Windows 7 on Bootcamp

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Windows 7 on Bootcamp

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to install Windows for the past few days now and I just can't seem to find any solution.

My goal is to run Windows 7 trough bootcamp on my 2010 15" Macbook Pro (with optical drive) via an external USB hard drive (750 GB, usb 2.0 & 3.0).

I currently have OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 installed. So far I've been able to format my external HD to MS-DOS (FAT), download installation software through the bootcamp program and put it on my USB external HD, partition my HD into a 50 GB bit for Windows and download a 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium in .iso .

I've followed all the steps and when I finally got to the point where the partition was complete and my computer rebooted after finishing bootcamp, all I got was the infamous screen; No bootable device, insert boot disk and press any key. After I had to force-shut down my PC and tried to restart it a few times (sometimes holding option/alt, sometimes not) I got no option to boot from any other drive than Mac.

I've been through these processes a few times, deleting of repairing the disks with Disk Utility and trying over and over and over.

Has it got something to do with the possibility that my USB hard drive automatically works on its 3.0 capability? Or is it simply so that Macbooks with an optical drive can't install Windows trough USB external HD's? Or do you recognize any other issue here?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Regards, YoshiDK.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), Bootcamp

Posted on May 24, 2015 10:15 AM

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Answer 1

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Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

May 24, 2015 10:39 AM in response to YoshiDK

1. Are you trying to install Windows on an external disk? BCA will not support it. It has a check for SATA or PCI. You can check Applications -> Utilities -> Console logs.

2. You may be able to clone to an external disk, if you can get it installed on an internal disk first.

3. Windows licensing also needs to be considered when you run it this way. Windows-to-Go is the only supported mechanism.

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Answer 2

YoshiDK Author

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May 24, 2015 10:48 AM in response to Loner T

1. Boot Camp Assistant: Disk 2 is not SATA or PCI.

Point 2 & 3 I don't understand, thanks for your answer!

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

May 24, 2015 1:33 PM in response to YoshiDK

Once you have Windows installed on an internal (SATA/PCI) disk, you can clone the Windows installation and move it and external disk. Winclone is one such tools, amongst many others. Windows Enterprise licenses support Windows-to-Go, but this specific type of installation is not officially supported by Bootcamp.

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Answer 4

YoshiDK Author

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May 25, 2015 4:16 AM in response to Loner T

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the fact that my Macbook has an optical drive and booting from an external usb hard drive simply doesn't work, since everything else seems to be in order and going down a complicated path like you suggest seems a bit far-fetched. I thank you for your help but to be honest, your instructions are very hard to follow and are not very clear. But once again, I thank you. I will post once I've found a large enough DVD (8 GB-something) to burn the iso on.

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

May 25, 2015 6:41 AM in response to YoshiDK

If you have a built-in Optical drive, remove your external disk. Partition you internal disk and install Windows using BCA and a physical DVD of Windows Enterprise. Once Windows is successfully installed, then you can consider a cloning tool to move Windows from the internal disk to an external disk (USB3 or TB is better, USB2 may be too slow).

There are two or three Macs from 2011/2012 which have an Optical drive and support both, USB and DVD, for Windows installation. For example my 13-in 2012 MBP allows both.

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Answer 6

Ro808

Level 1

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Jun 19, 2015 7:36 PM in response to YoshiDK

Windows uses boot.ini files and other pre boot files which need to be on an mbr partition: partition 0 of hdd 0 on a system with multiple disks.

In a virtual environment you may be able to do otherwise, but in that case you'll probably clone a disk 0.

With 1 internal (System) disk you'll have to create 2 partitions: partition 0 formatted as mbr and partition 1 formatted guid for OS X.

Create a bootable BOOTCAMP installer USB stick (at least 8 GB) with Bootcamp (follow the instructions from the Bootcamp Assistant) and you should be able to install Windows. If Windows cannot use the 0, 0 partition you'll have a hard time even getting past the 'choose Windows Partition' part of the installation.

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