Anyone loaded Windows 7 on a Mac?
- Thread starter rp2000
- Start date
Deleted member 651465
D
Deleted member 651465
I've heard that nearly all Vista drivers work flawlessly for Windows 7, so you should have no issues using bootcamp and the drivers on the OS X DVD.
Cool,
can anyone recommend advice about 64 bit? Last time I checked Apple released some updated BootCamp drivers for 64bit Vista, but only on new Mac pros, not for older devices.
I have previously installed Vista using BootCamp without issues (32 bit).
Also I read somewhere that you do not even need to use BootCamp assistant as the Windows 7 installer can load from EFI based systems (Macs)? Anyone know anything about this?
rp2000
can anyone recommend advice about 64 bit? Last time I checked Apple released some updated BootCamp drivers for 64bit Vista, but only on new Mac pros, not for older devices.
I have previously installed Vista using BootCamp without issues (32 bit).
Also I read somewhere that you do not even need to use BootCamp assistant as the Windows 7 installer can load from EFI based systems (Macs)? Anyone know anything about this?
rp2000
All Boot Camp is, is a partition utility. In older Macs it would add a Boot Camp bit to the EFI to allow it to boot BIOS based things but i'm pretty certain it's all there now by default since Leopard.
For example, boot from leopard disc, format your HDD FAT32 with an MBR Partition Map (this is only because in Vista at least it wouldn't touch an HFS+ partition in the format utility), insert Windows 7 and install it. You don't need OS X on at all!
For example, boot from leopard disc, format your HDD FAT32 with an MBR Partition Map (this is only because in Vista at least it wouldn't touch an HFS+ partition in the format utility), insert Windows 7 and install it. You don't need OS X on at all!
Deleted member 651465
D
Deleted member 651465
Do you have an "Early 2008" MacBook Pro? If it's earlier then I'm not sure.
I did a lot of research when I put Vista 64 Ultimate on my Mac Pro and found that anything prior to "Early 2008" had problems with SP1 intergrated discs, but those after wouldn't batter an eyelid. Handy if you've got a later machine, but ANNOYING if you've got an early model (late 2007).
I'd suggest a search on the Apple support pages for true clarification. It's a bit of a mess tbh.
As for the EFI thing.. yes, I believe the same was said for Vista but I never got it to boot from the CD. The bootcamp wizard is a basic tool that will get your machine booting off the DVD, so it's entirely possible to use BootCamp to boot off the DVD then install Windows (and even delete OS X) once you're booted.
...that's how these people get rid of OS X and run Windows. Crazy fools.
Mine is deffo early 2008 (mult touch trackpad, Santa Rosa chipset that supports 64bit etc).
You are right about the EFI, now I recall I tried to load Vista to it natively and failed too, so this will be the same. I will use the Assistant tbh, just not sure where to get all the 64 bit drivers for.
rp2000
There is a level above that, which is someone actually installed Ubuntu on a 17" (I think it was...was big anyway
) MacBook Pro because "he preferred it" and didn't use OS X. I was actually horrified on both the decimation of a Mac and the expense.Deleted member 651465
D
Deleted member 651465
The 32 & 64bit drivers are on the OSX DVD
Pop the Leopard disc in once you've installed Windows / when required and go from there.
If you want the latest graphics drivers you could always get them from the nVidia website, but the basic trackpad drivers are all installed by default from the OS X DVD. I had an issue with the Wi-Fi driver on my Mac Pro, but a simple reinstall of that driver from the DVD fixed it (must have been installed using a Windows generic driver somehow)
@Fillado.. I'm horrified when people say they want a Mac and have no intention of using OS X. As for using it for Linux?!
Triple booting, or even dual booting but a 17" for Linux. Wow.
Last edited by a moderator:
The 32 & 64bit drivers are on the OSX DVD
Pop the Leopard disc in once you've installed Windows / when required and go from there.
If you want the latest graphics drivers you could always get them from the nVidia website, but the basic trackpad drivers are all installed by default from the OS X DVD. I had an issue with the Wi-Fi driver on my Mac Pro, but a simple reinstall of that driver from the DVD fixed it (must have been installed using a Windows generic driver somehow)
@Fillado.. I'm horrified when people say they want a Mac and have no intention of using OS X. As for using it for Linux?!
