Successful setup of OS X Lion + Data Partition + Bootcamp Win7 Ult
Successful setup of OS X Lion + Data Partition + Bootcamp Win7 Ult
So after many, many hours I think I've finally figured out how to successfully setup Mac OS X Lion on one partition, a seperate data partition, and Windows 7 Ultimate on a Bootcamp partition . Here is a screenshot of my setup on my 13" MacBook Pro:
As you can see, I have my internal 500GB hard drive partitioned the following way:
- 120GB OS X Lion (system and apps)
- 316GB workspace partition (user files, projects)
- 64GB Bootcamp Windows 7 Ultimate
To make this work, I started with the standard procedure of installing OS X Lion on a single Mac OS Ext (journ) partition and using Bootcamp Assistant to build the Bootcamp partition for Windows.
Then I did 2 key things:
1. Before installing Windows on the Bootcamp partition, I first went back to Disk Utility, shrunk the OS X Lion partition, and inserted a 3rd partition Workspace_HD for all my user files. Then I restarted and installed Windows 7.
2. After Win 7 Ultimate, the Bootcamp drivers and Office 2010 are installed and activated, I DID NOT make any changes to any partitions. I can put whatever I want on any partition, but I CAN NOT shrink, resize, delete, create, or modify any partition. Any change to the partition tables after Windows is installed will BREAK the Bootcamp partition.
I went thru 3 broken installs of Bootcamp/Win7 to figure this out.
Again, the key is creating your extra partitions AFTER you make the Bootcamp partition but BEFORE you install Windows. And once Windows is installed you CAN NOT make any modifications to any partition.
Here is a quick step by step of what I did:
- Install OS X Lion on a single partition hard drive.
- Run Bootcamp Assistant.
- Download drivers for Mac and burn to CD.
- Make 60GB Bootcamp partition for Windows.
- When prompted for install disc, STOP installation and quit Bootcamp.
- Launch Disk Utility. Look at the 2 partitions.
- Shrink Mac OS X partition to 100GB.
- Click on + to create a 3rd partition in free space.
- Split that partition into however many other partitions you want.
- Quit Disk Utility.
- Insert Windows 7 installer DVD and restart Mac.
- After the startup chime, hold down OPTION key.
- Wait a while until the Windows 7 DVD appears and select it.
- Mac should start up from DVD. Start installing Windows 7.
- Continue until finished. DO NOT connect to internet.
- Load Bootcamp drivers CD that you burned and install.
- When finished, restart and log into Windows 7.
- Continue installing your applications. Do activations.
- When finished, restart, holding down the OPTION key.
- You are done. You should now see your OS X Lion and Win 7 partitions.
Next weekend, I am going to rebuild my system again for a 5th time to fully document the process with screenshots, but this time with 5 partitions: OS X Lion startup, Workspace, custom 20GB OS X Lion recovery partition, 30GB FAT32 shared Mac/Win data partition, and a Bootcamp partition with Windows 7 Ultimate.
Until then, I hope this works for you!! Good Luck!! ;-)
ernie
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1)