MacBook Air conversion
to Native Windows 7
by
Mike Foster - IT Security Professional
Mike posted this
on his Facebook page and I am reprinting for you here.
To get to the
original post
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150206410157376
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In case you ever
want to convert an Apple to run only Windows, here are the technical steps I
use:
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Get Mac Drivers
for Windows (Apple Boot Camp Windows Drivers)
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Using a Mac with
OS X to generate the Apple Boot Camp Windows Drivers
§
On the (or
another) Mac with OS X, keep running apple update until the updates are all
current
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Make sure you have
a place for the Boot Camp Assistant to save the Windows support software
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blank CD, DVD or
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An external drive
formatted as MS-DOS (FAT)
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To format an
external drive as MS-DOS (FAT), use: Applications folder > Utilities > Disk
Utility
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Open: Applications
folder > Utilities > Boot Camp Assistant
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Follow the
on-screen instructions
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Ok to ignore
warnings if you do not have the DVD connected
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Download the
Windows support software (takes a while)
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Save the Apple
Boot Camp Windows Drivers to a CD, DVD, or FAT 32 external disk
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Used approximately
600 Meg on 3/30/11
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Stop and exit
before allowing Boot Camp Assistant to create a partition for Windows—you won’t
need that because
§
You are not going
to use Boot Camp
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We are installing
only Windows 7 on the computer,
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In a later step,
we’ll install the Windows support software on your Windows partition.
Eliminate OS X and Install Windows 7
Note—I
learned a lot from
http://www.zdnet.com. I also copied and pasted, then modified to eliminate
redundancy and add clarity, information from documentation at
www.apple.com.
By the
way, I did elect to purchase a full license of Windows 7 to use just on my Air.
Another important note: From the very beginning, and every time, when booting
into windows expect to stare at a white screen for about 45 seconds.
At
first, I thought there was something wrong. Just
wait it out—after 45 seconds of the white screen Windows 7 will boot fine. I
suspect the Air is looking for other boot devices.
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With the computer
turned off, insert the Apple recovery USB rescue device that came with your
system. Make sure the four copper connections are facing up.
§
When powering up,
hold down the C key to boot to the USB rescue device.
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Wipe out the drive
partitions and create one new partition with a MBR boot sector instead of the
Apple GUID one
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Choose Utilities >
Disk Utility
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Choose the 251GB
Apple SSID drive
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Select the
Partition tab
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In volume scheme
set to “1 partition”
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Name: Windows7 (or
whatever you want)
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Format: FAT32
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Size: 251GB
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Options > MBR
(Master Boot Record)
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Choose Apply (and,
when prompted, confirm you want to partition the drive)
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Use the menu at
the top of the screen to “quit the disk utility”
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Use the menu at
the top of the screen to “quit the mac OS X installer”
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Join a Wi-Fi
network or
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Plug in the USB to
RJ45 converter and connect via an Ethernet cable
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Neither is
necessary
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Click on the arrow
above the Wi-Fi and the CD “Windows”
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The computer will
seem to turn off and then Windows install starts
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You’ll be prompted
to reformat the drive with NTFS
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The installation
process takes a long time and the computer may seems “frozen” at times but it is
still going
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Install the
Windows support software you created earlier:
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Insert the CD or
DVD or connect the external disk with the Windows support software
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If the DVD drive
is not recognized:
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Shut down the Mac
/ Windows 7 machine
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Turn on the Mac
again
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The turning on
process may take more than 2 minutes, and the screen will flash, and the
computer may seem like it went off
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Eventually Windows
will boot and be able to recognize the CD/DVD drive
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If the installer
doesn’t start automatically, browse the CD, DVD, or external disk using Windows
Explorer and double-click the setup.exe file in the Boot Camp directory.
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Follow the
onscreen instructions
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The dialog will
say “Installing Boot Camp” but only the Win drivers are installed
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Important: Do not
click the Cancel button in any of the installer dialogs.
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If a message
appears that says the software you’re installing has not passed Windows Logo
testing, click Continue Anyway.
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You don’t need to
respond to installer dialogs that appear only briefly during the installation
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If nothing appears
to be happening, there may be a prompt that you must respond to, but the prompt
is in a window that is covered up (came up underneath). Check the taskbar and
look behind open windows.
