Boot Camp: MacBook Pro 13" late 2011 won't boot from USB, no superdrive.

[Onemorerun]

Alright first of all thanks for the step by step instructions

do you mean to install windows with virtual box running in mac (thats what i did) or do you mean to restart the machine and then select the rEFIt partition and use the usb created in bootcamp to install windows.

thanks in advance for any help

Hi, I am working through this also and confused about that step. I am thinking it has something to do with the formatting of the NFTS drive that you make with Tuxera. I found another thread that explains this process in a different way. Link below. I'm still working on this, so let me know if you figure it all out and I will do the same.

Another way:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1769650/

 

[superneglit]

Sorry for the long winded post. Hopefully if i make my version of problems and solutions as clear as i can it will help others.

My main problem was that the SATA cable for my HDD failed so i had my HDD mounted in the superdrive bay. I had to edit bootcamp so it would let me create a bootable usb (which i didnt even use but bootcamp wont let me partition the drive until its created the bootable media) and then partition the HDD

Once I got the HDD partitioned and followed all the other steps I created a virtual machine for win 8.1.
Then in virtual box with the new machine highlighted i navigated to settings-storage-controller IDE and selected the empty virtual CD Drive.
Under Attributes on the right i clicked the little picture of the CD and located my windows 8.1 ISO.
I started the virtual machine and installed windows. I watched it like a hawk as it was expanding files and installing and as soon as it tried to reboot I shut down virtual box.
I restarted my mabook and made sure it booted into osx on the rEFIt screen.
then i followed the step to delete all the files and folders that werent locked in the bootcamp partition.
While trying to copy the files I got an error saying i couldnt move "blah blah" files because they were invisible.
I entered this command into terminal as mentioned in a previous post to make all files visible
"defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES"
and restarted finder by pressing the apple logo in the top left,selecting force quit, highlighting finder and clicking relaunch.
then deleted the remaining files and copied everything from my win8.1 iso into the bootcamp partition.
once that was done i rebooted my macbook again, this time selecting the windows option from the rEFIt screen.

Now the strange thing is when i did that it started the install again and finished and worked so i have Win8.1 working and bootable, BUT, every time i boot into the windows partition i have two options to enter windows setup or to boot windows.
I must still have copies of the install files in there along with the windows OS.
Either way it works and if im not watching the machine it counts down and boots windows rather then setup so i wont accidentally run the setup again.
I had to download the bootcamp drivers onto a usb from the apple site while in osx and boot back into windows and install them because the network and sound and card reader didint work until i did that.

hope this helps somebody

 

[Onemorerun]

Now the strange thing is when i did that it started the install again and finished and worked so i have Win8.1 working and bootable, BUT, every time i boot into the windows partition i have two options to enter windows setup or to boot windows.

Thanks a lot. You cleared up some of the confusion I had and I got it running.

I too get the countdown option to boot the normal windows startup or the boot install with the countdown. It must have something to do with all the install files that you see in the windows directory. I actually tried to delete some of them, but I almost destroyed my Windows install by doing it! I was able to recover.

If you figure out what makes it boot smoother without the two options, please let me know.

Thanks.

 

[superneglit]

I actually tried to delete some of them, but I almost destroyed my Windows install by doing it! I was able to recover.

Thanks.

Your welcome. I'm glad my many trials and catastrophic errors ended up helping. I was pondering doing the same thing to stop the countdown screen but I decided it works so I'll leave it and not tempt fate.

 

[Onemorerun]

Your welcome. I'm glad my many trials and catastrophic errors ended up helping. I was pondering doing the same thing to stop the countdown screen but I decided it works so I'll leave it and not tempt fate.

Just as an FYI I found the below from another website to clear up the extra boot option. If you don't want to delete it, it at least looks like you can also make the countdown shorter.

As quoted:

--------------------------------------------------------------------

hiya guys seems you have a problem well I have a solution. me the big dummie click on start. in the run box type msconfig hit enter. a startup box will appear click on boot, there will be two startup options. delete the ems the first one will be your normal startup program windows 7 (c:\windows) : current os; default os do not delete this one. but delete the ems. should be the second option. then it will ask you to reboot and wahla we fixy if you have any questions email me. this has to be a longer message so wano snowshoes bios corn tacos hope this has helped I know it has been a long time comming but just seen this on the forum you may not need this information now but maybe someone will need it later. it is really a simple fix

 

[sprok]

I am trying to go through this process and am trying to unlock the ISO option with the Info.plist edit. For some reason, anytime I try editing the plist file Boot Camp Assistant fails to launch. I don't know if this is a permissions issue, text formatting issue, or something else. I have tried making the edit in Sublime Text, BBEdit, and Nano in terminal. All have the same result.

