Q: Install Windows 7 in Mid-2015 Macbook Pro

Here is the course of how things went in terminal. I think it looks like it went well? Do you do the three tests you described before or after installing Windows?

MacBook-Pro-2:~ sudo gdisk /dev/rdisk0

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.0

Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their

partition table automatically reloaded!

Partition table scan:

  MBR: hybrid

  BSD: not present

  APM: not present

  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): b

Enter backup filename to save: gdisk backup

The operation has completed successfully.

Command (? for help): P

Disk /dev/rdisk0: 977105060 sectors, 465.9 GiB

Logical sector size: 512 bytes

Disk identifier (GUID): 316A6941-387C-4FA2-A9C5-03FD18BD52D9

Partition table holds up to 128 entries

First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 977105026

Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries

Total free space is 2017 sectors (1008.5 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size      Code  Name

  1              40          409639  200.0 MiB  EF00  EFI System Partition

  2          409640      783253895  373.3 GiB  AF05  Macintosh HD

  3      783253896      784523431  619.9 MiB  AB00  Recovery HD

  4      784525312      977104895  91.8 GiB    0700  MACINTOSH H

Command (? for help): r

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): o

Disk size is 977105060 sectors (465.9 GiB)

MBR disk identifier: 0x00000000

MBR partitions:

Number  Boot  Start Sector  End Sector  Status      Code

  1                    1      409639  primary    0xEE

  2                409640    783253895  primary    0xAC

  3            783253896    784523431  primary    0xAB

  4            784525312    977104895  primary    0x0B

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): h

WARNING! Hybrid MBRs are flaky and dangerous! If you decide not to use one,

just hit the Enter key at the below prompt and your MBR partition table will

be untouched.

Type from one to three GPT partition numbers, separated by spaces, to be

added to the hybrid MBR, in sequence: 2 3 4

Place EFI GPT (0xEE) partition first in MBR (good for GRUB)? (Y/N): Y

Creating entry for GPT partition #2 (MBR partition #2)

Enter an MBR hex code (default AF):

Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): N

Creating entry for GPT partition #3 (MBR partition #3)

Enter an MBR hex code (default AB):

Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): N

Creating entry for GPT partition #4 (MBR partition #4)

Enter an MBR hex code (default 07):

Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): N

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): o

Disk size is 977105060 sectors (465.9 GiB)

MBR disk identifier: 0x00000000

MBR partitions:

Number  Boot  Start Sector  End Sector  Status      Code

  1                    1      409639  primary    0xEE

  2                409640    783253895  primary    0xAF

  3            783253896    784523431  primary    0xAB

  4            784525312    977104895  primary    0x07

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): W

Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING

PARTITIONS!!

Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y

OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/rdisk0.

Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their

partition table automatically reloaded!

Warning: The kernel may continue to use old or deleted partitions.

You should reboot or remove the drive.

The operation has completed successfully.

MacBook-Pro-2:~

In terms of the tests....

Test 1 - Does Bootcamp Volume show up in Finder?

-->Yes, it shows up as "MACINTOSH H" which is what i named the FAT partition

Test 2 - Can you see files in Bootcamp Volume?

-->It states there are 0 items (it is a freshly formatted FAT partition so this makes sense, right? It does let me move a file to the partition and then delete it with no problem from finder)

Test 3 - Can you select Bootcamp in System Preferences -> Startup Disk?

--> No only the Macintosh HD shows up there.

I went and bought an Apple SuperDrive. I held ALT/Option at start-up and with the Windows 7 Disk in it the drive is recognized as "EFI Disk." When I select it the screen blinks, remains black for a few seconds as I hear the disk spinning in the SuperDrive, and then it blinks to the regular Apple startup progress bar and goes straight to my user login. :-(

I was under the impression that the Apple SuperDrive was the only method that would work based on what you mentioned in the earlier posts about it having a special ability on the firmware level to be recognized?

I tried the USB thumb drive again and it did not show up at boot up in the ALT/Option menu.

At boot-up with my Windows 7 Pro 64 bit CD in the Apple SuperDrive this is what shows up when you press ALT/Option:

I inserted the USB thumb drive and it did not reveal itself as an additional selection. The only two were still those pictured above. I went ahead and selected EFI Boot after the USB thumb drive was plugged in and it went to a black screen and then almost immediately to the Apple logo boot screen with progress bar and then straight to my account login.

I thought the Hybrid MBR was supposed to enable the SuperDrive to install Windows 7 because the GPT fdisk basically does the job of BootCamp and makes a Hybrid MBR?

Well I already own a copy of Windows 7 Pro and have my product Key so I was hoping to get it on the 2015 Macbook Pro and then use the free upgrade to Windows 10. It is basically just trying to save $100-200 for a new license (which, if I had to do I would just skip 8.1 and buy a Windows 10 license).

Do you think a tool like rEFInd would be helpful in this instance?

The Windows 7 clone on the new 2015 Macbook Pro would recognize the change in hardware and it would lose its activation.

If I got my hands on a 2012 Macbook Air and made a thumb drive using bootcamp on it with a Windows 7 ISO would that fix the issue we are having?

I think I might try the cloning method. Can you tell me the sequence to use the cloning method? I am not familiar with SysPrep but I see it is kind of like a windows cleanup utility. Would I run it before making the clone while in Windows 7?

So is the sequence:

1.) Install Windows 7 on 2011 Macbook with Bootcamp

2.) While in Windows 7 bootcamp run SysPrep

3.) Use CloneZilla live CD to make a clone of bootcamp partition

Not sure why it wouldn't let me edit or delete the post above but I made some changes to my question:

I think I might try the cloning method. Can you tell me the sequence to use the cloning method? I am not familiar with SysPrep but I see it is kind of like a windows cleanup utility. Would I run it before making the clone while in Windows 7?

So is the sequence:

1.) Install Windows 7 on 2011 Macbook with Bootcamp

2.) While in Windows 7 bootcamp run SysPrep.

     a.) Would you recommend the following SysPrep command for this situation: sysprep /oobe /generalize ?

     b.) Or should I run the SysPrep command that runs the specialize pass, Plug and Play, and other setup tasks before launching Windows Welcome: sysprep /generalize /oobe

3.) Use CloneZilla live CD to make a clone of bootcamp partition

Would I need to do anything to the Hybrid MBR we created with GPT Fdisk before using CloneZilla to install the image on a drive?