WIndows 7 SP1 "incompatible" with Boot Camp?

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Level 1

9 points

WIndows 7 SP1 "incompatible" with Boot Camp?

Today I booted Windows in Parallels and was told that SP1 was available for installation. After I installed it and rebooted, Parallels told me:

"The Windows version is not supported by Boot Camp.
The virtual machine is booting from a Boot Camp partition. The version of Windows installed in the virtual machine is not officially supported by Boot Camp. If you continue, you may encounter problems with Microsoft Windows or Office activation."

Windows 7 SP1 is not supported by Boot Camp? Is this true, or is Parallels making stuff up? How would a program written before SP1 even existed determine this to be the case, anyway? And if it is true, what do we do about it?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 2, 2011 11:30 PM

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Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 3, 2011 2:26 AM in response to macswe

Sounds like a problem with Parallels and making the update from the VM. Ask them. There is a longer thread from when SP1 came out and all of our (success) stories.

Microsoft may be tightening on these dual activation routines too.

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Answer 2

Mar 3, 2011 8:13 AM in response to macswe

What version of Boot Camp are you running? I ask because I have Windows 7 SP1 running on my Boot Camp partition (Snow Leopard 10.6.6 / Boot Camp drivers v3.2). The big difference is that I didn't trust the Service Pack install in Parallels, so I booted into Native Windows for the Service Pack install process, then booted back the other way. I also access my Boot Camp via VMWare Fusion and it is happy too.

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Answer 3

macswe Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 3, 2011 1:25 PM in response to GeekBoy.from.Illinois

I was going to just say "the latest version" because Software Update claims I'm up to date; but then I thought it might not look for Boot Camp updates except from Windows, so I booted up Windows and checked, just to be sure. It says Boot Camp version 3.2. Boot Camp Control Panel didn't have any update controls, and Apple Software Update found only a new version of iTunes for Windows (which I don't want anyway). So I will have to go with "the latest version."

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Answer 4

KathiMR

Level 1

19 points

Mar 26, 2011 11:38 PM in response to macswe

It also would be helpful to specify Win7 32 or 64 bit. Apparently the 64 bit version of SP1 was released a bit later--I think Mar 15. I hadn't installed it yet. But then severe problems starting in Mid Feb that rapidly escalated. Archive & install done & helped, but still problems, finally led to erase & install. & then the restore didn't go right so heading to Genius bar for more help.

Not sure what happened but reinstall of Win7 today doesn't look like the original.

1 additional thing about the Windows updates that I noticed about a week ago running in Parallels 5. Windows was set to update automatically & I didn't realize it was updating when I told Apple to go ahead with updates. I then changed windows update setting to prompt me so they wouldn't both be running at same time.

So when I get the other things up & running ok, I want to know about whether to install SP1

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Answer 5

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 27, 2011 4:33 AM in response to KathiMR

A. do Windows update natively in a Boot Camp partition.

B. Update to Parallels 5

C. Ask Parallels users in their forum

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Answer 6

Jun 3, 2011 3:22 PM in response to macswe

I installed Win 7 SP1 through my Parallels 5 install. Original Windows 7 is installed on Boot Camp. I do now get the message when launching Parallels that Boot Camp does not support it but I hit okay and seems to run fine.

However, if I boot straight into Boot Camp it wants me to activate Win 7, which I haven't done yet. It does seem that MS has tightened the activation on these dual boot installs? I've always had the issue where with MS Office 2007 I can only have it activated in one install or the other, hope this won't be so for Win 7 now.

I'm on MB Pro Win 7 x64

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Answer 7

Jun 3, 2011 4:00 PM in response to cgilbert56

I only have 32 bit Wndows 7, but it didnt have actvation issues. Re-installing Parallels on my Boot Camp partition caused me to need to re-active though.

I do also remember that some people had probems installing Windows 7 SP1 if they were using the Paragon HFS+ drivers for Windows. I believe that un-installing the drivers, then instaling SP1 before re-installing the drivers was all that was needed there though...

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Answer 8

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jun 3, 2011 5:48 PM in response to macswe

Boot Camp is fully compatible with Windows 7, in fact if you have a new Mac it's only compatible with Windows 7 (well, OSX as well)

I have no idea about Parallels limitations.

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Answer 9

Jun 3, 2011 7:17 PM in response to cgilbert56

Windows 7 isn't the issue, it's Windows 7 SP1.

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Answer 10

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jun 4, 2011 5:30 AM in response to cgilbert56

Boot Camp is compatible with Windows 7 SP1

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Answer 11

Jun 4, 2011 6:03 AM in response to cgilbert56

Like Csound1, I know that Windows 7 SP1 is compatible with Boot Camp. I've been running it since it came out without issue.

With respect to registration and license, if you install Windows using a Boot Camp partition you must register it. Then if you use Parallels or Fusion to access your Windows installation you must register/get a new key, for it. Parallels/Fusion create a virtual machine which looks to Windows as a new computer (new hardware virtualized). The licensing for Windows has for many years checked that hardware to determine if the OS is being used on more than one computer. All you need to do is use the online or phone registration to get a free second key. This is a simple straight forward automated process.

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Answer 12

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jun 4, 2011 3:20 PM in response to cgilbert56

Windows 7 SP1 isn't the issue it is doing the upgrade in Parallels instead of native partiton.

Sounds like you soeone didn't read the replies above.

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Answer 13

Feb 23, 2014 12:38 AM in response to The hatter

I faced to same problem that boot camp complained about my win7 64bit sp1 iso.

After i eject the iso file, the problem solved.

Maybe you can try this.

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