Windows 7 gets installed on MacBook Pro, explained

We've already seen an early version of Windows 7 installed on a MacBook Pro, but with a brand new, more widely available beta now flooding the internets, there's no doubt quite a few more folks ready to give it a try themselves and, naturally, some have already done just that. Thankfully, there's also some how-tos starting to pop up, and it looks like the entire process is relatively painless, albeit still entirely at your own risk. Hit up the link below for one fairly straightforward walkthrough, and head on past the break for a video of the latest beta in action on a unibody MacBook Pro.

[Fatima @ Jan 11th 2009 3:57PM]

I'm sure Windows 7 runs the fastest on a Macbook Pro!

[Pedobear @ Jan 11th 2009 3:59PM]

Who are you, the new iEye?

[Mike Vaia @ Jan 11th 2009 4:02PM]

For VMware Fusion users, Windows 7 is available as a Virtual Appliance download. I downloaded the package and had it running within 20 minutes with no OS install whatsoever, just some minor tweaks to the default settings for memory and disk allocation.

[jakem @ Jan 11th 2009 4:06PM]

I wouldn't be so sure. It took him a while to shut down OS X and it seemed to take as long to boot into Windows as my HP 2730p - frankly I would have expected his Macbook to perform much better given the specs. His trackpad didn't seem to work very well either (clicks failed to register a number of times).

[Fatima @ Jan 11th 2009 4:16PM]

Thanks for the advice! I have VMware Fusion, downloading the beta now.

[chansthename @ Jan 11th 2009 4:32PM]

And I'm sure it works great with a single button touchpad

[ace587 @ Jan 11th 2009 4:48PM]

perfect, i know also an idiot with a macbook called Fatima ;)

[aYe aye @ Jan 11th 2009 5:00PM]

@pedo

No, he's not

[dan @ Jan 11th 2009 5:07PM]

This is an Aye Aye - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/04/images/050419_aye-aye.jpg

[Roger @ Jan 11th 2009 5:17PM]

@ace587: its best that you stay away from such idiot.

[CraigJ @ Jan 11th 2009 5:41PM]

@chansthename

Uh, yeah, it does. Really well in fact.

[ProfessorDex @ Jan 11th 2009 6:17PM]

@ chansthename

Indeed it does. I haven't felt the need at all to have more than one mouse button while running Windows 7.

[Birch @ Jan 11th 2009 7:33PM]

@ace587; actually it does. even better than Vista on my machine for some reason.

[worth @ Jan 11th 2009 11:36PM]

the trick with the single button trackpad is to download the latest drivers for it from apple.com - they updated them in mid-december i think, and the difference is pretty vast.

[JerkfacedFed @ Jan 12th 2009 2:47AM]

cant we just ban all safari users from posting on engadget already? they are all a collective plague that dont deserve to have computers at all

[grull27 @ Jan 11th 2009 3:57PM]

I've installed it to my 20" iMac (the cheapest one, $1200 model) but apparently Aero won't work with it because the graphics card isn't good enough. The graphics card is ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB memory. I guess Aero has high standards. :-/

[i64X @ Jan 11th 2009 3:59PM]

Check which graphics driver it's using. On my Macbook it installed a standard VGA driver. I had to pop the OSX install DVD in and let it install all of the Vista drivers. After that Aero works great.

[Steve @ Jan 11th 2009 9:45PM]

I've had no problems with Aero on my white Macbook with integrated graphics.

[Kris120890 @ Jan 11th 2009 4:01PM]

Mines working on a ATI X200M

[MioTheGreat @ Jan 11th 2009 4:11PM]

The *only* requirement for the DWM to run (And hence, get Aero) is that your graphics card has a WDDM driver.

On some systems, it may determine that the specs are too low, despite having a WDDM driver, and shut it off by default, but you can easily turn it back on (It's in 'Personalize').

Your card has a WDDM driver, and therefore, unless Apple did something nasty to it (Which is a possibility), can run Aero.

[The Dude @ Jan 11th 2009 4:14PM]

LOLZ @ HD2400. I've got a 3650 sitting in my 4 year old machine. AGP, too.

[John @ Jan 11th 2009 4:17PM]

Most laptops with integrated graphics will run Aero. Windows will automatically disable it on install if it doesn't think you run it with ease, you can always manually override that.

[Bryan @ Jan 11th 2009 5:18PM]

Running Windows 7 on my 2.8GHz Mac Pro using the burned ISO I made. It's build 7000 and got it installed using Boot Camp. Runs flawlessly and it already had the latest 8800 GT graphics drivers.

I like how the IE windows hide in the icon next to the start menu and come up as thumbnails when you roll over the icon. Sweet!

I can't believe this is a news story though. Insert DVD and enjoy!

[grull27 @ Jan 11th 2009 5:39PM]

My iMac didn't come with a driver disc.

[YOYO @ Jan 11th 2009 7:19PM]

Most likely u haven't rate your system yet vista does the
same thing
untill after u run your windows experience index

go in to control panel system check your rating if there no
rating then u need to run your windows experience index

then after it rates the system it will let use areo then if it
supported

this was a common problem with people in vista after they installed
there graphic drive and the aero still didn't work


its a very very common problem

[Major4Play @ Jan 11th 2009 8:27PM]

Run windows update, that's where you get the pre-release graphics drivers. If you can't manage that you shouldn't be beta testing anything above child proof locks

[Andrew @ Jan 11th 2009 9:10PM]

Run the Windows Experience Index. If your graphics card is all set up and ready to run Aero then doing that will force it to start.