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After your
computer restarts, follow the instructions for any other installers that appear
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Note: To eject the
DVD from the drive
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Open Windows
Explorer
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Right click (click
with two fingers on the touch pad) on the DVD drive icon
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Choose “Eject”
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Check for updated
Windows support software
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Use the Apple
Software Update inside of Windows (look under “All programs”)
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Configure Windows
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Install all
Microsoft patches
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Install IE9
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Install Microsoft
Security Essentials
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Microsoft patches
again
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Set patches to ask
me before downloading or updating
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Then I used the
Windows support software by using Apple Software Update inside of Windows (look
under “All programs”) to check for updates again.
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You may want to
search e-Bay for “windows 7 sticker.”
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In Case You Ever
Want to Go Back to Using OS X
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When powering up,
hold down the C key to boot to the USB rescue device
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Follow the
instructions
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Test and Use
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USB Ethernet
adapter
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Wi-Fi LAN adapter
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Video VGA
port—MUST PLUG IN VGA ADAPTER PRIOR TO BOOTING WINDOWS
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Command-P is like
Windows-P
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External CD ROM
Microsoft Office
Note: If you install Microsoft Office, then
PowerPoint will crash as soon as you type a key. The latest Boot camp update
disables a
keyboard setting in Windows. I found the answer at
http://answers.microsoft.com.
·
To fix, Open Control Panel
·
In view mode “View by Category”, find the section “Clock, Language
and Region”
·
Click “Change Keyboards or other input methods”
·
Press the button “Change Keyboards”
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Press the button “Add”
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Scroll down to “English (United States)” and expand
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Check box “US”
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Press OK
·
Press OK—You’ll see two keyboards listed “US” and “United States
(Apple)”
·
Press OK
Shadow Protect
In
case you use Shadow Protect image backup software on Windows 7 (I do) then note
that the apple software updater may interfere with Shadow Protect.
For
this reason, I removed the apple updater from my computer permanently. I will
miss the updater; However, I would miss being able to perform and image restore
even more than I will miss the updater.
Here are some additional notes on using the Boot Camp drivers that I have accumulated with a little help from my friends. Please ready completely before you start.
I'm a Windows guy, and while I do like to keep at least one Mac OS X install
around for testing and comparative purposes--something I've done straight
through since early 2001, by the way--I already have a desktop Mac (a 2010 Mac
mini) that I use for that purpose. And let's face it, the Air's relatively
paltry 128 GB of solid state storage is OK for a single OS, but once you start
talking about slicing that up for two different OSes, things get pretty tight.
My aim with this machine was to get something thin and light with decent
battery life, something I could throw in a bag and, hopefully, not feel digging
a new and deeper gap into my shoulder as I lugged it around trade shows and
other trips. But more to the point, it was to get a Windows PC, not a Mac. Yes,
I happen to like the hardware, and the design. But I want to run Windows 7 on
this thing. Would it be possible to simply blow away Mac OS X and dedicate the
whole disk to Windows?
Of course.
Doing so pretty much requires an external (USB) optical drive, like Apple's
SuperDrive. And that's because you need to boot the Mac from a cold stop from
the Windows 7 Setup disk. (You could use that Refit utility to do this from USB
storage, I guess. I did not test this.) And sure enough, it works. Just be sure
to download Apple's driver set for Windows before killing OS X, and save it to a
USB stick or whatever. But as far as Windows Setup goes, it works just like any
other PC, pretty much. Reboot the machine, and hold down the C key at the "bong"
startup sound so that it boots from the optical disk. Install Windows, rebooting
twice. Insert the USB key and install the Mac drivers, reboot. You're good to
go.
This is what I did. And while I'm happy with the results--there's no trace of
OS X on this thing anywhere--I'm pretty sure it's not what most people would do,
or want. And that's fine. I'm just throwing this out there so you know it's
possible.
As for why you probably don't want to do this, read on. Because as I noted in
part one of this article, MacBook Air + Windows 7 is a compromise. And the price
you pay for this compromise will likely be too high for most people.
Apple doesn't design its Mac hardware in isolation. These machines are meant
to be used in tandem with its tightly integrated software, both the Mac OS X
operating system and its key applications software, like iLife. What you get on
the other side is an end to end experience that most PCs can't match, since your
typical PC is a mishmash of software components from a variety of places, and of
varying quality.
And that's neat if you want a Mac. If you don't, you need to deal with some
compromises. Here's what I've seen so far on the MacBook Air.
The Air was designed for iPad-like startup, sleep, and resume, and with OS X
installed, it delivers just that. With Windows, however, things are more
leisurely. Fast, yes. But not instant as with OS X. So you raise the lid on the
device and wait ... 1... 2... 3... seconds before the logon screen appears.
