Installing Win7 using HD Partition

I don't have a cd on which I can burn the Win7 .iso. A couple of days ago, i installed SnowLeopard by creating a partition of 8 GB on my hard-drive, and restoring .dmg on that partition. It worked flawlessly. Now I thought maybe I could do that same thing with my Win7 .iso. So I created a partition, restored the image onto that partition, everything went fine. Now when i boot and hold alt, that partition doesn't show up. Can you guys help? Is this even possible?
Thanks
PS- I tried the startup utility as well, no luck...

Connected to an internal SATA port, or to a bootable PCIe controller.
Which means - never used laptop - there could be some Express card slot PCIe device for MacBook Pro - but I don't know of any.
I do have eSATA on some PCs that do allow install and booting but they are connected directly to the motherboard.
Paragon has a utility for Windows to put Windows on external devices but I think it is overkill and not what you want - useful for taking Windows with you.

Similar Messages

Having problem installing Win7 using Bootcamp on Mac Mini 2011

I'm trying to install Win7 using bootcamp on my new Mac Mini 2011. I first partitionned the disc using Bootcamp assistant. Then during Win7 installation I select Partition 4 BOOTCAMP, format it to NTFS, then when I try to select the drive, it says that the drive is not compatible for the installation.
Is there anything I missed???
Thanks

I had a similar problem when I selected upgrade instead of complete install. I want to make sure your aware that you should click the complete option instead of upgrade when you reach that portion of the win7 install. Then you need to select part ion 4 like you have stated and format it to ntfs.
But it seems that you've already done all of that. My advice would be to go back to the Mac side, restore the partition using bootcamp and again partition it. You need at least 25gb of space for 64 bit. I would recommend using at least 40gb. Just trying to help. I apologize if I misunderstood your problems. But make sure you click on the opposite choice of upgrade, I did my mini last night lol but I can't remember the exact name of the option I think it's complete, then select part 4 and click format....

Problems Installing Win7 using External, USB DVD Drive

I have a mid 2010 15" i7 MBP which I upgraded to from 4GB to 8GB RAM courtesy of OWC. I recently upgraded the 500GB 7200RPM HD with a 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 and using an OWC Data Doubler, I replaced the DVD SuperDrive with the 500GB Hard Drive.
I used an External USB DVD Drive to install OS X SL On the SSD without issues. Also, I got all my updates and software installed and working without any problems.
I've been running great for about 2 weeks now, so I decided to install Windows 7 64bit Ultimate. I ran Boot Camp Assistant and partitioned the 240GB SSD in half 120/120. Everything went fine with creating the partition. I selected to Install from the Win 7 DVD media in the USB DVD drive and rebooted. I got a grey screen. I turned the computer off and turned it back on. Holding down Option, I selected the Install DVD from the Boot Menu. I then got a screen with the Apple Logo flashing intermittently with a Circle/Cross Hatch. So I can't get the Windows Install to start to save my life. I know the External, USB DVD works since I used it to install OS X and I have no problems using it in OS X. I Know the media works because I tried a test install, without activation in a VMWare Fusion VM.
Any suggestions are appreciated?

So here is the answer. The Firmware on the MacBook Pro only supports installation of OS X from External Media and will not install operating systems from 3rd Parties. I tried to install Windows XP, Win7 Ultimate 32 & 64bit, and Ubuntu 11.04 but no success.
Supposedly, the MacBook Air does support installation of 3rd party operating systems from external media, but I have no way to confirm this.
I ended up reinstalling the internal DVD drive installing Win 7 and Ubuntu on the SSD. Using rEFI, I'm able to triple boot all 3 operating systems. Then removed the drive again and reinstalled the 2nd HD. Everything seems to be working fine.
I'm looking for someone who has experience in Mac EFI Hacking to see if there is a way to enable booting 3rd Party OSes from external media. I'm guessing someone could examine the MBA firmware and figure out how to hack that capability into the MBP.

Installing win7 using bootcamp on external HD

Hi
I am on late 2008 macbook running mountain lion, i want to install win 7 but on an external hard drive. Is it possible?
Cause when i open bootcamp it tries to make a a partition on my primary HD and it can't see the external one.

Connected to an internal SATA port, or to a bootable PCIe controller.
Which means - never used laptop - there could be some Express card slot PCIe device for MacBook Pro - but I don't know of any.
I do have eSATA on some PCs that do allow install and booting but they are connected directly to the motherboard.
Paragon has a utility for Windows to put Windows on external devices but I think it is overkill and not what you want - useful for taking Windows with you.

