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Windows 7 on Macbook Air 2010 via Bootcamp 4.0.1 (Lion)

s2dio

s2dio

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 28, 2010
109
0
Riga, Latvia
Hello, dear Macrumors mates!

I tried it a couple of times and searched the forum and the internet for information, but I guess this case has not been discussed much yet.

I have a Macbook Air 2010, 13" ultimate. It came with Snow Leopard and I managed to install Windows 7 Professional 64bit from USB flash drive on it with only a little hassle.

Recently, I did a clean install on Lion and I'm now trying to install the same Windows 7 on it via USB flash drive.

The problem is that Lion has a different Bootcamp version (4.0.1) and the whole process has been slightly modified. I have read that "there hasn't been anything easier than installing Windows 7 on a Macbook Air 2011 with Bootcamp version 4.0.1 in Lion".
Yeah, but could there be a problem that my Macbook Air is a 2010 version and it interacts with Bootcamp differently than Macbook Air 2011?

Bootcamp ver. 4.0.1 is advertised that way that it doesn't even require rEFIt and does everything itself from start to end.

I have a flash drive with Windows 7 on it, but the Bootcamp Assistant doesn't go further than the screen with disk partitioning. After I select the amount of space to dedicate for the Windows installation and press Install (in older Bootcamp version the button was called "Partition"), a message pops out, saying "Insert your Windows installer disc and wait for a few seconds for the disc to be recognized". And that's it, nothing happens.

I have tried to create a partition manually, using Disk Utility. But it only gives an option of FAT, no NTFS. And when I boot the computer from the USB flash drive with Windows installation, it cannot install itself on this partition. And it's unable to reformat the partition.

So I find myself in a situation where I can't install Windows 7 from a USB flash drive.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem? What solutions should I try to apply?

Thanks in advance.
 
s2dio said:
Hello, dear Macrumors mates!

I tried it a couple of times and searched the forum and the internet for information, but I guess this case has not been discussed much yet.

I have a Macbook Air 2010, 13" ultimate. It came with Snow Leopard and I managed to install Windows 7 Professional 64bit from USB flash drive on it with only a little hassle.

Recently, I did a clean install on Lion and I'm now trying to install the same Windows 7 on it via USB flash drive.

The problem is that Lion has a different Bootcamp version (4.0.1) and the whole process has been slightly modified. I have read that "there hasn't been anything easier than installing Windows 7 on a Macbook Air 2011 with Bootcamp version 4.0.1 in Lion".
Yeah, but could there be a problem that my Macbook Air is a 2010 version and it interacts with Bootcamp differently than Macbook Air 2011?

Bootcamp ver. 4.0.1 is advertised that way that it doesn't even require rEFIt and does everything itself from start to end.

I have a flash drive with Windows 7 on it, but the Bootcamp Assistant doesn't go further than the screen with disk partitioning. After I select the amount of space to dedicate for the Windows installation and press Install (in older Bootcamp version the button was called "Partition"), a message pops out, saying "Insert your Windows installer disc and wait for a few seconds for the disc to be recognized". And that's it, nothing happens.

I have tried to create a partition manually, using Disk Utility. But it only gives an option of FAT, no NTFS. And when I boot the computer from the USB flash drive with Windows installation, it cannot install itself on this partition. And it's unable to reformat the partition.

So I find myself in a situation where I can't install Windows 7 from a USB flash drive.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem? What solutions should I try to apply?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Apparently i am unable to install windows 7 ultimate on a mid-2010 13inch macbook pro. The installation will go fine until when it comes to the part where it says it is completing/finalizing the installation then the macbook pro just hangs. Running Lion here and this did not happen while running Snow Leopard....
 
greythorne said:
Apparently i am unable to install windows 7 ultimate on a mid-2010 13inch macbook pro. The installation will go fine until when it comes to the part where it says it is completing/finalizing the installation then the macbook pro just hangs. Running Lion here and this did not happen while running Snow Leopard....
Click to expand...

although i haven't got to the step where the installation starts, it all went pretty smoothly on Snow Leopard.

Anyone else having troubles or solutions to this?
 
s2dio said:
although i haven't got to the step where the installation starts, it all went pretty smoothly on Snow Leopard.

Anyone else having troubles or solutions to this?
Click to expand...

Me also. 2010 MBA owner. Had windows 7 on it before but now, after upgrading to Lion im no longer able to install it from a USB drive... very annoying this because 2011 manage to do it easily... I don't know what to do, im not planing to buy a superdrive only for installing windows. i never use optical drives...
 
