Windows 7 32 Bit on Macbook Retina

[fr1d4y13]

Dear guys,

Recently I just installed Windows 7 32 Bit on Macbook Retina 13" 2013. I managed to installed almost all drivers using the older version of bootcamp download from here http://support.apple.com/downloads/#boot camp 4
The problem is, after all the installation, I still can't figure out how to have the BOOTCAMP CONTROL PANEL !!!
Using the older versions of bootcamp, the bootcamp, running the setup file would show "This version of Boot Camp is not intended for this computer model". Using the newest version of bootcamp running the setup file would show "The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running"

Can anyone help me regarding this matter?
I would definitely not want to install Windows 7 64 bit since it takes up to 6Gb more space than the 32 bit, and my MBP's storage is only 128Gb !

Thanks and regards,

 

[jenzjen]

I do not know if you can install 32bit, and since you have a 2013 machine, you can only get the right driver package via boot camp assistant (where it asks you to download windows support software) ... you can no longer download the windows software from the Apple support site.

There might be a hack, but I think the only way to get it working correctly would be to first install x64 and then the correct driver package.

 

[Gav Mack]

Best way is to get a thunderbolt external drive ideally with an SSD inside. 7x86 only run broken as you have and you till have to tolerate a broken bootcamp control panel. Also on some macs due to dual GPU's you can have only 2.1 gb out of 4gb available to use, pretty useless.

Install 7x64 and setup full on your 128gb SSD. Use winclone to make a copy of your bootcamp setup and restore it to the TB drive. Delete the bootcamp partition on OSX then hold the option key down to boot Windows on the thunderbolt external drive.

 

[saturnotaku]

Can anyone help me regarding this matter?
I would definitely not want to install Windows 7 64 bit since it takes up to 6Gb more space than the 32 bit, and my MBP's storage is only 128Gb !

Yes, suck it up and install the 64-bit OS. Apple doesn't provide drivers for 32-bit versions of Windows and has not done so since Boot Camp 4, which is not compatible with the system you have.

By disabling hibernation and shrinking the pagefile/swap file, my base installation of Windows 7 x64 takes up less than 10 GB.

Also on some macs due to dual GPU's you can have only 2.1 gb out of 4gb available to use, pretty useless.

That's not really relevant in this case since the OP has a 13-inch model. Besides, there is no dual GPU functionality in Windows when using Boot Camp, so no system RAM is taken away for this purpose.