Macbook 5.1 windows 8 install problem

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Level 1

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Macbook 5.1 windows 8 install problem

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and am looking for some help. I am an engineering student and solving this problem is essential to me getting some homework done.

Problem:

After going through the steps below and rebooting to start installing windows, I get a black screen with "Non-system disk, press any key to reboot" on it. The computer is unresponsive.

Procedure so far:

Downloaded legitimate .iso install file of windows 8 from the internet.

Modified bootcamp info.plist assistant to allow use of windows 8 disk image and to allow showing of 'create disk' option

Installed this .iso file onto a USB 2.0 HDD enclosure (60 gb i think) using boot camp assistant

everything appears fine, computer reboots and then shows error message

Hardware specs:

Macbook 5,1-Yosemite OSX (2008 aluminum model)

2 ghz processor

Crucial 256 gb ssd

4 gb crucial ram

Please help!

Posted on May 21, 2015 8:10 PM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

May 22, 2015 4:46 AM in response to Treewilly

Your Mac does not support installing Windows using USB. Modifying Info.plist enables the USB creation option, but cannot address what BC Assistant directs the NVRAM settings to be before passing control to the installer.

1. Does your internal Optical drive function?

2. Can you burn the ISO to a blank DVD - Disk Utility (Yosemite): Burn a disk image to a CD or DVD ? Please ensure that the speed of the burn is the same as supported by the physical media, otherwise you will get block errors on the DVD.

3. Use the physical DVD and BCA to install Windows.

Please see System requirements to install Windows on your Mac via Boot Camp - Apple Support for Windows versions supported on your Mac. If you really need W8, install W7 first, and once completed, then you can do a local upgrade of Windows without involving BCA. This path also ensures that you have valid BC drivers.

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Answer 2

Treewilly Author

Level 1

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May 22, 2015 5:23 PM in response to Loner T

Loner T,

I knew I forgot something in the description. My optical drive is no good.

After trying many options, I am about to remove my SSD, plug into the 'mothership' (PC desktop) , clone my windows hard drive to the SSD so that windows is installed on one partition, reinstall and boot on the mac, and then install appropriate drivers downloaded from BC. What do you think about this?

I appreciate the response, maybe we will get this working somehow.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

May 22, 2015 5:47 PM in response to Treewilly

There is a procedure called SysPrep - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824938.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-21472 17396 - which makes the installation a 'generic' hardware-agnostic Windows, which can be ported to a different machine. You have a limited number of attempts for SysPrep. You should backup your current installation first, before you attempt this.

This - https://twocanoes.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202814148-Migrating-a-Boot-Camp- Partition#“step1” may also help, even though this is used to clone Bootcamp partitions.

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Answer 4

Treewilly Author

Level 1

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May 22, 2015 6:04 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks,

The sysprep option looks like a valid one. However, I don't like the limited attempts, I like to keep the desktop as clean as possible. Say I did clone my windows 8 image onto my SSD using sysprep, would my macbook recognize it as a bootable device once plugged back in?

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

May 22, 2015 6:26 PM in response to Treewilly

Yes, but after you install the SSD, it should be checked for requirements. For example, if your Windows installation is a legacy BIOS one, a MBR would be needed to make it bootable. OEM Windows installations carry a hidden vendor-specific set of tools. Please be careful with those. You should check Windows Disk Management on the source before you run SysPrep.

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Answer 6

Treewilly Author

Level 1

0 points

May 22, 2015 7:39 PM in response to Loner T

What your saying makes sense. The process is just not going to be as simple as I thought.

It just frustrates me that others have hacked their macbook pros and such to boot off of USB, but i cant seem to achieve it in mine. Please keep this dicussion in mind if you come across any macbook 5.1 articles that deal with this.

Sounds like it will be more sensible (and fitting to my skill level) to either repair or replace the superdrive with an external optical drive or whatever and install windows 7 etc.

Thanks again

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