Mac Os X Boot Camp Windows 7 Drivers
If you own Intel-based Macs, you can run OS X and Windows on one machine. In fact, it’s been possible to run Windows on a Mac for some time — with agonizing limitations. Near-extinct Mac models were loaded with Virtual PC emulation software could do Windows, too, but the program was painfully slow. Even if you find an old copy of the software, it won’t work with any current Macs.
Aug 06, 2011 UPDATE - BLUETOOTH NOT WORKING IN LION: Testing with a VM and not actual Boot Camp but found that the above configuration using Boot Camp drivers from the Snow Leopard 10.6 DVD DOES NOT FUNCTION with the Lion OS X 10.7 initial download and with the mandatory Parallels 6 'sidegrade' to 6.0.12094.
Boot Camp software from Apple shook up the computing public upon its apocalyptic arrival in April 2006. Boot Camp graduated from beta, or near-finished, status with the arrival of Leopard. Boot Camp Assistant software is stored in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder.
Boot Camp itself is free. You have to supply your own single-disc or downloadable full-install version of Windows; an upgrade disc won’t cut it.
It’s also important to note that you can use a 64-bit version of Windows, Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. Consult Apple support to see which Mac models are compatible with which versions of Windows. In its current incarnation, Boot Camp isn’t compatible with 32-bit versions of Windows.
Other requirements follow:
An Intel Mac with OS X version 10.6 or later
At least 2GB of RAM and 20GB of available space on the Mac’s storage drive that you want to donate to Windows
A blank CD or USB storage device that you’ll use for Windows software drivers
If you don’t run into snags, the entire installation should take about an hour.
Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 are optimized for a touchscreen environment, though you can use it with a standard mouse and keyboard. For now, Macs don’t support touchscreen computing.
To install Windows 8 via Boot Camp, you still must have a legitimate Windows 8 license from Microsoft and a Win8 installation disc, assuming that you have an optical drive. If you don’t have an optical drive, you may be able to create a Windows installer from an ISO file downloaded from Microsoft on a USB flash drive that’s 8GB or larger.
Because snags are possible, back up all your important information on the Mac’s startup disk.
Basic training
Following are the basic steps to get through Boot Camp:
Run Boot Camp Assistant (in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder) to make sure that you have the latest firmware on your computer and to install any support software from Apple that you might need.
You’ll find any updates at Apple support. If you’re using a portable computer, make sure to connect the power adapter. You will also be given the option to create a Windows 7 (or later version) install disk for which you’ll need a USB flash drive and an ISO image downloaded from Apple.
Follow the prompts in Boot Camp Assistant to create a partition for Windows.
You’re essentially carving out an area of your hard drive for the Windows operating system,. This partition must be at least 30GB and can swell to the total free disk space on hand minus 30GB. If you don’t plan on doing much in Windows, keep the partition small.
Drag the divider to set the partitions for both OS X and Windows, or click Divide Equally to make equal partitions. You can’t resize a Windows partition after creating it, though you can replace it with a larger Windows partition.
If you have a Mac Pro with more than one internal hard drive, you can select which drive to partition. If any of this makes you nervous, know that you can remove the Windows partition later and go back to a single-partition Mac.
Insert the Windows CD or a USB flash drive with the Windows ISO file and then click Start Installation.
If you exited Boot Camp Assistant before installing Windows, open it again, choose Start the Windows Installer, and click Continue.
When you’re asked to choose the Windows partition, select the partition that says BOOTCAMP.
You may have to scroll down to see it.
Don’t erase any partitions that you see or create a new partition here. Failure to heed this warning could wipe out your entire Mac OS X startup disk.
(Optional) If you see a listing for Drive Options, click it; otherwise, proceed to Step 6.
Reformat the partition by using the Windows installer: Click Format.
You’re using the reliable and secure NTFS file system, but you won’t be able to save files to Windows from Mac OS X, at least not without a techie workaround.
Follow the onscreen instructions to finish installing Windows.
Boot Camp 5.1 includes several Mac drivers so that Windows will recognize your trackpad, Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, the iSight (or FaceTime) camera, the Eject key on the Mac keyboard, networking, audio, graphics, and so on.
A Boot Camp Control Panel for Windows and an Apple Boot Camp system-tray item will be added.
As with any new Windows computer, Microsoft requires that you activate your Windows software within 30 days.