I am running an early 2011 MBP on Yosemite. After edits, the relevant lines look like this:

<key>DARequiredROMVersions</key>
<array>
<string>MBP81.0047.B27</string>
<string>IM41.0055.B08</string>
<string>IM42.0071.B03</string>
<string>IM51.0090.B03</string>
<string>IM52.0090.B03</string>
<string>IM61.0093.B01</string>
<string>MP11.005C.B04</string>
<string>MB11.0061.B03</string>
<string>MBP11.0055.B08</string>
<string>MBP12.0061.B03</string>
<string>MM11.0055.B08</string>
</array>

and

<key>PreUSBBootSupportedModels</key>
<array>
<string>MacBookPro8,1</string>
<string>MacBook7,1</string>
<string>MacBookAir3,2</string>
<string>MacBookPro8,3</string>
<string>MacPro5,1</string>
<string>Macmini4,1</string>
<string>iMac12,2</string>
</array>

Does anyone have any idea what I am doing wrong?

 

[superneglit]

I had the same problem on with my 2011 macbook running mavericks.
I found a tutorial with a simple terminal command that fixes the issue but I can't find it now.
From what I remember reading apple have digitally signed (i think that was the term used) boot camp now so if you make any changes it fails to launch.
The terminal command forced osx to resign the software and it works again.
can't remember where I founnd It but hopefully that info will help with your searches

Edit
I think it was a YouTube video I saw it in and the plist edit he did was just delete the "pre" in the preusb line in the code.

 

[sprok]

I had the same problem on with my 2011 macbook running mavericks.
I found a tutorial with a simple terminal command that fixes the issue but I can't find it now.
From what I remember reading apple have digitally signed (i think that was the term used) boot camp now so if you make any changes it fails to launch.
The terminal command forced osx to resign the software and it works again.
can't remember where I founnd It but hopefully that info will help with your searches

Edit
I think it was a YouTube video I saw it in and the plist edit he did was just delete the "pre" in the preusb line in the code.

Thanks! That worked.

For anyone else looking for the solution:

I changed "PreUSBBootSupportedModels" to "USBBootSupportedModels" and saved without making any other edits. Then I resigned the package by running:

sudo codesign -fs - /Applications/Utilities/Boot\ Camp\ Assistant.app

 

[4492853]

Step 7, 8 and 9

I have been trying to install windows 7 in my Mac for the last 3 days this tutorial is my final option and it looks promising.

Any way to the problem. I have been getting problem from step 7. I did all the requirements needed in that step and moved on to step 8 and 9. When I started the VirtualBox Manager I clicked the new button. I named it after my name and continued. At the Memory size section I changed the size to 1GB. At the Hard drive section I first selected "Use an existing virtual hard drive file" but unfortunately could not find anything so I selected "Create a virtual hard drive now". Then at the Hard drive file type section I selected "VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk)" and continued. At the Storage on physical hard drive I select "Fixed Size" and continued. At the File location and size section I keep the default size which is 10GB and press create.

Then I run it and select my windows 7 iso image. The windows 7 comes up and I felt so happy but when I tried to intall it I could not see the bootcamp partion. I only see the 10GB partion which was made during setup.

I tried to search for the file "win7raw.vmdk" but unfortunately couldn't find it. So I thought maybe it did not get created and tried again to create it but it says that file already exists. So this is making me confused

Could anyone please tell me what went wrong. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[4492853]

I have been trying to install windows 7 in my Mac for the last 3 days this tutorial is my final option and it looks promising.

Any way to the problem. I have been getting problem from step 7. I did all the requirements needed in that step and moved on to step 8 and 9. When I started the VirtualBox Manager I clicked the new button. I named it after my name and continued. At the Memory size section I changed the size to 1GB. At the Hard drive section I first selected "Use an existing virtual hard drive file" but unfortunately could not find anything so I selected "Create a virtual hard drive now". Then at the Hard drive file type section I selected "VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk)" and continued. At the Storage on physical hard drive I select "Fixed Size" and continued. At the File location and size section I keep the default size which is 10GB and press create.

Then I run it and select my windows 7 iso image. The windows 7 comes up and I felt so happy but when I tried to intall it I could not see the bootcamp partion. I only see the 10GB partion which was made during setup.

I tried to search for the file "win7raw.vmdk" but unfortunately couldn't find it. So I thought maybe it did not get created and tried again to create it but it says that file already exists. So this is making me confused

Could anyone please tell me what went wrong. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

I found the "win7raw.vmdk" file it was in my user folder . I select it and it shows "win7raw.vmdk (Normal, 465.76 GB)". I thought that was a bit strange since I only allocated 100 GB to BootCamp. Any way I continued. When I run the the VM I get a message in DOS saying "FATAL: No bootable medium found! System halted."

