So here's the issue. My macbook pro works totally fine except for the screen...which is busted. This is totally fine since i use it with an external monitor. The problem comes when I try to install windows on a boot camp partition.... the windows installer will only use the internal screen and i can't install since i can't see the screen to answer questions... I tried using an unattended install but even those require minimal input and don't work. So... is there any way I can force it to use the external screen for the install?
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Forcing Macbook to use external screen for Windows Install
- Thread starter StephenNettles
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You could try:
-Boot up with your external monitor connected and a USB mouse/keyboard attached.
-Close the screen on your laptop, does it go into standby mode?
-If it does, keep it closed but use the mouse/keyboard to "wake" it back up.
Slim chance it'll detect the monitor as it's only display and use that instead.
Worth a shot!
-Boot up with your external monitor connected and a USB mouse/keyboard attached.
-Close the screen on your laptop, does it go into standby mode?
-If it does, keep it closed but use the mouse/keyboard to "wake" it back up.
Slim chance it'll detect the monitor as it's only display and use that instead.
Worth a shot!
I did try to use clamshell mode and it just didn't work. It would start there but as soon as I selected the windows xp install disk as the boot up device it went to the internal monitor. I could try getting it to go into standbye mode and wake up in clamshell mode from that point. probably won't work but heck... its worth a shot lol. Thanks for the idea.
So I tried it and as expected it totally did not work. The next step would be is there anyway around this such as uninstalling the display drivers... or would I have to take apart the mbp and remove the whole screen manually. What about a network install? Could that work? Cloning a VHD into the bootcamp partition?
not with me but i could go to my parents house and use one of their old dusty windows xp machines that they don't use anymore. good idea
This won't work since he will have to click on the bootcamp partition to select it and format it. You could try but there is a chance that you will click the wrong partition and format it.
Theres no way around it since, when going into windows it dosent see the drivers used for the display output.
thanks guys. i was afraid i'd have to do that. it just so dang expensive! I'll probably try to just custom build a windows gaming rig...it would only be a couple hundred dollars more max
That's what many people do. MBPs are not the best gaming rigs in the first place, so building a computer more geared for that problem is usually the easiest solution
You could also just install the your Windows somewhere else on some partition on your parent's computer and copy it over already installed and ready to boot up. You might need to install the bootcamp drivers just so they are in the system (only the dedicated GPU driver really matters). One would have to extract them should be plenty of tools for that. Maybe just streamline your Windows DVD with the bootcamp drivers or some laptopvideo2go.com driver mods.
Next copy the whole mess bit for bit to your MBP HDD bootcamp partition. Preferable with a tool such as clonezilla, Paragon Backup Revocery or such stuff that can manage to make the target partition bootable.
Usually Windows only asks for reactivation when so much hardware changes around it but that is all, it boots usually without any problems. The dedicated GPU drivers need to be available so it can auto install them once it finishes booting.
Unless it is a 13" MBP in which case it should boot just fine and the Intel GPU driver Windows should fetch all by it self given web access. You need more than the generic GPU driver to get the external screen but in most cases Windows installs the real driver without any troubles.
If you have an external HDD that should do it the biggest problem is probably MBR and such. Might be that you'd need to take the HDD out of the system and put it into a desktop to transfer all the files as I don't know of any OSX based tool that can transfer the files in a way so it is a bootable partition in the end. There are plenty of Windows tools for it most of them bootable DVDs which probaly only work with a native screen.
Next copy the whole mess bit for bit to your MBP HDD bootcamp partition. Preferable with a tool such as clonezilla, Paragon Backup Revocery or such stuff that can manage to make the target partition bootable.
Usually Windows only asks for reactivation when so much hardware changes around it but that is all, it boots usually without any problems. The dedicated GPU drivers need to be available so it can auto install them once it finishes booting.
Unless it is a 13" MBP in which case it should boot just fine and the Intel GPU driver Windows should fetch all by it self given web access. You need more than the generic GPU driver to get the external screen but in most cases Windows installs the real driver without any troubles.
If you have an external HDD that should do it the biggest problem is probably MBR and such. Might be that you'd need to take the HDD out of the system and put it into a desktop to transfer all the files as I don't know of any OSX based tool that can transfer the files in a way so it is a bootable partition in the end. There are plenty of Windows tools for it most of them bootable DVDs which probaly only work with a native screen.