Macbook Pro won't boot off ANY Windows DVD

Once again the simple answer is the best. Windows won't/can't/is not designed to boot from an external drive. This is a Windows restriction. I think there are work-arounds but Googling is probably the best approach to finding the work-around.

hello

i have exactly the same problem! but my super drive is totally dead, like all other dvd drives of macbook pros, owned by friends.

i also have an 2007 MBP

so how do i get windows on my macbook. googleing does not help!

that winndows cant boot from an external drive can't be true. otherwise it would not be impossible to install windows on a macbook air.

or does the macbook air uses an external drive like an internal drive?

please help.

i am spending now already 4 days on this!

The MacBook Air doesn't have an internal DVD drive like your 2007 MacBook Pro does. For that reason it's firmware handles booting from a USB device differently than your hardware does. In general, Widows doesnt suort booting from a USB device. Perhaps if your external drive was attached vie FireWire you mght be able to get it to work easier. I remember the first time I tried to boot a Windows (and an OS/2) computer from a SCSI drive. The OS would load on the drive, but it wouldn't boot from it, as the controller didn't have the boot support it needed. I suspect that you will find the same to be the case for booting your hardware from a USB attached drive (for Windows).

I too am running a 2007 MacBook Pro and the internal drive was replaced last August just before the AppleCare expired. My DVD drive would still read discs then, but I couldn't write them, so I got my free replacement under the extended warranty (along with a replacement LCD panel, and ultimately a repacement logic board). Abount the only factory original parts on my system any longer are the aluminimum case, and the keyboard.

Hey Julius,

Seriously, if you haven't tried blasting the inside of your DVD drive with compressed air, please do. I thought my drive was dying a slow death two years ago when it stopped burning and reading dual layer DVDs, then regular DVDs, until six months later it couldn't even play a movie. I still can't believe after all this time all it needed was a blast of compressed air and full functionality has returned. it's at least worth the price of an air can and a straw.

Good Luck!

hey

thanks for the answers.

i just trued again to repair the drive. using air i already tried, but now i even opened it. everything is clean and looking good, but after turning the dvd for 10 seconds and focusing the laser it stops again and starts from beginning in an endless loop.

so is it relay the only solution to buy a new ATA DVD drive. that would be ok, if it could install an Blu-ray drive, but i think they are only available in S-ATA and the early MBPs have an ATA slot.

i don't want to buy a new dvd drive just for installing Windows. (i actually already bought the external drive just for this reason)

is there now way to make the MBP handle the external drive like an internal?

thanks,

julius

ok, i found a solution.

i installed a different bootloader called rEFIt

it is able to boot any real, vortual, internal or external DVD.

the istalation is very easy!

julius_suiluj wrote:

i installed a different bootloader called rEFIt

it is able to boot any real, vortual, internal or external DVD.

Why did rEFIt work for you but not for me

(Windows 7 64 Bit Boot Camp install on iMac 27" (2010) without int. DVD driveWindows 7 64 Bit Boot Camp install on iMac 27" (2010) without int. DVD drivehttps://discussions.apple.com/thread/3031967)?

What exactly did you do?

Thanks.

i installed it.

rebooted twice.

then rEFIt shows up at every start. (maybe press alt dunring boot)

in rEFIt i can select evry bootable thing that is connected to the computer. i used a windows 7 DVD in an external USB DVD drive.

you can also use Disk Utility to make a virual DVD on an extra Partition of an internal or external hard drive.

that is how it worked for me.

Thanks for your answer!

julius_suiluj wrote:

i installed it.

rebooted twice.

then rEFIt shows up at every start. (maybe press alt dunring boot)

in rEFIt i can select evry bootable thing that is connected to the computer. i used a windows 7 DVD in an external USB DVD drive.

Just what I did on my 2010 27" iMac, but I only get...

"No bootable device -- insert boot disc and press any key"

What could be wrong...?

julius_suiluj wrote:

you can also use Disk Utility to make a virual DVD on an extra Partition of an internal or external hard drive.

Heard of that too, but I would need more details.

I also read another approach is making that special Win 7 bootable DVD:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2654456?answerId=12627408022#12627408022

Don't know if that would really help...

This is not a Windows restriction, it's a limitation of Apple's CSM-BIOS implementation.