Windows 7 gets installed on MacBook Pro, explained
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jan 11th 2009 3:51PM
posted Jan 11th 2009 3:51PM
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.
I'm sure Windows 7 runs the fastest on a Macbook Pro!
Who are you, the new iEye?
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.
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).
Thanks for the advice! I have VMware Fusion, downloading the beta now.
And I'm sure it works great with a single button touchpad
perfect, i know also an idiot with a macbook called Fatima ;)
@pedo
No, he's not
This is an Aye Aye - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/04/images/050419_aye-aye.jpg
@ace587: its best that you stay away from such idiot.
@chansthename
Uh, yeah, it does. Really well in fact.
@ chansthename
Indeed it does. I haven't felt the need at all to have more than one mouse button while running Windows 7.
@ace587; actually it does. even better than Vista on my machine for some reason.
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.
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
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. :-/
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.
I've had no problems with Aero on my white Macbook with integrated graphics.
Mines working on a ATI X200M
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.
LOLZ @ HD2400. I've got a 3650 sitting in my 4 year old machine. AGP, too.
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.
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!
My iMac didn't come with a driver disc.
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
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
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.
I can't finished the test. It gets stuck at Windows Media Encoding.
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.
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 :-(
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.
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.
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.
strange...i have installed x64 version using parallels and have had no problems. have you updated parallels to the latest version?
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.
@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!
A lot of people are having trouble with some macs. More driver issues than anything.
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.
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*
Blasphemy... lol
at least the new Windows is much more glowy and transparent...
I have the same computer, I am just wondering if windows 7 runs hot the same way vista does on my pro.
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.
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.
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...
You re not alone in your line of thought
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.
i [+] you but it did nothing.
oh, and i agree
Just click on the time and date next to your username. Then you'll see your ranks and whatnot.
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.
Why not just VM it?
look 2 comments up...
why must they post on every thing mac? even when it is utterly obvious like installing windows on a pc?
Nobody is forcing you to read it.
Why post anything about anything, then? What makes one thing more news worthy than another? Comments like yours are so ridiculous...
Why would anyone need a how to on this? If you can't figure out how to dual/multi boot your Mac, you probably shouldn't be messing with it.
This is just confirmation that it works. Boot Camp has certain requirements for installation of Windows (e.g. no Upgrade disks and 32-bit versions only) so this confirms that Windows 7 seems to be accepted just like Vista.
Slow news day?
This is important to lots of people.
I've had the torrented version of 7000 running on my iMac 2.4GHz for a week now, it runs smooth as hell. Ran an experience test and final score was 5.0 - with the highest sub score being 6.2 (the CPU) and the lowest being 5.0 on the GFX Card.
Um, just how smooth is Satan?
Aarun, shhhh
8 shamwows for 19.55? WOW!
I'd still like to know what he REALLY says in that commercial when he puts the thing in front of his mouth and says "This lasts [ten years]." It was a really bad edit job and it sticks out like a sore thumb.
WHO CARES! , i installed it on a dell , a custom built pc , do i get news on engadget no i don't , this being news is as much news to me as shit is brown.
But your dell was made to run windows.... im sure if you had osx running on it then it would be slightly more amazing.
Saying that, installing windows 7 on a MBP doesnt seem like an amazing feat, but i want to bet money its harder than it looks
no what would have been amazing is installing windows 7 in a mac running the old IBM processors not the Intel ones. So I would agree, getting windows 7 running on a make is pretty much the same as getting windows xp or windows vista running on a mac. Not a big deal.
I agree with Papu. So long as you've got drivers there's nothing complicated about installing Windows and there's nothing special about Mac hardware.
I should have added that I'd rather see reports about Windows7 installed and running on netbooks as think that would be much more interesting.
yeah , mactops run vista , they run Xp , its only obvious they run 7 ,
Perhaps if they commented on multitouch with w7 , or did some benchmarks ect ect
Why?
Sheesh. My Windows 7 Beta shuts down faster than his OS X...
Yeah but he had quite a few apps running in the dock, you load a load of programs up in windows and see how long it takes to shut down.
Why do people still hand-hold cameras for things like this? Tripods are cheap, or just set it on something.
So what's the big deal?
I'm sure a lot of people have done that, it's no different than installing Vista.
OH I GET IT! IT'S AN APPLE!
I mean, apart from increasing the usefulness of that overpriced toy by a billion times.
I've been running WIndows 7 on my MacBook via VMWare since the PDC build, in other words, for a long time. It this really a big deal? I would only dual boot if I wanted to play games. I prefer Fusion's unity mode that lets me run individual apps...
