I can't install Windows on my MacBook Pro as this article suggests

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I can't install Windows on my MacBook Pro as this article suggests

I have an older MacBook Pro v5,2 that I'm trying to use BootCamp to install Windows. I can not get BootCamp assistant to recognize either a pre-formatted internal drive partition or an external USB/SATA drive partitioned for FAT32. It keeps telling me it needs an external drive with a single partition for FAT. It does!! I even tried dowloading a WIN 10 installer ".iso" disk image onto the external drive (from a different machine), but can't find a way to run that image setup.exe from the Mac. I'm in a circular trial-&-error mode and BootCamp simply does not want to work for me! TIA for any help.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Jul 17, 2022 2:14 PM

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Answer 1

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Tesserax

Level 10

148,453 points

Jul 18, 2022 10:25 AM in response to Hipeakman

Unfortunately, I don't have the required equipment to test this out for you. Chances are you will still be required to have an external USB flash drive for this process.

Instead, I can provide you with a series of articles that should prove helpful in getting Windows 7 installed on your Mac:

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Answer 2

Tesserax

Level 10

148,453 points

Jul 17, 2022 3:12 PM in response to Hipeakman

What articles are you referring to?

What version of OS X or macOS is your MacBook Pro (MBP) running currently? A MacBookPro5,2 would be a Early 2009 17" MBP. Is this the model you have? Is so, it should be able to run up to macOS 10.11.6 (El Capitan).

If both of these are true, you won't be able to run Windows 10 in Boot Camp on this Mac model. You would need, at least, a 2012 model.

Ref: Install Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp Assistant - Apple Support

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Answer 3

Hipeakman Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 18, 2022 7:48 AM in response to Tesserax

Thank you. You are certainly correct about Windows 10. I have been reading too many help files lately <smile>.

You are also correct in deducing my MBP 5,2 17" 2009 model. Yes I am running the latest OS offered for it, ie. El Capitan 10.11.6. My real problem is still that the BootCamp app will not apparently work for me. It opens and offers two options. 1) download Windows support files and 2) Uninstall Win 7. I have recently installed a new internal SDD to replace a failing one. I did a fresh install of El Capitan and reloaded all personal files from TimeMachine backup from an external USB drive. That went well.

I have managed to re-partition the internal drive for half OS X and half for Windows. BootCamp complains about wanting a "single" partition drive formatted for FAT. I have provided such in an external SDD, and disconected the Time Machine drive. The internal volume has been both unformatted and FAT32 formatted. I even labeled the volume "BOOTCAMP" to try and fake it out. Still will not run.

Roger

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Answer 4

Tesserax

Level 10

148,453 points

Jul 18, 2022 9:45 AM in response to Hipeakman

Hipeakman wrote:

I have managed to re-partition the internal drive for half OS X and half for Windows. BootCamp complains about wanting a "single" partition drive formatted for FAT. I have provided such in an external SDD, and disconected the Time Machine drive. The internal volume has been both unformatted and FAT32 formatted. I even labeled the volume "BOOTCAMP" to try and fake it out. Still will not run.

AFAIK, there is no way to "fool" Boot Camp to work with the method you are attempting to do. Your Mac's internal drive needs to be a single HFS+ formatted drive for OS X to operate in. In turn, when using Apple's Boot Camp, it will create the appropriate partition with the correct format for Windows. I don't think you can run anything higher than Windows 7 ... which I understand is obsolete and no longer supported by Microsoft.

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Answer 5

Hipeakman Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 18, 2022 10:14 AM in response to Tesserax

Thank you! Win 7 will work fine for my needs.

So if I use the disk utility to re-format the internal drive to a single partition for OS X (like it was originally), then boot camp should run and do its own partitioning for windows 7? Will it complain needing an external flash "boot" drive or install disk for Win 7 that I do not have?

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Answer 6

Hipeakman Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 22, 2022 7:57 AM in response to Tesserax

Thank you! I finally struggled through the "not entirely accurate for my model" articles and got Win7 installed with bootcamp! Now the only major issue is I can't seem to get my Apple bluetooth mouse to work with windows. Guess I need to search Microsoft for appropriate Win7 drivers for it?

Thanks again for your help.

Roger

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I can't install Windows on my MacBook Pro as this article suggests

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