No bootable device found ( Install windows on Mac )

Question

I'm owning a macbook pro 13 inch mid 2009 and a USB thumb drive Kingston DataTraveler 100G3 16 GB.

I successfully installed Windows 7 on my Mac using Bootcamp ( with a little trick to enable "Creat a bootable flash drive" feature which was hidden in my bootcamp version ).

The problem is, after about 1 month, I followed exactly the same procedure, with the same USB and ISO installation file on my friend's computer ( Macbook Early 2008 model ), it just didn't work. When I tried to boot into USB, it said : "No bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key ". Similar to this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgWBY6IezQA

And to be even more frustrating, I tested it on my computer again to check whether there was something wrong with my friend's computer, my computer couldn't even boot into the USB again

I'm really desperate now. I feel like there is some mysterious thing going around here. My USB's working perfectly otherwise.

Answer 1

The problem is that your MacBook doesn't have BIOS, it uses EFI instead. I won't go into the differences between the two, but the Boot record you've created on your USB is for BIOS not EFI.

There are two fix this, one requires a PC with Windows, the other doesn't.

Windows method: Go to this link: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html

It'll explain the steps you need to follow to have your MBP boot from the USB.

Other method: Go to http://gparted.org Download and run GPARTED Convert your MBR volume to GPT

Now you're EFI will recognise your USB as a bootable device :)

Answer 2

This may not be fully what you're looking for, but there is a program that you can buy that will allow you to run windows and mac on the same machine. It's called Parallels. It costs $59.99 which is a $20 off offer they are providing. I know that sounds like a lot, but it allows you to run windows and mac on the same machine, and interact each operating system into one.

Here is a link for you to check out: parallels 9