Windows 7 on 2010 MacBook Air with Bootcamp 4.0.1 (Lion)

Does anybody found a way to install Windows 7 on MacBook Air from a USB Drive? Please help. Or atleast somehow create a NTFS (MBR pardition) from Lion without Bootcamp Assistant.
 
greythorne said:
Apparently i am unable to install windows 7 ultimate on a mid-2010 13inch macbook pro. The installation will go fine until when it comes to the part where it says it is completing/finalizing the installation then the macbook pro just hangs. Running Lion here and this did not happen while running Snow Leopard....
Click to expand...

Did you ever solve this issue. I seem to have found myself with this problem just now. I did in fact have Bootcamp working without problem before.

I have the 2010 Macbook Pro 13" etc with a freshly installed Lion!
 
If i wipe the entire hard drive clean and install Snow Leopard, the bootcamp windows 7 installation completes successfully.

I think Lion has changed the default boot camp partitioning layout as well as introduced a new partition (the recovery partition) which is somehow giving the Windows 7 Installation a problem!

I'm nervous about re-introducing Lion onto my system after all the problems I've had recently. I think I'll just stick with Snow Leopard for now.

Has anybody used Camptune X on Snow Leopard? I heard good things about this software with regards to managing/resizing bootcamp partitions and I also heard it can help backup your full system including the bootcamp partition.

I like Windows 7 Back/Restore but it seems to have issues recovering onto a bootcamp partition because it needs to format the entire drive and not just the Windows System Partition.
 
s2dio said:
Hello, dear Macrumors mates!

I tried it a couple of times and searched the forum and the internet for information, but I guess this case has not been discussed much yet.

I have a Macbook Air 2010, 13" ultimate. It came with Snow Leopard and I managed to install Windows 7 Professional 64bit from USB flash drive on it with only a little hassle.

Recently, I did a clean install on Lion and I'm now trying to install the same Windows 7 on it via USB flash drive.

The problem is that Lion has a different Bootcamp version (4.0.1) and the whole process has been slightly modified. I have read that "there hasn't been anything easier than installing Windows 7 on a Macbook Air 2011 with Bootcamp version 4.0.1 in Lion".
Yeah, but could there be a problem that my Macbook Air is a 2010 version and it interacts with Bootcamp differently than Macbook Air 2011?

Bootcamp ver. 4.0.1 is advertised that way that it doesn't even require rEFIt and does everything itself from start to end.

I have a flash drive with Windows 7 on it, but the Bootcamp Assistant doesn't go further than the screen with disk partitioning. After I select the amount of space to dedicate for the Windows installation and press Install (in older Bootcamp version the button was called "Partition"), a message pops out, saying "Insert your Windows installer disc and wait for a few seconds for the disc to be recognized". And that's it, nothing happens.

I have tried to create a partition manually, using Disk Utility. But it only gives an option of FAT, no NTFS. And when I boot the computer from the USB flash drive with Windows installation, it cannot install itself on this partition. And it's unable to reformat the partition.

So I find myself in a situation where I can't install Windows 7 from a USB flash drive.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem? What solutions should I try to apply?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem installing Win7 on my MBAir. After I deleted all the partitions (including the 200mb partition) everything installed perfectly.

I was able to create a partition, format it NTFS and install Win7. It seems the 200mb partition was the problem.
 
So there is no way to install windows 7 on USB drive on a MacBook air 2010 without a windows disk. Looks like the only way is to reformat snow leopard and switch to windows 7 through the old boot camp? Or get an optical drive
 
I managed to pull this off successfully by avoiding Bootcamp Assistant and without an optical drive at all.

I created a new partition (NTFS) in 'Disk edit', rebooted with my usb flash drive with Win7 installation, selected it during bootup and started the installation like on any other Windows PC. It worked and now I have Win7 for those rare occasions when I need it.

Best of luck to everyone who is into this!
 
s2dio said:
I managed to pull this off successfully by avoiding Bootcamp Assistant and without an optical drive at all.

I created a new partition (NTFS) in 'Disk edit', rebooted with my usb flash drive with Win7 installation, selected it during bootup and started the installation like on any other Windows PC. It worked and now I have Win7 for those rare occasions when I need it.

Best of luck to everyone who is into this!
Click to expand...

Hi, I am also encountering the same issue. Can you tell me more about how to create a new partition (NTFS) in 'Disk edit'? Thanks alot!
 
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