Install Windows 7 64-Bit on Early 2008 Macbook ?'s

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Install Windows 7 64-Bit on Early 2008 Macbook ?'s

My wife has an early 2008 Macbook with 2.4 GHz processor that I recently upgraded the OS to OS X 10.7.5 and upped the ram to 4 GB. I had installed a Boot Camp for Windows Vista 32-bit that is still working, but I have a Windows 7 64-bit installation disc that I would like to use on this machine. I want to completely delete the existing Windows Vista install and put Windows 7 in its place. I have found through my research that even though the 64-bit version of Windows 7 is "not supported" for this machine, it will still work with the right drivers and will require Boot Camp 4.0

My questions are:

- Will the 64-bit version of Windows 7 definitely work on this machine?

- How would I delete the current Windows Vista installation?

- Where do I get the 64-bit Apple drivers for Windows 7? I keep reading about pulling them from the Snow Leopard install DVD, which I have, but I am currently running OS X Lion on the machine, which I do not have a disc for (only received a download code from Apple). Would the drivers be built-in to Boot Camp 4.0?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7.5), 4 GB RAM

Posted on Nov 4, 2014 8:30 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Nov 4, 2014 8:45 AM in response to Karl Hungus 53

1. From Boot Camp Support Software 4.0.4033 (these can be directly downloaded to the Windows side, once Windows is installed).

System Requirements

MacBook (13-inch, Late 2006)
MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2007)
MacBook (13-inch, Late 2007)
MacBook (13-inch, Early 2008)
MacBook (13-inch, Late 2008)
MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009 & Mid 2009)
MacBook (13-inch, Late 2009) *
MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2010) *
MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2008)
MacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2008 & Mid 2009)
MacBook Air (11-inch & 13-inch, Late 2010) *
MacBook Pro (15-inch & 17-inch, Core 2 Duo)
MacBook Pro (15-inch & 17-inch, 2.2 & 2.4GHz)
MacBook Pro (15-inch & 17-inch, Early 2008) *
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008) *
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009 & Mid 2009) *
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2009) *
MacBook Pro (13-inch and 15-inch, Mid 2009) *
MacBook Pro (13-inch,15-inch, and 17-inch, Mid 2010)
MacBook Pro (13-in, 15-inch, and 17-inch, Early 2011 & Late 2011)
Mac Pro (Mid 2006)
Mac Pro (Early 2008) *
Mac Pro (Early 2009)
Mac Pro (Early 2007)
Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
Mac Pro (15-inch and 17-inch, 2.2 & 2.4GHz)
Mac mini (Mid 2007)
Mac mini (Early 2009 & Late 2009)
Mac mini (Mid 2010) *
iMac (17-inch, Late 2006)
iMac (20-inch, Late 2006)
iMac (24-inch, Late 2006)
iMac (20-inch & 24-inch, Mid 2007)
iMac (20-inch & 24-inch, Early 2008)
iMac (20-inch, Early 2009 & Mid 2009)
iMac (21.5-inch & 27-inch, Late 2009) *
iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) *
iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010) *
iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010)
iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011 & Late 2011)
iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011)

all these drivers support Windows 7, 32 bit

* drivers that support Windows 7, 32 and 64 bit

2. Ensure that the CPU is 64-bit capable. From OSX Terminal...

sysctl -a hw.cpu64bit_capable

hw.cpu64bit_capable: 1

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