I have a late 2006 Mac Pro with 2xDual Core 2.66ghz procs and 6 gigs of ram. I've been thinking of running Windows 7 64 bit in Boot Camp for a few games and had an EFI question. I searched thru the forum but can't seem to find an answer (possibly my own ignorance of not understanding, but that's not the point).
Since I'm running 32bit EFI will I be able to run the 64 bit version of Win7 in boot camp or am I limited to 32bit version?
Install a 32-bit version, as a mini-OS to bootstrap yourself into 64-bit;
Or, modify the DVD you will burn by editing the ISO, which can be done with VirtualBox etc.
I did it multiple times and posted a long rambling thread over on Boot Camp AD.
It is weird.
For fun, I install W7 x64 on PC, moved it over to Mac Pro and Windows gracefully just updated all the needed chipset drivers for me.
As usually, there are multiple ways to do anything.
Pull Mac drive and system, install a RAW drive or format as MBR and MSDOS, you'll want 3-4 partitions or multiple drives.
By using 32-bit version, you can then create a couple volumes.
8GB for editing the ISO and DVD or to run the installer from. This is a very fast way to do any install. Same idea works with Mac OS and restoring the DVD to disk.
When you burn Win7 DVD, do so at slow/reduced speeds.
20GB for first Win7 32-bit partition.
Whatever you want for x64.
Data volume?
A 64-bit can't be installed over 32-bit, but it will install to another volume all while you are booted into Windows 7 x32.
It took some playing around.
Modifying the ISO with a Windows utility worked, once but I never got the hang to do it again, kept getting unbootable copies and wasted DVDs.
Intel has UEFI 2.3 as the latest and I have been tempted to become EFI Group membership just to nuke the olde EFI32 - I now work mostly on a pair of i7 machines running 7.
Install a 32-bit version, as a mini-OS to bootstrap yourself into 64-bit;
Or, modify the DVD you will burn by editing the ISO, which can be done with VirtualBox etc.
I did it multiple times and posted a long rambling thread over on Boot Camp AD.
It is weird.
For fun, I install W7 x64 on PC, moved it over to Mac Pro and Windows gracefully just updated all the needed chipset drivers for me.
As usually, there are multiple ways to do anything.
Pull Mac drive and system, install a RAW drive or format as MBR and MSDOS, you'll want 3-4 partitions or multiple drives.
By using 32-bit version, you can then create a couple volumes.
8GB for editing the ISO and DVD or to run the installer from. This is a very fast way to do any install. Same idea works with Mac OS and restoring the DVD to disk.
When you burn Win7 DVD, do so at slow/reduced speeds.
20GB for first Win7 32-bit partition.
Whatever you want for x64.
Data volume?
A 64-bit can't be installed over 32-bit, but it will install to another volume all while you are booted into Windows 7 x32.
It took some playing around.
Modifying the ISO with a Windows utility worked, once but I never got the hang to do it again, kept getting unbootable copies and wasted DVDs.
Intel has UEFI 2.3 as the latest and I have been tempted to become EFI Group membership just to nuke the olde EFI32 - I now work mostly on a pair of i7 machines running 7.
Thanks, I'll go look for your doc on that forum. Had I searched in the right place I probably would have found it. And please, let us know how that EFI upgrade works out for you!
OK, despite it being a PITA as mentioned, win7 64 bit CAN be run on 1st gen Mac Pro 2006?
If not, I have an education upgrade version of 7 Pro to sell for cheap!
I've tried to look for The hatter's "long rambling" post mentioned here, but he is a prolific guy even in the Boot camp forum and I didn't see it in the dozens I looked at. If somebody knows the link, please post and thanks.
Some use a Windows VM to modify and burn a new DVD, that is the easiest method. I managed to install 32-bit and then install 64-bit to another partition.
