Apple's Boot Camp will not support Windows 7 on some 2006 Macs

[AppleInsider]

In a memo to retail partners, Apple has announced that it will deliver support for Windows 7 in Mac OS X Snow Leopard's Boot Camp utility by the end of the year via a software update, but exclude support for some Macs sold in 2006.

Boot Camp is a two-step utility designed to setup Intel Mac computers to dual-boot both Mac OS X or Windows. The first component, which runs under Mac OS X, partitions the user's hard drive in place to prepare the system for an installation of Windows. After that step completes, the user is directed to install Windows from an authentic DVD copy provided by the user (Apple does not license or sell copies of Windows).

After Windows installs itself, Boot Camp provides a secondary package of drivers that the user must install from within Windows. These drivers provide native support for Mac-specific hardware under Windows, such as a backlit keyboard, built-in iSight camera, trackpad, Bluetooth, graphics, networking, audio, and so on. Snow Leopard's Boot Camp 3.0 also installs read-only HFS+ support for viewing Mac volumes under Windows.

According to the announcement, a series of Mac models "will not be supported for use with Windows 7 using Boot Camp," specifically:

**•*iMac (17-inch, Early 2006)
**•*iMac (17-inch, Late 2006)
**•*iMac (20-inch, Early 2006)
**•*iMac (20-inch, Late 2006)
**•*MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2006)
**•*MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2006)
**•*MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2006)
**•*MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2006)
**•*Mac Pro (Mid 2006, Intel Xeon Dual-core 2.66GHz or 3GHz)

The reason for not officially supporting these models is not stated. Because of how Boot Camp works, the only reason specific Mac models would not be supported is because compatible drivers are not available. This would not prevent Windows 7 from being installed on these machines, but could result in certain devices not working as expected while running Windows.

Third party drivers for the unsupported devices (if they exist) could solve any issues, and Windows 7 may offer to install drivers for devices it recognizes but does not have built in support for; it may even identify and download the drivers automatically.

Of the unsupported machines in the supplied list, the Early 2006 iMacs and MacBook Pro models have 32-bit Core Duo CPUs, but the other models specified all use 64-bit Core 2 Duos or Xeon processors, and no other 32-bit Macs (MacBooks, mini) are excluded. Apple also makes no comments about providing support for the 64-bit edition of Windows 7 only, so the support issue does not appear to have anything to do with these models' CPU or firmware.

The only other common thread between these machines is that they all originally shipped with either no or disabled support for 802.11n wireless networking. However, late 2006 MacBooks also shipped with disabled support for 802.11n, and no Mac minis supported 802.11n until 2009, so this does not appear to be a factor either.

Apple is expected to clarify the issue when it releases the Windows 7 driver update for Boot Camp users.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[doyourownthing]

oh no just think of all the unhappy users affected by this sad sad news

they will burn their computers

it will be the end of apple

[Fast Fred 1]

I'm devastated .....hahahahahahahaha

[aiolos]

I believe my MBP falls under this problem (Bought it in November '06).

I'm actually kind of pissed, I was looking forward to testing out Windows 7, as I do like to run games on Windoze, and I did hold off on installing Vista.

[ghostface147]

Originally Posted by aiolos

I'm actually kind of pissed, I was looking forward to testing out Windows 7, as I do like to run games on Windoze, and I did hold off on installing Vista.

Just because Apple doesn't officially support it doesn't mean it won't work.

[xwiredtva]

Originally Posted by aiolos

I believe my MBP falls under this problem (Bought it in November '06).

I'm actually kind of pissed, I was looking forward to testing out Windows 7, as I do like to run games on Windoze, and I did hold off on installing Vista.

It will work. I think the trouble may lie in the graphic drivers for those units. The GMA950 used wasn't specific to Apple but the nVidia/ATI's were.

