Need help installing Windows. What to try next?

Setup
MacBook Pro (2009)
Internal SSD (optibay) instead of SuperDrive + regular HD (just data)
Currently booting Mac OS from external HD (cloned using CCC) so I have all the freedom I need to partition the SSD.
Goal
Having Windows 8 alongside Mac OS on the SSD
Methods tried so far
Boot Camp doesn't offer creating a USB drive ~> changed Info.plist in BootCamp.app to allow it ~> partitioned using Boot Camp ~> started Windows installation ~> Windows refuses to install to the bootcamp partition: MBR / GPT ... can only install to GPT on EFI systems.
Parallels VM installation on a physical volume worked fine. Afterwards I tried copying the MBR from the virtual machine to the MBR of the disk but it can't be booted, it hangs at a black screen and then a black screen with blinking cursor.
I also installed the tool refind to that disk but it also can't load it.
What next?
What should the disk be partitioned to begin with, MBR or GUID?
Is it correct that Macs boot Windows so that it appears like they're running a BIOS?
The method with the VM seems good, except that I can't create the partition table and boot record in a way so that everything works.
What should I do next?
Try again with Parallels. MBR / GUID, GPT??? How to get this hybrid GPT right? I saw further tools mentioned like gdisk but foremost I'd be grateful to understand what exactly the SSD's partition table and boot record should look like for a working setup.
Swap the HD and SSD and put back in the SuperDrive. Do you think everything would work flawlessly with Boot Camp then? Do I have to burn the plain Windows ISO or do I have to put the Boot Camp drivers onto the disc?
Thanks in advance for any help on this complicated matter!

Romo01,
There is a Boot Camp forum located at:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/windows_software/boot_camp?categoryID=23 7
I'd recommend reposting there first, it is the place Boot Camp and Windows guys hang out.

Similar Messages

I need help installing windows 8.1 on my new laptop help me

i need help installing windows 8.1 on my new laptop Hp Pavilion g7-2298nr help me it installs from store no problem then ask to restart then i restart it it gets stuck at windows logo and drive light on side not blinking i have shut down then it starts fine how to fix this problem so i can get it to install i need do it tonight reply before 8pm

Hello,
Thank you for posting in the HP Support Forum.
Your computer comes with Win 8 pre-installed but one of the steps to install/run Windows 8.1 is having updated drivers for Windows 8.1
Please, go to Control Panel -> System (or Start -> type winver and open) and verify what is your current version - if it is Windows 8 or 8.1
Windows 8 is version 6.2.x
Windows 8.1 is version 6.3.x
If Windows 8 in place, then , please read this article and enroll in the steps:
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/pdf/instruct_update_win8.1_EN_tcm_245_1508074.pdf
Update to the latest drivers prior and post installation respectively for win 8/8.1 :
http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-g7-2200-Notebook-PC-series/5296086/model/5333384/dri...
Best wishes,
IT_WinSec
Hewlett-Packard employee | HP Enterprise Services
Although I work for HP, I express my personal opinion.
Visit www.hp.com/makeitmatter
--Say "Thanks" by clicking the Kudos Thumb Up in the post that you find useful.
--Please mark the post that solves your problem as "Accepted Solution"

Need help installing Windows

I just ran the Boot Camp Assistant and made a partition for Windows. The screen then grayed over and it said to hold down the power button for several seconds to restart the computer. I did that, it shut down and I booted it up again a few seconds later.
When Leopard came back up nothing happened, so I opened up Boot Camp Assistant again, like it says to in the instructions. The problem I'm running into is that now I can't seem to install Windows because the options that the instructions say should be there aren't there. Boot Camp Assistant looks just like it did before I partitioned anything, except now it says there is less hard drive space available (the total space is still the same). There is no option to install Windows, select an existing partition, or even remove the partition I already made. All it will let me do is choose to make another partition.
I'm really not sure what to do, and the instructions aren't useful right now since what they say should be there is not there. What should I do? Any help is greatly appreciated, as I'm at a total loss.

