Macbook Air Windows 7 Drivers Without Boot Camp

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Aug 01, 2017  How to Install Windows 7-32 bit on macOS Sierra WITHOUT BootCamp on a 13GB partition.

Part A: Create Bootable Windows 10 USB Drive

There are plenty of tutorials available online for this step...

Here's one using Windows:

  1. Download the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft

  2. Download Rufus

  3. Install & Use the tool with the ISO (Pretty obvious eh?) and use FAT32 formatting with GPT for UEFI based systems in the dropdown.

Part B: Partition HDD/SSD for Windows 10 using Disk Utility

  1. Open Disk Utility and select the disk on the sidebar (Select the disk and not the partition)

  2. Click on the Partition Tab and then the '+' icon

  3. Create a new partition with any name & size (preferably >30GB) and format it to FAT32

  4. Click Apply and wait for changes to take effect

  5. Close Disk Utility

Part C: Install rEFInd

Note: This is done to support booting from USB Drives on old MB/MBP...

  1. Download rEFInd

  2. Extract the zip file

  3. Open Terminal App

  4. CD to the extracted folder's location (Google how to use CD commands)

  5. Type './install.sh' without the quotation marks

  6. Enter password

  7. Run the command on step 5 again!!! (Sometimes it doesn't work on the first go...)

  8. Quit Terminal App and Shut Down your MB/MBP

Part D: Install Windows 10

  1. When you boot, you'll see rEFInd window instead

  2. You'll be presented with the option to boot from USB drive...

  3. Select the right-most option! (The one with USB thumbnail! Select the 2nd one if 2 USB thumbnail options are available...)

  4. Install Windows 10 (Same as the installation for Windows 8/8.1)

  5. Your MB/MBP will reboot... Select the Windows Icon with Hard Disk thumbnail this time!!!

  6. Installation will proceed...

Drivers

Part E: Downloading Boot Camp Drivers

After Windows 10 is up and running:

Drivers

  1. Download Boot Camp 5.1.5722 Drivers

  2. Extract the Drivers on the Desktop...

  3. Run CMD or PowerShell as administrator (Use the combination Shift + fn + F10 for right-click)

  4. CD into BootCamp5.1.5722/BootCamp/Drivers/Apple

  5. Run 'BootCamp.msi'

Note: We are using CMD/PowerShell to bypass Elevated Permissions for MSI Installer

Windows On Mac Mini

Et Voila!!! All drivers will install automatically via Boot Camp...

Latest and compatible NVIDIA and ATI drivers will automatically get installed via Windows Update!

Optional

Part E: Bypass rEFInd boot screen

  1. Boot to OS X

  2. Go to System Preferences

  3. Select Startup Disk

  4. Select BOOTCAMP or Macintosh HD (or whatever your OS X partition is named)

  5. Click Restart

Macbook Air Windows 7 Drivers Without Boot Camp
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Microsoft is pretty much done with Windows 7, and now, so is Apple. The new 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops introduced earlier in March will not run Windows 7 via Apple's dual-boot assistant, Boot Camp. According to Apple's support documentation, Boot Camp only supports Windows 8 and 8.1 on the new devices; however, official Windows 10 support will likely roll out later in 2015.

This is the second time Apple has decided to give Windows 7 the cold shoulder. The late 2013 Mac Pro also ceased to support Windows 7 in Boot Camp, but other Macs released in 2014 did support Microsoft's operating system.

The story behind the story: Apple hasn't officially said if the lack of Windows 7 support for Boot Camp is the new normal going forward, but it seems likely. In January, Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 7, meaning the OS will only receive security updates for the next five years, and retail disc sales for Windows 7 ended in late 2013. With Microsoft winding down its own support of Windows 7, now is the ideal time for Apple to say goodbye to it as well.

Not the end

Anyone who has Windows 7 discs kicking around will still be able to use the OS on the newer MacBooks—just not with Apple's software. Third-party virtualization options such as Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion still support Windows 7 installs. If you need a free option there's also VirtualBox, though Parallels or VMWare Fusion tend to offer better performance.

The lack of Windows 7 support with Boot Camp may annoy people who need it for work, but with the virtualization options around it shouldn't be a deal breaker.

Bootcamp

If Windows 7 support is absolutely critical, however, and you want to use Boot Camp, there are still a number of Macs on the market that will support it. Check out Apple's support pages for a complete list.

Running Windows On Macbook Air

[via MacRumors]

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