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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!
I just finished the " Kunu Solution", and it worked flawlessly . It appears to me that the problem is
your flash drive. Your computer is simply not seeing it. Double check that the flash drive is
formatted in fat32. I believe that it will not work if it is NTFS. I would re-download that microsoft
boot tool in case the file was corrupted , and I would try a different flash drive as well in case
there is something physically wrong with the drive.
Also I would think about bumping up the size of the boot partition. I originally set mine at 50 gig.
By the time I loaded up a bunch of my favorite programs the partition was full. There is no way to
make it bigger like you can in Windows with partition magic. So I had to do the entire process
again to changed the partition size to 80 gigs.
When you are done it really works well. So if you boot into windows, it runs fast and well.
Or while in IOS, you can create a virtual drive from boot camp, and run both operating systems at the same
time. It is a bit pokey, even with 8 gigs of ram, but still works ok.
In my case i had a half broken optical drive, but the macbook wouldn't start from the USB Stick(i tried C)
my problem with the disk that it kept "expanding windows files" to eternity
so when you enter windows installation make sure that you have the disc and the USB stick in it, and then click on repair, go into command prompt, open the USB stick, go into the sources directory and there open the setup.exe!
DO NOT OPEN the SETUP.EXE in the base Directory
hope to have helped somebody
I just logged in to thank Kunu very much for this tutorial. It works for me. I have MacBook Pro (mid 2010) Core 2 Due (64 bit). I followed the tutorial. Firs few steps (done on PC), I googled (create bootable ubuntu usb) which direct me to a another page (pen drive linux) page where I download the tool to make bootable windows 7 usb (much better than using Microsoft USB DVD tool). (Before using Pen drive Linux, plug in your usb flash drive, then, download, double click, agree, create, select Step 1, scroll down to the end and select windows 7, step 2 browse for your iso windows file, step three select the usb flash (again most important to plug in the flash BEFORE you start Pen drive tool), then create, accept (Yes) pop-up window and it is done).
Last issue, I tried to boot from USB where I successfully make bootable yosemite yesterday but it does not work. Anyway, it works in recognizing the windows 7 usb plugged in mac as mentioned by Kunu. I guess one of the USB drivers in mac might only work in booting mode (sorry for this naive conclusion)
Regards.
I made a guide on how to install windows on a OSX Partition without an Optical Drive and without booting on USB
I hope it helps
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20584499#post20584499
MatRojas wrote:
I made a guide on how to install windows on a OSX Partition without an Optical Drive and without booting on USB
I hope it helps
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20584499#post20584499
The internal Optical drive is about USD89.95 - https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/Unibody-8x-SATA-SuperDrive-Post-Early-2009/IF16 1-073-2.
Winclone - USD 29.99 - http://www.twocanoes.com/winclone/pricing
Fusion - USD 69.99 (Retail, Upgrade is USD 49.99) - http://store.vmware.com/store/vmware/en_US/pd/productID.304322400&src=WWW_eBIZ_p roductpage_Fusion_Buy_US
If you have replaced the Optical drive with SSD/HDD, then your procedure is very useful. You may not need Paragon, because you should be able to use VMDkmount.
If the Optical drive is in place, but non-functional, then replacing it may make more sense.
Thanks a lot, this helped me too! Got through the process with this tip.
Only now at the end of the Windows installation I get the message that there's something wrong with the boot record. But I guess that's a totally different issue. So thanks so far!
I used 30 Day trials and only paid for the Winclone Software.
Also VDKMOUNT is not included in the new VMware software if im correct.
So my way is cheaper than the 90 dollar Useless optical drive.
Thx for taking the time to look at my guid though.
Well I tried the Kunu method and I'm stuck at the "press the C key" part.
My macbook won't find any bootable USB drive even if I did use pc to put the iso on it.
It's a early 2011 Macbook pro unibody, with a broken superdrive.
Please help me, I had a windows partition running for years, but I had to formate all my HDD and now I can't reinstall it...
Is there a solution?
I tried so many things...
I even bought an external optical drive but my computer won't recognize it either.....
I can't tell you how everything, because I'm stuck as well at the moment. What I can tell you however, is that you can't just copy an .iso to the USB drive. You'll have to create an installation drive, a bootable USB drive.
To do that, you need to download a Windows setup file from the Microsoft site http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads, open it on a PC, and it will give you the option to create a bootable USB drive. The other option is to create an ISO, that you can later burn to a DVD (this is not the option you need, pick the thumb drive one). This got me through the installation process at least.
Next, go back to the Mac, and go through the process again. It does not seem to matter if the extra drivers are on the same USB, or on a second one.
Try not pressing 'C', just press and hold Alt at startup, and select the USB drive. Hope this helps.
I did us a pc to create a bootable iso on my USB stick. Fact is it just won't be there when I push alt, and wont be recognized when I try the "PressC" method.
What I did is follow the Kunu path.
I downloaded a windows 7 home premium x64 Iso.
I installed it on my USB flash drive on a friend PC.
I copied the same iso on my mac os x partition, mounted it, did all the bootcamp procedure,
but now I'm stuck.
I can't go any further cause my USB is nowhere to be found...
There is one possible problem here: you keep mentioning ISO on USB. Please know that in my experience, these are two mutually exclusive things. You either create an ISO and burn that on a DVD, or you create a bootable USB. Have you tried the method I mentioned, opening the setup file and creating a bootable USB from there?
Sorry if I you already have and this is a stupid question, but I just want to let you know what helped me.
I have no ISO file on my USB if this is what you're asking.
I got plenty of files, like setup.exe or other files like this.
Should I open this file on my pc to create my bootable USB?
I went through all of Kunu's solution and failed when i went to restart the machine. It said there was "no bootable device." The pressing c during startup did not work. Any solution?
Sorry, I don't know. In the end I failed somewhere as well, so can't really be of much help anymore.
Try holding Alt, not c. That works for me.
Bootcamp without Optical disc drive
