Install Vista on a MacBook WITHOUT BootCamp
12Jun2008 Filed under: General Author: Derek HatchardIt’s no secret that I love Apple laptops but I much prefer Vista over OS X. I’ve upgraded to a MacBook Pro and wanted to see if I could get Windows Vista to install on my old 13" MacBook without using BootCamp.
The following method worked for me using a Windows Vista DVD with Service Pack 1. I did a fresh install of OS X 10.4 Tiger before doing this. (Sorry the pictures are wonky - I’m not great at shooting screen shots with my camera.)
Your mileage may vary. Proceed at your own risk:
Insert Mac OS X Install Disc (this part should work with OS X 10.4 Tiger or OS X 10.5 Leopard discs).
Reboot. Hold down C key during reboot.
Do not start the install. From the Utilities menu, select Disk Utility.
Select your hard drive from the list and then click the Partition tab / button.
Click the Options button and select "Master Boot Record" as the partition scheme. Click OK.
From the Volume Scheme drop down list, select 1 Partition. Select MS-DOS (FAT) for the format (not that this matters since you will reformat it using NTFS during the Vista install).
Click Apply.
Reboot. Hold down the Alt/Option key turning reboot.
When the graphical boot menu appears, hit the eject button. Take out the OS X Install Disc and put in your Vista with SP1 install disc.
If a Windows DVD icon does not appear, reboot and hold down Alt/Option during reboot.
When the Windows DVD icon appears in the graphical boot menu, hit Enter to select it.
Proceed through the Vista install.
When you come to screen titled "Where do you want to install Windows," select Disk 0.
There will be a message saying that you cannot install to that disk because it is not formatted using NTFS.
Click the Drive Options link. Click the Format link. Click OK in the confirmation dialog.
Now select Disk 0 and click Next.
The Vista installation should proceed as normal.
Once Windows is installed and loaded, insert an OS X 10.5 Leopard disc and install the Windows drivers from Apple. If you do not have access to an OS X 10.5 Leopard disc, your mileage may vary in getting all the hardware to work. (Note: I used the Leopard disc from my MacBook Pro to install the drivers for on the old MacBook. Worked like a charm.)
If this works for you, please leave me a comment here. If it didn’t work, please leave a comment describing what happened.
32 Responses to “Install Vista on a MacBook WITHOUT BootCamp”
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- karen D: Thanks for the your website and post...I had a horrible time with airfare today and Julie's phone
- Jennifer Lester: So I would like to do the opposite of what you did. I bought a
- afikoman: Angie, It all depends on what you want a laptop for and your budget. For portability, design
- angie: i have been reading all the reviews on multiple websites concerning dell xps 1530, i have been
- aaron: ok so i did this but my sound dosent work :'( do i have to install a
- Drew: Yes. It is fair. In fact as a designer I don't feel any obligation to forego
- john quinto: 1920x1200 at 15.4" is now the minimum resolution i'll accept at that size. It is extremely comfortable
- Drew: Wuss.
- Chris Hilgemann: Thanks for this great tutorial... Works great !!
- Sad_Guy: I'm a proud owner of xps m1530, almost 5-6 months until yesterday my laptop cannot be awaken
Mike
June 13th, 2008 at 10:15 am
WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO THIS???!!!!
Vista is the single most buggy piece software I have ever used.
Sorry, but this feels like buying an Audi, and putting in a Yugo engine.
UBUNTU ALL THE WAY!
henry
June 19th, 2008 at 11:59 am
lol vista works with all you want. mac os x xx.x.x doenst. muahahaha
Sebastian
June 20th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Hey. I’m installing it for the sake of it and just seeing what it is like. Might keep it on for a week or two then going back to OS X.
The original reason for reinstalling the testing other options was because OS X has been screwing up for me for the past couple of months after I had sent it in for repairs four (4) times.
I am fed up with the on going list of problems that I have had with my MacBook Pro. As I have said, I’ve sent it in four times and they have said that it was ‘fixed’ but each time, the problem stayed and a new problem came up every time!!!
Recently it’s been that the CD drive hasn’t been able to read about half the CDs - so what did they do? Changed the CD drive. They didn’t think to check that the metal around the case had been bent down? I had to MANUALLY push it back up so now I have this ugly screwed metal thing where the CDs come in and out and I’m now afraid that they’ll scratch on it.
Once the new MBP designs are out, I’m asking to get a whole replacement because I’ve lost money from it being in getting repaired.
I’ll also complain to APC’s watchdog about it and see what they can do for me.
Derek Hatchard
June 20th, 2008 at 11:59 am
@Sebastien, I have similar problems with my 13″ MacBook reading CDs. Unfortunately the warranty period is over.
