Computers from Apple very productive and multifunctional, a lot of software has been developed for them. However, in some cases, it is required to install windows 7 on a mac, when using two PCs is impossible, and the necessary program running under the operating system from Microsoft, there are no analogues.
The best solution in this case is to use a program called Boot Camp. It is specially provided by the developers of imac air computers for creating partitions and installing the operating system from a USB flash drive.
Preparatory work
Installing an additional OS takes up a lot of hard disk space. This fact must be taken into account, since before the operation a separate section will be created for it. On average, 35-40 Gb of unallocated space is required for a logical drive.
Before starting the procedure such as installing windows on a mac, you need to prepare your macbook pro. To do this, you need to do the following:
It can also come in handy:
- update the OS from Apple (regardless of version, this can be done via App Store in the "Updates" tab);
- to create backup, you need to use an application called Time Machine or other means;
- download image installation disk from the official Microsoft website or create it yourself;
- write the image to a USB flash drive using the Boot Camp assistant.
Installation process
With everything you need ready, you can start installing on your imac air. To do this, you need a drive that does not contain the information you need(it will be formatted when the installation image is written). To get started, you need to do the following:
Working with the installed OS
After finishing the installation of the Windows 7 distribution on the imac air, you can select the operating system you want to run. To do this, hold down the "Alt" button and select the desired one. It can also be changed in the startup priorities menu for computer devices by selecting the name of the partition with the required OS.
For normal operation of Windows and installation of support for macbook pro drivers, you need to perform one more step: when you first boot the operating system, start the USB flash drive created using the Boot Camp program.
The imac air driver installation should start automatically. But if this does not happen, you need to go to the USB flash drive and run the setup.exe file
It all started when I needed to install Windows 7 as a second system.
The options with Parallel and VMW did not fit, it was just a separate download that was needed.
I will not describe which underwater rocks met, I'll get straight to the point. There are essentially two ways. Moreover, one of them is not suitable for everyone.
Disk layout.
But first, we need to partition the disk using the Bootcamp Assistant. Moreover, on some models of poppies, this simply cannot be done. The assistant will require an installation Windows disk... This is worked around as follows:1. Go to the Programs folder - Utilities.
2. Right-click on the Bootcamp Assistant - select Show Package Contents
3. Copy the Contents / Info.plist file somewhere and edit it
String
change to
4. Copy the file back, replacing the original (you need a password)
Now, in Bootcamp Assistant, we have the ability to make bootable USBs and partition a disk without installation disks. Set aside space for Windows partition(the data will not be lost anywhere, but just in case, it is better to save the necessary ones in a safe place)
Method 1.
This method is the simplest. However, it is not available to everyone. I must say right away that I was not able to successfully apply it on non-Air Macs older than 2012. But you can try if you have time. or go straight to method 2, it always works.For installation we will use bootable USB USB flash drive Windows 7. You can make it either on a PC using the Windows 7 USB DVD Tool, or on a Mac using the Bootcamp Assistant.
Now all that remains is to boot from the USB flash drive and install Windows as usual. If a regular bootloader does not see your USB flash drive, you can try an alternative one -. If it also fails to boot from it (errors No Bootable Device or messages stating that the Mac firmware does not allow booting), then this method should be said goodbye and not waste more time.
Method 2.
So for this method we will be using VMWare Fusion (enough free version) and the ISO image of the Windows installation disc.
The first thing we need to do is make sure that the disk will not be used during our operations. To do this, I temporarily moved the user folder from it (Settings - Users and groups - open the lock - right-click on the user - Additional parameters - change the "User folder" field - reboot). Also I installed VMWare on a different drive. If there is no second disk, then you can use an external one - for example, a USB flash drive. The ISO image is in the same place. After all these preparations, let's proceed to the installation.
First, you need to open Disk Utility, select a disk (entirely, not a separate partition) and see its number in Info. In my case it is disk1.
Open a terminal and enter the commands:
cd "/ Applications / VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/"
./vmware-rawdiskCreator create / dev / disk1 fullDevice ~ / external-hdd ide
where / Applications / VMWare Fusion.app is the path to the installed VMWare, and disk1 is our future windows disk.
The article gives detailed instructions how to install Windows 7 on a MacBook.
Everyone is accustomed to working with Windows and when buying a MacBook, it becomes necessary to install it for the usual work with documents.
Installing Windows 7 on Macbook Air Using Boot Camp
Installing Windows 7 on a Macbook Air won't take long. Installation requires a USB optical drive or 16GB USB drive. Before installing, check for software updates on your computer.
- Turn on your MacBook and start Boot Camp.
- Remove the checkbox from above where you want to create a disk. Check the box if the installation will be carried out from an image.
- Use a USB stick to save drivers and other information. All information on the drive will be erased, so use an empty drive.
- Split the disk into two equal parts for two operating systems.
- Plug in your USB DVD drive and insert the Windows distribution into it.
- Wait while Boot Camp downloads the latest software from the Internet and restarts your computer.
