As I expected, installing the 64 bit version Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro wasn’t as easy as perhaps it should have been.
You can’t just burn the x64 image to a disk and expect it to work. My MBP didn’t boot from the disc presenting me with the same stuff as it did with Vista (choose option 1 or 2, but the keyboard doesn’t work!).
There are even some new issues introduced by Snow Leopard which I deal with at the end.
However, I’ve had further time to research better methods of getting around this issue since I wrote the Vista x64 article.
Note: I wrote this guide using my MacBook Pro which I got in Summer 2007. (Apple identifies it as “MacBookPro3,1″; It’s the Santa Rosa 2.4Ghz model). Some steps may not be required for your Mac. By deduction, I have already determined that some people are able to boot straight from the DVD. I wasn’t able to.
Ok, here we go:
Follow the instructions here to build a compatible iso file.
Burn that iso image to a DVD (I’ve tried with a USB flash drive but it wouldn’t boot 
)
Put it in your MacBook / MacBook Pro / iMac…. and install like normal! 
Driver support in Windows 7 is okay for my MacBook Pro; certainly a lot better than it was with Vista x64, but you’ll still want to install some stuff especially if you’re on a laptop (to get the brightness adjustment, bluetooth, touchpad etc., working). So:
Put your Snow Leopard disk in, if you have one. And follow the instructions below if you see that message.
Otherwise:
If you don’t have Snow Leopard, try your Leopard DVD and run the setup from there (Mine doesn’t have the 64 bit drivers on, yours may. Who knows….)
Or finally, you can download the individual driver files from the above package which should save some time waiting for Rapid Share. They’re here. You won’t see any application run, maybe just a UAC prompt, but they do work.
Now you should have a completeish install; but, be sure to check Windows Update (there’s a better video driver) and apply security updates / install antivirus….
Oh, and to get sound working you can just run the RealTekSetup.exe from any of the above packages in Vista compatibilty mode and it’ll work.
Whichever method you choose: you should update to the latest version (3.1 at time of edit) which can be downloaded here. You have to install a previous version before that though.
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EDIT: to improve your hard drive’s windows experience rating, look at the solution I posted in the comments below.
Snow Leopard edit: Now that Snow Leopard is out, all the disks have x64 drivers on them. So, if you can, use that. However, if you have an oldish Mac like mine, you may see the following message (Boot Camp x64 is unsupported on this computer model)
After installing the drivers from the disk, you should update to Boot Camp version 3.1 from here.
If you do see that, it’s no big deal. Just open up command prompt as an administrator (in the start menu type cmd, right click on it and select Run as Administrator, click yes on the UAC prompt).
In the command prompt window, change to the DVD’s directory by running
cd /d D:
(assuming your Snow Leopard disk is in the D drive).
Now type
cd Boot Camp\Drivers\Apple
And then finally, type
BootCamp64.msi
This circumvents the installers check of your computer model and installs all the relevent drivers properly.
[...] Windows 7 Beta 1 x64 on a MacBook Pro – Guide « Josh Anderson’s Blog (01:07:23) : [...]
You are the only person (at least what I have found) that has managed to find a solution for audio in Windows 7 x64. Thanks a lot!
Hello, thanks to your guide I set up Win 7 successfully, only glitch I have is a disk performance score of “2.0″ in the performance assessment tool – do you have the same score? (I remember having score of not less than 5 on Vista x64 SP1) I did something a bit special – I had x64 Boot camp installer (that installs just the boot camp program without drivers), and then installed the 2.1 Vista x64 update. I also remember I installed chipset drivers from Intel in Vista x64, but in Win 7 it complained about not being tested for this OS, and refused to install.
Sadly I don’t think it’s a glitch. I have the same rubbishy rating for my hard drive and I read that it is given because they added a new test since the Vista version.
Something to do with random access seek times, if I recall correctly.
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Do you know if you can use the Apple Boot Camp 2.1 Vista64 update after installing the 2.01 update listed here? Or should I just leave it at 2.01?
