 3, 2011
    Last edited: May 3, 2011

    fl89 macrumors newbie

    fl89

    Joined:
    Jan 24, 2011
    #80
    Ive installed Windows7 64bit with VMWARE on the Bootcamp partition but it's impossible to natively boot from it, as I get the Error-Message:
    Could not load winload.exe, file is missing or corrupt. blabla

    Fixing the BootRecord doesnt help either. Can someone help me? :D




    Hmmm....yeah the guide is not really comprehensive.

    1. i cant select windows7.vmdk either but if you drop the file from the finder onto the vmware-dialog it works, then select "convert the file...blabla", then you save it in the "Virtual Machines"-Folder as "Windows7"

    2.the command "pico /Virtual\ Machines/Windows7.vmwarevm/Windows7.vmx" worked for me, look into root if such a folder "Virtual Machines" exists and if it contains a "Windows7.vmwarevm"
    if this works you don't need the "show package contents"-step (you tried right-click on the Windows7.vmwarevm and not the windows7.vmdk ?!?)

    i hope this can help you

    sry for my grammar
    greez from germany
     
  6. 4jo, Jun 1, 2011
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2011

    4jo macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2011
    #81
    Alternative guide that worked for me

    Hi everybody.

    I tried for two and a half days to install Win7 on my system and non of the guides that I found worked.

    However, Finally I managed by using this guide

    http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html#idc-cover

    and a couple of extra steps which I describe in this post. These steps do not require a SuperDrive and not a Windows 7 boot USB key (the latter in combination with rEFIt failed in my case, as well).

    I have a MacBook Pro 15" (early 2011) with Mac Os X 10.6.7 and I used Parallels trial version 6 (6.0.11994.637263). I have two internal disks: disk0 is a SSD, disk1 a 500GB HDD and I (after some troubled) managed to install Windows 7 on the second disk (without SuperDrive).

    I went through all steps (in the guide linked above) up to the moment when one has to boot in the (half-finished) Win7 installation. (The step after changing the Mbr of /dev/disk0 (in my case disk1) within the Mac Os Install Setup). Remark 1: Parallels 6 tends to complain during the Win7 installation that it cannot write on the physical disk (boot camp partition), ignore this. Remark 2: In the guide linked above I used a second usb key with a bootable Snow Leopard. Alternatively, as described in the guide you can use the shared DVD drive of another computer.

    When I booted the first time in Windows it crashed with the common error:

    ===============================================
    ...cannot boot because of missing file/buggy file

    File: \Boot\Bcd

    Status: 0xc000000f

    Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.
    ===============================================
    How to get it to work:

    1) Restart in Mac Os X
    2) Run Parallels and restart the VM. In the VM boot from the Win 7 DVD (not from the half-installed Windows)
    3) When asked for language click next. Then click on "Repair". Now Windows should automatically diagnose that there is a boot problem and
    suggest a fix - click on accept and right when the VM restarts stop it. (I tried to fix the problem manually with cmd via bootrec /FixMbr etc. this never worked for me)
    4) Restart your computer and boot in Windows (holding down alt-key after chime sound).

    Windows 7 should now finish the installation normally. If this still does not work try re-installing Win 7 (in the VM) and again stop the VM when the first reboot is suggested. The Mbr which one physically changed before is not effected by this reinstall, as Parallels only writes a new Mbr in the VM.

    I think the crucial difference with the guide i linked above with respect to other suggestions here is to override the physical Mbr of the disk by the one of the VM. This prepares the system to become natively bootable.

    regards,
    Joe
     
  7. Kcomplex macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2006
    #82
    Hi, My superdrive has broken on both my macbook and mac mini. I need to reintall XP on my mac mini as i can't use win 7 for various reasons. What would be the best solution provided in this thread for me to install XP without using the internal drive. It seems most solutions here are for vista or win7 so i don't want to spend all my time trying them out for XP only to find there is no way of doing it.

    i have been looking all day for solution but have found nothing concrete - i need XP and cannot afford the silly prices to get the superdrive fixed. any suggestions or help would be appreciated, surely there must be a way!
     
  8. balamw Moderator

    balamw

    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2005
    Location:
    New England
    #83
    The VMWare/Parallels approach should work about as well as it does for Vista/7. Have XP move all it's stuff over to the HDD and then don't let it reboot from the VM, but force it to boot natively.

    As the last poster says you might run into some boot record issues, but they should be more easily fixable in XP than Vista/7 which add BCD complications to the mix.

    B
     
  9. englishman macrumors 6502a

    englishman

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2006
    #84
    This sort of thing might be helped in the future with Apple delivering apps through the app store wirelessly like lion dev preview.
     
