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Bootcamp install of Windows without using the super drive

OzyCA said:
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.
Click to expand...

This post should be a sticky, I tried this and worked flawlessly, its funny because it was my last option to install windows on my macbook pro, recently i changed my optical drive with a hdd, and I didn't want to put the optical drive again.

By the way, I think it is necessary to have refit installed.
 
I have tried this using parallels 7 but when I try to format the 'bootcamp' partition i created to NTFS i get an error saying 'Mac OS X has prevented the guest operating system from changing the boot loader on your physical hard disk. ....

...The changes will be saved in the virtual machine but not on the physical hard disk.'

I am in desperate need of windows and my superdrive is toast.


2009 Macbook Pro with Lion 10.7.2 and Parallels 7
 
snasello said:
I have tried this using parallels 7 but when I try to format the 'bootcamp' partition i created to NTFS i get an error saying 'Mac OS X has prevented the guest operating system from changing the boot loader on your physical hard disk. ....

...The changes will be saved in the virtual machine but not on the physical hard disk.'

I am in desperate need of windows and my superdrive is toast.


2009 Macbook Pro with Lion 10.7.2 and Parallels 7
Click to expand...

I got several times this error, first I give all the permission in my ssd, and restart my mbp, sometimes parallels don't want to work right, I just restarted and then the dialog box never appeared again.
 
I'm following those steps, but I'm getting always the message "Missing Operating System" when trying to boot from the Bootcamp partition... :(

I also received that message telling Parallels that a modification to the boot sector from Windows 7 installation process has been blocked, and didn't find the way to solve this without that message.

Any recommended solution to solve this?

[I have a 2011 MBP 17", 128Gb SSD + 750Gb HD on Superdrive bay, installing Bootcamp on a partition on the second 750Gb HD]
 
jupediaz said:
I'm following those steps, but I'm getting always the message "Missing Operating System" when trying to boot from the Bootcamp partition... :(

I also received that message telling Parallels that a modification to the boot sector from Windows 7 installation process has been blocked, and didn't find the way to solve this without that message.

Any recommended solution to solve this?

[I have a 2011 MBP 17", 128Gb SSD + 750Gb HD on Superdrive bay, installing Bootcamp on a partition on the second 750Gb HD]
Click to expand...

Hello again!

I restarted again all the process from the beginning and now all worked fine, I have the Windows option available on booting the Mac with the Option key.

Thanks people for the solution, it was great! I have been trying a lot of other solutions with no luck, but this is definitely the easier, fast, and working one!

Fully recommendable for those people like me that installed SSD as primary hard disk, removed the superdrive and replaced with a normal hard disk.
 
marnuc said:
I got several times this error, first I give all the permission in my ssd, and restart my mbp, sometimes parallels don't want to work right, I just restarted and then the dialog box never appeared again.
Click to expand...

How do you set permissions so that Parallels can modify the hard disk. After many more attempts and restarts parallels wont format the disk.
 
snasello said:
How do you set permissions so that Parallels can modify the hard disk. After many more attempts and restarts parallels wont format the disk.
Click to expand...

Same here! Im having the same problem (paralells 7.0.1).
I always get the permissiosn error and it cna't access the HDD nor install windows 7 =/
Win7 will format the HDD to NTFS but then it won't let parallels write files inside.
 
snasello said:
How do you set permissions so that Parallels can modify the hard disk. After many more attempts and restarts parallels wont format the disk.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I just right click in my ssd or hdd, and clicked in "Get info" and then modify the permission,

Also try rebooting several times, I also got the above error, but rebooting fixed it.
 
snasello said:
I have tried this using parallels 7 but when I try to format the 'bootcamp' partition i created to NTFS i get an error saying 'Mac OS X has prevented the guest operating system from changing the boot loader on your physical hard disk. .......The changes will be saved in the virtual machine but not on the physical hard disk.'
Click to expand...

I think this message is more a notification rather than an error - the important thing is that it formats your partition in NTFS - (you then copy over the boot info from your windows7.iso at a later step).

Does your Windows installer (in Parallels) go ahead and format your drive in NTFS anyway even with this notification message? (if not, my best guess is that it may be an issue with the way you've set up the virtual machine in Parallels)
 
OzyCA said:
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.
Click to expand...

Ok for the life of me I am not able to figure out Step 5 you know the important step.. where do you add the additional CD-Rom? where is this option.. I'm also having problems not being able to use more than 64gb on my 300 gb partition..

any help would be appreciated
 
BulletToothTony said:
Ok for the life of me I am not able to figure out Step 5 you know the important step.. where do you add the additional CD-Rom? where is this option.. I'm also having problems not being able to use more than 64gb on my 300 gb partition..

any help would be appreciated
Click to expand...

Here are some captures for you, it's in Spanish so my translations may not be 100% accurate but i'm pretty sure you will be able to follow:

Make Sure you check the Custom my configuration before installation checkbox in this screen:



Then in the next screen click the + button:



and select CD/DVD
 
Last edited:
snasello said:
I have tried this using parallels 7 but when I try to format the 'bootcamp' partition i created to NTFS i get an error saying 'Mac OS X has prevented the guest operating system from changing the boot loader on your physical hard disk. ....

