Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2 Quick Questions - Bootcamp on all Macs?
- Thread starter Void5150
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
All macs come with the Bootcamp assistant Application which you will use to create your bootable USB/CD's. If I were you I would forget the Superdrive...just copy the Windows ISO file ( or download) onto your mac and plug in a USB stick and let bootcamp assistant create a bootable USB for you...thats how I installed windows 8 on mine.
-- That being said...if you already have a boot disk that you can use in your superdrive I guess it should work with no problems
-- That being said...if you already have a boot disk that you can use in your superdrive I guess it should work with no problems
I won't be booting off a USB or CD though. It will be dual booted on the Macbook hard drive, so I can start in Mac or Windows.
Of course, once its installed its good to go until you delete the bootcamp partition...you still need a USB or CD for the initial installation though , which is why i suggested using a USB stick to create a bootable USB for the initial install from your copy of a windows ISO. Once that is complete you can wipe the USB and use it for whatever you want again.
On Macs with optical drives, Boot Camp Assistant will not create a bootable USB for you.
So for people who modded their Macs with an OptiBay, you're out of luck.
I don't think you can use an external SuperDrive to boot into Boot Camp.
In my case, I made a bootable USB stick with a retina MBP and then booted my older 2011 15" with that USB stick into Boot Camp.
I already got Windows 7 64 bit version on DVD. I think I might get a computer shop to install Windows via Bootcamp. Would I give them the DVD to install it? Or should I just return the DVD?
Also, if the SuperDrive doesn't work on Windows, what will? I think I'll keep the SuperDrive because I'll be using DVDs on the Mac side.
The internal SuperDrive will work, but the external SuperDrive doesn't support the installation of Windows through it.
My Macbook doesn't have an internal SuperDrive. What about my other questions though?
Maybe if you are using an old version of bootcamp assistant...but it definitely will create a bootable USB for you regardless of the optical drive...I just tested it on my wifes macbook to verify (in case I was wrong), and it made the USB just like on my rMBP.
All the OP needs to do is download a Windows 7 ISO ( plenty of safe ones available, i.e "http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/") save it somewhere on the computer, open bootcamp assistant with an empty USB stick inserted, and follow the onscreen instructions. It will ask you to locate your windows ISO copy (wherever you saved it)...and let the app do the rest. During installation just use your CD key for windows to activate it and finish the installation, after which you won't need the USB anymore and will be able to boot into either windows or mac anytime...hope this solves the OP's issues.
If for some reason it gives you trouble installing from the usb after the bootable disc has already been created than this thread should be able to solve your issues "https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5479879?start=0&tstart=0"
Don't waste your time with a computer shop the steps that I mentioned above are simple enough and take almost no time (besides the actual installation)
Cheers and good luck
I'm running it through Yosemite, and it doesn't have the option to create a USB installer on my Mac with an optical drive.
The option is present on my Haswell Macs, which all don't have ODDs.
Well Yosemite is still in beta so things like that are expected I suppose...I doubt the OP is running it anyways, but it would have helped if he had provided more information since we had to fill in a lot of the blanks.
edit-- the machine I tested this on was a mid 2010 unibody macbook ( w/ optical ofc)
edit-- the machine I tested this on was a mid 2010 unibody macbook ( w/ optical ofc)
Other people in another recent thread on this same topic made the same claim, and it was as baffling to me when they made it as it is to read you make it.
I just tested booting the Windows 7 64-bit install disc from an external USB DVD drive on an rMBP and it booted up perfectly fine; you can see a more detailed report about my experience here: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=19875036#post19875036
I can only hypothesize that the problem is exclusively with booting Windows from an external optical drive on Mac models that normally have an internal optical drive included. I don't have access to a 2011 or 2012 cMBP to test this theory with, but it would explain why I have no problems booting Windows installers from external optical media on both my MBA and rMBP while others continue to perpetuate this story that it is not possible to do so. I don't know why this would be the case since it would almost point to Apple purposefully crippling EFI to prevent this from working on models with internal Superdrives, but then again it isn't like we haven't witnessed this kind of behavior from Apple before.
Since, however, both threads that I have participated in on this topic are specifically about doing this with Macs that explicitly do not have an internal DVD drive (re-read first sentence from OP), I would have to say that, based on my experience, the answer is unequivocally YES: you CAN boot the Windows installer from an external optical drive on Macs that do not have an internal drive.
-- Nathan
No you directly download the ISO from that link (just pick the one that matches the version of windows you are trying to install and that matches the CD Key you have)...and bootcamp uses that to create your bootdisc...no 3rd party applications needed.
What's different about the Windows 7 SP1 Media Refresh (SP1-U) version?
If I download an ISO from the first page in that Digital River link, will I be able to fully update Windows with it? If the Media Refresh is an update, can I just get the original ISO and update it to that?
Also, are the ISOs safe to use?
Thanks.
Last edited:
That is exactly the situation.
Macs supplied originally with an optical will only boot windows from an internal superdrive.
Which is why Optibays and Bootcamp don't mix well.
Aren't OEM editions of Windows tied to the machine they originally came on so I'm not sure if that will work. Mind you it has been several years since I last used Windows so things may well have changed.
I would have thought you'd be OK in that case since it hasn't already been tied to any PC.
I tried it with the Windows 7 64-bit ISO from here:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...duct-key/cde8f6e3-6034-4d4c-a97d-53cece849f2c
For some strange reason I get "Boot Camp only supports 64-bit Windows installation on this platform. Please use a ISO file for 64-bit Windows installation."
I'm going to try a different version from W7 Forums. Hopefully it will work...