Triple booting, or even dual booting but a 17" for Linux. Wow.
Only the newer Mac Pro came with the 64bit drivers for BootCamp (on Leapord disc 2?). AFAIK they have not officially released drivers for any other models bar Mac Pro, and even then only on the disk.
rp2000
Deleted member 651465
D
Deleted member 651465
Really? That's a bummer, and would explain my confusion.
I found this guide which may be of some help though
Really? That's a bummer, and would explain my confusion.
I found this guide which may be of some help though
That should sort me out
Might try it all out Tomorrow/Monday. (Just for fun really, Using OS X for almost a year now, I cannot think of any apps I NEED windows for, but I still keep a XP VM, which may now become a Windows 7 VM).
rp2000
I run Vista 64 off my late 2008 Macbook Pro no problem. I used the OSX install cd to install all the drivers I have used. I haven't had any issues yet, then again to be fair I have only done a bit of gaming under windows, I haven't really used it all that much, still if anything was going to cause problems I would have thought playing Surpeme Commander for 4 or 5 hours would.
Official or not, it works just fine and everything has a driver preasent a correct under Vista, the only thing that doesn't quite work perfectly is the trackpad, can't right click at all, but I just used a mouse, which worked fine.
I can only guess that the install disks supplied with the new unibody MBP's feature the 64bit drivers as the Mac Pro's do.
Official or not, it works just fine and everything has a driver preasent a correct under Vista, the only thing that doesn't quite work perfectly is the trackpad, can't right click at all, but I just used a mouse, which worked fine.
I can only guess that the install disks supplied with the new unibody MBP's feature the 64bit drivers as the Mac Pro's do.
Got the beta, but not got round to installing it yet. One of the VMware guys said on their forum you should choose "Windows Server 2008" as the install option when you install it, as more of the VMware tools and hardware will be detected properly.
Update:
Installed using Boot Camp Assistant. Windows 7 picked up most of all the drivers automatically during setup (including wifi so connected to WLAN during setup). A windows update gave me the Nvidia driver and 1 other hardware driver. Ran the Leopard disc and it loaded 64 bit drivers for everything else (even though everything I read says the 64bit drivers are not on there!), donwloaded and installed the 2.1 BC update from Apple (the 64bit Vista version) to "update" the drivers.
All works fine although my HDD gives a windows experience score of 2.9
The Boot Camp control Panel, keyboard, trackpad, eject etc all work as I would expect.
Did not check sound or iSight (although device manager shows everything installed OK). Will reboot into Windows 7 later and try those. Very easy and the whole install took about 35 minutes to desktop.
rp2000
Installed using Boot Camp Assistant. Windows 7 picked up most of all the drivers automatically during setup (including wifi so connected to WLAN during setup). A windows update gave me the Nvidia driver and 1 other hardware driver. Ran the Leopard disc and it loaded 64 bit drivers for everything else (even though everything I read says the 64bit drivers are not on there!), donwloaded and installed the 2.1 BC update from Apple (the 64bit Vista version) to "update" the drivers.
All works fine although my HDD gives a windows experience score of 2.9
The Boot Camp control Panel, keyboard, trackpad, eject etc all work as I would expect.Did not check sound or iSight (although device manager shows everything installed OK). Will reboot into Windows 7 later and try those. Very easy and the whole install took about 35 minutes to desktop.
rp2000
Deleted member 651465
D
Deleted member 651465
I like how pressing the eject key and sound up/down buttons bring up the OS X overlay 
Congratulations on the successful install. As for Windows experience scores.. you have to run the test before it updates the values. At least it was blank for them all (on my Mac Pro) until I ran the test.
Congratulations on the successful install. As for Windows experience scores.. you have to run the test before it updates the values. At least it was blank for them all (on my Mac Pro) until I ran the test.
Just installed Windows 7 using VMWare Fusion with no issues at all. I'm running a MBP 2.6ghz, 4gb RAM.
Whole install took less than 20 mins, pretty cool. Windows 7 still looks too much like Vista!! noooo. Current image size is 4.94gb.
Whole install took less than 20 mins, pretty cool. Windows 7 still looks too much like Vista!! noooo. Current image size is 4.94gb.
How is this an issue? Aero is brilliant.
