The following is a How-To guide to install Windows 7 build 7077 x64 on an earlier version of a MacBook Pro with an ATI X1600 graphics card:
So I’ve read on how Windows 7 could be installed on a MacBook Pro, with many how-to instructions. Albeit to say, even the most detailed how-tos neglected to state hardware requirements. Through my discoveries I found one major flag, that Apple didn’t support prior late 2007 models. My computer fell under that category, being the second edition (late 2006). The primary difference with my computer (including earlier MBPs) and the ones beyond was the switch to the nvidia chipset. I decided to modify a guide that I found detailed but not sufficient for my needs. The model # I have is MA610LL, the 2.33Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 15.4” with an ATI mobility Radeon X1600. I assume that models MA609LL and MA611LL (2.1Ghz on the 15.4” and 2.33Ghz on the 17”) will work fine with this guide. As for the prior models which are the Intel Core Duos from early 2006, this may work, but I don’t know if the older processors will prove to be problematic, but the video card should work [EDIT: According to others, the core duos do not support 64-bit architecture, sorry]. I’ll update this guide as feedback comes in. PLEASE NOTE that this is for Windows 7 64-bit. I don't know if 32-bit needs this much help to get it to work. Those that get it to work, please email me your computer specs so I know which models are functional. Here we go:
I recommend referencing this guide as a basis. It’s a detailed guide with a sufficient use of images to help out. The following are some changes you need to make:
A. Once you reach step #7 on the guide, they’ll instruct you to insert your Windows 7 DVD to install. For many people this doesn’t appear to be an issue. However with build 7077 x64 and my MBP, I received the “Select CD-Rom Boot Type” error on reboot, not allowing me to start the installation. Unfortunately you’ll need a copy of Windows to fix this (XP will do) so head over to a friend’s house. One may be able to use CrossOver in OSX, but if there’s a real Mac fix that’s posted, we’ll update this.
This should get all the drivers to work. Although, you may have noticed that in the original guide, Windows 7 was suppose to install the updated Graphics Card driver. At this point the resolution is still awful and BootCamp hasn’t resolved it.
C. This part was a bit more tricky and the most important step for us early MBP users. Thanks to this thread I was introduced to modtools. NOTE, you may want to open BootCamp control panel and change the automatic boot drive to be Windows for now; you’ll be rebooting a lot and it saves the work of holding down the option key each time.
And that's it! Took me a while to search out all the solutions (and modify them from Vista to Windows 7 for many of them) so I thought I'd share for those early MBP owners. Comment, share, elaborate. I'll make corrections to any obvious errors, but I'll color code major changes as other users comment on success of failures they have. Good luck and enjoy!
So I’ve read on how Windows 7 could be installed on a MacBook Pro, with many how-to instructions. Albeit to say, even the most detailed how-tos neglected to state hardware requirements. Through my discoveries I found one major flag, that Apple didn’t support prior late 2007 models. My computer fell under that category, being the second edition (late 2006). The primary difference with my computer (including earlier MBPs) and the ones beyond was the switch to the nvidia chipset. I decided to modify a guide that I found detailed but not sufficient for my needs. The model # I have is MA610LL, the 2.33Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 15.4” with an ATI mobility Radeon X1600. I assume that models MA609LL and MA611LL (2.1Ghz on the 15.4” and 2.33Ghz on the 17”) will work fine with this guide. As for the prior models which are the Intel Core Duos from early 2006, this may work, but I don’t know if the older processors will prove to be problematic, but the video card should work [EDIT: According to others, the core duos do not support 64-bit architecture, sorry]. I’ll update this guide as feedback comes in. PLEASE NOTE that this is for Windows 7 64-bit. I don't know if 32-bit needs this much help to get it to work. Those that get it to work, please email me your computer specs so I know which models are functional. Here we go:
I recommend referencing this guide as a basis. It’s a detailed guide with a sufficient use of images to help out. The following are some changes you need to make:
A. Once you reach step #7 on the guide, they’ll instruct you to insert your Windows 7 DVD to install. For many people this doesn’t appear to be an issue. However with build 7077 x64 and my MBP, I received the “Select CD-Rom Boot Type” error on reboot, not allowing me to start the installation. Unfortunately you’ll need a copy of Windows to fix this (XP will do) so head over to a friend’s house. One may be able to use CrossOver in OSX, but if there’s a real Mac fix that’s posted, we’ll update this.