[OnePotato]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

**•*iMac (17-inch, Early 2006)
**•*iMac (17-inch, Late 2006)
**•*iMac (20-inch, Early 2006)
**•*iMac (20-inch, Late 2006)
**•*MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2006)
**•*MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2006)
**•*MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2006)
**•*MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2006)
**•*Mac Pro (Mid 2006, Intel Xeon Dual-core 2.66GHz or 3GHz)

The only other common thread between these machines ...

The common thread is so obvious, they were all released in 2006.

[vandil]

Computers from 2006.
Even if they had Applecare, they are out of warranty.

[xwiredtva]

Originally Posted by OnePotato

The common thread is so obvious, they were all released in 2006.

Duh.

[bartfat]

Originally Posted by OnePotato

The common thread is so obvious, they were all released in 2006.

Seems like Apple is discontinuing support for any machines that are older than 3 years... right after AppleCare ends. Either could a move to cut support costs, since those users aren't paying for support anymore and they have to update the drivers, or they simply decided that Windows 7 performance was mediocre on these machines. Makes me wonder how the general PC market that still has Core Duos with 2GB of RAM will also cope with Windows 7's performance. Ah well, I have one of those machines, it runs great with Snow Leopard and I virtualize XP and that runs great, so I don't care

Then again, it could a carrot to lure us laggards that won't upgrade their machines every few years to actually do the upgrade that we wanted, but always seemed to put off

Oh wait, I forgot there could be another reason. ATI and nVidia just won't update 3-year-old graphics chip drivers (for graphic cards they discontinued 2 years ago) for Windows 7.

[xwiredtva]

All the MacBook Pro's had : ATI X1600 graphics
MacPro: nVidia 7300, 8800 GT's. Quadra FX4500 and ATI X1900 XT
iMac's: ATI X1600. nVidia 7300 & 7600 GT.

Commonality? X1600, X1900 & nVidia 7300, 7600, 8800 GT's and the Quadra FX4500.

Mid-2006 iMac had GMA950 - NOT ON THE LIST.

[al_bundy]

Originally Posted by aiolos

I believe my MBP falls under this problem (Bought it in November '06).

I'm actually kind of pissed, I was looking forward to testing out Windows 7, as I do like to run games on Windoze, and I did hold off on installing Vista.

windows 7 seems to support everything. i'm running it on 2 5 year old computers with no problems

[xwiredtva]

Originally Posted by bartfat

Seems like Apple is discontinuing support for any machines that are older than 3 years... right after AppleCare ends. Either could a move to cut support costs, since those users aren't paying for support anymore and they have to update the drivers, or they simply decided that Windows 7 performance was mediocre on these machines. Makes me wonder how the general PC market that still has Core Duos with 2GB of RAM will also cope with Windows 7's performance. Ah well, I have one of those machines, it runs great with Snow Leopard and I virtualize XP and that runs great, so I don't care

Then again, it could a carrot to lure us laggards that won't upgrade their machines every few years to actually do the upgrade that we wanted, but always seemed to put off

Just did a Win7 HP upgrade today on a TK-58 based (1.9ghz x 2) nVidia Geforce Go 6100 system... Meh. Vista was actually faster but I had it tweaked. Video performance was no different. Startup, was slower but again I had Vista Tweaked. I'll play with 7 tweaking later.

Clean install upgrade: 2 paritions. Took 4.5hrs total to upgrade and I still don't have all the applications installed. Too tired to mess with it anymore. Some apps just won't install so I may need to spend yet another $100 to upgrade Win7 HP to Ult to get XP compatibility mode. Some apps need the updates installed to run, but I don't have the CD to install them this way and the company they belong too wants $40 to send out a new disc.

HP=Home Premium.

