Hi,
I had Windows 7 on my HP laptop and then upgraded to Windows 10 and as the laptop is getting old I would be buying a Macbook Pro to replace it and just wondering as how I can move my Windows 10 OS to Mac and create a dual boot OS on Mac.
Appreciate your detailed response. Thanks much in advance.
Regards
Learner
If the version of Windows 7 that came with the HP laptop was the usual OEM type, its license is not transferable to another PC. (It may not be an issue with the license agreement. If it uses a special installer that matches that laptop, you couldn't activate Windows on another make of laptop.) The Windows 10 "digital entitlement" also would only work on the old hardware.
If you know that your Windows 7 license was retail (unlikely), let us know.
You can't actually 'move' Windows to a Mac, need a software such as Bootcamp [may have come with your Mac], VMWare Fusion or Parallels [may be others 'out there'] installed to give a virtual machine then install Windows in it. As far as I've read it works best with the newer Macs that use the Intel CPU, maybe last dozen years or so. Mine is a MacBook Pro from Mid-2010. When you get one click the Apple at top left corner to see About and some other things.
Why may I ask. If I need Windows, I can just grab my wife's laptop or use a spare desktop that I have.
I have a Macbook Air and it is strictly Mac OS, Zero Microsoft stuff on it. Now if you are wanting to work on the Macbook with Windows 7. You will need to get a copy of Windows 7 OEM. You are looking at around $140, regardless if it is just the license or the media and license.
Thanks much for your responses. My HP laptop is from 2008 which came with Vista and I bought Windows 7 on a CD which I don't know if it's a OEM or not and I still have that CD somewhere so can always check. Now that my HP is at the end of its life I wanted to replace it. I'm just tired of Windows constant updates and issues I have decided to go for a MacBook Pro in Oct 2016 once the newer version comes out. I have one order processing program which runs on only Windows and doesn't run on Mac and also this program works in conjunction wit MS Outlook so I just cannot escape Windows completely and hence the need to have Windows on Mac.
Looked at Parallels and they are good with Windows 8.1 but there is no mention of 10. Even Windows emulation software would do too.
If you need Outlook check out Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. Office 2008 is okay but the E-Mail program in it is called Entourage, haven't tried it yet. When I got my Mac I did get Office 2008 with it but there was an offer for the a Upgrade to Office 2011 Home and Student but Outlook isn't included, would need the better version.
Get started with Office for Mac 2011 - Office Support
Thanks Berton. My main software is the Order Processing software which would work only on Windows. Outlook is needed this software. I already have Windows 2013 bought sometime back. With or without Outlook I still need Windows for my Order Processing software.
I moved my Windows license from a Lenovo laptop to MacBook Pro. I had 7 Pro OEM license and upgraded it to 8 which turned it into retail.
I could then phone the activation number and they transferred it for me (I said I wasn't using the old laptop any more which was true).
What I'm not sure about is what you mean by "move". You may or may not be able to transfer your license (depending on your exact situation). Try it and see.
If you want to move your installation of Windows to MBP without re-installing everything it is kind of easy.
1. On MBP create bootcamp partition and save bootcamp drivers to USB. Just follow the Bootcamp wizard.
2. Install any version of Windows on MBP and don't worry about activation or anything. This will set up the partitions you need.
3. On old PC install the keyboard driver from bootcamp (un-zip it and just run DPInst.exe from AppleKeyboardInstaller64. You need to do this as otherwise you'll not be able to sign on as there is no delete key and maybe your keyboard will not work at all.
4. On old PC image C:\ drive with Macrium to an external USB drive and also make a Macrium boot USB
5. Boot from Macrium boot USB on MBP (hold down alt key when starting up).
6. Restore your C:\ volume from your backup to your MBP
7. Unplug everything and boot Windows on MBP. The devices will mostly be found.
8. Boot into Windows on MBP and install all of bootcamp drivers from USB by clicking on Bootcamp.exe (this will pick up your wireless, camera, SD card etc drivers)
9. Phone MS and deal with any license issues.
Thanks very much for the detail lx07. Will try this.
If you aren't planning to use MacOS at all then you can clean install. I keep 20GB assigned though and dual boot as you can only get firmware updates through MacOS and also the battery lasts longer than under Windows so it is nice to have if you are on a plane or something without a power supply.
Let us know if you get stuck but it should not be a problem.
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