Can't re-install windows 7 64-bit on MBP early 2011 after Mavericks

Question

I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro 13 inch which I used to have Mac OS X 10.8 and Windows 7 64-bit prior to installing Mavericks. After the update, my windows partition, which i resized to a larger space using Disk Utility and then a third party software on the windows side; was gone. It was shown in the disk utility as an unmountable partition.
After several failed attempts to get my files back, I decided to start from scratch. But when I went on Bootcamp 5, the "Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk" option was gone. After about searching for a way to re-enable that option by adding lines on Boot Camp Assistant's info.plist file, and signing it from terminal, the option was there again. It let me create a windows install disk from an ISO, and partition my harddrive. But when I reboot my computer and pressing alt, the usb stick doesnt appear as a bootable drive. So I Installed rEFIt. I could locate my usb drive from it but when I click on the corresponding button (it was something like boot windows from WININSTALL), it says bootmgr is missing.
The next day I got blank DVD-R's so I could burn the ISO on a disc. It successfully booted from the CD. To intall it on the bootcamp partition, I had to format it to NTFS using the windows 7 installation software. But when it comes to intallation, while expanding the installation files, I get an error from the Windows side saying that the files could not be expanded.
I tried to run the USB stick on a mid 2012 macbook pro which worked. I have no idea what has happened with my macbook HDD since the Mavericks update. Does it have something to do with the partition table? I am usually a non-participant user of the support communities and this is my first post. I hope to come up with a solution as soon as possible.
-Orkun

Answer 1

Hey there, it sounds like the trouble you are having is related to what is called 'non-standard boot camp partitioning' (resizing of the partition and all that). Do you notice that when launching Boot Camp Assistant you have the option to remove the current boot camp partition? If so I would say remove the partition and reinstall Windows using BCA (any other way of installing Windows on a Mac may cause you grief in the future).
Also I believe installing from an ISO is unsupported on some models - ultimately the difficulty you are having is related to partitioning. If Boot Camp *will not install* with the current partitioning the best thing to do would be to create a full Time Machine backup, repartition the disk from original install media (from 'current' to '1', reinstall the original OS and perform Mavericks upgrade via the Mac App Store, migrate from Time Machine backup and reattempt running Boot Camp Assistant (which will work this time). Maybe someone else has a quicker/hackier method but you can always expect difficulty with OS upgrade installs and Boot Camp while the partitioning is in the current state.