...The changes will be saved in the virtual machine but not on the physical hard disk.'

I am in desperate need of windows and my superdrive is toast.


2009 Macbook Pro with Lion 10.7.2 and Parallels 7
Click to expand...

Uncheck the "Express setup" checkbox when Parallels asks for your Windows Serial Key ;)
 
OzyCA said:
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.
Click to expand...

omg did work for me :D Initially had some problems with write permissions, like others, but after some rebooting, restarting parallels, mounting and dismounting partition etc (exactly i dont know, which procedure made me succeed in this...) it worked :D

nice
 
thanks alot OzyCA, you're method worked great.

now question, how can i delete the extra cd rom drives and get that space back? i have an SSD so space is fairly limited :p
 
hey guys im having serious issues. i followed both the virtual machines install, where you shut down vm after the first reboot during install and reboot into the partition to finish, and the one where you format the partition to ntfs then copy the windows 7 iso into the partition, and reboot into it to install. both times i keep getting the black screen with "no bootable device - insert boot disk" error. i've tried everything from setting the volume active and running bootsect /nt60 /mbr to unpartitioning and repartitioning and so far i havent been able to fix it. any ideas? thanks!

im on a 2007 macbook pro core2duo with osx lion. trying to install windows 7 ultimate x64
 
Last edited:
Does anyone know if OzyCA's solution would work for installing Windows 8? Or do I just have to try it myself?
 
hafr said:
Does anyone know if OzyCA's solution would work for installing Windows 8? Or do I just have to try it myself?
Click to expand...

No clue, but I remember from a few years ago that Boot Camp struggles with Windows betas. I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work, though. Same process generally works for XP, Vista and 7.
 
Hi there,

I know there's plenty of answers on this thread, but I've found another method that works every time with Windows 7 and Windows 8.
It exploits the Windows Sysprep program which is used in Enterprises to deploy Windows on numerous hardware configs without having to configure it for each hardware.

And this is exactly what is needed here.
Basically, here are the main steps :
1. Install Windows 7 or Windows 8 on a Virtual Machine using VirtualBox.
2. "Sysprep Windows" asking it to install the good drivers at next reboot
3. Create the BootCamp partition
4. Clone the Virtual Machine using WinClone to the Boot Camp Partition

--> When finally rebooting on bootcamp for real, it will install the good drivers for you real MacBook hardware.

Done

Check my tutorial and detailed steps at this page :
http://huguesval.com/blog/2012/02/installing-windows-7-on-a-mac-without-superdrive-with-virtualbox/
 
No luck.

Seem like everything I do don't work, is it supposed to say disk (0) when choosing drivers? because I didn't unmounted before I started the installation. I am also getting the "'Mac OS X has prevented the guest operating system from changing the boot loader on your physical hard disk." error . Just brought BF3 and I am dying to play it XD

edit: Ok after step 15 is over, do I shutdown from within the VM or just click X? because whichever I pick, my bootcamp partition just start over and change to 'untitled', Seem like that's where I am stuck now.
 
Last edited:
error

can't seem to get past step 8/9 from ozyCA's guide..

after i format to NTFS and quit, i can't get to the "main" install screen copy over the files manually.. furthermore, when i just try to let the installer run and copy over the files itself i get error code: 0xC0000005 at 0% which appears to suggest there's is something wrong with my hard disk, though disk utility says it's fine.. been trying for a few days now, headwrecking stuff :confused:
 
It works!! thank you very much.

huguesval said:
Hi there,

I know there's plenty of answers on this thread, but I've found another method that works every time with Windows 7 and Windows 8.
It exploits the Windows Sysprep program which is used in Enterprises to deploy Windows on numerous hardware configs without having to configure it for each hardware.

And this is exactly what is needed here.
Basically, here are the main steps :
1. Install Windows 7 or Windows 8 on a Virtual Machine using VirtualBox.
2. "Sysprep Windows" asking it to install the good drivers at next reboot
3. Create the BootCamp partition
4. Clone the Virtual Machine using WinClone to the Boot Camp Partition

--> When finally rebooting on bootcamp for real, it will install the good drivers for you real MacBook hardware.

Done

Check my tutorial and detailed steps at this page :
http://huguesval.com/blog/2012/02/installing-windows-7-on-a-mac-without-superdrive-with-virtualbox/
Click to expand...

I have mid 2010 Macbook pro (Lion) that had a OCZ ssd in it that died and took my bootcamp with it :( Didn't fancy messing around inside to swap out the opti drive and put superdrive back in for a second time.

Was resigned to the fact that I wont have a bootcamp'd win7 partition (not a bad thing for mac users) but always kept an eye out for a solution. Then comes along huguesval (you HERO!) Followed instructions and bar a few finger troubles it all went very well. I used Winclone 3 to image and restore the drive partition and that all went very smoothly as well.

So now I have a Win7 bootcamp partition and lessons leaned a backup with Winclone so hopefully I wont have to do this again.

So a big thank you to huguesval. à la vôtre santé
 
Last edited:
External CD Drive and XP

So is there a way to do this with a OEM copy of windows XP and an external drive? I have no idea how to create an ISO in XP.
 
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