Yeah, 2.1 works ok. But I don’t think there’s a great difference.
You might come across a bug with Windows 7 and msi installers when trying to install it; I did. But fortunately, the solution center offers very clear instructions on how to resolve this and it’ll install fine.
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I’ve come across a way to improve the hard drive score in 7’s experience index.
You can follow the instructions here. (I recorded this using the new problem recorder in windows 7; it outputs a funny xml file that may not show properly in anything other than IE8, but it worked ok for me in Opera, not firefox).
Anywho, there is a version without pictures that may work better here.
And, if all else fails, there’s this screenshot of the whole page: here
The solution upped my hard drive rating from a measly 2.0 to a rather nicer 4.8 bringing the overall score with it. Not sure what kind of real world difference not having write caching enabled has on things, but 7 obviously gets better transfer rates this way.
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Hey, I appreciate this info as Im desperately trying to get windoes 7×64 working on my mac pro, but I;m having a problem with the image step. Whe I have tried to perform the operation it says that oscdimg is an urecognised command. Is there something els I need to do?
Thanks!!
Hi James….
Did you complete step 3 of that guide and download oscdimg into the folder he suggests?
If you did then in command prompt you’ll need to cd (change directory) to that folder by issuing the command cd \efi-dmg
I think it says that in the guide I linked to.
If you didn’t download oscdimg, then that’s your problem! It won’t be recognised because it’s not there.
Go back and read the instructions properly. If you’re still having problems comment back.
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Thanks for the reply Josh!
I Finnaly got it to work and I have 7 X64 running on my mac pro as we speak! I was actually following the steps correctly, the only thing I did differently this time is I ran the oscdimg.exe before doing the steps, which might have been just assumed. Anyway I’m stoked and I can’t thank you enough for the link.
Hi Josh
Ok..I just installed Windows 7 build 7057 onto my 17″ macbook pro (early 2009 model). I got everything running except the wifi. It seems to show a live connection available but refuses to get online. I installed all the drives from my leopard 10.5 cd but still no luck. I tried resetting my router several times but still no luck. I have also tried connecting directly with an ethernet cable but that doesnt get detected at all. Do you have any idea what I should try next? I know theres a newer build of Win 7 (7068) and I dont know what bugs have been fixed with that release.
^^ Ignore the previous message. I fixed the problem. After removing the broadcom driver in device manager I rebooted…windows 7 then reinstalled the driver automatically and everything worked fine. My first imressions of Windows 7 are good…Im impressed by the speed (compared to my 64bit Vista).
I’ve got build 7068 on my MBP (though it’s 32 bit at the moment). I haven’t noticed anything different from 7057 so it really isn’t a worthwhile upgrade. Wait for the RC is my advice.
And it’s good that Windows 7 has the drivers already, isn’t it? Lots of stuff works already when it’s just been installed so it’s much easier to get boot camp drivers onto the machine without using a dvd etc.,
No idea why it wouldn’t work through ethernet though, I would have thought that it has a fairly common adaptor there and that the drivers should be present already. Does it work now that you have connected to the internet? i.e. Has it updated the drivers now?
I wish I had a unibody MBP
How’s the battery life on it?
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Hi Josh
Yeh..all working now. I connected to Windows update but it didnt seem to detect any new updates except for Silverlight (I would have expected there to be at least a few new updates).
Also…I think the problem with my wifi was cause by Eset Smary Security’s firewall settings. But like I say its all running sweet now.
Also…I ran the “windows experience index” benchmarks with the following results:
Overall Score: 5.3
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9550 @ 2.66GHz 6.3
Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB 6.3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 5.3
Gaming graphics 2291 MB Total available graphics memory 5.3
Primary hard disk 47GB Free (101GB Total) 5.9
I should mention that I have the upgraded (7200rpm) hdd drive rather than the standard 5400 disk.
