Windows 7 won't boot without optical drive (SSD, Dual HD)

[goodtimeshaxor]

I recently purchased an SSD and an optical drive HD caddy so I could use two HDs on my macbook pro. I installed the SSD in the normal HD slot in order to install Windows via optical drive. When I move my SSD over to the optical drive slot, Windows hangs on a black screen before the Windows logo and never boots.

I tried moving the SSD back to the main HD slot but without the optical drive installed, the same symptoms occur - no boot. If I attached the optical drive again, windows boots without problem. This leads me to believe that Windows will not boot without the optical drive (which was present during installation).

Has anyone experienced this and/or have a solution?

 

[illyon]

Same here

Same problem here!

i recently opened a thread and hope a solution.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1233815/

in my case windows still start without an optical drive, as long as there in no second HDD or SDD.

 

[goodtimeshaxor]

Same problem here!

i recently opened a thread and hope a solution.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1233815/

in my case windows still start without an optical drive, as long as there in no second HDD or SDD.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep an eye on both our posts for updates. Hopefully someone knows what to do.

 

[Freyqq]

could you install windows with a usb dvd drive on the 2 HD configuration? Perhaps windows won't boot b\c it is looking for the dvd drive that it expects to be there.

 

[goodtimeshaxor]

could you install windows with a usb dvd drive on the 2 HD configuration? Perhaps windows won't boot b\c it is looking for the dvd drive that it expects to be there.

I believe that I read somewhere that bootcamp doesn't allow installation of Windows via external USB optical drive. If it does, I don't have an external USB optical drive to test it with. The windows boot loader is definitely looking for the optical drive when it boots and freaks out when it can't find it.

I'm wondering if there's a way to edit the boot loader so Windows no longer looks for the optical drive.

 

[goodtimeshaxor]

Was just on my way to trying out one of the methods found online, but while I was pulling out my optical drive for the 100th time, the flex cable ripped in half..

I won't be able to play around with the dual drive set up for a week or so until I get a replacement. =(

 

[gtalmond]

Fixed?

I know this is an old thread, but i found the solution to be swapping the Primary drive and the SSD in the Optical bay around.

After putting my optical back in, installing windows on my HDD, and returning the SSD in the optical bay, My setup was HDD with windows 7, SSD with OsX, I couldn't boot.

When i swapped the HDD and the SSD around, Windows booted with no problems.

Both OSx and Windows runs well on my laptop, no software hacks or anything. Hope this helps anyone else searching for the solution.