[grull27 @ Jan 11th 2009 9:47PM]

I can't finished the test. It gets stuck at Windows Media Encoding.

[KC @ Jan 11th 2009 10:12PM]

I get the same thing, Thinkpad t42 w/ ATI Radeon Mobility 9600. Freezes on Windows Media Encoding. ... and NO sexy Aero. I installed the drivers for the graphics card from the Lenovo support site. but no luck.

[tjr88 @ Jan 12th 2009 12:41PM]

I have seen others have this problem think it is a driver issue not hardware. I know some have been able to get round it. But i am not sure how :-(

[i64X @ Jan 11th 2009 3:58PM]

I JUST installed this on my aluminum Macbook this morning. Almost everything worked straight off the 7 Beta DVD. For the rest of the stuff I just popped in the OSX installer DVD while in Windows 7 and let it install all of the Vista drivers for all of my devices. ALL of the Vista drivers worked. I don't really see how you'd need a "howto" for this. Put in DVD, install, put in OSX install disc, install drivers, done.

[Sneakz @ Jan 11th 2009 3:59PM]

I've done it on my MacBook 2,1. While relatively painless, it has some quirks. It doesn't work properly in Parallels. Not sure about VMware Fusion. Boot Camp 2.1 drivers should work fine. I couldn't get 64 bit Windows 7 to boot up properly though.

[Rob Conway @ Jan 11th 2009 4:07PM]

i had a horrible time with the 64bit version using vmware and parallels. it installed in vmware and then worked for ten minutes! after that it just froze. and wouldn't even let me shut down for a while. i tried again and it pooped out again. with parallels i couldn't even install it! i've heard the 32bit works fine in parallels though.

[stlblufan @ Jan 11th 2009 5:36PM]

strange...i have installed x64 version using parallels and have had no problems. have you updated parallels to the latest version?

[CraigJ @ Jan 11th 2009 5:49PM]

installed in Fusion selecting vista 64. when booting there is some weirdness with the display, but once booted works great, though unity mode doesn't seem to work properly.

[Rob Conway @ Jan 11th 2009 6:12PM]

@stlblufan yeah, i just downloaded the parallels trial this morning! idk, my mac must be anti-microsoft! lol.

@craigj honestly after my debacle with fusion last night I had my first kernel panic on my iMac, so i panicked and deleted vmware and any other programs i wasn't using, ran MacSweeper and MacTuneup, deleted my porno, cleaned the screen, threw out my microsoft bt keyboard that was acting funny, and changed my socks!! seriously i'll probably be too paranoid to install fusion ever again!

[SiXiam @ Jan 11th 2009 4:00PM]

Blasphemy... lol

[jack @ Jan 11th 2009 4:54PM]

at least the new Windows is much more glowy and transparent...

[Kris120890 @ Jan 11th 2009 4:00PM]

A lot of people are having trouble with some macs. More driver issues than anything.

[Steve @ Jan 11th 2009 4:06PM]

The only driver issue I had on my early 2008 MacBook is a lack of audio. I grabbed a Vista driver from Realtek and now I have sound. The whole process of installing Win 7 on my MacBook was very easy.

[Justen @ Jan 11th 2009 4:25PM]

I have Windows 7 64-bit running on my MacBook from 2007 (white, not Pro). I had to fool the Boot Camp drivers installer into running in Vista compatibility mode so it jumped past a little hurdle Apple put in, but since then everything's been fine. I'd even call it snappy! And the little screenshot thumbnails on the taskbar are one feature I'd like to see Apple copy from Microsoft!... *gasp*

[BobFromVegas @ Jan 11th 2009 4:00PM]

This is off topic, but Is it me? Or have less people been posting on engadget? And I also noticed how there are less low and high ranks too. Maybe it's just me?

Anyway, I might give this a try.

[Kris120890 @ Jan 11th 2009 4:03PM]

I've noticed it too. I think it's because Of so many Posts on the CES. Haven't seen a highest rank for nearly two week before Christmas.

[L @ Jan 11th 2009 4:22PM]

I guess Engadget changed the thresholds of highest/lowest ranked posts a while ago. I've seen a couple of highest ranked posts in the last week, but only a handful of them...

[bjay @ Jan 11th 2009 5:22PM]

You re not alone in your line of thought

[Valicore @ Jan 11th 2009 6:08PM]

High and low ranks have been practically axed it seems like... and I could barely look at the summaries of all the CES articles much less post. It's overload, dang. I am actually annoyed because I want to look at it all but I don't have the patience, lol.

[Blazeitup123 @ Jan 11th 2009 6:17PM]

i [+] you but it did nothing.

oh, and i agree

[bill cant fart @ Jan 11th 2009 8:08PM]

Just click on the time and date next to your username. Then you'll see your ranks and whatnot.

[Mike Vaia @ Jan 11th 2009 4:01PM]

For VMware Fusion users, Windows 7 is available as a Virtual Appliance download. I downloaded the package and had it running within 20 minutes with no OS install whatsoever, just some minor tweaks to the default settings for memory and disk allocation.

[AlexJimi @ Jan 11th 2009 4:01PM]

I have the same computer, I am just wondering if windows 7 runs hot the same way vista does on my pro.