Q: Boot Camp Assistant "Windows 7 Installer disc could not be found"

My suggestion is to complete the Windows installation first. By default, if the drivers were downloaded to the USB by Bootcamp Assistant, it should automatically and silently install them during the Windows installation process.

You will need to download Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5621 to a USB and install it manually on the Windows side. BCA will download the correct drivers based on your hardware. You can verify what you have on the USB by looking at Bootcamp.xml in the Bootcamp directory on the USB, before you wipe it. Is your USB a USB2 or USB3?

The System Requirements for this version are

System Requirements

• MacBook Air (11-inch & 13-inch, Mid 2011)
• MacBook Air (11-inch & 13-inch, Mid 2012)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch & 17-inch, Mid 2010)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, & 15-inch, Early 2011)
• MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch,15-inch & 17-inch  Late 2011)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch & 15-inch, Mid 2012)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch and 15-inch, Early 2013)
• Mac Pro (Early 2009)
• Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
• Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
• Mac mini (Mid 2011)
• Mac mini (Late 2012) 
• iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010)
• iMac (21.5-inch & 27-inch, Mid 2011)
• iMac (21.5-inch & 27-inch, Late 2012)
• iMac (21.5-inch) Early 2013
• Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1, 64 bit

Since BC drivers are not installed, there is no SDHC support. You need a USB2 flash drive with .5621 drivers. They should be the same as BCA downloaded ones.

Please look at bootcamp.xml in the Bootcamp folder on the OSX side and look at version information. Here is an example.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<?xml-stylesheet type='text/xml' href='test.xsl'?>

<!--Information on Boot Camp build-->

<BuildInfo BuildNumber="5640" ProductName="Boot Camp">

  <MsiInfo>

  <ProductManufacturer>Apple Inc.</ProductManufacturer>

  <ProductVersion>5.1.5640</ProductVersion>

  <ProductCode>{FA2B2C2A-EA41-495A-9308-60726125D562}</ProductCode>

BCA should format your internal partition to be FAT32, which the Windows Installer converts to NTFS. If you manually create a FAT32 partition, the MBR onto being built can cause problems. Good to see it sorted out.

I'm having very similar problems to Lightwave, but have been unable to resolve them. I have an early 2011 13" MacBook Pro running 10.7.5, with 48GB of free space. I've purchased a Win7 64x ISO from an authorized reseller, burned it to a DVD-R, downloaded the .5621 drivers, installed them at the root level of a 32GB USB2 drive that's been formatted to FAT, and yet BCA 4.0.4 still can't find the installer disk. Any other suggestions?

1. The USB should only contain the BC drivers, not the Windows Installer.

2. Disconnect the USB after you download the BC drivers.

3. Use only the DVD-R containing the Windows installer in the built-in Optical drive. Do not use an external Optical drive.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm still not having any success. I even tried the installation on my wife's MBP using El Cap and BCA 6.0.1, but I keep running into the "installer disc could not be found" error. My only guess at this point is that there's a problem with the ISO itself, though it appears to be normal. This is what I see at the root level when I expand the ISO:

I'm hoping there's something obvious that I've overlooked, but I'm completely stumped at this point.

1. What is the size of the ISO file? Can you post the MD5sum/SHA1 of the ISO file?

2. Was the USB with BC drivers disconnected before the installation?

3. In OSX, if you insert the DVD-R, does the DVD appear and show files properly? Your screen shot is from the ISO, do you get the same from the DVD? What brand is the DVD?

Size of ISO: 3.22GB

MD5sum: 758887088235024058D1C8EB6EFB85A8

SHA1: 336779EA6B65F63E11A609B4D021439C47AB315B

Yes, the USB was disconnected prior to installation.

Yes, the DVD-R appears normally in OSX, and the files are the same on the DVD as in the ISO. The DVD is HP-branded.

What is the name of the ISO file?

en_windows_7_home_premium_x64_dvd_x15-65733.iso