  10. 4jo macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2011
    #85
    Might be not the answer you hope to hear

    I believe an installation of Win XP via Parallels on the physical Bootcamp partition should do the trick. However, if you don't want to go through the trouble an easy, maybe not satisfactory solution could be to buy an external DVD drive from which you can boot. I believe the Samsung SE-S084F/RSBS should be suitable for that. A guy on amazon.de claims that booting of it with a Mac is no problem....(I know that it is officially supporting Mac OS) so spending 40$ could save you some pain, also from time to time it does make sense to have an optical drive.
     
  11. brian5258 macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2011
    #86
    figured it out

    After 3 days of messing around I've finally figured it out. I'll update later with screenshots.

    Okay so here's how to make it work.

    - Using VMware Fusion, install a fresh copy of Windows 7 onto a SINGLE partition. This is very important as you'll get the 'BOOTMGR is missing' error if you allow windows to create two separate partitions as it does normally during an install.

    Follow step 3 from this walkthrough to achieve this: http://www.mydigitallife.info/hack-...reserved-partition-when-installing-windows-7/

    Once the install is complete, be sure to shutdown from within windows which will also close the virtual machine.

    Close VMware.

    Navigate to your virtual machine in Documents\Virtual Machines and mount it with VMDK Mounter.

    Use Winclone to image this mounted drive.

    Use the bootcamp assistant to create a new partition, but quit the installer after this step.

    Use Winclone to restore the image you created to your BOOTCAMP partition.

    Install rEFIt, reboot twice, and boot to your Windows partition.

    Bam, you're done.
     
  12. balamw Moderator

    balamw

    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2005
    Location:
    New England
    #87
    It's probably worthwhile to rework that to only require ntfsclone since Winclone 2.2 doesn't work under Lion.

    Looking forward to the screenshots!

    B
     
  13. kod88vn macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2011
    #88
    This works like champ. Thank you. Very comprehensive guide
     
  14. nawie macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2010
    #89
    I tried this but got the following error:
    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1314189/Photo 2011-08-29 22 01 48.jpeg
    Status: 0xc0000225
    Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

    Anyone have any clue to how to fix it or how to make it work?
     
  15. balamw Moderator

    balamw

    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2005
    Location:
    New England
    #90
  16. Bob Coxner macrumors 6502a

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2011
    #91
    It's more than a rumor. I installed Win 7 Pro on my 2011 MBA using an ISO and flash drive.
     
  17. englishman macrumors 6502a

    englishman

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2006
    #92
    What about MBA 2010 ?

    Seems even 10.7.2 and BCA 4.0.1 (429) that option to create USB from ISO is present as an option but greyed out... on my 2010 MBA.
     
  18. balamw Moderator

    balamw

    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2005
    Location:
    New England
    #93
    That's why I still class it as a rumor. The 2011 MBAs seem to enable that, but others... ?

    B
     
  19. longmover macrumors member

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2006
    Location:
    Wales, UK
    #94
    For XP USB installs try this

    It worked for my MacBook Pro 06 but not for the Mac Pro, definitely worth a go, no need for VM :)
     
  20. MattGrnatham macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2011
    #95
    I followed Brian5258's instructions to the letter and am also getting the same error. One thing to note is that it doesn't appear refit is necessary as I was able to see the windows drive by simply holding option during boot.

    I think this may be a driver issue and am going to try the same process again but instead of letting the Windows install finish 100%, I'm going to try and stop it after the files are installed but before the configuration steps. I'll then follow the rest of the process as normal and report back.

    On a related note, how typical is this of Apple? (rhetorical). They've included the ability to both boot from an external DVD and external USB drive on the MBA firmware but have either removed the ability or not included it for MBP. All of our problems would be solved if apple would simply enable a few flags in the next EFI update.
     
  21. OzyCA, Nov 22, 2011
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2011

    OzyCA macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2011
    #96
    Ozys 20-step guide to no-DVD Windows 7 joy...

    Hello everyone,

    My first post on this forum - I'm writing to explain how, after over a week of pulling my hair out, I finally got Windows to load as a boot camp installation on Lion without using a DVD.

    I am running OS X Lion. I used a windows7.iso for the install. I also used Parallels 7 and rEFIt. I have a late-2007 Macbook with a busted combo drive that will neither read nor write.

    I tried everything over days and days - all the solutions that people have listed here, and no matter what I did, it didnt seem like anything would persuade my bootcamp partition to boot. I also gave up on the option of booting from a USB device after the Refit USB boot option kept coming up with the 'Cannot boot legacy device' error that many here have experienced.

    Anyways, I eventually got there by basically adapting the first part of the strategy set out here on Inside the Brackets (ITR) which explains how to set up a Virtual Machine in Parallels which has your Bootcamp partition set as its hard disk:

    http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/04/install-windows-on-macbook-air-with-no.html

    My process then departs significantly from the InsidetheBrackets instructions - no need to copy over the MBR or anything like that. It worked surprisingly easily in the end. I basically use Parallels to format the bootcamp partition as NTFS and copy over the contents of the Windows7.iso to that partition. Then I boot from the partition.