As for battery life…I havent used the PC partition much with battery and generaly Im using the OSX partition with the faster graphics card enabled but with the integrated gfx I can get more over 6 hours depending what Im doing.
LOL…I never thought I would say this but after 20 years with PCs I am SOOOOO happy to get my first mac
Thanks Josh, I will take a look and try it and let you know.
Thanks for the tip on getting the drivers to install on a MacBookPro3,1!
Does this method work with for Windows 7 RTM version?
It sure does.
Josh, are you SURE it works with the RTM version of Win7 64bit? I tried running the MSI from within the GUI, and got an error that it needed to be run via the installer. I didn’t try using the command prompt method. I am also running Snow Leopard; but on an early 2009 13″ unibody MacBook.
Let me know as soon as you can. I’d really like to run the 64bit version instead of the 32bit version.
I’m 100% sure it works on RTM x64 Windows 7. I’m using it right now. I can scroll using the touchpad, adjust the screen brightness, volume…..
I’ve just discovered a different method that you can try (and I will probably update the main post later to reflect the fact that this is easier).
With the Snow Leopard disk in; navigate to ‘Boot Camp\Drivers\Apple’. Click once on ‘BootCamp64′ to select it, hit alt on the keyboard and then from the File menu click ‘Troubleshoot Compatibility’. The wizard will set it up so that the setup will run normally.
I just tried this just now and it seems to have installed everything you need.
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This worked! I’m up on Win7 64bit with full support, including backlit keyboard, now. Thanks for all the help. I really appreciate it!
Excellent. Glad I could help.
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There is no option under File menu for “Troubleshoot Compatibility”
Did you click on the file first?
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Im all the way at the end of the instalation. Win 7 runs fine but i can start the OS X disk in Win 7. I alredy tried to run the bootCamp64.msi and that didnt work. The thing that happend was that I got a notification that this program has a known copatibility issue. And after that a window came up with a unexpected error, code 2229. Am I doing something wrong?
I haven’t experienced that problem before & therefore it’s difficult to suggest things you could do. It seems as though you’re trying to run the right thing.
Maybe an older version of BootCamp will work? Or just the individual drivers within them.
Sorry I can’t be more helpful.
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Thanks for the tip about installing drivers directly from command prompt!
Hey I have leopard on my mac but I lost the cd and I only have my old tiger cd will this still work when I install the drivers with the tiger cd
As Christopher says below [WordPress doesn't allow me to make his comment a reply to yours], Tiger doesn’t have support for Boot Camp, so no it won’t work.
Perhaps you can download the drivers from the link below though?
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL74
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Tiger doesn’t support Boot Camp, so the drivers will not be on that DVD. Sorry. A copy of Snow Leopard should only cost you $30, if that helps…
Ok This works. A combination of Leopard (10.5) and the download above has all my devices working perfectly on Windows 7 Ultimate x64 RTM. Thanks so much
I have a 24″ white iMac Intel Core2 Duo. Followed your instructions and it worked perfectly. Thanks for the post, you’re a life saver!
From the bottom of my heart – thank you.
hey, i’m from germany and my english isn’t so well.
also i ask where can i find the solution for cd-rom boot type…
i’m not able to use my keyboard.
can you help me please…
best regards
You have to follow the instructions on this page: http://test.andersonshatch.com/2009/11/08/select-cd-rom-boot-type-prompt-during-vista-server-2008-r2-windows-7-x64-boot-on-macbook/
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This seems to be working. With the windows 7 trial edition on a macbook pro classic. Thanks for the help.
I have already tried this and my screen stays black! I also tried “jowie’s tweak” and it doesn’t work too, it’s the same.
i’m really not a noob!
mac mini 2Ghz Efi 32
How and where can I create these folders c:\efi-iso c:\efi-dvd c:\efi-exe since windows doesn’t accept files name with : or \
Thanks you it worked great job.
[...] If you need more information on this, look here. [...]
