The hard disk of my Mac mini with 2 GHz intel processor and 4 GB RAM crashed and so I have replaced the Hard disk. How to load Windows 7 without loading Boot camp? Windows 7 original DVD is not able to boot the computer (Bootmgr missing error) and Acronis True image home boot CD (Acronis loader) (both 2011 and 2012 versions) is not able to load completely and recover a disk image. Also please advise how to update the BIOS
-
Are you planning to use JUST W7 on this machine (i.e. no OSX)? Also, is your copy of W7 the x64 version? AFAIK direct EFI booting with W7 only works with x64.– Julio R.Mar 13, 2012 at 16:08
-
@Julio R: Thank you very much for your time to help me out. My windows 7 is 32 bit version. It does not boot from the Windows 7 DVD– DrWhoMar 14, 2012 at 16:15
-
I don't know enough about this for a former answer but check out this thread, it might be helpful: forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=696523 From a quick look through it, it seems you need the 64 bit version to boot from EFI, without boot camp's BIOS emulator.– Julio R.Mar 14, 2012 at 19:41
-
@Julio R: Thank you. The link is quite useful. I will buy Windows 7 64 bit version and try.– DrWhoMar 15, 2012 at 10:52
-
@Julio R: Unfortunately my Mac Mini is ACPI x86-based PC. So I would not be able to load 64 bit Windows7.– DrWhoMar 16, 2012 at 2:14
3 Answers
Just because something isn't documented doesn't mean it is impossible, the following is true for Mac Mini's from 2010, 2011 and 2012.
You can install Windows alone on all three by configuring a hard drive to be MBR, setting the active partition to be the one containing the Windows folders. A Boot Manager, the 100mb partition you see on windows 7 computers, can be configured to point to this installation or better yet boot the mac holding C and boot into the windows 7 install CD. Have it repair the installation, it will create this partition pointing to Windows.
The drivers are difficult to find, however, you can buy a Mac and do everything needed in Windows without having to have any apple software loaded on the machine.
-
Thank you. My Mac Mini is 2007 model. Now I have loaded Windows 8 Pro from a USB HDD without Boot Camp. Boot Camp is not compatible with windows 8. Trying to load Boot Camp is crashing Windows. My only problem now is that the built in speaker does not work but USB headphones work. This seems to the problem of audio device drivers. I have tried audio drivers of Boot camp v3 and v4, windows update and various driver updating softwares. Nothing worked. Can you guide me?– DrWhoNov 21, 2012 at 2:02
I just put my Windows 7 DVD in my 2006 Mac Mini Core Solo, held C during boot and installed without any issues. Sound is not working yet, but I believe you can get it working with the boot camp support software.
-
Thank you.. Bootcamp did not support installation of Windows 10. Apple did not respond to the problem. I have upgraded to Windows 10 Pro using a USB stick from Windows 8.1. The built in audio does not work but USB head-phones work. Boot time continues to be 4 minutes. Shut down time is <15 seconds. My Mac Mini 2007 architecture is 64 bit but it does not support installation of 64 bit windows! I have installed 4GB RAM but Intel 945 chip set uses ONLY 3 GB. The left over 1 GB cannot be used by any RAMDISK programs or super cache also. Is it possible to install Windows 64 bit on this machine?– DrWhoSep 1, 2015 at 2:07
-
No. I'm assuming you have a MacMini1,1 just like I have (but maybe originally with a Core Duo instead of Core Solo), which means the chipset is not suitable for 64bit mode. I attempted to upgrade to Windows 10 from 7, but it stopped halfway through, but I only have 512MB ram which is not enough either.– mycroesSep 1, 2015 at 11:22
-
BTW, also see refit.sourceforge.net/myths for some more info about Intel Macs and BIOS emulation.– mycroesSep 1, 2015 at 11:22
-
32-bit windows is not useable with a Mac without BIOS emulation provided by Boot Camp.