- Install Windows, following the instructions, select the proposed settings.
Windows is installed in just over an hour. For those who do not know how to start Boot Camp: on the desktop at the top, click the magnifying glass. In the search box, write down the name of the application and click "Continue".
Create an image
If to install software in the presence of a disk, then you need to create its image.
- Use an optical drive.
- Using the Finder on your laptop, open Disk Utility.
- In the window that opens, select the installation disk.
- Enter the menu "File", "New Image" and then click "DVD Disc".
- In the item "DVD / CD Wizard" find "Image Format" and "Encryption". Check No.
- Create a filename, enter a password and wait while a new image is created.
- When finished, unplug the optical drive.
- Use Finder to find the new image.
- Rename the file name from .cdr to .iso.
- When using removable storage devices, make sure they appear as removable devices in the Finder.
- Connect the UbSB drive.
- After creating the ISO image, proceed with the installation of the program.
Keyboard
After downloading the software, you can use the keyboard in several ways. Keys in different operating systems can perform different functions. Many keys on Windows laptops have counterparts on the Apple keyboard.
Windows formatting
To format, use the installer, after asking about the installation location, select the Boot Camp partition. Next, we start formatting by selecting "Disk Setup".
The new section can be renamed, formatted or deleted. After creating two sections, you will not be able to resize them. To resize it, you will have to delete the section and re-create the required section. To rename a partition, boot the operating system itself and rename the partition in it. Do not use other programs to resize the partition, this can lead to problems.
Be careful! Deleting a partition results in loss of files.
Boot Camp app
The application is divided into three sections:
- choice of system to boot;
- setting up the keyboard;
- setting up the trackpad.
The first section will allow you to boot one of two operating systems. The second section allows you to control the functions of the F1 - F12 keys. In the third section, choose familiar gestures to work in any OC.
Start Windows
On a Macbook Air 11 or Macbook Pro, there is no operating system selection at boot, so press Alt to run on Windows 7. A menu will appear in which select the desired system and load. If you do not press the Alt button when you turn on, the download will start MacOS.
Removing Windows
To uninstall, just run Boot Camp in OS X and select "Delete". After deleting OS X will take up all the space. It will take less than a minute for a previously installed operating system to uninstall completely.
Software updates
Use App program Store to check for updates on your laptop. Select "Update" in the "Updates" section. In the application setup, set the "Download recently appeared updates in the background" options. Then the updates will be carried out automatically. When the latest update has been installed, you can start installing Windows.
If you have an update disc, do the following:
- Boot your MacBook on MacOS.
- Connect the Windows update disc.
- Unzip and transfer the files to a USB stick.
- Restart your laptop and turn on installed version Windows.
- Carry out the update using the installer.
Driver
Some users have a question: "What is a driver?" A driver is a program without which the connected device will not work with the computer. At least once in their life, everyone has installed a laptop driver to operate a scanner or printer. Usually the OS already has drivers for different devices, but sometimes updates are needed, so check for updates. For example, download the realtek driver from the Internet for free audio system operation.
Apple does not provide technical support to install or restore Windows. You can get advice over the phone about the Boot Camp Special Assistant, how to install or restore it.
In the past few years, laptops, Apple computers (phones and tablet computers, of course, no less popular, but now not about them). But having bought a computer or laptop from Apple, some people are faced with the fact that they absolutely do not know how to work on the new Mac OS operating system or they simply need Windows in addition to this operating system. And here many have a question- How to install Windows on a Mac computer / laptop? You will find out the answer to this question if you read the article.
The easiest and most affordable way to install Windows on a Mac is to use Boot Camp. Boot Camp is a special application from Apple for installing WindowsXP / Windows7 by breaking hard disk into 2 sections, one for each system. The transition from one system to another is possible only by restarting the computer.
In order to install Windows on your Mac, you will need:
1 MacBook Rro / MacBook Air/ IMac with Mac OS installed;
2 USB media (flash drive (at least 4 Gb) or external HDD) / DVD disk (from a USB drive (flash drive or external hard drive), transfer all the information, since in the future everything on the drive will be deleted after formatting);
3 Disk with Windows7 operating system or its ISO image;
4 This article and about an hour of free time.
Attention!!! If you are going to install Windows with via USB USB sticks on Mac late 2013 and newer (they use all USB 3.0 ports) you need to use a USB 3.0 stick. Otherwise, when installing Windows, your USB ports and wireless keyboard will not be active.
Turn on your Mac and install Latest updates... To do this, click on the apple (left, top corner) and select "Software Update".
After you have installed all the updates, proceed to the next step, start Boot Camp. To do this, click on search (the magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner) and enter there "Boot Camp", among the found click on "Boot Camp Assistant".
In the opened window Boot Camp Assistant, read, information and click "Proceed".
In the next window, you need to select the settings for installing Windows7, more precisely, how you will install.
