If you want to install Microsoft Windows 7 on a Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Lion, using Boot Camp — you will need to fulfill the following requirements:
- An Intel based Mac — that’s almost any Mac sold in the last few years.
- An optical drive — typically at least a DVD drive these days.
- Your Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Lion DVD, depending upon which version of OS X you have installed. This contains the drivers you will require to run Microsoft Windows 7. This can either be the DVD media that was included in the box containing your Mac or even an upgrade CD or DVD you bough (in case of Snow Leopard). Since Lion upgrade installations were mostly made available via the Mac AppStore, you will be allowed to download the Windows 7 drivers when you launch the Boot Camp application — in that case, you will also need blank CD, DVD, or USB media for installation of Windows 7 drivers for your Mac computer.
OK — you can create a Lion install DVD from your download from the App Store — but I have not tried it to install Windows 7 drivers for Boot Camp — if it works for you, do send me a line here.
- At least 16 GB of free hard disk space for 32-bit versions of Windows 7, and 20 GB or more space for 64-bit versions of Windows 7.
- A full version of Microsoft Windows 7 — among the separate versions, Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate are supported in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions.
Once you have all these ready, you need to spare around an hour or two of your time — it actually takes much less time but it is good to not do this task in a hurry.