[...] My early 2009 13" aluminum, unibody MacBook is also another great example of a compatible, Windows 7 capable PC, but one that had special driver installation needs, especially for 64bit Windows 7. [...]
Hey all! Firstly let me say thank you for the awesome job you’ve done with this tutorial. The links to the drivers alone was a real find.
But, to get to my problem, I’m running the exact same hardware as you list at the beginning of this post, a MBP Santa Rosa (3,1) and I’ve followed all steps to get the Win7 x64 iso disc made, and have successfully booted from the disc to the installer. However, after the installer loads, and things look windows-esque, I am immediately presented with a prompt telling me that the driver for my cd-rom drive is missing, and I am asked to locate it. I tried moving the Bootcamp 2.01 drivers you’ve provided to the partition I’ll be installing on, and thought I could load them from there, but without any luck. The prompt mentions that I can safely change cds to load my drivers if necessary, but I’m unable to use the eject button on my MacBook to get the windows installer disc out.
Has anyone else encountered this problem? I’m stumped and running out of options. Please help!
That’s a very weird issue… Especially seeing as it’s booting from the CD when it’s telling you it needs drivers!
I’ve tried in the past to eject a DVD when in the installer but have had no success; but anyway…. If you need to provide it with the drivers, your best option is to use a USB hard drive / USB key thingy…. The next problem though, is that Apple doesn’t provide drivers for the DVD drive…. Because they don’t need to! On everyone else’s it just seems to work.
This makes me think that there is something wrong with your installation DVD and perhaps some files are missing from it? Perhaps you could try making it again.
If this same problem happens again, I’ll retrieve the DVD driver from my Mac (once it has been fixed & returned to me) and I’ll upload it so you can try that; but I would suggest trying to create the DVD again & ensure, if you downloaded it from somewhere, that it’s complete.
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Forgot to mention, obviously, comment back with how it goes and if you need me to upload the driver for you to try.
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[...] My early 2009 13" aluminum, unibody MacBook is also another great example of a compatible, Windows 7 capable PC, but one that had special driver installation needs, especially for 64bit Windows 7. [...]
Thanks a million for your instructions! I have a 15″ MacBook Pro (Leopard) running Windows 7 Enterprise N x64 in Boot Camp, and have everything working except for the Mac specific function keys (sound, brightness, eject, and backlit keyboard). The links to the four driver files no longer work, but I was able to get the single file that contains all of the drivers.
[...] Once you successfully get Windows 7 installed using the methods outlined in the blogs above, the normal next step is to “insert the Snow Leopard Disc and install the Boot Camp drivers”. However, this resulted in an error message “Boot Camp x64 is unsupported on this computer model”. There is a workaround for this too, described in this post. [...]
[...] new disc and booting from that disc the install went smoothly. But then I tried to install drivers. Josh Anderson has a good post on his site that was able to answer all my questions from here on out. Also, [...]
[...] won’t work…. easiest way to get around that is to follow the instructions here…. http://blog.andersonshatch.com/2009/01/11/windows-7-x64-on-a-macbook-pro-guide/ And in case you can’t follow directions like me, you need to right click and run as [...]
[...] wasn’t until I discovered Josh Anderson’s Blog that I was able to get Boot Camp to install. I’ve been running the 64bit version of Windows 7 [...]
[...] wasn’t until I discovered Josh Anderson’s Blog that I was able to get Boot Camp to install. I’ve been running the 64bit version of Windows 7 [...]
Fantastic! I should have thought to use the command line to elevate privileges like that…
Works like a charm.
Thanks a lot, i was so desperate until i found this by googling the error…
Thank you very much!!! This was a great help for me getting win 7 64 running on my MBP. Everything seems good so far except my computer will not eject a usb ext hard drive running in win7 it just says other program is using it try closing the program and try again. anyone else have this issue??
Thankyou. thankyou thankyou thankyou.
This guide is the last stop in my LONG journey to get this stuff working. Everything works now.
I really appreciate you taking the time to help everyone.
Thanks =)