I recently purchased a mac mini (late 2012) base model with an i5 and HD 4000
Now i'm running mavericks OS and i want to install windows 7, i'm fully aware of all video tutorials posted on YouTube but the poblem with these videos, is that none of them does support Mac mini late 2012. Because the late 2012 mac mini has no optical drive, and in most tutorials they tell people to put the windows dvd on the disc drive and the support drivers downloaded from apple suppot page on a 8gb usb stick.
i don't have an apple external superwhatever drive and not really up for buying one external disc drive for 80$, like seriously ! 80 dollars?
is there a way to install windows 7 with bootcamp without a DVD drive? Or am i obligated to buy an apple disc drive that im going to use one time only to install win7.
Disappointed that no one ever posted a installation tutorial on a late 2012 mac mini win7 installation process ...
Thanks for all replies. I recently purchased a mac mini (late 2012) base model with an i5 and HD 4000
Now i'm running mavericks OS and i want to install windows 7, i'm fully aware of all video tutorials posted on YouTube but the poblem with these videos, is that none of them does support Mac mini late 2012. Because the late 2012 mac mini has no optical drive, and in most tutorials they tell people to put the windows dvd on the disc drive and the support drivers downloaded from apple suppot page on a 8gb usb stick.
i don't have an apple external superwhatever drive and not really up for buying one external disc drive for 80$, like seriously ! 80 dollars?
is there a way to install windows 7 with bootcamp without a DVD drive? Or am i obligated to buy an apple disc drive that im going to use one time only to install win7.
Disappointed that no one ever posted a installation tutorial on a late 2012 mac mini win7 installation process ...
Thanks for all replies. I have a dozen '12 Mini running Windows 7 as workstation at my office with no OS X installed at all.
I created a Windows 7 USB Installer
(I do not use BootCamp to create a partition as this can be done to a fresh out of the box before it is ever powered up Mac Mini)
I Hold Option right as the computer "chimes" and boot to the install disc.
I then delete all partitions on the disc and format the entire disc as NTFS from the Windows installer and then continue installing Windows 7.
Once the installation is complete I will use the latest bootcamp driver package to install the Mac Mini drivers. I Hold Option right as the computer "chimes" and boot to the install disc.
I then delete all partitions on the disc and format the entire disc as NTFS from the Windows installer and then continue installing Windows 7.
Once the installation is complete I will use the latest bootcamp driver package to install the Mac Mini drivers. This is interesting. Thanks for sharing. I didn't realize you could just install windows on it's own. I have a family member who has a mini 2012 but just wanted to do this exact thing. This is interesting. Thanks for sharing. I didn't realize you could just install windows on it's own. I have a family member who has a mini 2012 but just wanted to do this exact thing. W7 on my old 2009 mini, W8 on my current 2012 mini and both W7 and W8 on my just-sold MP were always installed on separate drives. Boot Camp drivers had to be installed but the Windows partitions were not created with Boot Camp from Mac OS.
That way the Windows installations are totally independent of Mac OS. If I get another mini for Mac OS I'll take the Mac boot disc out of the 2012 mini and it will instantly become a Windows-only mini.
Two replaceable HDDs in the mini are what have kept me away from iMacland. MacRumors attracts a broad audience of both consumers and professionals interested in the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other Apple platforms.

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