Reboots take 25 seconds, not less than half that time as with OS X. Not
horrible, but not as good. (Oddly, about 5 seconds of that are wasted during the
light gray Mac EFI/BIOS-type screen, which just seems to sit there when booting
into Windows in a way it does not when booting into OS X.)
As for battery life, Apple rates the 13-inch MacBook Air I have for up to 7
hours of endurance ... under Mac OS X. Surprisingly, under Windows 7, I appear
to be getting just that, though I've only had the machine for a few days and
need to test more. For example, as I write this, the battery is down to exactly
50 percent. And it says I have 3 hours and 34 minutes of life left, using the
stock (and default) Balanced power scheme. I haven't changed a thing, and won't.
Let's see how it does.
The layout of the Mac keyboard is non-optimal for a variety of reasons and of
course the Air's keyboard in particular is a lackluster island-style keyboard
with no particularly advantageous quality beyond the fact that it's full-sized.
The big issue is the CTRL, ALT, and Windows keys (COMMAND on a Mac). On a PC,
these keys are laid out as CTRL - Win - ALT to the left of the space bar. But on
the Mac, they're laid out as CTRL - ALT - Win. So you have two choices. You can
simply adapt, as I have. Or you can install a third party keyboard remapper and
change the function of the Windows and ALT keys. (One such program, recommended
by a reader, is InchWest
MapKeyboard. I've tried it, and it works fine.)
Unlike with most PC keyboards, Apple designs the top row of function keys to
do other things. So F9 is Mute, F10 is Volume Down, and F11 is Volume Up. In the
Boot Camp utility that's installed with Apple's drivers (even on a Windows-only
install), you can specify whether these keys will work like normal function keys
by default (requiring Fn + key to activate any special features) or by
special feature by default (requiring Fn + key for the normal function
key actions). It ships in the latter configuration by default, so if you want to
close an open Explorer window with a keyboard shortcut, you need to use Fn + ALT
+ F4 instead of the simpler ALT + F4. And most of the Apple special functions
don't work in Windows anyway: The volume stuff works, and the screen brightness
keys, and Eject and Power. That's it.
Apple ships its portable machines with enormous glass trackpads. I prefer no
trackpad or small trackpads generally, because big trackpads tend to cause
misfires when you're typing and your palm inadvertently taps the glass. But
kudos to Apple for getting this right: So far, I've not had this happen on the
Air, so in this case the size of the trackpad hasn't been problematic.
But it's not perfect. Apple's Boot Camp utility lets you configure how
right-click works (its off by default, though a weird two-finger tap can enable
it too) and whether the pad supports tap to click. But in OS X, the trackpad
supports a wide range of gestures, including squeeze and pinch zooming. In
Windows, I think, the only gesture that works is two-finger-drag for scrolling
in documents and web pages. But it's too fast and I don't see a place to change
that.
I'm no fan of glossy screens but surely I'm not the first to notice that the
glossy screen on the Air isn't as glossy as many such screens--I have no idea
why--and it is bright and beautiful to look at, so I'm OK with it. Also
excellent is the resolution: While most 13- and 14-inch PC notebooks ship with a
stock 1366 x 768 screen (with no option for other resolutions), the Air comes
with a high resolution 1440 x 900 screen. This is key for me, as I often use
applications (like Photoshop Elements or Visual Studio) that pretty much require
higher-res screens.
On the other hand, my eyes are getting old, and on a 13-inch screen, text at
this resolution is often very small and hard to read. You'll want to test this
in a store before buying.
One issue that's peculiar to the MacBook Air is that one of the Windows
Updates you install post-Setup causes Windows 7 to blue screen, and the only way
to get out of it is to reboot the machine into Repair mode, run System Restore,
and then reboot again. Of course, doing so wipes out all the updates you just
installed, and it took me a few installs before I figured out what was going on.
Turns out there's a workaround, and this is a known issue with Apple's
trackpad drivers for Windows, and apparently only for the Air. So what you do is
plug in a USB mouse, go into Device Manager and disable the trackpad devices
(Apple Multitouch and Apple Multitouch Mouse under Human Interface Devices),
install the updates, reboot the PC, and then reenable those devices. (And ditch
the USB mouse.) And you're good to go.
It's dumb, but it works. And until Apple patches its drivers to fix this
issue, it's a workaround you're going to want to know about if you ever attempt
this install, either in Boot Camp or as a standalone Windows install.