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I have a MacBook Pro Mid-2009. Unfortunately, I erased my internal drive which led me to OS X Utilities only. When I clicked on reinstall OS X, it asked me to sign into my Apple ID. But, it ended with a popup saying, This item is temporarily unavailable.

So I tried installing Windows 7 on that dead MacBook. I created a bootable USB, plugged it, pressed the power button while holding ⌥ Option key, selected my bootable USB (EFI Boot).

After that, I saw an installation screen of Windows 7. All the processes went well. I selected my internal Drive to install Windows. At last, I saw a popup, Restarts in 10 seconds. But after the restart my MacBook turned on with a blank white screen.

Can anyone please help me to get rid of this problem?

Allan
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Manveer Singh
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  • Which problem are you trying to get rid of? In other words, which operating system do you wish to install? Officially, your Mac supports up to OS X 10.11 and 64 bit Windows 7. Although you may be able to install a newer Windows. Do you have any other computers available? If so, what kind and which operating systems? Does OS X Utilities mean OS X Recovery? If so, then have you erased that? – David Anderson Feb 07 '22 at 11:03
  • Thanks for replying! I want to install Windows 7 64 bit. I’ve installed it through a bootable usb. It worked great but at the last point, when the installation process tells me that,”Restarting your computer in 10,9,8 ...sec” My Macbook restarts with a white screen. I’ve seen many installation videos on youtube, but their Macbooks restart with “Setting Up Windows” while I’m able to see white screen only. I have a Macbook Pro 2021 and a Windows laptop (Windows 7 32bit) extra with me! – Manveer Singh Feb 07 '22 at 12:17
  • I am surprised you have video show how to install an EFI booting 64 bit Windows 7 on a MacBook Pro. I would assume you should have installed a BIOS booting Windows 7. Did you include the drivers supplied by Apple on the flash drive in the proper location? Does Windows 7 include SP1? – David Anderson Feb 07 '22 at 12:27
  • Here are the steps that I followed:- 1) I installed Windows 7 64 bit ISO File on my Acer laptop(Win) (2) Then i used an app called Rufus through which i created my Bootable usb flash drive. It asked me for partition scheme and Target system where I selected GPT and UEFI(non CSM) respectively. (3) It created the bootable usb, i plugged it into my MacBook and turned it on while holding the option key. (4) i saw my flash drive named EFI Boot (5) It led me to Windows 7 installation and that white screen problem. – Manveer Singh Feb 07 '22 at 12:34
  • The USB port on your model Mac can EFI boot, but not BIOS boot. If you EFI boot the Windows installer, then the GUI will install Windows to EFI boot. Can install a 64 bit Windows 7 (with SP1) from a DVD? – David Anderson Feb 07 '22 at 12:56
  • Dvd port is damaged. Any other ways? Or can i download the OS X El capitan again? – Manveer Singh Feb 07 '22 at 13:09
  • You can use the CLI to install a BIOS booting Windows. You can BIOS boot the installer from the internal drive and use the GUI to install Windows 7. You can download OS X El Capitan again. – David Anderson Feb 07 '22 at 13:36
  • But how can i do that? I don’t have macOS downloaded on my Mac. And how can I download Os X El Capitan again?? – Manveer Singh Feb 07 '22 at 14:00
  • Can i contact you? Through whatsapp or something? – Manveer Singh Feb 07 '22 at 14:02

1 Answers1

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Windows 7 can be installed by first reinstalling El Capitan. Although, the OP may be satisfied with just having El Capitan reinstalled.

Steps to Install El Capitan

  1. Use the machine with Windows installed to create a Snow Leopard USB flash drive installer. See this answer to the question "How to create a bootable OS X Snow Leopard USB drive?" for the procedure. If you wish, the downloaded ISO can be verified against the SHA256 checksum given in this answer. For example, if the ISO was downloaded to your Downloads folder, then enter the command given below.

    certutil -hashfile "%homepath%\downloads\snow leopard install.iso" sha256

  2. Use the USB flash drive to boot the Mac. Use the Disk Utility to erase the internal drive, then install Snow Leopard.

  3. Use the Windows machine to download the Mac OS 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 file MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.dmg. The URL is https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1399?locale=en_US.

  4. Transfer the Mac OS 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 file MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.dmg to the Mac and upgrade the Mac to OS X 10.6.8.

  5. Download and install any addition updates available for Snow Leopard from the App Store.

  6. Use the Mac to install the Install OS X El Capitan application. Follow the instructions given at the Apple website "How to get old versions of macOS". The URL is https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683.

  7. Upgrade to El Capitan by executing the Install OS X El Capitan application. Or, do a clean install by creating a USB flash drive El Capitan installer, booting from the flash drive, erasing the internal drive and installing El Capitan. The instructions for creating the USB flash drive El Capitan installer are given at the Apple website "How to create a bootable installer for macOS". The URL is https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372.

  8. Download and install any addition updates available for El Capitan from the App Store.

Installing Windows 7

Since your Mac does not have a working DVD drive, you can not use the Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows 7. There is a legacy method for installing which can be found here.

David Anderson
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