Windows 10 on a early 2009 MacBook Pro?

[Eightbitgamer757]

I was just wondering if there was a way for me to use Bootcamp to install windows 10 on a early 2009 macbook pro 17" I just received, as not being able to install certain apps i need for school (MS Office, etc.) is quite annoying as my school uses teams and being able to open everything in the native app is much better than using what's built into teams itself. I would also like to use it for light gaming on the side if possible, thanks for any help!

 

[Amethyst1]

You don't really need Boot Camp to install Windows. Just booting the Windows 10 installer should™ do the trick, (most of) the necessary drivers will be pulled down by Windows Update. The only thing(s) you may need to extract from the Boot Camp package are things like the brightness control applet.

 

[Eightbitgamer757]

You don't really need Boot Camp to install Windows. Just booting the Windows 10 installer should™ do the trick, (most of) the necessary drivers will be pulled down by Windows Update. The only thing(s) you may need to extract from the Boot Camp package are things like the brightness control applet.

Wouldn't that destroy my MacOS install though? I'd like to keep both OSes if possible, and it's not a massive deal if I can't it would just be nice to be able to dual boot windows and MacOS, I can make do with what El Capitan provides

 

[Amethyst1]

Wouldn't that destroy my MacOS install though? I'd like to keep both OSes if possible, and it's not a massive deal if I can't it would just be nice to be able to dual boot windows and MacOS, I can make do with what El Capitan provides

The repartitioning (i.e. shrinking the macOS partition and adding a new partition for Windows) can also be done in Disk Utility AFAIK.

 

[Eightbitgamer757]

The repartitioning (i.e. shrinking the macOS partition and adding a new partition for Windows) can also be done in Disk Utility AFAIK.

Ah it appears i can do that, i guess I'll just have to wait until i get home to see if i can install windows onto the partition, will update with results

 

[NewbiePPC]

I have done that on mac mini 2009 and 2010, you should use disk utility to create the a fat32 partition, and boot the installer from the dvd drive. If you make an usb W10 installer it will install in EFI mode and those era macs doesnt like it. Maybe you will stuck in the installer without being able to format the partition to NTFS or in the instalation of the graphics driver you wiil ended with a black screen.

Find bootcamp 6 installer online and download your respective bootcamp drivers from boot camp asistant.

Install W10 without internet, install your graphics drivers, install BC6 and later (a hrutkai mods video on YouTube shows how to install BC6 to bypass the check for supported machines), use your respective BC drivers to install the missing drivers, connect to the internet and update the OS.

That is the way that works for me for 2009 - 2010 minis and besides the ahci controller be configurated in IDE instead of SATA mode, all works fine (AFAIK its a limitation from apple in the legacy bios mode that only affects 2010 maybe some 2011 and early macs).

 

[MysticCow]

I have tried many times to install Win 10 on the hubs white MacBook not pro. (2009 model). It ran fine until THE GRAPHICS DRIVER. Every single time this would blow up after graphics drivers were installed.

Even tried direct from NVidia and it blew up.

The 2011 mini had zero issues installing and keeping Win 10 up and running.

 

[Eightbitgamer757]

I'll try it out when I get some time this weekend as my spring break is about to start, will let you guys know how it goes. Just hoping Windows is okay with 2 GPU's (My 2009 MBP has the 9400m and a 9600m GT) and doesn't default to one or the other.

 

[NewbiePPC]

I have tried many times to install Win 10 on the hubs white MacBook not pro. (2009 model). It ran fine until THE GRAPHICS DRIVER. Every single time this would blow up after graphics drivers were installed.

Even tried direct from NVidia and it blew up.

The 2011 mini had zero issues installing and keeping Win 10 up and running.

I have tried many times to install Win 10 on the hubs white MacBook not pro. (2009 model). It ran fine until THE GRAPHICS DRIVER. Every single time this would blow up after graphics drivers were installed.

Even tried direct from NVidia and it blew up.

The 2011 mini had zero issues installing and keeping Win 10 up and running.

Hi, try installing using a Dvd and select 'Windows' not 'Efi boot' or boot the installer using C key. After that you will be able to install all the drivers fine.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I was just wondering if there was a way for me to use Bootcamp to install windows 10 on a early 2009 macbook pro 17" I just received, as not being able to install certain apps i need for school (MS Office, etc.) is quite annoying as my school uses teams and being able to open everything in the native app is much better than using what's built into teams itself. I would also like to use it for light gaming on the side if possible, thanks for any help!

There aren't native drivers for PC (or Mac) hardware prior to mid 2012. Apple keeps their requirements for Windows 10 for Boot Camp more or less aligned with this. You can certainly install Windows 10 as you would any other UEFI or Legacy BIOS compatible operating system, but you might have issues with native drivers that weren't otherwise intended for earlier operating systems.

 

[MauriceW]

I have an early 2009 17" MacBook Pro running in El Capitan. I want to install Windows 10 on a new partition of my hard drive using dual boot-up. I have partitioned the drive and boots from the Windows 10 usb installer. The installer start ok, but when I reach the point where I need to select the location for installation I get a message that I cannot install it on that drive. The reason given is that the drive needs to be mapped or formatted in NTFS. I rebooted in OSX and launched the disk utility to reformat the partition, but apart from the Apple formats, the only options are MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFAT. How do I map the partition to NTFS? I have tried using NTFS for Mac by Paragon, but that doesn't support El Capitan.

 

[Lilendianppcnes]

The only successful way I’ve been able to install Windows on an early Intel Mac is by first installing OS X (and leave free space for Windows), then physically remove the hard drive from the Mac and install Windows onto the free space in a non-Apple computer. Boot Camp Assistant has never worked for me.

 

[Grumpus]

You might find this video from Mr Macintosh helpful. The basic rule is that if your MacBook Pro has a DVD drive, you must install using DVD, not USB. These older Macs must install Windows in BIOS mode and if you use a USB installer, the installation will be in UEFI mode. The partition that you install Windows into also has to be a hybrid mbr partition. That's accomplished by naming the partition BOOTCAMP, which is done automatically if you use bootcamp assistant to do the partitioning. If you create the partition using disk utility, be careful to name it BOOTCAMP or the installation will fail. Format the partition as FAT, and then when it's displayed during the Windows install, reformat it as NTFS.

You can complete an install in UEFI mode, disregarding all of the above, but when you update the video driver the machine will almost certainly bluescreen on the first reboot. The culprit on my 13" 2009 MBP was the Nvidia driver, no matter if the driver came from bootcamp or via windows update.