[al_bundy]

Originally Posted by bartfat

Seems like Apple is discontinuing support for any machines that are older than 3 years... right after AppleCare ends. Either could a move to cut support costs, since those users aren't paying for support anymore and they have to update the drivers, or they simply decided that Windows 7 performance was mediocre on these machines. Makes me wonder how the general PC market that still has Core Duos with 2GB of RAM will also cope with Windows 7's performance. Ah well, I have one of those machines, it runs great with Snow Leopard and I virtualize XP and that runs great, so I don't care

Then again, it could a carrot to lure us laggards that won't upgrade their machines every few years to actually do the upgrade that we wanted, but always seemed to put off

Oh wait, I forgot there could be another reason. ATI and nVidia just won't update 3-year-old graphics chip drivers (for graphic cards they discontinued 2 years ago) for Windows 7.

old vista drivers will work with no problems in most cases. i have an ancient ATI x1950 that hasn't been sold for years and it's using the old WDDM 1 driver under Windows 7.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by aiolos

I believe my MBP falls under this problem (Bought it in November '06).

I'm actually kind of pissed, I was looking forward to testing out Windows 7, as I do like to run games on Windoze, and I did hold off on installing Vista.

Same- here - I was thinking about getting it for my iMac. I have a Rolly which only runs on Windows. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTxdKi77G20

[aplnub]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Same- here - I was thinking about getting it for my iMac. I have a Rolly which only runs on Windows. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTxdKi77G20

That is what VMWare is for. Especially if all you are going to do is test out Win 7.

[MacTel]

I'm surprised they won't have it built into tomorrow's 10.6.2 update. Oh well, maybe when they do get it incorporated it will have the four finger swipe, pinch, and et al.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by aiolos

I believe my MBP falls under this problem (Bought it in November '06).

I'm actually kind of pissed, I was looking forward to testing out Windows 7, as I do like to run games on Windoze, and I did hold off on installing Vista.

Make sure your current system, XP or whatever has the latest OpenGL/DirectX drivers and you'll be fine.

[doyourownthing]

Originally Posted by MacTel

I'm surprised they won't have it built into tomorrow's 10.6.2 update. Oh well, maybe when they do get it incorporated it will have the four finger swipe, pinch, and et al.

steve jobs better get right on this, otherwise chaos will ensue, he'll go out of business, his company will fail, users will throw their macs away, and switch to pc and use the windows 7 for ever until eternity

[jeffharris]

I don't think I'll ever recover.
Thankfully I'm fresh out of razor blades and sleeping pills!

Ah, but I have a gas stove...

[doyourownthing]

Originally Posted by jeffharris

I don't think I'll ever recover.
Thankfully I'm fresh out of razor blades and sleeping pills!

Ah, but I have a gas stove...

i can barely type...i'm sobbing so hard right now, i might wet my keyboard with my tears and ruin the backlight...


-------


to appleinsider: this deserves a full post? really? who gives a fuck, come on

[jeffharris]

Originally Posted by doyourownthing

i can barely type...i'm sobbing so hard right now, i might wet my keyboard with my tears and ruin the backlight...
-------
to appleinsider: this deserves a full post? really? who gives a fuck, come on

ROFLMMFAO!

Those are unicorn tears, right?

Seriously, who cares whether Vista SP2 or Win7 runs on 3 -year old Macs? or any macs, for that matter.

i guess since Apple lowered the boom and tightened the screws on Mac rumors and their sources, we're stuck with Windows stories masquerading as Mac related news in order to fill space.

Woe are we.

[Glockpop]

Originally Posted by bartfat

Seems like Apple is discontinuing support for any machines that are older than 3 years... right after AppleCare ends. Either could a move to cut support costs, since those users aren't paying for support anymore and they have to update the drivers, or they simply decided that Windows 7 performance was mediocre on these machines. Makes me wonder how the general PC market that still has Core Duos with 2GB of RAM will also cope with Windows 7's performance. Ah well, I have one of those machines, it runs great with Snow Leopard and I virtualize XP and that runs great, so I don't care

Then again, it could a carrot to lure us laggards that won't upgrade their machines every few years to actually do the upgrade that we wanted, but always seemed to put off

Oh wait, I forgot there could be another reason. ATI and nVidia just won't update 3-year-old graphics chip drivers (for graphic cards they discontinued 2 years ago) for Windows 7.