I'm using Windows XP Professional with SP2.
I just tried it a third time with the Windows CD in the drive. The exact same thing happened again and once again rather than creating a partition it just gave me 40gb of additional used-up space. Used-up for what, I have no idea.
The problem seems to be that Boot Camp is not successfully creating the partition, I guess. I never get a new button. It says partitioning for a while, then the screen slowly grays over from top to bottom and a black box pops up that says I need to restart my computer, and to do so by holding down the power button for several seconds or pushing the restart button. Without a restart button, that only leaves me with one option, and doing a hard shutdown like that seems to be causing a problem. When OS X comes back up nothing happens, and if I start up Boot Camp it just wants to create a partition again.
This is so incredibly frustrating... Thanks for all the help so far though.

Need help installing windows 7 on my Imac using bootcamp

Hi everyone so I just got a new mac and I gotta say not very tech smart when it comes to apple products but Ive been trying to install windows 7 using bootcamp now just making it clear that I am using a ledgitimate legal windows cd and not a copy. I dowloaded the necessary updates to a cd i took every step that i needed that i found and when it came to installing the software on my mac after i insert the disc it will start reading and make a sound like its reading the disc but then would stop after a few seconds and the i get a message to insert a windows disc and wait till its recognized to install. Ive done that waited till it was recognized and clicked install and same thing happens ive tried 3 different microsoft corp windows programs and its the same thing with all of them. I did put different cds music and movies and it read them quick and played them without a problem seems like its only the windows discs. Please help any solutions references and suggestions would be greatly appreciated thanks

i thought about the same thing so i had restored my mac to factory settings did all the updates and tried again however when i dowloaded the software for windows and put it in a cd for me it never said partition y always said install so i would click it but as my comment above it would read the disc for a few seconds and stop all together and not install the software.

Need help installing windows free trial on boot camp

i need windows by thursday to run an application. I need to download windows onto boot camp on my mac but I am unable to purchase the software at a store or online. I am not the most tech savvy but I know there windows free trials available.. is there anyway to use a downloadable free trial from the internet and get it working on boot camp? I am in desperate need of help! Thank you!
I found a video on youtube teaching how to use a free trial with virtualbox but when I downloaded the free trial it said "the following disk image could not be opened" with the name of the file and next to it, it says image not recognized
If someone could pass me a link with instructions or any kind of help, i'td be greatly appreciated!

You should buy a copy from Microsoft and download it.
But I am not finding it, use Google.

New Mac user needs help installing windows.

Hey Everyone,
I just bought a macbook and I want to put Windows on it.
My question is, how do I do that with bootcamp? Is that btw the best way to do it? And where can I get a cd with Windows on it, do I need to buy it somewhere?
Or is the cd-rom included with old pc's??
Hope someone can help me.

Why and what do you use Windows for might help.
Yes you need to buy Windows (XP SP2 or later, Vista).
Newegg, Amazon etc.
You can run Windows natively, or in a virtual environment inside OS X with Parallels or other programs.

Need Help Installing Windows 7 64-bit on new 2010 MBP

I just bought a new 2010 Macbook Pro and love it, but Windows is giving me headaches.
I am trying to install Windows 7 Professional x64. I downloaded the installation iso from MSDN, burned it to a disk, and successfully booted from the disk. However, when it starts actual installation, I get this error: "a required CD/DVD device driver is missing". It asks me to find the driver, and won't let me continue with installation. Any ideas?
Some things on my mind:
- Maybe I actually need a driver? Where can I find it?
- Maybe my CD drive is faulty?
- Can I do a bootable USB drive?

never mind, my iso file was corrupted

I need help installing Windows.

I am trying to install windows XP on my Imac and when I go to make a partition it's converts it to FAT32 but I'm trying to install 32 GB on Windows then, I tried erasing the partition and making a new one with the NTFS file format but I get an error message saving that a file is corrupted or missing. I also tried installing only 31 GB with the FAT32 format and that didn't work either. So far, it hasn't worked with FAT32 or NTFS. What should I do?

Bootcamp from mac osx essentially just copies the drivers over to the partition after splitting the partition. Sounds like you are trying to format the disc inside osx, which has never worked for me personally.
If your partition is already seperated, insert your xp disc and boot from it (hold option on reboot). delete the partition you had set aside for windows, reformat and install windows. Once windows is installed insert apple disc and install the drivers. At least this is how I do it, as copying the drivers over in leopard has never worked without producing errors for me. Note you can then choose the format you wish to use, fat32 or ntfs (altho I prefer fat for copying files over from osx).