May anyone help with that please. I feel like I am close.

 

[4492853]

I found the "win7raw.vmdk" file it was in my user folder . I select it and it shows "win7raw.vmdk (Normal, 465.76 GB)". I thought that was a bit strange since I only allocated 100 GB to BootCamp. Any way I continued. When I run the the VM I get a message in DOS saying "FATAL: No bootable medium found! System halted."

May anyone help with that please. I feel like I am close.

Alright I fixed the "Fatal Error" too had load the iso from the setting in VM Manager . But now I am facing another problem. When I try to format the bootcamp partition I am getting an error "[Error: 0x80070057]". I read a post on someone else getting the same problem and he/she was told to delete the partition and then format it again. I did that too but am still getting the problem.

I will be grateful for any help. Thanks . I can feel it in my bones that I am getting this done today

 

[4492853]

Alright I fixed the "Fatal Error" too had load the iso from the setting in VM Manager . But now I am facing another problem. When I try to format the bootcamp partition I am getting an error "[Error: 0x80070057]". I read a post on someone else getting the same problem and he/she was told to delete the partition and then format it again. I did that too but am still getting the problem.

I will be grateful for any help. Thanks . I can feel it in my bones that I am getting this done today

Haha fixed that part . I missed russellanthony's post. I am passed that now. Wish me luck for the rest of the steps. Thank you all

 

[4492853]

Haha fixed that part . I missed russellanthony's post. I am passed that now. Wish me luck for the rest of the steps. Thank you all

I am facing problem in step 13 "Restart the computer and choose "Boot Windows from partition x" in rEFIt." I restarted hold the alt button but only see Macintosh HD.

 

[4492853]

I am facing problem in step 13 "Restart the computer and choose "Boot Windows from partition x" in rEFIt." I restarted hold the alt button but only see Macintosh HD.

Haha success! I managed to install Windows 7 and playing games there! I just had to install rEFInd.

Thanks all!

 

[Arnab2121]

Some months ago I replaced the superdrive in my Mac with a SSD. This resulted in my Boot Camp not working, therefore I deleted it. The thing is that I have been wanting to install Windows again but it just seems impossible. I find myself pretty confident at a computer, so it frustrates me really.


The thing is that no matter what I do, everytime I boot up from windows installation USB, Windows 7 and 8, or something like it, it gives me "No bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key". I searched everywhere to solve this problem and nothing helped. I tried different images, even 32bit of both Windows 7 and 8. Even tried with my original Windows 7 64bit dvd. There is no more solutions out there on the internet I can find, so therefore I'm shouting out for you guys!


Here is what I already tried.

- Altered Bootcamp so it would create a bootable USB from a windows image. Worked like a charm, except that it would boot up to "No bootable device...". And the USB didn't show up in the boot menu pressing alt when booting. Tried four different usbs and the same story with all of them.

- Tried with a SATA-USB connector to a 250gb harddrive, "No bootable device...".

- Tried to make my own bootable USB on a Windows-computer with bootsect.exe/nt60 and everything, also Microsoft own program for the purpose, "No bootable device...".

- Tried with making a partition on both my HDD and SDD in the Macbook to boot from, "No bootable device...".

- Tried transfering all the files of the image to the created boot camp-partition, "No bootable device...".

- Reset PRAM with cmd+alt+p+r, "No bootable device...".

- Installed rEFIt, because the standard boot menu would not recognize anything else than my Macintosh SD. It did work so I could see my windows devices but still didn't boot, "no bootable device......".

- Tried to boot with rEFIt with all the before mentioned methods.

- I even desperially installed Windows from a pc on the HDD and tried to boot it on mac.... same damn story, "No bootable device...".



I really hope that someone can figure this out, because I'm ripping my hair out. I simply can't get this **************** to boot anything Windows .

Try copying installation files onto your windows partition, then boot from it using refit or refind. That worked for me.

 

[Dave 23]

Try copying installation files onto your windows partition, then boot from it using refit or refind. That worked for me.

I have a Mac Pro 3,1 running El Cap, been trying to install Windows 7 for days.... I have tried copying the contents of the ISO directly into the bootcamp partition,also tried the ISO disc in the optical bay,AND tried the bootcamp created USB installer- rEFInd see them all but I just get a black screen when I try to boot into any of them. Anyone got any ideas?
TIA

 

[i7Sharp]

Solved.

HEUREKA!
I finally managed to install windows on my Mac! And it's even Windows 8, works just like it would through boot camp, doesn't even require rEFIt to boot the partition.

