In case you ever want to convert an Apple to run only Windows, here are the technical steps I use:
Get Mac Drivers for Windows (Apple Boot Camp Windows Drivers)
- 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
- Make sure you have a place for the Boot Camp Assistant to save the Windows support software
- blank CD, DVD or
- An external drive formatted as MS-DOS (FAT)
- To format an external drive as MS-DOS (FAT), use: Applications folder > Utilities > Disk Utility
- Open: Applications folder > Utilities > Boot Camp Assistant
- Follow the on-screen instructions
- Ok to ignore warnings if you do not have the DVD connected
- Download the Windows support software (takes a while)
- Save the Apple Boot Camp Windows Drivers to a CD, DVD, or FAT 32 external disk
- Used approximately 600 Meg on 3/30/11
- 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
- We are installing only Windows 7 on the computer
- 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.
- 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.
- Wipe out the drive partitions and create one new partition with a MBR boot sector instead of the Apple GUID one
- Choose Utilities > Disk Utility
- Choose the 251GB Apple SSID drive
- Select the Partition tab
- In volume scheme set to “1 partition”
- Name: Windows7 (or whatever you want)
- Format: FAT32
- Size: 251GB
- Options > MBR (Master Boot Record)
- Choose Apply (and, when prompted, confirm you want to partition the drive)
- Use the menu at the top of the screen to “quit the disk utility”
- Use the menu at the top of the screen to “quit the mac OS X installer”
- Shut down the Mac
- Remove the USB rescue stick
- Plug in the external DVD drive with Windows 7 64 bit DVD installed
- Boot the system while holding down the Option key
- If you want to register Windows online during the installation:
- Join a Wi-Fi network or
- Plug in the USB to RJ45 converter and connect via an Ethernet cable
- Neither is necessary
- Click on the arrow above the Wi-Fi and the CD “Windows”
- The computer will seem to turn off and then Windows install starts
- You’ll be prompted to reformat the drive with NTFS
- The installation process takes a long time and the computer may seems “frozen” at times but it is still going
- Install the Windows support software you created earlier:
- Insert the CD or DVD or connect the external disk with the Windows support software
- If the DVD drive is not recognized:
- Shut down the Mac / Windows 7 machine
- Turn on the Mac again
- The turning on process may take more than 2 minutes, and the screen will flash, and the computer may seem like it went off
- Eventually Windows will boot and be able to recognize the CD/DVD drive
- 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.
- If the DVD drive is not recognized:
- Follow the onscreen instructions
- The dialog will say “Installing Boot Camp” but only the Win drivers are installed
- Important: Do not click the Cancel button in any of the installer dialogs.
- If a message appears that says the software you’re installing has not passed Windows Logo testing, click Continue Anyway.
- You don’t need to respond to installer dialogs that appear only briefly during the installation
- 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.
- After your computer restarts, follow the instructions for any other installers that appear
- Note: To eject the DVD from the drive
- Open Windows Explorer
- Right click (click with two fingers on the touch pad) on the DVD drive icon
- Choose “Eject”
- Check for updated Windows support software
- Use the Apple Software Update inside of Windows (look under “All programs”)
- Insert the CD or DVD or connect the external disk with the Windows support software
- Configure Windows
- Install all Microsoft patches
- Install IE9
- Install Microsoft Security Essentials
- Microsoft patches again
- Set patches to ask me before downloading or updating
- Then I used the Windows support software by using Apple Software Update inside of Windows (look under “All programs”) to check for updates again.
- You may want to search e-Bay for “windows 7 sticker.”
In Case You Ever Want to Go Back to Using OS X
- When powering up, hold down the C key to boot to the USB rescue device
- Follow the instructions
Test and Use
- USB Ethernet adapter
- Wi-Fi LAN adapter
- Video VGA port—MUST PLUG IN VGA ADAPTER PRIOR TO BOOTING WINDOWS
- Command-P is like Windows-P
- 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”
- Press the button “Add”
- Scroll down to “English (United States)” and expand
- Check box “US”
- Press OK
- Press OK—You’ll see two keyboards listed “US” and “United States (Apple)”
- Press OK
Shadow Protect
In case you use ShadowProtect 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.