Install Win7 off a USB drive to an iMac?

[08380728]

Anyone tried to restore a Win7.iso installer (with Disk Utility in 10.6) to a FAT32 or NTFS partition on a USB flash drive then try to install from this after booting from it rather than installing from optical media?

 

[balamw]

I successfully used this guide: http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide/ to create a thumb drive that I used to install W7 on a desktop sans ODD. Didn't try booting from it on the Macs, but don't see why it shouldn't work.

You need Windows to prepare the drive, so if you don't already have Windows, install your ISO in Parallels/Fusion/Virtualbox without the product key to get a temporary Windows box.

B

 

[ssn637]

I successfully used this guide: http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide/ to create a thumb drive that I used to install W7 on a desktop sans ODD. Didn't try booting from it on the Macs, but don't see why it shouldn't work.

You need Windows to prepare the drive, so if you don't already have Windows, install your ISO in Parallels/Fusion/Virtualbox without the product key to get a temporary Windows box.

B

I must be doing something wrong...

MacBook Pro 13" 2010 with Windows 7 installed on SSD in OptiBay and Mac OS X 10.6.3 on HDD in main bay. I can boot from a Windows 7 installation disc using an external USB drive (not the MacBook Air superdrive, strangely enough) but would like to be able to perform future clean installations of the SSD via a USB flash drive. I followed the guide here:

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-c...-usb-flash-drive-using-windows-7-dvdusb-tool/

But when I reboot the MacBook the Flash Drive isn't recognized while pressing the ALT key. Do I need to install rEFIt to get this to work or is there an additional step in Command Prompt that I'm missing to prepare the USB flash drive for booting on the MacBook?