Installing Seven without a Superdrive... And on the optibay slot.

[hickscorp]

Hello everyone,

Since i'm new... i'll introduce myself first. My name is Pierre and i'm french. i love Mac OSs since the 7.5 version... i occasionally use Windows when my customers require it, or sometimes to play too.

i'm trying to install Windows Seven on my 2011 MBP, which doesn't have a superdrive (i have my mechanical 500GB HDD in it's silent / vibration safe slots, and a 128GB SATA II SSD in my Optibay Caddy). i was previously successful doing this, but the main difference was that the slots for those drives were swapped (SSD in primary slot, HDD in caddy).

i am trying to install Windows on the SSD on a partition right after the Lion / Recovery partitions. i have tried both doing the partitioning manually and using Bootcamp assistant, the result is the same.

So the technique i use is that i use Parallels to complete the step 1 of installation, and then using the "fake" MBR generated by Parallels, i overwrite the "real" MBR with a recovery system of mine i have on an external HDD.

But whatever steps i take, whatever EFI loader i use, the result is always the same: the Windows 7 boot loader can't locate the booting entry point (i believe it's not looking on the right hard drive)...

i would be very grateful if anyone could tell me if he was successful doing what i'm trying to achieve. Is it even possible to do it without placing the SSD in the primary slot?

Thanks a lot for your time,
Pierre.

EDIT: Also... i really, really, really **dislike** Windows 7 and i usually work with the XP version... However, i know Apple stopped supporting it, and i also think that there would be no available drivers, starting from the Sandy Bridge... Is there anyone successful tricking a native Windows boot on a 2011 MBP here? Is there any XP install repack with the right drivers?

 

[dsjr2006]

Hello everyone,

Since i'm new... i'll introduce myself first. My name is Pierre and i'm french. i love Mac OSs since the 7.5 version... i occasionally use Windows when my customers require it, or sometimes to play too.

i'm trying to install Windows Seven on my 2011 MBP, which doesn't have a superdrive (i have my mechanical 500GB HDD in it's silent / vibration safe slots, and a 128GB SATA II SSD in my Optibay Caddy). i was previously successful doing this, but the main difference was that the slots for those drives were swapped (SSD in primary slot, HDD in caddy).

i am trying to install Windows on the SSD on a partition right after the Lion / Recovery partitions. i have tried both doing the partitioning manually and using Bootcamp assistant, the result is the same.

So the technique i use is that i use Parallels to complete the step 1 of installation, and then using the "fake" MBR generated by Parallels, i overwrite the "real" MBR with a recovery system of mine i have on an external HDD.

But whatever steps i take, whatever EFI loader i use, the result is always the same: the Windows 7 boot loader can't locate the booting entry point (i believe it's not looking on the right hard drive)...

i would be very grateful if anyone could tell me if he was successful doing what i'm trying to achieve. Is it even possible to do it without placing the SSD in the primary slot?

Thanks a lot for your time,
Pierre.

EDIT: Also... i really, really, really **dislike** Windows 7 and i usually work with the XP version... However, i know Apple stopped supporting it, and i also think that there would be no available drivers, starting from the Sandy Bridge... Is there anyone successful tricking a native Windows boot on a 2011 MBP here? Is there any XP install repack with the right drivers?

Use a USB stick to create an installer.

 

[dgbowers]

Use rEFIt. It allows you to boot to any USB. I've had great luck with it in the past.

rEFIt

Try that and post your results.

 

[Boiling Ice]

I almost have the exact setup:
MBP 15" (Early 2011) with SSD in the primary and HDD on the secondary connections.
I have parallels 7 and also created the bootcamp partition on the HDD, Parallels fails to install windows 7 because Lion prevent Parallels from changing MBR on any Physical drives. I even contacted Parallel online chat support and they said that you can never install Windows on Bootcamp partition with Parallels, you can only create a VM using the Bootcamp partition.

I created DVD and USD drive from my Windows 7 iso, I boot my MBP using "ALT" key and choosing windows 7 DVD/USB, and goes into a black screen with the blinking cursor on the corner and that's it, it doesn't go any further.

 

[Drynote]

I'm having the exact same issue (Black Screen w/ white blinking cursor) with my brand new 15" MBP (2.33 GHz, 8 GB RAM). I have an OWC 6G SSD installed in the primary internal bay and the stock 750 GB hdd installed in a data doubler. The optical drive is now in an external USD OWC enclosure and has been functioning perfectly. I have a legit windows 7 x64 ISO and attempt to re-burn the DVD just in case my original was damaged (this did not solve the problem). I've tried pretty much everything that every other post on this issue has mentioned (other than rEFIt, will try it tonight). Any more ideas/info/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sincci]

I think the USB installation of Windows 7 works only with Macbook Air and the newest Mac Mini's (which don't have superdrive anymore). When I upgraded my Macbook Pro with new OCZ Vertex 2 SSD on the main hard drive bay and the old Toshiba 500gb HD in the optibay, I was unable to install Windows 7 from USB stick.

Luckily, the manufacturer of my optibay adapter (MCE) did also send me an cheap plastic dvd-drive enclosure which allowed me to use my old superdrive as an external dvd drive. With that one, I was able to install both OSX Lion and Windows 7 x64 succesfully.

I don't know if it's possible to install Windows by using some other external dvd-drive, but at least this method did the trick for me.

 

[Boiling Ice]

Luckily, the manufacturer of my optibay adapter (MCE) did also send me an cheap plastic dvd-drive enclosure which allowed me to use my old superdrive as an external dvd drive. With that one, I was able to install both OSX Lion and Windows 7 x64 succesfully.

I'm using my superdrive as external DVD as I also put my superdrive in an enclosure.
I installed Mac OS with it without any issues, but Windows 7 32/64 bit is not