Installing Win7 from unallocated partitions in HDD

I've have had my GS560 laptop for about 10 days and have been trying to 'personalise' it - mainly to have 'My documents'
(or its Win7 equivalent) to operate from the 'D'drive. Foolishly I did not make a recovery disk at this stage. The result now is that the 'Desktop' is also located on the 'D' drive and that's not what I want.
Since I did not get a copy of Win7 OS on discs, then I am led to believe that the Win7 is on two unallocated partitions on HDD.
Is this so ? and if so, can a 'luddite' like me reinstall Win7 and start all over again?
There is no data on the laptop yet.
Can anybody help?

Yes, I think so.
Any way to re-trace your steps, and put it back
on C? May make things worse!
Win 7 does not have the same file layout
as XP for instance. Documents folder is just a "link" to
the real one, which is at C:\Users\Username\Documents.
Not sure how to help fix it from here, as I can't imagine what
you did.

Installing Win7 on a macbook pro using a mac mini as external optical drive

hi everyone,
My 2 year old son watches movies on my macbook pro. He stuck something in the optical drive making it unusable. Repairing it is 200 to 300 euros (ouch).
I want to install win7 via bootcamp and I'm using my mac mini (october 2009) as an external optical drive. These are my steps:
1.hold the "t" on the mac mini
2.connect it to the macbook with a firewire 800 to firewire 400 cable
3.Power up and hold the "alt" on the macbook
4.I see the optical drive on the boot screen and I choose it
5.Then I get a blank screen and a few seconds later the "missing operating system" message appears.
Am I missing something? Is it possible to install win7 using a mac mini as an external drive?
PS1:I already have partitioned the HD with bootcamp.
PS2:I've upgraded the hard disk drive of the macbook with a seagate momentus 500GB hard disk. Don't think this is the problem, thought I should mentioned it.

Hi Mike,
For reference it is called "IP over Firewire".
Connect the two computers with a fire wire cable. System Preferences > Network > Configure IPv4: > Manually > IP address: 192.168.3.1 (and .2 on other) > Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0. Leave the other fields blank. Do this on both computers on the computer you want to allow access to or both for two way access go to System Preference > Sharing > Select a service to change its settings. Turn remote Login on.
On the MBP go to the Finder Menu > Go > Connect to Server > Type in the IP address of the Mini 192.168.3.2 (Whatever you gave it)
With this configuration you still have full use of the Mini and certain apps can use Xgrid and use the processor of the mini when it is not doing anything. I would keep the Mini as 10.4 unless you really need both machines running Leopard. As noted before you cannot boot the MBP from a HDD that is Apple Partition Scheme and vice versa you cannot boot the PPC from a Guide Partition Table.
Sweet Polly

Portege Z830: Can't install Win7, complains about missing CD/DVD driver

Hi!
I have a brand new Portege Z830 and as usual wanted to start with installing a new installation of Windows 7 x64 (as I don't want the supplied software and can't trust that it is safe anyway). I backed up the entire drive, prepared a bootable USB flashdisk with Windows installation and started it. The flashdisk boots OK, Windows ask me about my preferred language and keyboard, then shows a screen where I can choose between Install, Repair and something else (Recovery Console, I think).
I click Install, Windows starts the installation program aand as soon as a first dialog appears, it shows an error message which says essentially this (it's a translation of my localized Windows' message): "A required driver for CD/DVD drive is missing. If you use a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD or flashdisk, insert it now." And I can't get over this error message. The strange thing is, there is no reason for Windows to require any extra drivers, as it can (apparently) read the installation flashdisk and it can see the ultrabook's SSD, too (can be verified both in the recovery console and by clicking the Browse button of this dialog). So far I tried:
1) Four different Windows 7 images (two of them from MSDN AA, two physical, all of which have been successfully used to install the OS before).
2) Switch SATA mode from AHCI to Compatible.
3) Two different flashdisks.
4) All possible combinations of boot order.
Nothing worked. I even tried e-mailing Toshiba, but all messages come back with "user unknown" (understandable, I had to guess the addresses since Toshiba doesn't seem to provide any official way to contact them - or is hiding it so well I couldn't find it). Does anyone have any idea what I could try next? I rather like the Z830 and would love to use it, but the ability to install my own installation of the OS is essential for me.
Thanks, Pepak

> I even tried e-mailing Toshiba...
Maybe stupid question now but have you tried to contact Microsoft too? If BIOS is OK and if all USB ports are working properly I dont think it is Toshiba related issue. Toshiba offers notebook with original recovery image (WIN7 64BIT HOME PREMIUM) and possibility to create bootable USB with recovery image that can be used anytime you want.
What you do now is your own OS installation. What Toshiba must do is to offer all important drivers, tools and utilities on drivers download page.
What else you can try? Try to obtain external USB ODD and try to install WIN7 using Microsoft installation disc. Im pretty sure this will work.

