Is it possible to boot to a Windows 7 install DVD from an external USB drive on current iMacs?

On the iMac I'm currently using, a mid-2007 24-inch, it's impossible to boot into a Windows install DVD from an external drive: I can hold down option on boot, and all my hard drives come up, but if the Windows disc is in my external DVD drive, it won't show up. I'll soon be upgrading to a late 2012 iMac, and I'd like to be able to install Windows 7 for a boot camp partition. Since that iMac has no built in drive, I'd like to know if using an external DVD drive will work on that model. I'd like to do that, seems easier than messing around with disk images. But we'll see...

You can use an external optical drive to install Windows without any problem with a Late 2012 iMac.
The reason that you couldn't install Windows from an external optical drive on the 2007 iMac is that it has got an internal SuperDrive, so Apple only allows you to use it to install Windows on your iMac

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