Brian Bowman1

Q: Cannot get restart with Boot Camp Windows 7 install

I am wanting to install Windows 7 on my MacBook Air 13" Early 2014, el Capitan.  I need windows 7 to work with one application I have for windows which is the only reason I need windows in the first place.

 

I created iso image, and placed 16GB USB Drive in place. I run Boot Camp, and it takes me through each step, and it gets to a window that says I need to download Windows 7 support drivers. I click on the button to go to the website, and I have downloaded

Support Software 5.1.5640

, and placed the uncompressed files on a separate thumb drive in a different USB slot.

This window does not have a "continue" button. It only has "cancel" and "open website".

 

According to the link How to install Windows using Boot Camp - Apple Support I should get a system restart, which doesn't happen.

Supposedly at step 4 "When you complete the assistant, your Mac restarts to the Windows installer. When you're asked where you want to install Windows, select the BOOTCAMP partition, then click Format."

 

But this never happens.

When I check "About this Mac" I do not see a windows partition on the hard drive.

 

I have tried to restart holding "option" but the system doesn't complete a boot, and hangs, and I have to hard reset my computer.

 

I feel like I am in a state of limbo. What should I do next?

 

Brian

MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014), OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), 120 GB available

Posted on Nov 15, 2015 6:06 AM

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Q: Cannot get restart with Boot Camp Windows 7 install

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  • by Brian Bowman1,

    Brian Bowman1 Brian Bowman1 Nov 15, 2015 6:27 AM in response to Brian Bowman1
    Level 1 (39 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 6:27 AM in response to Brian Bowman1

    I tried to option reboot into the windows USB again, and got farther. I got to the part asking what language to install, and to click "next", but neither the trackpad nor keystrokes were recognized

  • by Loner T,Helpful

    Loner T Loner T Nov 15, 2015 9:41 AM in response to Brian Bowman1
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Nov 15, 2015 9:41 AM in response to Brian Bowman1

    Incomplete documentation on Apple website. Your BCA-created USB contains the BC6/W10 drivers, which will not work. Connect your BCA-create USB with BC6 drivers, open the .5640 zip file, and copy and replace $WinPEDriver$ on the USB from the .5640 bundle folder. Repeat the same with the Bootcamp folder. Once you have done these two steps...

     

    Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

    How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

     

    and now try booting from the updated USB installer. If your keyboard/mouse still do not work, you are using a USB3 flash drive which does not work, find a USB2 flash drive and repeat the entire process, including the driver replacement steps noted in this post.

  • by Brian Bowman1,

    Brian Bowman1 Brian Bowman1 Nov 15, 2015 9:47 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (39 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 9:47 AM in response to Loner T

    OK. It makes sense, except the BCA created USB doesn't contain a folder $WinPEDriver$. Do you mean the folder, or the contents of the folder?

     

    I have the .5640 bundle, and I have the $WinPEDriver$ folder unpacked, but I don't see what to replace on my BCA created USB. There are 13.1 GB of files on the USB drive, so it seems like the copy was complete.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Nov 15, 2015 9:56 AM in response to Brian Bowman1
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Nov 15, 2015 9:56 AM in response to Brian Bowman1

    1. Copy the entire $WinPEDriver$ folder from .5640 to the root of the USB. If there is one already on the USB, it will be overwritten.

    2. Copy the Bootcamp folder from .5640 to the exact same location on the USB, and let it overwrite the W10 version.

    3. Boot from the USB and test.

  • by Brian Bowman1,

    Brian Bowman1 Brian Bowman1 Nov 15, 2015 11:42 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (39 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 11:42 AM in response to Loner T

    Ok... So copied $WinPEDriver$ to root of boot USB. Coped Bootcamp folder over. There was not a bootcamp folder to replace, just a "BOOT" folder

     

    So this is what I have in the root directory of my BCA created USB. names without an extension are folders.

     

    $WinPEDriver$

    autorun.inf

    boot

    BootCamp

    bootmgr

    bootmgr.efi

    efi

    setup.exe

    sources

    support

    upgrade

     

    Rebooted to the USB Boot drive.

    Got to the same point in the process, where it is asking for a language, but keyboard and trackpad are not responsive.

     

    Any other thoughts. I do appreciate the help so far

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Nov 15, 2015 11:56 AM in response to Brian Bowman1
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Nov 15, 2015 11:56 AM in response to Brian Bowman1

    Please copy .5640 AutoUnattend.xml to the root of the Usb otherwise WinPE will not work.

