Windows 7 install on an iMac with Lion, no Superdrive

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Windows 7 install on an iMac with Lion, no Superdrive

I'm trying to install Windows 7 on my iMac. I have a retail copy of Home Premium (64bit and 32bit). My Superdrive has not worked in years and when I do need use of an optical drive I have an USB External DVD Writer (Samsung Model SE - S084). The external drive has always worked but I have never needed it to boot from until now.

When I try to install Windows 7 via Boot Camp Assistant with the External Drive, everything goes good until the reboot. The drive spins up and the install just stalls, white screen just before the apple logo.

Here's some system info:

iMac 24-inch Mid 2007
ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB
4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 (11D50)
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Boot ROM Version: IM71.007A.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.21f4
Model Identifier: iMac7,1

Few questions.

Can I use 64-bit or 32-bit Windows 7?

Can I install via USB Drive with an ISO of Windows 7?

Am I supposed to be able to boot from the external drive?

Is this a firmware issue?

What are my options to get Windows 7 installed?

Thanks

Posted on Mar 15, 2012 7:39 AM

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Answer 1

Jaygyver

Level 3

739 points

Mar 18, 2012 5:14 PM in response to kmurrayk

According to this it sounds like 32 bit only for you.

Basically if you have a 64 bit proccessor then you may be able to, the early ones had some issues with Windows though.

Now whether or not there are work around's I don't know, I'm not up on my "bits", so you may want to search around on the forums to see if it can be done.

Supposedly yes, check out this. When using Disk Utility you MUST burn it at the lowest speed posssible.

W7 bootable USB flash drive is only supported on the latest model though.

According to your 10.7 Installation and Setup guide you should be able to.

Probably not but check anyway. Check hereto see if you have the latest Firmware updates.

Your options are all listed here?

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