Switching operating systems
You can go back and forth between OS X and Windows on your Mac, but you can’t run both operating systems simultaneously under Boot Camp. Instead, you have to boot one operating system or the other — thus, the name Boot Camp.
Restart your Mac, and hold down the Option key until icons for each operating system appear onscreen. Highlight Windows or Macintosh HD, and click the arrow to launch the operating system of choice for this session.
If you want OS X or Windows to boot every time, choose app → System Preferences, click Startup Disk, and choose the OS you want to launch by default.
You can perform the same function in Windows by clicking the Boot Camp system-tray icon and selecting the Boot Camp Control Panel. Click either the Macintosh HD or Windows icon, depending on your startup preference.
Installing Windows 7 on your Mac using Boot Camp is a great way to get full performance out of both operating systems. Boot Camp works by partitioning your Mac’s hard drive to use two operating systems, in this case, OS X and Windows 7.
Thus, when you use Windows 7 with Boot Camp, you are simply booting directly into Windows instead of OS X. This is a great way to run Windows on a Mac because it gives all of your Mac’s power (RAM, processor speed, etc.) to Windows.
With virtualization software, such as VMware Fusion or Parallels, your Mac’s power (RAM, processor speed, etc.) is being distributed between both OS X and Windows.
Mac Os X Boot Camp Windows 7 Drivers Free
Decided that Boot Camp is for you? Here are some things that you will need before getting started:
- An Intel based Mac
- Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard install disc (the discs that came with your Mac or a retail copy of OS X)
- At least 16GB of free hard drive space (recommended by Apple)
- Boot camp assistant (should be on your Mac already, located at Finder > Applications > Utilities)
- A genuine Microsoft Windows 7 install disc
Installing Boot Camp and Windows 7
*Apple just recently released an official Boot Camp update for Windows 7. Doing a software update (click the Apple logo, select software update from the drop down menu) should automatically get you this update. But just to be sure, you can get it here).*
Step 1: Navigate the path Finder > Applications > Utilities. Double click the Boot Camp Assistant icon to launch it.
Step 2: Click Continue on the Boot Camp Introduction screen to proceed to the next step.
Mac Os X Boot Camp Windows 7 Drivers Windows 7
Step 3: Step 3 is the partitioning of your Mac’s hard drive. For Windows 7, Apple recommends using at least 16GB to hold Windows 7. Most likely, you do not need this much space to actually install Windows 7.
However, if you plan on installing any programs within Windows, or having any significant amount of files on Windows, be sure to partition your hard drive accordingly.
Click the Partition button. Wait for Boot Camp Assistant to partition your hard drive. Once it finishes, you should have a BOOT CAMP drive icon on your desktop.
Step 4: Insert your Windows 7 install disc into your Mac’s DVD drive and wait for it to load and recognize. Click the Start Installation button from the Boot Camp Assistant screen.
Step 5: Your Mac should automatically restart and boot into the Windows 7 installer, rather than OS X. The next screen that you come to will be a prompt screen, allowing you to choose which partition to install Windows 7 on.
Make sure that you select the BOOT CAMP PARTITION that you just created, by clicking on it once to select it. Click the link that says Drive options (Advanced). Click the Format button. A prompt screen should pop up saying “This partition might contain…”. Click OK.
Step 6: Windows should now be installing on your computer. Throughout the installation process, Windows will reboot itself a couple of times and you will be required to eject the install disc from your Mac’s DVD drive.
Do this and let Windows, finish installing completely. Fill out your Name, language, etc. Upon successfully installing Windows 7, you need to do a Windows Update to get the latest fixes and Windows released drivers. Restart your computer before proceeding to the next step.
Step 7: Once Windows boots back up, you need to install a couple of additional drivers. Insert your Mac OS X disc into your Mac’s DVD drive and wait for it to load. Click the Run setup option from the prompt window.
Step 8: Click Next on the first screen of the Boot Camp window. Accept the terms and click the Next button again. Put a checkmark next to Apple Software Update for Windows. Click the Install button.
Step 9: Let the installer complete, it may take a couple of minutes. After it completes, click the Finish button to exit out of the Boot Camp installer window.
Step 10: Eject the Mac OS X install disc from your computer and restart your computer.
Using Boot Camp: That’s all there is to it. Boot Camp and Windows 7 should now be running on your Mac. Upon powering on your computer (right when you hear the chime), hold down the option key on your Mac to go to the boot menu. From here, you can choose if you want to use OS X or Windows 7.