How to install Windows 7 from a bootable usb in Mavericks

Question

I updated to Mavericks (os x 10.9) a few days ago and finding it near impossible to install windows 7 on my macbook pro mid-2010.  I put Windows 7 64 bit on a bootable usb using a windows pc.  Any time I try and use the Boot Camp assistant it gives me the two options of (1) installing the latest windows support software from apple and (2) install windows 7.  When I try and do either it just fails and says "can't install the software because it is not currently available from the software update server".  I've even tried it with a blank usb 8gb free and it says the same thing.  I also created a partition myself and tried to boot it up holding the option key and install it that way with the bootable drive in and it still will not download.  Is it possible to do it without using the boot camp assistant at all? I've tried to method of removing the "Pre" from the backup assistant in the "Info.plist" and still no luck. 

Answer 1

In the last 3 days I've put around 10 hours trying to get windows 7 installed without using a superdrive.
If you still have a cd drive (internal) I promise, as much of a hassle as it sounds it is 10x easier to get a disk and burn windows to it, or simply buy a pre-made windows disk.
Over like 10 threads this is what I found slowly
-You can't install from an external cd drive
-You can't boot from a usb (even if bootcamp makes it for you with the plist tweak)
-The plist tweak won't work in mavericks without using xcode to resign the code (this took me awhile and then I found out the usb was useless anyways)
Otherwise, there is a method that is beyond complicated. It consists of installing half of windows 7 via virtual machine, rebooting, deleting the installed data, replacing it, and finally completeing the install.
I performed this method today on an Early 2011 Macbook pro running 10.9 that has had the disk drive removed in order to add a ssd. I'm documenting it here regardless of whether you need it simply because this information needs to be concise. People on this forum will also tell you it can't be done.
This method is free and legal.
You will need:
-rEFind (older guides will tell you to use rEFit but it is not currently supported by 10.9 this is made by the same developer)
-windows iso w/key
-Virtual box
-NTFS for mac os x (free trial)
This guide is written by user "severin" here http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1534533.html
1. Make a Boot Camp partition with Boot Camp assistant.
2. Install rEFIt
3. Install a NTFS program for Mac, like Tuxera NTFS(serial at serials.ws) or Paragon NTFS.
4. Install Oracle Virtualbox.
5. Make a virtual disk from the Boot Camp partition, follow step 6 and 7.
6. The first thing we need to do is eject the BootCamp partition – Open “Finder”. “Control- >Click” the “Bootcamp” drive and select “Eject” (You can also the DiskUtility as well)
7. Now for the geeky terminal stuff to make the BootCamp partition useable within VirtualBox. Open a terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities) and enter the following commands. Make sure to press “Return” after each command to run it.
sudo chmod 777 /dev/disk0s3 –Changes the permissions of the BootCamp partition to allow it to be modified (enter your admin password when asked)
sudo VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -rawdisk /dev/disk0 -filename win7raw.vmdk -partitions 3 –Creates 2 files in your home directory, one of which will be used by VirtualBox to access the BootCamp Partition
sudo chown YOUR-USER-NAME-HERE win7raw.vmdk win7raw-pt.vmdk –changes the permissions of the previously created files (Replace YOUR-USER-NAME-HERE with the current user name)
8. Fire up VirtualBox, make a new Virtual Machine on the disk just created.
9. Install Windows on the Virtual Machine just created with a iso image or like so.
Format the Bootcamp partition in the install menu and press install.
10. Before installations restarts automatically after install power off the virtual machine.
11. Restart the computer back into OS X.
12. Remove all files possible in the bootcamp-partition and move in all the files possible from the Windows iso-image.
13. Restart the computer and choose "Boot Windows from partition x" in rEFIt.
14. Install Windows on the same partition as you booted from. Don't format it just click install on it.
15. When Windows is done installing, reboot in to OS X and you can now remove all the before installed programs. You can now boot the Windows-installation by the normal way, holding alt when starting the computer.
16. Smash something in happiness.
We install Windows in VirtualBox to get diskinformation printed on the partition. If you try to boot the partition it will give you "Missing file: C:\Windows\System32\Winload.exe", therefore we replace the files with the DVD-files, to actually boot the windows installation.
Just a couple of notes that I got stuck on:
The commands he uses may not work for your drives, they depend on how your partitions are setup, but if you research this issue with booting (there are lots of threads) there are terminal methods for figuring out the proper drive
Step 8: Use the file you created (windows 7 raw) to create the virtual machine and then under storage upload your windows 7 iso under ide devices.
If you have a windows computer simply make the support drive on there, don't play with bootcamp. Download the support software (just google bootcamp support) and just drag and drop onto a flashdrive. Then run setup when ready.
Good Luck