what do i need to do to run windows 7 on 2015 macbook pro os x el Capitan

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Level 1

8 points

what do i need to do to run windows 7 on 2015 macbook pro os x el Capitan

i am trying to run windows 7 on my macbook pro. there are two programs that i need to run that will only run on windows 7 or earlier. what do i have to do in order to do this? run an earlier version of bootcamp maybe? if so how do i do this? i do not have any backups that have any other operating systems other than Yosemite.

i understand that "officially" windows 7 is not supported by the software/hardware i am using but i am hoping that there is some backdoor way of accomplishing this.

-thanks

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), boot camp

Posted on Nov 4, 2015 2:22 AM

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Answer 1

D.Cohen

Level 6

8,618 points

Nov 4, 2015 3:04 AM in response to bdumas

Check the articles below:

How to install Windows using Boot Camp - Apple Support

Install Windows 7 and earlier on your Mac using Boot Camp - Apple Support

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Answer 2

bdumas Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 4, 2015 3:16 AM in response to D.Cohen

ok the first link is, as far as i can tell, for windows 8. the other link explains apparently i need boot camp 5..which i kinda already knew i just wanted to confirm that i was approching the problem right. so i had downloaded the bootcamp 5 "support" software that the link brings you to if you click on the number "5" under system requirements for each model. that being said, when i then tried to download windows 7 it still does not work and i cannot run the boot camp 5 setup file because it gives me an error message saying it is a windows executable file. i am am supposed to dive any deeper into the support software, this might be over my head unless there is another way (less complicated) to do it, or maybe a less technical way to explain it.

-Thanks in advance.

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Answer 3

GhonaZ

Level 3

572 points

Nov 4, 2015 4:17 AM in response to bdumas

You can use virtual machines like VM ware and parallels to run almost any version of windows back to MS DOS. Search around on the internet to find more information 🙂

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Answer 4

dwb

Level 7

33,316 points

Nov 4, 2015 5:39 AM in response to bdumas

I doubt you’ll be able to make BootCamp 5 work with El Capitan and BootCamp 5 was the last version of BootCamp that could be used to install Windows 7. However Windows 7 continues to run just fine using virtualization. I continue to use Win7 with VMWare Fusion on my 2011 MBA because I dated Win8 and while Win8.1 is okay, it is more of a resource hog than Win7 is. As long as your programs aren’t 3D graphics oriented, you’ll probably find that virtualization will work for you. Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion both have time limited trials and VirtualBox is an open source project - that gives you an opportunity to try before you buy.

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