Recover/install Win7 onto multi-boot system - too many primary partitions?

I have a few questions: (first a background question, and then I'll get to the heart of the issue)
First, on a new laptop with factory installed Win7, I see there are 3 primary partitions - a 1.5GB "MBR-0", a ~10GB recovery partition, and the main installation partition. What is the 1.5GB one for, and what's on it? An MBR certainly doesn't need 1.5GB. Does Win7 create that, or is that something unique for Toshiba?
If I'm using a 3rd party boot-manager (BootitNG via an EMBR on its own partition), can I just wipe that 1.5GB partition? And, can the recovery installation be set up to create the Toshiba-Win7 recovery partition (and that 1.5GB one) as extended volumes within the Win7 primary partition, and not to make them as its own new primary partition?
And now to the main problem: (the gist of it is, how many partitions will the Win7 recovery disks create? and can I customize it?)
I have a new toshiba c650 laptop that came with Win7 installed. I created the one-time recovery DVDs first thing (it made 4 of them - Disk 1,2,3, and "64-bit environment").
I then wanted to set up a multi-boot system between Win7, and 2 instances of XP (one of which is a fresh install, the other being an image backup off a computer that died). I want each OS on its own primary partition, where each only sees/knows of itself. Also, I'll have one small, 50MB primary partition for the boot-manager program.
Of course, a drive can only have 4 primary partitions (if working with standard tools like fdisk, etc). To get around that (if needed), my boot-manager program will support as many primary partitions as I want, provided I use only it alone to manage/create my partitions.
Skipping the details, here's what I have now: I wiped the hard drive, except for that 1.5GB MBR-0 partitition, for now, till I find what it is. (Since XP doesn't recognize Win7, using XP's install cd would overwrite the factory Win7 installation, so I installed XP first on its own primary partition - and it's working fine). I have the boot manager program on a second primary partition. I then created 2 more primary partitions - one to place the XP-drive-image into, and one to install Win7. So, the entire drive is now fully utilized and partitioned.
But here's the problem...
starting with the boot manager program, I'm pointing to boot from the empty Win-7 partition, which upon finding no OS, will cue it to boot from the DVD, and go on about its installation business. So far so good. At this point, Win7 will only "see" the empty partition reserved for it. However, if Win7 tries to create an extra 1 or 2 new primary partitions (like how it came from the factory), the drive will end up with 6 primary partitions - not good. So, my XP partitions would likely get overwritten.
Having 6 primary partitions wouldn't be a problem, as long as I create/manage them only with the boot manager - but in this case the Win7 installation would likely create them during installation instead. If I pre-create those partitions (the 1.5GB one, and the 10GB one) with the boot manager, can I point Win7 during the installation to utilize those? How?
One more side note: When I'm in XP now, XP only "sees" it's own partition, but still senses that there's more room on the drive - it just considers it all as unallocated space. I'm guessing Win7 would do the same thing? And if it does, I'm worried it would start sticking its own new partitions there into what it "sees" as "unallocated space", even though my other partitions are there.
If you made it through this longwinded mess, thanks for what help you can provide! How should I get Win7 on there, without damaging the existing partitions?

Ok, so I finally got it all to work.
In case anyone else runs into this question where you have to use the Toshiba recovery DVDs to reinstall Windows 7, without damaging other existant partitions, here's the trick: You have to pre-create an NTFS primary partition at the very front of the disk (1st primary partition), make it at least 20GB (preferably more, since this will be where you run Windows7 - unless you also later create another partition solely for data/programs/etc). Then during the recovery, select the option to keep current partitioning intact. Everything will be placed in that first partition alone (the contents of which which the Win7 setup will erase), and the rest of your disk will be fine.
If you have other partitions already there, and on the rest of the disk, you'll have to first resize the existing partitions to create enough room for this new 1st primary partition. Then you'll have to shift or slide the current partitions up toward the back end of the disk (with 3rd party software). I also deleted the 1.5GB partition originally at the front of the disk (it's the startup repair partition, I learned), and I had previously deleted the 10GB recovery partition that came factory-placed at the back end of the disk.
The XP-partition I already had on the disk is tested and working fine, and wasn't touched at all by the Windows7 recovery installation. Installing additional XP-images or other OS's should be simple enough now.