By the way, I made a new image last night with build 7000 and I can say it kicks Vista's ass in terms of performance and resource hogishness. I'm trying to install all my Windows only WebDev tools in it to see if I can upgrade to WIn 7 from XP, primarilly PHP Maker, Eclipse and some MY SQL tools.
I've had Windows 7 running on my unibody Macbook Pro for about a week now. The only issue I've run into are audio problems....the audio likes to pop and goes through phases where it sounds really glitchy. Looking for drivers that will fix this....other than that, everything else works awesome. I've also been playing a lot of left4dead on it :]
Serious? How's the quality? Any issues? If it runs nice I might give it a go on my MBP and install the Orange Box...
Anyone know where I can find that background used on that guy's computer? The first one.
I installed it on my Dell laptop. Is that worthy of an engadget post too?
What do you call a man with a shovel on his head?
Doug.
What do you call a man without a shovel?
Douglas
Doug? More like buried.
no ones said this yet I guess. GLARE
seriously even when the screen is on the glare is horrible and when it's off it looks like a crappy dark mirror. how can people stand that?
I wish my Mac said bye to me when I shut it down. :(
I just posted this comment in the article, VERY useful information follows:
Attention: You CAN use the normal Boot Camp installer located on the Leopard DVD. Trying to do that directly will probably give you error 2229 BUT you can just copy the "Boot Camp" folder on your hard drive and replace the BootCamp.msi and BootCamp64.msi packages with the ones from here (big thanks to limo79 for this!): http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=6908029&postcount=216
The fix includes support for 32 and 64 bit versions as well as Boot Camp versions 2.0 and 2.1. I did that on my early 2008 MBP with Windows 7 x64 and *everything* works perfectly (ethernet, iSight, WLAN, keyboard backlight...), including the F-keys (volume, eject etc.) and the Boot Camp Control Panel. No need to run the separate installers. I advise getting the display driver directly from Nvidia site and if there is no sound you can also downoad newer driver from Realtek site. You might want to include this information in the post as an update.
Looks like a slight GUI change in explorer.exe shell of the current windows vista. Some core application updates. ... microsoft surely knows the best way to make money.
Posted from inside my Windows 7 Virtual Machine. Running on top of an old HP dv5000 Laptop as the host OS is WinXP sp3 running VMWare 6.0.0 build 45731,
Networking, Sound, etc. all work great as does wireless keyboard and mouse. Obviously the VMWare abstraction laye helps with HAL compatibility but so far so good - VM Tools installed with no hangups.
Started the whole process of downloading and installing at noon and have been surfing for several hours uneventfully. Took about an hour to download, and an hour to install. Not too shabby.
It is good to see they have it easy on the MacBook Pros. I just installed in last night on a 2008 Mac Pro and had major problems with the audio being way to soft. Apparently in the audio drivers Apple boosts the sound output because with the default drivers it is whisper quiet at 100% volume. It would have helped if the audio drivers would have installed, you have to manually update them to the boot camp Vista 64-bit or 32-bit ones.
I have it running on a Mac Book Air. Set it up last week... runs great. I love this picture http://www.jordanrinke.com/images/200901081657_061.jpg
Nice
Anyone else having problems with there Zune in Windows 7? It detects it and installs the drivers but the software doesn't show the Zune. Anyone one know of a fix?
From Microsoft Website
"After you have upgraded a system to this beta release, the Zune software will not recognize the Zune.
To correct this, start the Zune software with administrative privileges."
http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/D/B/FDBFC5A5-51CD-4C8D-9F18-7BCC3810498E/Windows%207%20Beta%20Things%20to%20Know.htm
Hey thanks a lot! You saved me a bunch of time.
Windows 7 runs perfectly fine on my MacBook Pro 3,1.
However, I'm unable to install any drivers from the Leopard disc. Getting a weird 2229 error. Using the altered installation package by Techie Musings didn't help anything, and neither did running it in compatibilty mode.
In the video he says something like "It's definitely not mac, but it's slick none the less." So does that mean it's not as good as Mac OSX? and if it was wouldn't he say Microsoft ripped off Apple again. Kind of tired of the mainstream tech blogs being so freaking biased for Apple.
Facebook Windows 7 Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Microsoft-Windows-7/39012423321?sid=7ba85d510748c78fc91287ae28bdd38d&ref=s
I installed Windows 7 on my black macbook yesterday. Everything works perfectly on it, including Aero. It was easy. I already had XP on a bootcamp partition. I just loaded the Windows 7 DVD while on Windows XP and installed it over it. Really easy to do and took less than 1 hr. Also, all the drivers work and I have all the functionality with not bugs. It also saves your old OS so you can revert back to once your done with the beta.
Via Parallels Desktop 4, I can install just fine, but it's not booting... it gets stuck on that windowflowerthingy.