Just thought I'd let all you out there know I recently installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on my Mid-2007 MacBook Pro (2.4Ghz C2D[Santa Rosa]; 2 GB DDR2; 160 Gig HDD) - and I did it all for about 40 bucks. It was a bitch, but after two days of messin' around and countless Google searches later (gotta love the Touch), viola: full 64-bit Windows 7 on my "unsupported" Mac.
First thing I had to do was get rid of that old Tiger. Snow Leopard for 30 bucks is a great deal, and installing is easy. My original intention was to do a clean install, but I actually accidentally upgraded directly from Tiger to SL, which I didn't think was possible. I went with this at first, but ultimately opted toward the clean install for various reasons. Now, with the easy part behind me, it was time to install 7...which ended up taking much more than 7 hours. ****ers.
Being a student, I was able to pick up an UPGRADE ONLY version of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit for 7 bucks from my unversity. It was like waking up on Christmas morning all over again - I had just pretty much stolen the newest and best operating systems of our day, and with only one OS left to install, I was just about home free! Or so I thought...
I started off running Bootcamp normally, thinking I'd have 7 in a mere few hours. After sizing my partition, I restarted the computer to be greeted with an error. "CDBOOT: Cannot boot from cd - code 5" After much heartache and lost hair, I came across this website: http://www.gopulls.com/blog/2009.08.26/install-windows-7-x64-on-a-mac-beat-the-select-cd-rom-boot-type-error/ This site walks you through how to burn a copy of your Windows 7 64 bit disk that will boot in an "unsupported" x86 mac. Note that ImgBurn is Windows program, so you need a PC with a DVD burner - luckily I live in a house with 5 guys who all have Windows laptops. The directions are very clear and the tasks are simple, yet I still managed to **** up my first copy.
After copying Windows 7 for a second time, I ran Bootcamp again and to my great pleasure, it booted. I formatted my Windows partition, and began the install. After an hour or two, Windows had installed and I was prompted to put in all my info, etc. I was finally finished!.... not.
Remember how I got a great deal from my university on the UPGRADE ONLY version of 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate? Well this is because it's just that - upgrade only, and my product key would not work because i had done a clean install. One must have an existing product key from Vista of XP for this to work properly. If you are not aware with Microsoft OSes, they allow you to continue without the product key and use the operating system for 30 days, at which point i assume they cease all function until you have a valid key. It was about this time I began thinking: "I just spent half a day on an operating system i can only use for 30 days - ****!"
After bitching a bit to the roommates, it was time to consult the all-powerful Google. Lo and behold, my problems were solved: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html I chose OPTION THREE, and it worked perfectly.
The final problem was the Bootcamp drivers off the disk didn't recognize my MBP as a valid x86 device. This was an easy work around... Google helped yet again. I just went into the disc and located the x86 executable file, and ran it in Vista mode. Game, set, and match.
All in all, this took me over 12 hours in a 2 day span. The first day mainly composed of installing SL twice, messing around with that stuff, and getting pissed at my Windows error message. The next day, after 8 hours of intern work, I worked on installing windows for another 8 until I finally succeeded. If i put as much effort into my intern work as i did this, I probably would have already secured myself a job for after graduation! Ha, really though, Google is god.
First thing I had to do was get rid of that old Tiger. Snow Leopard for 30 bucks is a great deal, and installing is easy. My original intention was to do a clean install, but I actually accidentally upgraded directly from Tiger to SL, which I didn't think was possible. I went with this at first, but ultimately opted toward the clean install for various reasons. Now, with the easy part behind me, it was time to install 7...which ended up taking much more than 7 hours. ****ers.
Being a student, I was able to pick up an UPGRADE ONLY version of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit for 7 bucks from my unversity. It was like waking up on Christmas morning all over again - I had just pretty much stolen the newest and best operating systems of our day, and with only one OS left to install, I was just about home free! Or so I thought...
I started off running Bootcamp normally, thinking I'd have 7 in a mere few hours. After sizing my partition, I restarted the computer to be greeted with an error. "CDBOOT: Cannot boot from cd - code 5" After much heartache and lost hair, I came across this website: http://www.gopulls.com/blog/2009.08.26/install-windows-7-x64-on-a-mac-beat-the-select-cd-rom-boot-type-error/ This site walks you through how to burn a copy of your Windows 7 64 bit disk that will boot in an "unsupported" x86 mac. Note that ImgBurn is Windows program, so you need a PC with a DVD burner - luckily I live in a house with 5 guys who all have Windows laptops. The directions are very clear and the tasks are simple, yet I still managed to **** up my first copy.
After copying Windows 7 for a second time, I ran Bootcamp again and to my great pleasure, it booted. I formatted my Windows partition, and began the install. After an hour or two, Windows had installed and I was prompted to put in all my info, etc. I was finally finished!.... not.
Remember how I got a great deal from my university on the UPGRADE ONLY version of 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate? Well this is because it's just that - upgrade only, and my product key would not work because i had done a clean install. One must have an existing product key from Vista of XP for this to work properly. If you are not aware with Microsoft OSes, they allow you to continue without the product key and use the operating system for 30 days, at which point i assume they cease all function until you have a valid key. It was about this time I began thinking: "I just spent half a day on an operating system i can only use for 30 days - ****!"
After bitching a bit to the roommates, it was time to consult the all-powerful Google. Lo and behold, my problems were solved: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html I chose OPTION THREE, and it worked perfectly.
The final problem was the Bootcamp drivers off the disk didn't recognize my MBP as a valid x86 device. This was an easy work around... Google helped yet again. I just went into the disc and located the x86 executable file, and ran it in Vista mode. Game, set, and match.
All in all, this took me over 12 hours in a 2 day span. The first day mainly composed of installing SL twice, messing around with that stuff, and getting pissed at my Windows error message. The next day, after 8 hours of intern work, I worked on installing windows for another 8 until I finally succeeded. If i put as much effort into my intern work as i did this, I probably would have already secured myself a job for after graduation! Ha, really though, Google is god.