  • by Brian Bowman1,

    Brian Bowman1 Brian Bowman1 Nov 15, 2015 12:42 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (39 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 12:42 PM in response to Loner T

    Thanks again. I should be close, right? Either that, or it is not possible...

     

    Screen Shot 2015-11-15 at 3.40.52 PM.png

     

    So this is my root directory now, and I still get to the screen to start installing windows (choose language) like before, and I can't use the keyboard or trackpad.

     

    Any other thoughts?  I'm wondering if I need to remove "Boot" folder?

     

    Brian

  • by Loner T,Helpful

    Loner T Loner T Nov 15, 2015 5:46 PM in response to Brian Bowman1
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Nov 15, 2015 5:46 PM in response to Brian Bowman1

    Did you run SMC and NVRAM Reset before the installation attempt?

  • by Brian Bowman1,

    Brian Bowman1 Brian Bowman1 Nov 15, 2015 2:12 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (39 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 2:12 PM in response to Loner T

    Of course not. Just did. Was filled with excitement. Same result.

     

    So I guess I need to find a USB3 flashdrive? Any way to tell with ones I have at home, other than just re-trying them?

     

    Brian

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Nov 15, 2015 2:44 PM in response to Brian Bowman1
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Nov 15, 2015 2:44 PM in response to Brian Bowman1

    1. Is your current drive a USB 3 flash drive?

    2. Does it show under Alt/option when the Mac Reboots?

    3. What is the Usb brand?

  • by Brian Bowman1,

    Brian Bowman1 Brian Bowman1 Nov 15, 2015 2:51 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (39 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 2:51 PM in response to Loner T

    The MacAir has a USB 3.0 BUS. I have a sandisk cruiser USB, which I believe is a 2.0 (says "version:  2.0) in system report.

     

    I am hoping to get one while running errands tonight, and will let you know...

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Nov 15, 2015 4:24 PM in response to Brian Bowman1
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Nov 15, 2015 4:24 PM in response to Brian Bowman1

    1. To check the USB2 vs USB3, please see the following...

     

    Bootcamp-Wininstall-USB.png

     

    2. Before you invest in a new USB drive, can you connect it to your Mac and run the following commands?

     

         diskutil list

         sudo fdisk /dev/diskN (where N points to the USB from the previous command). Enter your password when prompted.

     

    3. W10 installation uses EFI, W7 does not. This is an example W7 USB structure.

     

    Bootcamp-W7-USB.png

     

    On some Macs, it will look like...

     

    BootcampUSB.png

     

    A BC drivers-only USB looks like (and this is model-dependent).

     

    BC-DriversOnly-USB.png

  • by Brian Bowman1,

    Brian Bowman1 Brian Bowman1 Nov 15, 2015 6:03 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (39 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 6:03 PM in response to Loner T

    Thanks. I do appreciate the time you are giving to help:

     

    1) I have confirmed it is a USB 2.0

     

    Screen Shot 2015-11-15 at 8.58.34 PM.png

     

    2)

     

    Here is the output in terminal.

     

     

    Brians-MacBook-Air:~ Brian$ diskutil list

    /dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD            250.1 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk0s3

    /dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +249.8 GB   disk1

                                     Logical Volume on disk0s2

                                     CC14FC98-BE78-419C-A9E8-9602DD7A6219

                                     Unlocked Encrypted

    /dev/disk3 (external, physical):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *16.0 GB    disk3

       1:                 DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL              16.0 GB    disk3s1

    Brians-MacBook-Air:~ Brian$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk3

    Disk: /dev/disk3 geometry: 1948/255/63 [31301631 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    *1: 0B 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         2 -   31301629] Win95 FAT-32

    2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     


    3)



    Drive architecture looks like the 2nd option given above. I had to move "Boot" out of "microsoft" under "EFI" and place it next to it. Here are my folder architectures as above.

    Screen Shot 2015-11-15 at 8.55.48 PM.png




    And for BC

    Screen Shot 2015-11-15 at 8.57.16 PM.png


    I found a USB 3 drive, and am going to go ahead and use it. Although first I am going to try a system restart with the slight folder rearrangement. I have run disk utility on the USB drive and it is ok.


    Brian

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Nov 15, 2015 6:11 PM in response to Brian Bowman1
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Nov 15, 2015 6:11 PM in response to Brian Bowman1

    Please check if the USB shows up as a selection using Alt/Option.

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