    Here is the process I followed:

    1. Open Disk Utility and create the Bootcamp partition to whatever size you want (ensuring at least 18GB for your Win 7 installation). Format it as MS-DOS (FAT32). [I refer to this new partition in the process below as your 'bootcamp partition' but there is no need to use the actual Boot Camp Assistant for this step, disk utility does the same thing]

    2. Install Parallels. I used version 7.

    3. Create a virtual machine in Parallels, as set out in the InsidetheBrackets article linked to above. The screenshots you see may differ from the article depending on which version of Parallels you are using. Be sure you choose to customize the installation and select your Bootcamp partition as the main hard disk.

    4. Use your Windows7.iso as the source for the Parallels installation.

    5. When creating your Virtual Machine, add an additional CD-ROM drive and point this also towards your Windows7.iso [Note - this step is not listed in the ITB article, but it's very important]

    6. Start the Virtual Machine. The Windows 7 installer will appear and start loading. Let it go through the steps, and after a few screens it will ask which drive you want to install Windows on.

    7. Make sure you choose the bootcamp partition you created using Disk Utility in Step 1. Choose 'drive options' then format it to NTFS.

    8. *** This is where my procedure departs completely from the InsidetheBrackets article. ***

    9. After the installer has formatted your bootcamp partition as NTFS, hit the X in the top right to abort the installation. The Windows 7 setup will then take you back to the main 'install' screen.

    10. Choose 'repair your computer', then the first option in the next menu (for system tools). A list of system tools will appear. Choose 'Command Prompt'. The Windows command box will appear.

    11. Type C: -> this should take you to your hard drive (the root of your bootcamp partition). Type DIR to list the content of the root folder - it should be empty.

    12. Type D: -> if you have configured the additional CD-ROM (from Step 5) then your D:\ drive should be your windows7.iso - your install disk. Type DIR to list the contents of D:\ - you should see a number of directories, including EFI and SOURCES.

    13. Now that the C drive has been formatted in NTFS, we need to copy the content of your D: drive (your windows iso) to C:\ (your bootcamp partition)

    14. Copy everything on D: to C: --> by typing:

    XCOPY D:\*.* C:\ /e/h

    (the /e/h is very important - it tells xcopy to move over all files and directories, including hidden files and empty directories)

    15. Xcopy will chug away for a bit copying things over. The Install.WIM file is huge (>3GB) and Xcopy will seemingly hang for several minutes when copying it. Be patient - mine took nearly 20 minutes to copy over, but it will get there in the end. You'll be returned to your D:\ prompt in Windows.

    16. At this point you have copied the content of your Windows 7 disk successfully to your NTFS-formatted bootcamp partition - which would have been impossible in Mac as Macs can't write to NTFS drives.

    17. We're now going to boot from the copy of the setup disk on your bootcamp partition and use it to install Windows on the same partition. This would be impossible if your partition was formatted in FAT32 as the Setup program would need to format it's own drive, causing it to crash.

    18. Shut down Mac, hold the option key when it restarts and choose the 'Windows' disk. [I had refit installed but I'm not 100% sure it's necessary].

    19. Cross your fingers and… voila! Windows 7 setup should load, and you can commence installation. After Setup you can delete the various setup files from your C:\ directory to save space (especially the large ones in c:\SOURCES )

    20. Install the Boot Camp drivers (load up your Mac, go to Bootcamp Assistant, and download the Win 7 drivers to a FAT32-formatted USB stick - then load up windows and insert the stick) - and ensure you load the latest Windows Updates (including SP1) - Enjoy Windows 7 on your Mac!


    Really hope this process works for others. Looking forward to reading feedback and any tips you folks may have for improving this 20-step process.
     
  22. englishman macrumors 6502a

    englishman

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2006
  23. r3voLoLwuT macrumors member

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2010
    #98
    Great walkthrough!

    I am running into problems when I get to the Windows install. I never get the menu to select which partition I want to install to. It tries to go straight into the installation process and then errors out because it is trying to install windows on top of OSX.

    I created a FAT32 partition and selected the "Boot Camp" option for the HDD in Parallels 7. Anything I am doing wrong?
     
  24. OzyCA macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2011
    #99
    Not sure why the installer isn't recognising your bootcamp partition. Is the bootcamp partition you created recognised when you open Disk Utility (on your Mac)?

    If it is recognised then I think it needs to be unmounted for Parallels to do it's thing.

    I've never experienced the issue where the Windows setup (in Parallels) didn't recognise my partition - does it not even pop up the 'where do you want to install' drive menu, even if it only lists one drive?
     
  25. r3voLoLwuT, Nov 26, 2011
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2011

    r3voLoLwuT macrumors member

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2010
    #100
    I never get the normal prompt asking me where I wan to install Windows. Think it has something to do with Parallels skipping that step?

    EDIT: Finally got it to work! I ended up not selecting the .iso I wanted to use until later in the process and it worked like a charm! Great walkthrough! Thanks for the help!
     

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