Good luck dealing with Apple. I’ve heard their service can be poor. Fortunately for me there is a local repair shop here contracted to do Apple repairs and they’re pretty good. They also do Toshiba warranty service and treated me well every time I took in my 2.5 year old tablet PC that was still under warranty.
Marc
June 30th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I’ve done this with my MacBook Pro - not a trace of OS X left on the hard drive. Only issue, though, is that booting is very slow, I think due to the EFI’s BIOS emulation… Does anyone know a way to fix this delay? Before the Windows splash screen (green loading bar) it sits with a black screen and blinking ‘_’ cursor for 50 seconds every time it boots.
If there’s no solution, it would be helpful to know if this happens with all Macs running Vista, and not just mine.
Thanks.
JimM
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Did the same for my Mac Air (solid state HD version). Same long boot times. Interestingly - I also did the same with Windows 2008 server (Standard Edition). It worked with no boot delays (go figure - it’s the same kernel). Anyway, all the Leopard drivers worked for 2008 except the Bluetooth drivers - so I reverted back to Vista. Too bad a lot of the bugs in Vista (like the flakey file copy bug) went away in Server 2008. If you do this (Vista or any other OS) and completely remove OSX, remember that you wont be able to do any Apple Firmware updates. To get around this, I installed OSX on a 16 GB USB thumb drive. When I need OSX, I just boot to OSX from that. Slow but functional.
Derek Hatchard
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Didn’t know you could boot OS X off a thumb drive. Very cool.
@JimM: Vista SP1 is supposed to improve the file copy problems. Personally I use TeraCopy: http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php. Not sure how much is perception, but file copying feels a lot faster and the time estimates seem much more accurate.
JimM
July 6th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I was hoping SP1 would solve the problem for me too but no go. Interesting point: Vista with Boot Camp on a Mac-mini (with or without SP1 didn’t exhibit the file copy issues either locally or across the network (AD Domain). but on my Air - even with SP1 - the OS just hangs with the calculating dialog stuck on the screen. Killing the process in Task Manager doesn’t fix it either. The OS gets wonky at that point. Leads me to think it’s more than just a single issue that MS needs to resolve. There was another patch available for SP1 available last week, but I didn’t see anything in the manifest that would lead me to think it would fix the issue (will try it anyway sometime this week and report back). You are absolutely right about 3rd party replacements not having the problem. In my case I installed XYPlorer (http://www.xyplorer.com/) and file copies and moves are back to being lightening fast. A work-around, but that’s all I need at the moment. It seems the Vista file copy issue (post SP1) isn’t an isolated issue as a number of blog posts state it’s still a problem (gees some people sure do get worked up about an OS). I was at MS in Mississauga two weeks ago and compared notes with a number of developers attending a CRM Dynamics seminar and for some this issue was fixed in SP1, while for others it’s still an issue. Sigh.
JimM
July 15th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Well … Just for the record, last week’s patch Tuesday included a patch for Vista that corrects the dreaded file copy error. The manifest states something to the effect that it “fixes several performance and related issues”. About the only other complaint that I have is that my Bluetooth mighty mouse keeps having to be re-installed whenever the Macbook first boots up in Vista. Not sure if this a common Vista issue or something specific to my MBA.
Reece
July 20th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Yes I too am getting fed up of Leopard. Its really getting to me. People are always saying how Vista is buggy and crap etc, but leopard is not close off. It just does stupid things like, it will be working fine, then suddenly on next boot it wont boot properly and stay at the blue screen for ages, and I have to boot from the leopard install disc and repair the disk, gets annoying after a while.
I think my next computer will be a windows, after using mac for ages, I have come to realise thats its way to expensive for starters, repair costs are way to much and if I want to run OSX then you can on a windows anyway.
But, apart from my long annoyance of OSX, thanks for the guide ^__^ I already knew this but I spose some people didn’t
James
July 25th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I have a problem with disc 2 of my Leopard install disc (it has an error about copying an iDVD file -.-) and need to use my laptop whilst they send my new discs AND my Time Machine drive died on me thanks to MacDrive so I am now installing Vista on my MacBook as the primary OS. I’m also downloading the retail Leopard (Yes apple. DOWNLOADING without buying. I own the software already. It’s your fault I can’t use it anyway.) I am ALSO ripping the disc 2 and hoping to burn it to disc again (using my PC).
Thanks for the Master Boot Record tip
Needed that!