- I’ll save you the trouble of reading the thread, the best solution posted there is here.
- I recommend using 7-zip instead of Imgburn to extract the iso before performing the process. I had problems figuring out how to use Imgburn to extract an iso into loose files on a hard drive. This program was much more straightforward, however I came across one warning that stated it may be unstable and not provide a valid extraction. Ultimately, it worked well for me and can be found here.
- Once the iso has been extracted to c:\windows7iso, make sure the original iso isn't in that folder anymore! If you don’t your new iso will be twice the size.
- For those not familiar with cmd prompt in Windows, do the following: Start Menu>Run – Type ‘cmd’ then hit enter. Type ‘cd\’ then hit enter. The prompt should now just say ‘c:’. Type ‘cd windows7exe’ and hit enter. Now the prompt should say ‘c:\windows7exe\’. You can cntrl-c the command ‘oscdimg -n -m -bc:\windows7iso\boot\etfsboot.com c:\windows7iso c:\windows7dvd\windows7dvd.iso’ then right click and select paste in the cmd prompt, or type it in manually. Yes, that command is one long command.
- Burn the new iso in c:\windows7dvd\ as the instructions state. Install windows as the original guide tells you. NOTE: windows may try to extract the files at the beginning of the installation process and hang at 0% for a long time. This happened to me too, just be patient, it should go.
- 64-bit Vista drivers will do, but finding them can be problematic. You’ll need 2.0 drivers, but ones that also have 64-bit ones in them. This doesn’t appear to be the case with all 2.0 drivers people may find. You can find a torrent for them here, but I do not condone downloading them if you do not already legitimately own Leopard and therefore have the right to BootCamp drivers.
- If you don’t get the automatic BootCamp install when you insert your CD into your fresh Windows 7, try going to the Apple folder on the CD and running BootCamp64.msi.
This should get all the drivers to work. Although, you may have noticed that in the original guide, Windows 7 was suppose to install the updated Graphics Card driver. At this point the resolution is still awful and BootCamp hasn’t resolved it.
C. This part was a bit more tricky and the most important step for us early MBP users. Thanks to this thread I was introduced to modtools. NOTE, you may want to open BootCamp control panel and change the automatic boot drive to be Windows for now; you’ll be rebooting a lot and it saves the work of holding down the option key each time.
- Go to this site to read a brief statement on why we are forced into this predicament, and how to get out of it. Follow the instructions minus the following slight annotations.
- In step 1 of the guide, MSXML 6.0 may not be needed to be downloaded and installed. However after a few failures at this, I tried two new things. The first was download MSXML 6.0. It should be built in, but this could have been the issue I was having (I doubt it). If you do install it, make sure you select ‘msxml6_x64.msi’.
- In step 2 of the guide many of the methods they link to disable UAC aren’t native to Windows 7. I recommend method 2. To easily open RegEdit, click the Windows start menu button, enter in ‘run’ in the search programs field, the application ‘run’ will pop up. Select it and enter ‘regedit’ in the field. Follow the instructions from the site there on and you’ll be find.
- As the modtools site states, you can either download the latest desktop drivers for the X1600 from AMD/ATI’s site or from their Driver Heaven Downloads site. I tried downloading the latest from ATI (version 9.3) but it didn’t work. Once I decided to do Driver Heaven’s, I selected the latest 8.12 Windows 64-Bit driver they had and it worked! Just follow the rest of their instructions like normal.
And that's it! Took me a while to search out all the solutions (and modify them from Vista to Windows 7 for many of them) so I thought I'd share for those early MBP owners. Comment, share, elaborate. I'll make corrections to any obvious errors, but I'll color code major changes as other users comment on success of failures they have. Good luck and enjoy!