Guide:

1. Make a Boot Camp partition with Boot Camp assistant.

2. Install rEFIt

3. Install a NTFS program for Mac, like Tuxera NTFS(serial at serials.ws) or Paragon NTFS.

4. Install Oracle Virtualbox.

5. Make a virtual disk from the Boot Camp partition, follow step 6 and 7.

6. The first thing we need to do is eject the BootCamp partition – Open “Finder”. “Control- >Click” the “Bootcamp” drive and select “Eject” (You can also the DiskUtility as well)

7. Now for the geeky terminal stuff to make the BootCamp partition useable within VirtualBox. Open a terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities) and enter the following commands. Make sure to press “Return” after each command to run it.

sudo chmod 777 /dev/disk0s3 –Changes the permissions of the BootCamp partition to allow it to be modified (enter your admin password when asked)
sudo VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -rawdisk /dev/disk0 -filename win7raw.vmdk -partitions 3 –Creates 2 files in your home directory, one of which will be used by VirtualBox to access the BootCamp Partition
sudo chown YOUR-USER-NAME-HERE win7raw.vmdk win7raw-pt.vmdk –changes the permissions of the previously created files (Replace YOUR-USER-NAME-HERE with the current user name)

8. Fire up VirtualBox, make a new Virtual Machine on the disk just created.

9. Install Windows on the Virtual Machine just created with a iso image or like so.
Format the Bootcamp partition in the install menu and press install.

10. Before installations restarts automatically after install power off the virtual machine.

11. Restart the computer back into OS X.

12. Remove all files possible in the bootcamp-partition and move in all the files possible from the Windows iso-image.

13. Restart the computer and choose "Boot Windows from partition x" in rEFIt.

14. Install Windows on the same partition as you booted from. Don't format it just click install on it.

15. When Windows is done installing, reboot in to OS X and you can now remove all the before installed programs. You can now boot the Windows-installation by the normal way, holding alt when starting the computer.

16. Smash something in happiness.



We install Windows in VirtualBox to get diskinformation printed on the partition. If you try to boot the partition it will give you "Missing file: C:\Windows\System32\Winload.exe", therefore we replace the files with the DVD-files, to actually boot the windows installation.

For some reason I can't get the virtual machine to boot I think its due to permissions, I ran the scripts I've done everything in the guide right. I had this working just last night on mac os sierra but I accidentally erased my whole SSD and then updated to high sierra and I don't know maybe that has something to do with it, this is the log from virtualbox

''Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Windows 7 x64.

VD: error VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED opening image file '/Users/(myusername)/win7raw.vmdk' (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED).

VD: error VERR_ACCESS_DENIED opening image file '/Users/(myusername)/win7raw.vmdk' (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).

Failed to open image '/Users/(myusername)/win7raw.vmdk' in read-write mode (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).

AHCI: Failed to attach drive to Port0 (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: ConsoleWrap
Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}"

 

[samueljacobp]

For some reason I can't get the virtual machine to boot I think its due to permissions, I ran the scripts I've done everything in the guide right. I had this working just last night on mac os sierra but I accidentally erased my whole SSD and then updated to high sierra and I don't know maybe that has something to do with it, this is the log from virtualbox

''Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Windows 7 x64.

VD: error VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED opening image file '/Users/(myusername)/win7raw.vmdk' (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED).

VD: error VERR_ACCESS_DENIED opening image file '/Users/(myusername)/win7raw.vmdk' (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).

Failed to open image '/Users/(myusername)/win7raw.vmdk' in read-write mode (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).

AHCI: Failed to attach drive to Port0 (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: ConsoleWrap
Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}"

Did you ever get this fixed? I'm going through the SAME problem.
[doublepost=1536874272][/doublepost]I'm getting this:


Failed to open a session for the virtual machine WIN10.

VD: error VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED opening image file '/Users/milespauling/bootcamp.vmdk' (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED).

VD: error VERR_ACCESS_DENIED opening image file '/Users/milespauling/bootcamp.vmdk' (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).

Failed to open image '/Users/milespauling/bootcamp.vmdk' in read-write mode (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).

AHCI: Failed to attach drive to Port0 (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: ConsoleWrap
Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}


I believe it has something to do with me not downloading Windows Support to my USB directly from Boot Camp. (I downloaded it to the Desktop and then moved to my USB).

My problem still remains, I cannot even reinstall the Windows Support on my USB! It won't let me. When I open up Boot Camp it keeps taking me to a window that shows how to partition my Mac drive.... YiKES

 

[era xe]

How to do this is

• Create a windows installer usb
  
  
• Create a bootcamp partition
  
  
• Install rEFInd
  
  
• Install windows
  
  
• Install Boot camp drivers
  

You can see the full details here.