Install Windows 7/8 on a Mac without using an optical drive

Many Mac computers don’t have an optical drive today: it just doesn’t come bundled with macbook air and mac mini, on some MacBook / iMac it’s replaced with an additional 2.5-inch drive, and on some computers the drive may simply not work.

New poppies can boot from a flash drive, but I am the owner of not new ones (2010), and this guide will also be useful for those who want to quickly install Windows from an image on any poppy.

I tried many ways - I tried to install from a USB flash drive / disk, everything was in vain (not every mac boots from a USB flash drive or external drive). Refit also did not give anything - there was a dark screen. This method was just a salvation.

So what is needed:

1. Virtual box
2. WinClone (latest free version)
3. Windows 7/8 ISO image that you like

Step 1: Create a Boot Camp Partition

Create a Bootcamp partition using the Boot Camp Assistant. The operation is quite simple. In 10.6, the assistant creates a partition without comment, in 10.7 - he warns that you do not have a drive.

Step 2: Create a Windows 7/8 Generic Installation Image

The word "generalized" here means that the image is not tied to any particular Mac hardware. After uploading it to the Boot Camp partition (using WinClone), when you boot from it, Windows 7/8 will automatically configure all the hardware, reboot and you can work. However, you may need additional drivers that you can install from the Boot Camp kit. You can use this image in the future on any Mac for a very quick installation of Windows. However, the first time you need to create it, this procedure is not the easiest:

Step 2.1: Install Windows 7/8 in VirtualBox

Create a new virtual machine in VirtualBox, name it win7 . It is important to be sure to use the VDI disk image of the virtual machine dynamic (dynamically allocated). A size of 10 GB should be enough. Install Windows using the installation ISO image. Do not install any software anymore, including auxiliary software from VirtualBox, as it must be a clean system.

Step 2.2: Removing the System Reserved Partition in Windows 7/8

The problem is that Windows has created another additional partition in which the boot loader itself is located. It is necessary to transfer the bootloader to the main partition and remove this auxiliary one.

Update : You can make it easier: when you start installing Windows 7/8, when you select a disk partition, create a new one and the System Reserved and C: \ disks appear. Next, delete the C: \ drive, and expand System Reserved to the desired size and format it. After that, you can install Windows in it and there will be no System Reserved partition. Thanks IGHOR Or we use this method (for already installed Windows):

1. Download Windows
2. Go to Disk Management (right-click on Computer in Explorer -> Management)
3. Assign any letter to our hidden partition (right-click on the partition and select Change drive letter or drive path ). For example, they assigned the letter E:
4. We launch the command line under the administrator . Alternately, carefully , enter the following commands:
   

   • reg unload HKLM\BCD00000000
     

     unloads this registry branch

   • robocopy e:\ c:\ bootmgr
     

     copy bootmgr file

   • robocopy e:\Boot C:\Boot /s
     

     copy the Boot folder

   • bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /set {bootmgr} device partition=C:
     

     register the bootloader in section C:
   According to the conclusion of the teams, we are convinced that everything went well. Now the command line can be closed.
   
5. In Disk Management, make C partition active and delete the already unnecessary System Reserved partition. There will remain an unallocated space (100 MB for me), but it doesn’t matter.
6. Rebooting, the system should now boot normally from section C:

Step 2.3: Making Windows Generalized Using the sysprep Utility

1. We launch the command line under the administrator . Enter:
   

   net stop WMPNetworkSvc
   

   There is no exact answer to the question “why”. But this service must be stopped
2. In the C: \ Windows \ System32 \ sysprep folder, create the unattend.xml file with the following contents:
   

   1

   Be careful to ensure that the file extension is “XML”, since by default Windows can add “TXT”: unattend.xml.txt. To do this, I set the option to always show the extensions of all files in the folder svvah.
   
3. We start C: \ Windows \ System32 \ sysprep \ sysprep.exe . Set the following options:
   
   
   
   Click OK, the machine should shut itself down.
   
   

Step 2.4: Convert a VDI Image to a WinClone Image

1. In VirtualBox, go to File-> Media Manager . Click Copy of our Windows partition, be sure to use the Fixed size option . The starting copy will be called win7_copy . Waiting for this operation to complete.
2. We go to Terminal, move to the folder where you saved the copy and enter:

   sudo VBoxManage internalcommands converttoraw win7_copy.vdi win7.raw
   

   Waiting for completion again
3. We enter one more command in the terminal:
   

   sudo hdiutil attach -imagekey diskimage-class=CRawDiskImage win7.raw
   

   After that, you should mount the Untitled image
4. We go into WinClone, make a copy of this mounted Untitled disk in the first tab Image
5. The image is ready!

Step 3: Fill the WinClone Image onto the Boot Camp Partition

We use the second Restore tab in the WinClone program and fill the image created in the previous stage to the already physical Boot Camp partition.

For future installations, now you only need steps 1 and 3, the second need to be done only once.

I am not the author of this know-how, this is a free translation into Russian (with minor additions and improvements). The original of this article is available here . I personally tested the method on 2 macs - the iMAC MC508 2010 and Mac Mini 2011 the youngest model works wonderfully, thanks to the author, who also said that hundreds of people tried the method, and it just works.

PS. I ask you not to kick strictly, this is my first post here. Thanks.