Converting Vmware Fusion Virtual machine to Bootcamp?

first of apologies if repost

I have a Macbook with the following specs and a broken superdrive

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 3 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB21.00A5.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.13f3

I want to install windows 7 with as a bootcamp partiton because running it as a virtual machine Mac and the Virtual machine are not getting enough ram for some of the tasks that i have to perform regularly.
I have tried to install Windows using external harddrive and rEFIt boot menu but i get the error message saying "The Firmware Refuses to Load From This Device, Keep In Mind That Legacy Boot Volumes Are Not Well Supported By The Firmware"

my only option seems to be to create a virtual machine and the somehow transfer this to a bootcamp partiton making it bootable at the start up
any help would be greatly appreciated, by the way I am bit of a newbie to the MAC so open to any and all suggestions.
regards

Hello, I have the same spec MacBook on Snow Leopard but with 4gb RAM, and can run Windows 7 through Fusion by allocating it 1gb.
Everything seems to work fine although Windows is not quite up to full snappiness.

It might be worth your while upgrading the RAM by replacing the 1gb stick with either a 2 or 4. The more you upgrade the more you can allocate to Windows.

Cheers

Hugh

A couple points. First, you didn't tell us how much RAM you are allocating to your Windows virtual machine. As noted, the simplest thing would be to increase the RAM allocation to Windows from within your VM software (you didn't specify that either). Windows 7 runs fine in as little as 1 GB of RAM, but you could allocate it 2 GB and that would probably run much better. Alternatively, as suggested above, you could add more RAM and try allocating it 3 GB. You didn't specify which version of win 7 you have either (32 or 64 bit) but if 32 bit, it can only access a max of 3 GB of RAM, whether in a VM or running in a Boot Camp partition.

As to converting a VM to a Boot Camp partition, unfortunately that doesn't work. You can use a Boot Camp partition to create a VM (depending on the VM software) but you can't go the other way. And, to make matters worse, you can't install Windows on your MacBook hard drive from an external hard drive - that's a MS limitation from within Windows.

What you might be able to do, however, is to purchase (or create from your existing Windows install disc) a .ISO file for Windows that you could then try to use to create a BC partition. I have not tried this myself; you can search the forum to see if others have done so.

My best advice, however, is to fix the Superdrive. You can buy one and install it yourself, they are not that expensive, or the Apple store can do it for you.

Cheers

It's NOT impossible...

musafir said:

first of apologies if repost

I have a Macbook with the following specs and a broken superdrive

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 3 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB21.00A5.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.13f3

I want to install windows 7 with as a bootcamp partiton because running it as a virtual machine Mac and the Virtual machine are not getting enough ram for some of the tasks that i have to perform regularly.
I have tried to install Windows using external harddrive and rEFIt boot menu but i get the error message saying "The Firmware Refuses to Load From This Device, Keep In Mind That Legacy Boot Volumes Are Not Well Supported By The Firmware"

my only option seems to be to create a virtual machine and the somehow transfer this to a bootcamp partiton making it bootable at the start up
any help would be greatly appreciated, by the way I am bit of a newbie to the MAC so open to any and all suggestions.
regards

Click to expand...

I have the exact same problem with the exact same MacBook with the exact same garbage DVD combo drive. I don't have time to walk you through how to get this to work. However, I will briefly explain some things that you have done that are potentially impeding your windows install via bootcamp. First of all, you have to use "the" bootcamp assistant to create the partition unless you want to do some major filesystem hacking. Have you tried holding option while booting? This is counterintuitive as refi presents a boot option screen similar to apples. After you get the windows install working refi is handy for switching back and forth but you need to first use apples filesystem hack via bootcamp so that the nessasary drivers load so your system can boot to apples firmware instead of windows bios. Also, there is a hack that explains how to make your MacBook create a bootable USB install disk for win blows as if it were a MacBook Air... Google it!
Also, there is a program inside VMware fusion that is called "vmdkmounter.app" or something to that effect. This allows you to mount a vm's hard drive in OSx at which point you can use win clone to clone it to your bootcamp partition. It helps if you have a NTfs driver installed so that you can read, write, and bless the new win blows partition from OSx which comes in handy if something needs to be changed on the win blows side (if it doesn't boot), otherwise you would need to recline it from scratch which takes forever. Some of these NTfs drivers will even allow you to set your Mac to boot via this drive instead of having to hold option when you boot and hope everything is dialed. Sorry I can't be more sure or precise or detailed, I'm writing this off the top of my head on my iPhone. You should have enough info to sort it out with a few search engine excersizes. In any case, I can amass sure you that it is possible and even preferable as this is my preferred install procedure for win blows on a mac and I have used a version of this procedure on a MacBook 4.1 MacBook Pro 6.1, and a MacPro 4.1 and all have been quicker and more straightforward than the convoluted apple procedure. Cheers!
Oh and don't bother with the DVD drive.... Unless you do what I did and replace it with a 2nd hdd (or ssd) DVDs are a dying and flawed media whose time is gone (and should never have come at all).