These excluded models are not the only Intel Macs Apple sold in 2006. Why aren't the 2006 13" MacBooks and Mac minis in this list?

If Apple wanted to kill support for older Macs, it wouldn't drop Windows 7 support, it would have dropped them from Snow Leopard, like it did to PPC Macs.

[doyourownthing]

Originally Posted by jeffharris

ROFLMMFAO!

Those are unicorn tears, right?

Seriously, who cares whether Vista SP2 or Win7 runs on 3 -year old Macs? or any macs, for that matter.

i guess since Apple lowered the boom and tightened the screws on Mac rumors and their sources, we're stuck with Windows stories masquerading as Mac related news in order to fill space.

Woe are we.

i know, if you have the misfortune of having to use garbageware, you can always install virtualbox or vmware...just don't partition your hard drive and boot into it ...

still devastating news... i might slit my wrists though...and will kill myself twice if there are no proper magic mouse drivers for windows 7 in boot camp...and kill myself once again if i can't synch my zune in my new 27" imac...

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by jeffharris

ROFLMMFAO!

Those are unicorn tears, right?

Seriously, who cares whether Vista SP2 or Win7 runs on 3 -year old Macs? or any macs, for that matter.

Steve Jobs obviously does.
Why did SJ put windows on a Mac in the first place? To grOW marketSHARE
Sadly it hasn't turned out quite a s well as he'd want. But Apple makes a ton of profits by overpricing- so who cares?

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by jeffharris

I don't think I'll ever recover.
Thankfully I'm fresh out of razor blades and sleeping pills!

Ah, but I have a gas stove...

I'm going to use this line(s) and probably not credit you...if that's OK?

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by Glockpop

These excluded models are not the only Intel Macs Apple sold in 2006. Why aren't the 2006 13" MacBooks and Mac minis in this list?

If Apple wanted to kill support for older Macs, it wouldn't drop Windows 7 support, it would have dropped them from Snow Leopard, like it did to PPC Macs.

I see your point...but Apple has a 'strategy' and it is to always to be on the forward looking/leading edge and we as users just have to 'keep up!'

I want Apple's talent/resources invested towards the advancements rather than be 'distracted' by legacy issues.

(Think MS, here and the attendant legacy mess they have perpetuated.)

As I write this, on an original white 20" intel iMac (which I want it to hurry up and 'break' so I can justify buying a new 27" iMac)

I think, Apple has more foresight, where MS has more foreskin!

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by doyourownthing

i know, if you have the misfortune of having to use garbageware, you can always install virtualbox or vmware...just don't partition your hard drive and boot into it ...

still devastating news... i might slit my wrists though...and will kill myself twice if there are no proper magic mouse drivers for windows 7 in boot camp...and kill myself once again if i can't synch my zune in my new 27" imac...

Nighty, night! Enjoyed your posts!

Later!

[jeffharris]

Originally Posted by doyourownthing

i know, if you have the misfortune of having to use garbageware, you can always install virtualbox or vmware...just don't partition your hard drive and boot into it ...

Actually, VirtualBox allows you to install Windows on an EXTERNAL hard drive. Parallels and Fusion are limited to internal drive installations ONLY, the last time i checked. Free is good, too!

Originally Posted by doyourownthing

still devastating news... i might slit my wrists though...and will kill myself twice if there are no proper magic mouse drivers for windows 7 in boot camp...and kill myself once again if i can't synch my zune in my new 27" imac...

Clearly, you'll have to take back the 27" iMac. Use the refund to buy a good scalpel to do a proper job!

[spliff monkey]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Same- here - I was thinking about getting it for my iMac. I have a Rolly which only runs on Windows. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTxdKi77G20

Dude (if you area a dude, since you could be a chick with a really twisted sense of humor ) I appreciate the devils advocate role you fulfill around here so I need to soften the blow as best as I can... I don't know how not to be a jerk when I say this, so I won't even try.

