Hi everyone. I want to install windows 7 on my iMac 24'' (mid 2008) but my optical disc drive is broken. I tried to install it with an USB flashdrive, but the system don't recognize it as a bootable device. I have the windows 7 ISO, vmware fusion, refit (i searched on the interet for the solution but i couldn't find any). thanks for help !
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
***Solution That Worked for ME***
I had a similiar problem where I wanted to install windows on a macbook pro (early 2009) that had a broken optical drive, using a bootable windows 7 USB, but the mac wouldn't recognize the USB because it only checks in the optical drive.
Solution:
1. Download the Windows 7 ISO file here: http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325 /
2. Use Windows 7 USB DVD Download tool (found here http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool to make a bootable windows 7 USB. (this has to be done on an exisiting windows machine, but there are googable solutions to do this process using just a mac)
3. Also transfer a copy of the ISO file to the mac
4. Use Daemon Tools Lite (free, found here: http://www.daemon-tools.cc/products/dtLite) to mount the ISO file thats on your mac. (open daemon tools, click quick mount, click the iso file, very easy!) This tricks bootcamp into thinking that a windows 7 install disk is inserted.
5. Run Boot Camp, I chose to skip downloading the drivers and did that separately here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5634 by cliking on the macbook pro model and then the number in the grid to download the boot camp drivers to a separete usb. Once windows was installed, it was easy to open the USB and run bootcamp settup.
**THE TRICK**
6. When the computer restarts after bootcamp finishes, insert the bootable windows 7 USB into the mac when the screen is black, and then hold down the C key as soon as you hear the mac turning on sound. This command tells the mac to boot from USB.
I did not find any discussions of simply pressing the C key to boot from USB in similiar threads, and people just said that you need the disk if your mac has an optical drive. I finally found this trick out here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533
The windows installation should now be running, and all thats left now is to choose the Bootcamp partition when it asks, and to click on it, click drive options, click format, and then click next to continue on with the installation.
Hope this helps anybody that had the same problem as me, I did a lot of googling!
yes it is
diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *320.1 GB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_CoreStorage 214.3 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
4: Microsoft Basic Data WINDOWS 105.0 GB disk0s4
/dev/disk1
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_HFS OS X *213.9 GB disk1
Logical Volume on disk0s2
FAA54051-93E3-42A8-B7EF-3E79D7AE6178
Unencrypted
MacBook-Pro-van-Paul-Van-der-Sterren:~ sterren$
Can you post the output of diskutil cs list ?
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group F35227EF-DA4A-46F0-B10E-577CDC85338F
=========================================================
Name: OS X
Status: Online
Size: 214254800896 B (214.3 GB)
Free Space: 18907136 B (18.9 MB)
|
+-< Physical Volume 821FDC39-E7EA-4F39-A94F-5FBC7ADA953D
| ----------------------------------------------------
| Index: 0
| Disk: disk0s2
| Status: Online
| Size: 214254800896 B (214.3 GB)
|
+-> Logical Volume Family 3CFFB8CD-FBED-4354-9E1A-F148645C7CCB
----------------------------------------------------------
Encryption Status: Unlocked
Encryption Type: None
Conversion Status: NoConversion
Conversion Direction: -none-
Has Encrypted Extents: No
Fully Secure: No
Passphrase Required: No
|
+-> Logical Volume FAA54051-93E3-42A8-B7EF-3E79D7AE6178
---------------------------------------------------
Disk: disk1
Status: Online
Size (Total): 213883572224 B (213.9 GB)
Conversion Progress: -none-
Revertible: Yes (no decryption required)
LV Name: OS X
Volume Name: OS X
Content Hint: Apple_HFS
We need to write an MBR to the Windows partition. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/927392?wa=wsignin1.0 using the /fixMBR option, but it is a Catch22, because you do not have a Windows Installer. It may be easier to follow http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20584499#post20584499 and install. Do you want to try this method?
sure so i do what is days on http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20584499#post20584499 ?
Fair warning, before you jump in, some of the tools are commercial tools. If you have a second Mac, Winclone is sufficient.
it that kind of day again. As i was walking throught the steps i delete the previously deleted fat32 partition and diskutil won't let me recreate a new one.
Post the output of
diskutil list
sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0
diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *320.1 GB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS OS X 319.2 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=320072933376; sectorsize=512; blocks=625142448
gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 625142447
start size index contents
0 1 PMBR
1 1 Pri GPT header
2 32 Pri GPT table
34 6
40 409600 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
409640 623463232 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
623872872 1269536 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
625142408 7
625142415 32 Sec GPT table
625142447 1 Sec GPT header
Please run Disk Utility and run Repair Disk.
Hey Loner,
Tried again this morning and it worked.
gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=320072933376; sectorsize=512; blocks=625142448
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 625142447
start size index contents
0 1 MBR
1 1 Pri GPT header
2 32 Pri GPT table
34 6
40 409600 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
409640 422798968 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
423208608 1269536 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
424478144 576
424478720 200663040 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
625141760 655
625142415 32 Sec GPT table
625142447 1 Sec GPT header
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *320.1 GB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS OS X 216.5 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s5
4: Microsoft Basic Data WINDOWS 102.7 GB disk0s4
i'll go on this afternoon with the mounting via paragon and wincloning it.
Very nice. One baby step at a time. ✅
what do i choose here?
Replace BCD file.
time to report back. It worked! it all did work! Im so happy right now and am very grateful for your help. Weird thing is I have a ghost partition during startup procedure. It says after the alt start up; os x, os x and windows. Only the first os x works. Any idea how to get it out? It doesn't show it in the start up disk under sys preferences. In the gut it shows something off
gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=320072933376; sectorsize=512; blocks=625142448
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 625142447
start size index contents
0 1 MBR
1 1 Pri GPT header
2 32 Pri GPT table
34 6
40 409600 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
409640 387039848 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
387449488 1269536 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
388719024 1616 <--- I think this is the ghost partition
388720640 236421120 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
625141760 655
625142415 32 Sec GPT table
625142447 1 Sec GPT header
Bootcamp without Optical disc drive