Need help installing windows with bootcamp on late 2012 iMac

i just recieved my 27" imac a couple weeks ago ands i would like to install windows so i can get some gaming done on this imac. can anyone send me a link to a step by step guide on how to install it using a 8GB memeory stick since i dont have an optical drive.....i have already watched the youtube videos on using bootcamp but they all seem to be for older macs with an optical drive
thanks in advance

Be advised... This will not work on the 3TB drives without a bit of hacking.
See this article: http://twocanoes.com/support/winclone/installing-windows-via-boot-camp-on-a-larg e-(2.2-tb-or-larger-)-drive-in-lion-(10.7)-and-later

Need help installing windows on bootcamp,instructions say to install on Disk 0 Partition 3 Bootcamp but my computer reads Disk 0 Partition 4 Bootcamp, what should I do?

My comp shows:
Disk 0 Partition 1
Disk 0 Partition 2
Disk 0 Partition 3
Disk 0 Partition 4 Bootcamp
What should I do? I'm right in the middle of this, can someone please help me, Please! Thanks

Romo01,
There is a Boot Camp forum located at:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/windows_software/boot_camp?categoryID=23 7
I'd recommend reposting there first, it is the place Boot Camp and Windows guys hang out.

Need help installing Windows with Parallels on Mac Mini

I downloaded the trial version of Parallels to test it out. Everything is going fine until it asks me to restart my computer. I go through the basic setup at the beginning, it asks me to enter the Windows XP product key and then asks me to insert the disk. At that point I insert the disk and click "Finish" like it asks. Now I get this message saying to hold down the power button or press the restart button. The screen seems to freeze here since I can't move the mouse or anything.
So I hold down the power button for a few seconds, and eventually the Mac Mini shuts down. I press and hold the power button again to start it back up.
Now everything is restarted but the Windows is not installed. Where did I go wrong? It seems pretty straight forward, but I'm clearly doing something wrong.

Since Parallels is not an Apple product, you should post your question on the Parallels forums: http://forums.parallels.com
You're more likely to get the response you need there, rather than on an Apple forum.

I need to install windows 7 on my iMac. I used the bootcamp assistant to partition the drive (101Gb). My bootcamp partition, when I am to choose a partitian, was deleted (by an instructor) I think I might need to repartition my hard drive. What do I do?

I need to install windows 7 on my iMac. I used the bootcamp assistant to partition the drive (101Gb). My bootcamp partition, when I am to choose a partitian, was deleted (by an instructor) I think I might need to repartition my hard drive but I am not sure. What do I do? I haven't ruined my iMac have I?

Help! I can't do my college homework if I can't run windows on my iMac! (school is on windows, limited access to the library)

I need help installing flash on windows 8

I need help installing flash on windows 8

Chris… No I was using the desktop version, I cannot stand the M version, guess it would be nice if I had a touch screen..…when I finally got my computer to download the Acrobat Standard XI program, not sure how it worked, but I think it had something to do with Windows 8 not allowing itself to update all my apps and programs, even though my computer was set to automatically update any Windows/Microsoft updates…finally I got my Windows updates done, it downloaded like 36 files…and then I had to restart,(which also could have been playing a factor)…so finally got the program downloaded on Windows 8…but then I tried to run the new program and it says install serial #...so I assume that it was asking for the serial # for the Acrobat Standard XI…finally after googling the web, I found somebody that said try your older serial # from the previous program, and when I did this it finally works.. you would think with a brand new Windows computer I would have no problem installing Windows Updates…somebody needs to make a sticky about this, I am sure I am not the only one haiving this problem..
Thanks,

Hi I need help installing my creative suite 5 web premium cd on to my new pc which is windows 8 64bit os, thanks

Hi I need help installing my creative suite 5 web premium cd on to my new pc which is windows 8 64 bit os, thanks

copy the all the cds' contents to one desktop directory. install from that directory.

I have a CS3 Creativ Suite. - I have uninstalled it fram XP the corret way. Now i have installed Windows 7 and try to reinstall the creative suite. It accept the first CD an the serial number, but when i get to the second CD it stop. Any one who can help?

I have a CS3 Creativ Suite. - I have uninstalled it fram XP the corret way. Now i have installed Windows 7 and try to reinstall the creative suite. It accept the first CD an the serial number, but when i get to the second CD it stop. Any one who can help?

If you have Windows 7 Pro you can try to install CS3 in XP mode.

Need help installing Windows. What to try next?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for