Installing windows 7 on macbook pro without internal optical drive

[V4705]

I'm using a second hdd instead of the internal dvdrom in my macbook pro 2011 (13", i5).
How can I install windows 7 as a secondary OS on the secondary HDD I have?

I tried to edit the info.plist in boot camp assistant to support usb flash drive on my MBP81 but when I make a bootable flash drive with the bootcamp assistant and reboot, I get no bootable drive error (white on black screen).

Same thing happened with rEFIt, doesn't look better with it so for now I removed it.


I also tried using a cheap, brand-less USB external dvdrom, but it works just in the OS, but nothing happened in boot time (black screen, doesn't load the cd).


Many thanks!

 

[huguesval]

Hi there,

I've been trying the same thing as you but I couldn't find a USB key nor an external HDD nor a dvdrom that makes it bootable.

I've changed completely my strategy and installed a virtual machine on VirtualBox and then, cloned this virtual machine on the Bootcamp Partition, asking it to boot by installing the required drivers for the specific hardware (and not the one defined in the Virtual Machine).

I've made a tutorial about it, because it works every time & with Windows 7 or Windows 8

You can find it here : http://huguesval.com/blog/2012/02/installing-windows-7-on-a-mac-without-superdrive-with-virtualbox/

Hope it'll help ! And I'm here if it doesn't work.

 

[spencerinsb]

Hi there,

I've been trying the same thing as you but I couldn't find a USB key nor an external HDD nor a dvdrom that makes it bootable.

I've changed completely my strategy and installed a virtual machine on VirtualBox and then, cloned this virtual machine on the Bootcamp Partition, asking it to boot by installing the required drivers for the specific hardware (and not the one defined in the Virtual Machine).

I've made a tutorial about it, because it works every time & with Windows 7 or Windows 8

You can find it here : http://huguesval.com/blog/2012/02/installing-windows-7-on-a-mac-without-superdrive-with-virtualbox/

Hope it'll help ! And I'm here if it doesn't work.

Hey, I got stuck on the "Generalize the Windows 7 installation with sysprep"... Gave me a fatal error when doing the sysprep app... tried googling my problem, restoring image, chaining the unattend... nothing. Any ideas?

 

[huguesval]

Hey, I got stuck on the "Generalize the Windows 7 installation with sysprep"... Gave me a fatal error when doing the sysprep app... tried googling my problem, restoring image, chaining the unattend... nothing. Any ideas?

Hi spencerinsb,

Well, that's what I wrote in the tutorial. The Sysprep utility isn't working every time.
Can you please provide the error ID code that can be found in the file :
C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Panther\setupact.log
In the file, each line corresponds to an information, ordered like that :
date / info type / ERROR CODE / additional info
If there are several errors, please print the lines here for me to help you.

Hope that we'll find the solution.

 

[sbddude]

Looks like winclone no longer works on Mountain Lion. Is there another way?

 

[Rolltide301]

I have VirtualBox installed and created a virtual machine for Windows 7 Pro. The problem I am facing is when I start up the installer it is unable to see the driver software on the USB. I have the driver software that BootCamp installed on it.

Should I have different software or is there a way for Windows to see that software and install it?