I can't believe you spent money on a Sony Rolly. A rolling mp3 player? Really? Didn't that thing cost $400? Is it for your kids or your pets? I'm not sure I would testify to the fact that I own one of those things. I might own one but I wouldn't tell anyone. If this thing didn't make me smile as much as it did, I'd have to give you a harder time about it.



Edit: still Laughing

[Mazda 3s]

If Windows 7/Vista is so effin' bad/garbage, then why does Apple even allow it to be installed on Macs via Bootcamp? You can't have your cake and eat it too.

[MacTripper]

I was wondering how Apple was going to protect entire Mac labs from being switched over to Windows if and when Microsoft ever got around to putting out a good version.

It's happened before in a similar fashion, computer labs were "standardized" to be Windows only and only us "creative types" who refused to work with anything else got to keep our Mac's. (you can thank me for almost losing my job a few times)

It's not random chance that Apple announced Windows 7 won't work with 3 year old Mac hardware nearly the same day Windows 7 was announced.

Apple is protecting it's OS X user base from being wiped out by Windows 7, plain and simple.

So essentially you got three years of using OS X, if you don't like it you have to either keep using it or buy a new PC with Windows 7.

You won't be able to use your 3 year old, but vastly superior, Mac hardware with Windows 7 and be fine for the next 8 years or so. (hacks hopefully will come out)


Not saying that people will be happy using Windows 7 over OS X, but for example college students who bought a Mac in school and find out that they need Windows for Corporate America just can't just wipe it and install the latest Windows version when they enter the workforce.

[jeffharris]

Originally Posted by Glockpop

These excluded models are not the only Intel Macs Apple sold in 2006. Why aren't the 2006 13" MacBooks and Mac minis in this list?

Those are the Macs that had the shitty Intel integrated graphics chips in them.

[nondual]

What is the upgrade process for going from Vista to Win 7 with Bootcamp?

[Dlux]

Originally Posted by jeffharris

Actually, VirtualBox allows you to install Windows on an ETERNAL hard drive.

Wow - that sounds like an impressive warranty! It never, ever crashes? (Ever?)

[xwiredtva]

Originally Posted by nondual

What is the upgrade process for going from Vista to Win 7 with Bootcamp?

Download latest boot camp drivers in Vista. Boot Up Vista (you should already be there). Insert Win7 Upgrade DVD. Follow instructions to install. Win7 boots up... Update drivers. You may need to re-run driver install and OK to all prompts.

Let me repeat this for all in the Mac world to see. Not being Sarcastic just honest. On a Mac I have done this (in fact just completed one about 20mins ago. It's late, I'm off to bed.

Windows 7 will Boot and Install PERFECTLY on every single Intel Mac on the planet. Drivers HOWEVER will be basic supplied to work UNTIL you update them. Basic Drivers work PERFECTLY. Updated, Manufacture Specific drivers add functionality or enhance it.

[caljomac]

But it works on the new iMacs

[Tofino]

Originally Posted by jeffharris

I don't think I'll ever recover.
Thankfully I'm fresh out of razor blades and sleeping pills!

Ah, but I have a gas stove...

dude! think of the carbon footprint!

[sprockkets]

My PC came out during that time period, and surprise! It doesn't have drivers for the ancient 855GM video in Vista, nor are any available. Maybe now since Win7 is out, but otherwise, I'm not hopeful.

Btw, Linux supports it better than Win7 does. Lame. Maybe those people should just switch from Win7 to Linux and it will be a non issue

[nr23]

On a 2006 iMac, you can "continue" the W7 Setup (only 32 bit working) after the BlueScreen (due to wrong NVIDIA driver) with a then newly setup Bootcamp-VM in Parallels. Then download current NVIDIA-drivers and try to install, which won't work of course in VM. Copy from the new CNVIDIA directory nvlddmkm.sy_ to system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys . You can also install the bootcamp drivers in VM. Boot W7 direct and install NVIDIA drivers from NVIDIA directory. Voilá.