After installing Win7, I created an 3a. partition and now I can't boot with Win7

After installing Win7 with success, I created an other data partition and now I can't boot with Win7 anymore. What can I do?
Thanks!
Vernon

Thanks, hatter! But I´m new in the Mac World and that´s greek for me. I have no idea about what is BCDedit, GPT, EFI, etc... I went to your bookmarks and found many discursions there. I selected 5 that the subject looks useful for me (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3543804, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3477901,
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3360787, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3354587 and https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3199099) but, as a tipical windows user, a really new mac user and a non-american (I don´t speak English well), it´s impossible to me to understand all this.
Do you know any "how to" in this forum or i any other part of the Internet where explain step-by-step what a dummy needs to do to recover the acess to the Windows partition (my primary objective) and create an third partition (FAT32) for data acessible for both OS?
Thank you very much!

Installing Win7 and creating 3 partitions ( the recovery one)

Hello Mac World !
I`m the new guy Apple had convinced to switch to a MBA instead of another PC ! But yet, I need my win7 also and this is what brings me to this post!
I just bought a MBA, which comes with Lion preinstalled, so I`m fine with that, quite eager actual...! Now, I`ve read a lot of discussions/forums regarding the installation of win7 and it looks pretty clear until creating the partitions.
From what I`ve learned, the max of partitions is 4 and deleting the recovery one is kind of mandatory and I`m not really cool with that, since I have no other way to restore Lion. I always had 3 partitions in my PCs (c = win, d+e = storage) and I would like to mantain it that way, on my Air if possible. If not, I`ll make a compromise, as having 2 partitions for each O.S and a shared one (data storage) for both of them.
Can someone please walk me trough the process? Will MBA recognise an external dvd in order to install win7 from a dvd? The boot camp drivers should be used after win7 installation is completed, or before that?
I thank anyone who is taking the time & trouble to guide a new be in the Mac World ! I really appreciate it !

A stand alone external USB DVD/CD drive will work fine for installing Windows 7. I bought one on ebay for about $25. The Apple SuperDrive runs $79. You didn't mention which MBA you got. I hope it has at least the 128GB SSD. I have the 11" 128GB drive that I bought 2 months ago.
I'm running Windows 7 via Parallels 7. Very slick program that allows easy and quick switching between the systems. While I can't be sure, I'm under the impression that with Parallels, you don't have to set a hard partition and it uses whether recourses it needs from the entire hard drive.
With Windows 7, Parallels7 and MS Office '07, I still had about 90GB free. After I've added some music and videos, I still have 70GB free. While I have haven't had to use it yet, I also have a 500 GB USB Passport external hard drive.
After my installation, everything worked correctly from day one including the Internet both within Win7 and within OS-X.
I have a iMac also that I'm basically running the same programs on. However, it uses Bootcamp instead. That works fine also, but it's a bit of a PITA to switch back and forth as that requires a complete reboot.
My ONLY reason for Windows is MS Office, Quicken and MS Streets and Trips. Other than these programs, I run my MBA in OS-X most of the time. Others here, maybe even most would question my opinion that Windows 7 is just as good or close to OS-X.
I think if you wanted to try Parallels, you can get a free 30 tryout and if it doesn't work, blow it off.
My wife has a Mac Mini that we first went the BootCamp route along with Windows 7. Later she got Parallels and installed it. It automatically recognized the BootCamp Windows 7 installation and now she can go either way. She can boot directly to either Windows 7 or OS-X. Once in OS-X, she can fire up Parallels and then switch back and forth. I personally think it's a smoother operation going straight Parallels.

Plz help i really tired from searching creat MBR partition without bootcamp or install win7 in GPT guid

hello i have more than one partition on my macbook pro mid 2012 13 inch and its impossible to me to make it one partition for some reasons one of them that the partition sys is the second any way i tried to creart partition EXFAT and tried to install win7 but it says that can't be installed in GPT guid i talked chat with apple more than one 9 times to find answer but it's useless i get pro solution here

The TechRecipe article is old. Some of the commands still apply, but it is a very custom solution.
Yes, there is a way to create a custom hybrid MBR to accommodate additional partitions.
1. This is a very fragile arrangement, and any Apple Software upgrade can break it.
2. Any Hybrid MBR changes require this process to be repeated every time it breaks, which you should be willing to undertake.
3. If you want to do this, and maintain it, please post the output of the following commands from OS X Terminal?
     diskutil list
     diskutil cs list
     sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0
     sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
4. Sudo command require your password, which is not echoed back to you. You may also see a warning about improper use of sudo and potential data loss.
5. Can you describe what exactly are you trying to establish?
6. You previous attempt with exFAT failed, because your Mac requires a Hybrid MBR which maps the GPT to a MBR using a one-to-one mapping.
7. If you just want to run OS X and Windows, and do not want to run any custom disk partitions, you should use Bootcamp Assistant. If it is failing, it can be addressed.

