I cant install windows 8.1 / 7 on my early 2011 MBP

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I cant install windows 8.1 / 7 on my early 2011 MBP

I have tried pretty much every method in this thread: Windows 8.1 install fails on new 2013 Retina MacBook but I cannot get it to work, its driving me insane. As I am on the verge of loosing my mind here I'm hoping ANYONE have ANYTHING that might help me! Im running the latest Yosemite and have switch my stock HDD to an SSD. While on mavericks I could create a windows boot with no problems at all through boot-camp assistant. I have no idea what to do, please help me.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 16, 2015 7:18 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jul 16, 2015 8:40 AM in response to Robinoman

Are you following How to install Windows using Boot Camp - Apple Support ? Has BCA Info.plist been modified in any way? Do you get any errors when you run BC Assistant?

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Answer 2

Robinoman Author

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Jul 16, 2015 11:31 AM in response to Loner T

THANKS for your reply. I've had different types of errors but not during BC Assistant (atleast after altering the .plist), it runs like it supposed to except the partition it makes will not co-operate.

Yes I have modified the Info.plist by adding <string>MBP81.0047.B2A</string> and <string>MBP81</string> and removing the "pre" from <key>USBBootSupportedModels</key>. This was the only way to even get started with my.ISO file.

Yes, I am following the tutorial.

I've tried to manually create the partition and then in the windows installer creating a "new" and "format" partition. It lets me run to when its finishing and then says something about a boot error and cancels. If i don't create the partition manually as empty space it says that since its EFI the partition needs to be GPT, but when I'm looking it says GUID-partiton table!

I'm sorry if this explanation is messy, I'm not a native speaker, hope the explanation is somewhat understandable. Once again thank you for your reply.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jul 16, 2015 12:34 PM in response to Robinoman

Robinoman wrote:

THANKS for your reply. I've had different types of errors but not during BC Assistant (atleast after altering the .plist), it runs like it supposed to except the partition it makes will not co-operate.

Yes I have modified the Info.plist by adding <string>MBP81.0047.B2A</string> and <string>MBP81</string> and removing the "pre" from <key>USBBootSupportedModels</key>. This was the only way to even get started with my.ISO file.

Yes, I am following the tutorial.

On your Mac, with an internal Optical drive for CD/DVD, you need to use the physical DVD. Your Mac does not support booting from USB if the USB Installer option is not visible by default. Modifying Info.plist will let you create a USB, but the Mac will still try to boot from the Optical drive and fail with black screens or no bootable device errors.

I've tried to manually create the partition and then in the windows installer creating a "new" and "format" partition. It lets me run to when its finishing and then says something about a boot error and cancels. If i don't create the partition manually as empty space it says that since its EFI the partition needs to be GPT, but when I'm looking it says GUID-partiton table!

Your Mac (and all Macs prior to Late 2013 models) are preUEFI models. They will only support Hybrid MBR (not a pure GPT) partition method. BCA should be used for partitioning and installing Windows. Other methods require manual intervention or create new issues.

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