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I've been having a lot of issues trying to install Windows 7 on my MacBook, to eventually upgrade to Windows 11. However, after the first stage after the reboot, the system completely blank screens after selecting it in the boot picker. But, I can feel like I can tell it's running the setup because there is a red indicator in the headphone jack and sometimes, there are random pixels on the top left.

I've given the bootcamp assistant way but it didn't work. I installed Yosemite, but it came up with "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition". Catalina is also installed.

I've tried many iso's, I find that All In One Windows 7 ISO's be able to start up plus start the installation. However, official ones doesn't boot up and shows a compatibility error. This could be the fact that Opencore Legacy is installed but I don't want catalina to be unbootable again, so I haven't tested it.

However, Windows 10 and even Windows 11 USB sticks boot up and even install properly, but the graphics drivers boot loop.

Is there anything I can try, because I am completely stuck?

Hardfg5000
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  • "I installed Yosemite … Catalina is also installed." How did you achieve this?? That Mac is not qualified to run anything past El Capitan [it is also not qualified to run WIn 10 or 11, though you can often squeeze 10 on a Mac if you can get 7 working first]. Boot Camp will not allow partitioning beyond 4 volumes, so that's probably where you're stuck. – Tetsujin Oct 16 '21 at 16:13
  • Have you tried using the optical drive? – David Anderson Oct 16 '21 at 19:13
  • I used dosdude's Catalina patcher to get Catalina on it. On an external drive, I managed to get Big Sur using Opencore Legacy. I installed Windows 11 straight from a USB and it worked well, odd. I guess windows 7 is different – Hardfg5000 Oct 17 '21 at 13:50

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You can not us the Boot Camp Assistant, if you have both Yosemite and Catalina installed. You could do a clean install of Yosemite and then use the Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows 7. Apple intended the use of the optical drive when installing Windows 7 on your model Mac. If the optical drive is not an option, then you could try one of the legacy methods posted here a Ask Different. Some Macs can boot from an USB Windows 10 installer. If your Mac is capable of this, then you could use the CLI to install Windows 7 to your internal drive. Or, use the CLI to install Windows 10 instead.

You probably should install Windows to BIOS boot. If you also want macOS (OS X) installed, then you are going to need to use hybrid partitioning. This is where macOS (OS X) uses the GPT and Windows uses the MBR partition table. Installing (upgrading) to Windows 11 may not be possible, since Windows 11 is not supposed to be BIOS bootable.

The Apple website Install Windows 7 on your Mac using Boot Camp provides a link to the Boot Camp Support Software (Windows Support Software) for your model Mac.

David Anderson
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  • I aim to try using an optical drive, but I'll have to buy one. Could I buy an 8.5GB DVD or cd and burn the iso to it, or do I need to get an official disk? – Hardfg5000 Oct 17 '21 at 13:52
  • I am not sure you can boot a Windows installer from an external USB optical drive. I would not purchase an optical drive just to install Windows. I assume you used a Windows 10 USB stick to install an UEFI booting Windows. If so, then you should try using the same stick to install a BIOS booting Windows instead. – David Anderson Oct 18 '21 at 16:58