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Install windows 7 without bootcamp

Hi everyone I discovered a way to install windows 7 without boot camp, i'm not sure if its also applicable with original windows 7 cd, but here goes, I wanted to install windows 7 completely in my optical bay hdd, i couldn't because you cannot boot up with external super drive...

Step 1: take out primary os x lion hdd out and put your secondary hdd in there

Step 2 put the super drive in its place

Step 3 install os x lion in an external drive (don't use your primary drive) you only need recovery HD

Step 4 run recovery HD from external drive

Step 5 press the apple logo and restart system

Step 6 boot up pressing the option key

Step 7 there should be a windows cd and a EFI cd

Step 8 click the windows cd

Step 9 install windows 7

Step 10 install the apple drivers

Step 11 put the clean windows 7 drive in the optical bay

Step 12 put the primary drive in the primary sata slot

Turn on and enjoy


I'm going to try this with vista and xp whenever i have time and create the ISO file...

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2), Macbook Pro 15 inch (Late 2011)

Posted on Dec 30, 2011 6:56 PM

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26 replies

Dec 30, 2011 8:56 PM in response to ericksol96

Yeah thanks for the link but I'm a technet subscriber so I have all the MS software I could ever use.


If I fel like running Win 7 on this MBP I'll give your method a try. I did it once with boot camp and didn;t care for it.


Can you create other partitions with your method? That ws the one thing didn't care for with BC, only one partition allowed. I normally run with a OS partition and then another that I install al my software to, even if it is the same physical drive.


Yean MS has a tool to burn the Win 7 ISO, or really any ISO, to a USB stick. It's call Windwos 7 USB Download Tool.


You can also use Yumi Multiboot to put Win 7, or any MS OS, on a USB stick and a ton of disk/computer utilities. I have one 8GB stick that has Win 7, Ultimae Boot CD, Mustang PE with Acronis TI 2011 and Disk Director 11 and othr utilities. You can also load Linux ISO on it and boot to them from the stick. You boot the PC from it and then you have a menu to select what you want to run. A very handy USB stick.

Dec 30, 2011 10:17 PM in response to Rysz

It is actually easy to update apple drivers because you'll download the drivers from boot camp, it acts the same way as a boot camp win7. The advantage is so that you can install a windows 7 completely on a hard drive, since windows 7 doesn't boot up in an external optical drive, you have to put it back in the MBP, so to install win7 via bootcamp you'll have to install os x lion on the hd you want bootcamp in... This method is mostly for people that don't like boot camp, or want a fresh win7 hd

Dec 31, 2011 2:45 AM in response to OrangeMarlin


OrangeMarlin wrote:


Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy a junky Windows PC, and save a few bucks to pay off your credit cards that get tapped by the next malware that hits?


Oh, I see, Windows users now realize that the MacBook Pro is a superior piece of technology, but they need their Windows on it. I can accept that.

Actually I just bought a new Dell Latitude E6420. Installed 8GB of RAM, a 120GB Intel SSD, moved the 750GB Seagate drive I originally installed to a optical by caddy. Nothing junky about that PC.

But if you read this forum you will see a ton of posts about junky Apple hardware.

There is nothing superior about the Mac. It is a computer. It reads and writes 1s & 0s. It is now based on the i386 (x86) plateform/architecture.


Just to let you know both PCs and Macs use the Exact Same Hardware. The 8GBs of RAM and the 750GB HDD I installed in the Dell were originally in a 13" MBP I had and returned.

About the only real difference between the 2 is the HDD format and file structure. Windows uses a registry, which is really a grouping of 3 different files. Mac's use .plist files which can number in the 10s to god knows what number. Apps on a Mac are not just one file or one group of files all in the same directory, kind of like Windows where files of different types get put in different folder all over the hard drive and OS structure.

Ok I'm done with that subject.


I have not had any viruses or trojans or whatever on any of my PCs for over a decade and I haven't used any anti virus software for over 3 years.


I like the Mac for somethings and I like PCs, I'm not a Mac or a PC snob. But I do have Windows installed on my Mac computers and if I could, easily, I would have OS X installed on my Windows based hardware. But Steve Jobs has seen fit to make that almost impossible. If he hadn't no one would buy his hardware.

Dec 31, 2011 8:38 AM in response to ericksol96

Thanks ericsol96 for a cogent answer, not a rant.


I guess if you need a drive-full of Windows stuff, it makes some sense. For the one Windows application that my employer required, a small partition was enough. Boot Camp was totally transparent, with no added overhead, and it gave me the peace of mind of being able to add Parallers later, if I wanted Windows totally integrated into the Mac OS.


I've learned something... Thanks again.

Apr 24, 2012 8:10 AM in response to WalterWeight

WalterWeight wrote:


Shootist007 wrote:



I have not had any viruses or trojans or whatever on any of my PCs for over a decade and I haven't used any anti virus software for over 3 years.


Classic!


How do you know you didn't have a virus if you didn't have any anti virus software? 😕

Simple my systems run fine. I watch my router logs and there is no unintended activity. There are no strange things going on on my systems. All programs run as they should. No pop ups in browsers.


What more info do you need.


AFAIK you don't need an AV program to know your system has been infected. It becomes self evident by the way it works or doesn't work.


Is that good enough for you.


Classic Paranoia.

Install windows 7 without bootcamp

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