How to use recovery partition for installing OS

hello,
i tried a lot to recover my os with lenove own button for system restore but it did't work and finaly i install OS XP Professional and manualy install all drivers. i must wanna say to lenove mangment that their this way is absolut more complicated then simply provide lenove customer backup cd with laptop. even when i call lenove help line for backup system cd then they demanded money for the cd eigther it must b free for lenove customer as lenove system restore button and partition whole typoligy seems to be total failur. If some one here plz give me advise what should i do with that partition of my hard drive which having system backup from lenove. i make 3 partition of my hdd with i did't remove that partition... so now i want to know that can i still use that partition for system restore or i should remove that partition to make my hdd space free
Thanx 4 reading
Mehr

I had the same problem. I hate Lenovo. I will not buy an another lenovo in my lifetime again. I paid for the OS, then when i call customer care, they ask me for money. Guys look at Dell. I had the system for 7 yrs, i had the OS that i purchased with my laptop. I am loving Dell. Lenovo , your process is wrong.

MBP Late 2010, How can I install Win7 Boot Camp using External Optical Driv

Hello:
I have a new MBP purchased in February. It's not the 2011 model. I replaced the Optical drive with an SSD drive and put the optical drive in an external enclosure. The Optical drive works great, reads, writes, etc. My Windows 7, Pro 64bit DVD works also, tested on a PC.
I use the Boot Camp assistant to create a partition. It them reboots and never starts up from the optical drive. I get an Apple logo alternating with a stop sign.
I have got back to OS X by starting with the Option key and choosing my OS X volume.
I tried booting to the DVD by using the option key, that did not work. I then choose the EFI option which allowed me to hit any key and appeared to boot from the external optical drive. Windows setup screen came up and I hit enter to start the file loading process. It eventually stopped when the progress bar was all the way across the screen. Then nothing.
Questions {Please give definitive answers, not guesses, thanks :)}
1) Is it possible to setup a boot camp Windows installation without an internal optical drive? Yes/No.
2) If yes, how?
3) I see the rEFIt utility has helped some but I read mixed reports. Will this help me boot and run Windows setup from an external optical drive? I don't want to install it if it's not known to be a certain fix.
4) Is my only options to reinstall the optical drive?
I chatted to OWC the vendor that sells the bracket. They had no idea how to install a Windows BC partition without an internal drive.
I am seriously discouraged by what seems to be Apple wanting to control everything. I had a Mac Pro and Air book in my future but now, it's on hold.
Thanks in advance,
Kevin

I tried what you are doing with a 2007 MBP, and could not get any Windows CD s to boot from an external optical drive, firewire or USB.
I think this is fundamental to Windows which won't boot from an external USB drive either even on a Windows machine (although I believe there may be complex ways of achieving this). I don't think this is Apple trying to control the world.
I ended up taking the MCE Optibay out and putting the original optical drive back in.
Just possible that something has changed between a 2007 MBP and 2010 MBP, but I doubt it.
If you want the second internal HD, you have two options:-
1. Put the Apple optical back in, install Windows, then take out the optical and refit the SSD. The external optical will still be able to install windows apps and data etc, just not boot any windows install CDs or utilities (like Paragon rescue disks). You will not be able to do a Windows repair install without refitting the optical.
2. Parallels, which has come a long way in the last two years. I am 99% certain that Parallels will install from an external optical.
Message was edited by: Mike Boreham
Message was edited by: Mike Boreham
Message was edited by: Mike Boreham

Cant enter mac os when pressing option at start after hiding mac partition in newly installed win7

I used boot camp to install windows 7 ultimate yesterday. After that I use some partition tool to hide the mac partition simply because I dont wanna carelessly take something out or put something in the partition. After that, I can never see mac os option on start again when pressing option button. This really made me upset cuz I got lot of important stuff on mac os. Can anyone help?

Well, you hid it, didn't you. When you hide something, how would you see it?
You probably can unhide it, with the same tool that you used to hide it (I hope for you that it is a Windows tool).
Eventually when you have back the Mac Partition, you should set the Windows Partition to be the default Boot Disk. Then you do not need to "hide" the mac partition.

HT4818 What is the best Partition size for a windows 7 Home Premium. I'm trying to install Windows using Boot camp

What is the best Partition size for a windows 7 Home Premium. I'm trying to install Windows using Boot camp

Go into your system preferences and click the startup disk icon then select your Mac HD.

Installing Win7 using HD Partition

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