"A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing"

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"A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing"

I was trying to install Windows 7 Professional x64 on a brand new 2014 15" Retina Macbook Pro when I got this error.

Every time the windows boot gets to the 'Install Windows" section, the first thing that comes up is this error. You can look for drivers or cancel

but you cannot proceed. I have tried everything I have seen online, from canceling the installation and plugging in the USB stick/ Optical drive to a different USB port, to replacing my installation media.

The Macbook Pro is running 10.10.3, and I originally downloaded Windows 7 Pro from Microsoft and had Bootcamp create the Windows Install USB as well as the Bootcamp USB.

The computer only has USB3; there are no USB2 ports and no internal Optical drive.

I have also tried using a brand new commercial Win7Pro install disk on an external USB Optical drive.

I have tried booting the system with my freshly created bootcamp driver usb stick attached as well, but the only two locations I can access at this stage are the Windows install disk/USB, and the empty new 99GB BOOTCAMP partition.

How do I proceed????

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), 1 TB SSD, 16GB RAM

Posted on Apr 14, 2015 8:52 AM

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Answer 1

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YukonHut Author

Level 1

2 points

Apr 14, 2015 9:18 AM in response to YukonHut

I FIGURED IT OUT!!!

My limitation was not being able to access my bootcamp USB stick, which did contain the needed drivers.

What I did was after creating the Bootcamp Driver USB, and after creating the Bootcamp partition and restarting into Windows. I turned the machine back off, booted back into Yosemite via the Boot Manager (Option Key) and copied the contents of my Bootcamp Driver USB stick onto the empty new BOOTCAMP partition. Then I restarted back into my installer, and was able to browse to the needed driver by accessing the BOOTCAMP partition from the load driver option within the Windows installer menu.

For me, the path was /BOOTCAMP/$WinPEDriver$/IntelxHCISetup/Drivers/xHCI/Win7/x64 and then I picked the driver that appeared. Presto! I was installing Windows.

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Answer 2

Nov 9, 2016 9:31 AM in response to JA Carroll

Ok, Its very easy to solve.

-Problem: MacBook,MacBook Air brings USB3.0 and windows 7 does not recconize Usb3.0 natively.

-Is USB 3 supported by Boot Camp 5.1?

Yes. See Using USB 3 devices on Mac computers.

--Read this Article:Install Windows 7 and earlier on your Mac using Boot Camp - Apple Support

1- Make sure Correct Version of BootCamp for your MacBook

2- After BootCamp assistant finish , copy these files/folders

Partition : WININSTALL

2.1- Check this folder: $WinPEDriver$

and subfolder: "IntelxHCISetup" MUST BE COPIED.

2.2 Remove this folder : "AppleSSD64"

And Done.

Obs: IntelxHCISetup on BootCamp 5.1

Notes:

If the keyboard and mouse are not recognized, re-execute the boot camp assistant and undo the boot camp partition and redo.

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Answer 3

YukonHut Author

Level 1

2 points

Apr 14, 2015 12:38 PM in response to YukonHut

New update; I may have found my way around whatever block windows has on it's USB support, but I immediately found a new issue. The only resolution I found so far was a paid 3rd party software program to write to NTFS from a Mac OS. I posted about it here: USB not working in Windows 7. Can't install BC drivers

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Answer 4

Jul 27, 2015 9:08 AM in response to YukonHut

I had this same error trying to install bootcamp/Windows7 on a macbook air 6,2 until I switched from a USB 3.0 flashdrive to USB 2.0. Installation went great after I made the switch.

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