I love leopard but can’t use it at the moment
Josh
July 27th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Installing Vista right now. We’ll see what happens after it installs. I have a Leopard CD which came with the Macbook (13in) which contains all the necessary drivers? Cheers,
David
July 27th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Derek and all,
is there a specific technical reason to bypass boot camp? I am setting up a Macbook for my wife and am going to use Boot Camp but I’m not a Mac specialist. Thanks in advance everyone.
Derek Hatchard
July 27th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
@David: People who only own OS X 10.4 (Tiger) disks don’t have BootCamp. Some people also like not having an OS X install taking up disk space. But if you have BootCamp, it’s probably easiest to just use it.
jordan
August 15th, 2008 at 7:03 am
Does this method affect an applecare warranty?
Derek Hatchard
August 15th, 2008 at 8:41 am
@jordan: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I did this on a MacBook that was out of warranty.
Motoi Bogdan
August 15th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
did you install windows using a superdrive? i use an external lg dvd unit and everytime i try this stunt i end up with that goddamnit question mark when i try to boot from the vista dvd (xp, win2008 or whatever i try). is there a way to clean install vista or xp without the superdrive?
Derek Hatchard
August 15th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
@Motoi: I’ve only done this with the integrated drive in a MacBook. I know I saw the question mark at some point in my trials but I don’t remember exactly what I was doing. One thing, though, is that you need an OS that supports EFI (e.g., Vista w/ SP1 or Windows Server 2008).
khai
September 12th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I had managed to install vista without boot camp on my macbook. there is no longer trace of os x. after weeks with vista i decided to drop back to os x. but it seems i’m not able to restore back with the install disk.
i simply can’t get to the disk utility. it keeps on eject the install disc every time i slot it in.
any suggestion?
Dano
September 18th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Great blog
One question - I’m looking to install my Vista installation on an external Firewire drive.
Any ideas whether it will work?
Running 10.4.11
Dano
Derek Hatchard
September 18th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
@Dano, I have no idea. Let us know if it works.
Dave
September 28th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Can you dual boot with this setup? i.e. repartition with two 50 GB volumes, fresh install OS X 10.4 on the first 50GB partition then install Vista on the second 50GB partition and then boot to either?
tita leslie
October 4th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
i got ma macbook,which wouldnt boot again,with this blinking question mark folder,the probelm is i dont have the OS X installation disks anymore and i wish to install vista or xp,what can i do,thanks????????????
Marty
October 13th, 2008 at 2:20 am
Well for me I am on my third MacBook Pro! They have the best technical support! If you live by a Apple Store it is a lot better than sending it in! Most of the time I can just get a brand new laptop if I am having a lot of hardware issues and stuff like that! Quit complaining!
ARD
October 16th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I just switched my daughter’s MacBook Pro to Vista Enterprise, works great (once you turn off UAC). Thanks for the tips!
doug leins
October 17th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Finally! A solution to all my Mac instability problems. This Vista install works great. Thanks for posting this article.
Anders Norrestad
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Hej!
I bougt a mac mini 2 MHZ, 1 and 1/2 year ago. I wanted to try with Parallels Desktop. It doesent work very well, and i dident have any use for Macs operting system. What can you do with OSX that you dont can do with Windows? So i did exactly what you did with your Vista installation. A few weeks ago, i read an artcle on the net that you could update your mini to 4 Gb ram. I bougt 2 x 2 Gb ram an putted it in to the mini. With that amount of ram i also bougt Vista 64 Business and istalled it exactly as you did. Got the Leopard drivers from a friend. Everything works just perfect. I run both AutoCAD Architecture and Revit Architechture on it. I works as well as my “big PC” with a 3.0 Intel Core 2 Duo and 8 GB of ram. The graphic card is not that good, but it doesent matter. So my next computer will be a Mac Book Pro with Vista 64. Sad that Macpeople don`t like Winmac people.
Lynn Chisholm
November 8th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
I am trying to find help with a problem I have with my 18 month old MacBook. The internal disk drive failed within a year, but there is no support close by and I didn’t send it away because I needed it for online courses. I now need to partition Leopard OS in order to be able to install a statistics program for a course. Should I ditch the MacBook and get a non-Apple product? I need a solution asap as my course starts Thursday.
Derek Hatchard
November 10th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Lynn, you should be able to install a new hard drive and then use your Leopard install disk to partition the drive as needed.
Chris Hilgemann
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Thanks for this great tutorial… Works great !!
aaron
December 28th, 2008 at 2:00 am
ok so i did this but my sound dosent work :’(
do i have to install a new sound driver? and how?
it says windows sound driver working…but it dosent.
Jennifer Lester
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:03 am
So I would like to do the opposite of what you did. I bought a MacBook off line from a guy who got rid of the Mac program and now has Vista. How do I turn my Mac into a Mac again?