Installing on Mac Windows7 using a disc |
Installing on Mac Windows7 using a USB stick / external hard drive |
|
If you have a DVD with Windows7 operating system, you need to select the last two items, namely - Download the latest Windows Support Software from Apple(loads drivers for Windows7) and Install Windows7(allows you to determine the size of the volume where Windows7 will be installed and boot from DVD upon reboot).
Leave the default folder name WindowsSupport all drivers will be saved in it and select the medium on which all files will be saved (in this example, this is a USB flash drive).
Then enter your computer administrator credentials and click "Add Helper".
After that, the process of downloading drivers will be launched. |
If you have an ISO image on your computer, in this case you must leave all the checkboxes. Particularly for MacBook Air, this method is very convenient, since it does not have a DVD drive and installation from a USB flash drive / USB hard drive would be more reasonable.
Button "Choose" indicate the path to ISO image Windows7.
Then a warning window will appear stating that your disk / USB device will be formatted and all information will be deleted from it.
After that, the USB drive will be formatted and the installation files and drivers will be copied to it. |
The next step is to specify the amount of disk space for Windows7, for this, just move the slider and determine the size of the partition for the Windows operating system and click "Install".
After that, the computer / laptop will reboot and the Windows7 installation process will begin at boot (it is no different from installing on any other computer).
The only thing I would like to add is that when you select the volume to which the operating system, be extremely careful not to delete existing partitions. Just format the BOOTCAMP partition and run Windows7 setup.
After installing Windows7, go to the USB drive, in it you will see the folder WindowSupport(it contains drivers for Windows7), run the file setup.exe.
In the next window, read the License Agreement, accept it and click "Further".
After that, you will be prompted to additionally install Apple Software Update, you can leave a check mark and click "Install".
After that, the process of installing all the drivers will begin, it does not require your participation, just at the end a window will appear about the completion of the installation. Push the button "Complete".
Have Apple computers there is one very great advantage in front of a Windows PC. Microsoft's system can be easily installed on any Mac. You cannot turn the same thing in the reverse order. In any case, legally, without crutches, pain and a notable amount of Vaseline.
Installing Windows on your MacBook Pro has never been easier. And the merit here is from two companies at once: both Apple and Microsoft. The former optimized the Boot Camp Assistant to the maximum extent necessary to install the OS on any Mac. And the latter finally simplified and, importantly, accelerated the installation of their own system. Everything happens quickly, gracefully and without any problems.
What do we need?
How was it before? First, it was necessary to acquire a Windows image. It is not known where to get it from, so everyone downloaded it from torrents. Next, it was necessary to mount the image on a DVD (my God!) Or deploy its USB flash drive of 4 GB or more using some written software on the knee. At the same time, it was necessary to strictly observe the order of actions, not to miss anything and be very attentive. It's good at least that a detailed manual was described on the Apple technical support site.
Forget it! Now all this horror is gone.
To install Windows on your MacBook Pro, you only need a computer and an Internet connection. Everything! You don't even need to buy a system from "small-soft" ones.
How to install Windows 10 on MacBook Pro 2018
Now you will see for yourself the ease of installation. The instruction is step by step.
1. Directly on the MacBook Pro from under the stock macOS, we go to the Microsoft website, namely: to the section where you can download Windows 10. Here is the link, if that.
2. We select the required release of the system. I settled on the 10th version, but you can install older assemblies as well. Please note that to download Windows 7, you will have to enter your product key directly on the site. Otherwise, the system will not allow you to download the image. For Windows 8.1 and 10, this is not relevant, the key will need to be entered directly in the system itself, after installation.
4. Then we install all the latest updates on our Mac.
5. In Launchpad (application grid), in the Others folder, find the Boot Camp Assistant application and launch it. This is very powerful utility... She will do almost everything on her own: from unpacking the image for macOS, ending with the installation of drivers already under Windows.
6. IN Boot Camp Assistant, select the image we downloaded (most likely, the utility will detect it on its own), determine the size of the partition on the hard disk for new system(at least 50 GB) and run the installation.
7. After 15 minutes, the computer will reboot (it may take longer for you - this is normal) and the installation of Windows itself will begin.
8. Here you will need to select a keyboard, region, connect to Wi-Fi and enter data account Microsoft. Without it nowhere now, so you can start it in advance.
9. After making all the initial settings, Windows 10 will boot. Next, the Boot Camp utility will start. The application will offer to install all the necessary drivers for the system (from the keyboard and sensors to the video card).
10. After that, we reboot and use the fully configured system. Voila!
What's the time?
Everything about everything took me about 2.5 hours of time. Moreover, it took 2 hours to download windows image 10 from the official Microsoft website (4.5 gigabytes) and another 20 minutes the Windows itself was unpacked.
Directly setting up, installing the drivers took about 5-10 minutes.
Very fast and easy. However, speed may vary depending on your system configuration. I installed Windows 10 on a MacBook Pro 13 2018, which I did a couple of months ago, and this is a cannon.
In the next part I will talk about my impressions of Windows 10 on MacBook Pro 13 2018. How does the system work, is everything stable, what about games, and so on. Stay in touch.