Running Windows 10 on 2009 MacBook Pro

[Dj64Mk7]

Hey everyone!

So, I know that my particular Mac only technically supports up to Windows 7, but I was curious if it is possible to run Windows 10 on it?

Or rather, it's possible, but what kind of experience does it bring? Do the drivers work? Does it behave like it is supposed to?

 

[chscag]

Hey everyone!

So, I know that my particular Mac only technically supports up to Windows 7, but I was curious if it is possible to run Windows 10 on it?

Or rather, it's possible, but what kind of experience does it bring? Do the drivers work? Does it behave like it is supposed to?

Windows 10 will not run on your 2009 MacBook Pro. Not sure if there is a hack that would work as there is no driver support or firmware support from Apple for your machine and Windows 10.

 

[Fancuku]

Install W7 on it and upgrade it to 10.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Windows 10 will not run on your 2009 MacBook Pro. Not sure if there is a hack that would work as there is no driver support or firmware support from Apple for your machine and Windows 10.

Why is there no support?

 

[Altemose]

Why is there no support?

Apple has elected to not support Macs older than the 2012 model year with Windows 10.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Apple has elected to not support Macs older than the 2012 model year with Windows 10.

But does this guarantee poor performance? I think not.

 

[lclev]

I have a 2009 white Macbook running Windows 10 in bootcamp. I installed Windows 7 first then upgraded to Windows 10. The only issue I have noticed is I can't use the scroll feature on the magic mouse or trackpad. Everything else works fine.

The issue with a direct Windows 10 install has to do with the lack of EFI support but installing 7 first gets around the problem.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

I have a 2009 white Macbook running Windows 10 in bootcamp. I installed Windows 7 first then upgraded to Windows 10. The only issue I have noticed is I can't use the scroll feature on the magic mouse or trackpad. Everything else works fine.

The issue with a direct Windows 10 install has to do with the lack of EFI support but installing 7 first gets around the problem.

What do I do about the Mac drivers?
Should I have installed those when I was on Windows 7?

 

[Altemose]

But does this guarantee poor performance? I think not.

I was merely replying to your question on why there was no support.

What do I do about the Mac drivers?
Should I have installed those when I was on Windows 7?

You would need to download the Boot Camp 6.x software and install that and then sideload all of the drivers from Boot Camp 5.x separately.

 

[lclev]

My 2009 MB is my experimental machine that I do all my playing on. So the versions of El Capitan installed on it have all been beta versions (currently running 10.11.4). When I created a bootcamp partition, the only selection I had was to install Windows 7. I could then upgrade to Windows 10. Bootcamp downloaded and installed all the correct drivers - which I assume were Windows 7 drivers. Since this was all done on 10.11.0, I am not sure what version of bootcamp was installed but it was probably 5 since the only install option was for Windows 7. What ever drivers were used worked with 10.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Thanks for your help everyone! Based on my own experiments over the last few days, I am staying on Windows 7 permanently, as that is the optimal experience based on my Mac.

 

[Altemose]

Thanks for your help everyone! Based on my own experiments over the last few days, I am staying on Windows 7 permanently, as that is the optimal experience based on my Mac.

Do you run OS X as well?

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Do you run OS X as well?

I actually went back to a bare minimum install of Snow Leopard so that I could have as much room as possible for Windows (my hard drive is only 160GB)

 

[Altemose]

I actually went back to a bare minimum install of Snow Leopard so that I could have as much room as possible for Windows (my hard drive is only 160GB)

I imagine with a good SSD, Windows would see quite the improvement.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

I imagine with a good SSD, Windows would see quite the improvement.

I don't have a SSD. I have a HDD.

 

[Altemose]

I don't have a SSD. I have a HDD.

I know. I was suggesting that if you were to purchase an SSD you would see significant performance gains.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

I know. I was suggesting that if you were to purchase an SSD you would see significant performance gains.

I see. I really wish I could install Windows 10, but I guess there's nothing that can be done about that.

 

[agaskew]

Of course you can install windows 10 on youur macbook. It just may not be quite the windows 10 you wanted.

 

[Altemose]

I see. I really wish I could install Windows 10, but I guess there's nothing that can be done about that.

I did some research and found that if you upgrade over Windows 7 then audio support will work in 10. You would need to install some of the older drivers from older Boot Camp packages for full compatibility however. That being said, I really do think that Windows 7 is the best match for your Mac.

 

[satcomer]

If you use an older Mac and need drivers for scrolling try out Trackpad++. It might help.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

I did some research and found that if you upgrade over Windows 7 then audio support will work in 10. You would need to install some of the older drivers from older Boot Camp packages for full compatibility however. That being said, I really do think that Windows 7 is the best match for your Mac.

I know I said previously that I'm staying on 7, bit the Get Windows 10 app got the best of me.

Once I update to 10, I was planning on doing a reset through Settings. Should I install the drivers from my Mac OS X install disc, then do the 3.2 update? Where does Boot Camp 4 and 5 fit into all this?

 

[Altemose]

Once I update to 10, I was planning on doing a reset through Settings. Should I install the drivers from my Mac OS X install disc, then do the 3.2 update? Where does Boot Camp 4 and 5 fit into all this?

Do NOT install Boot Camp software off of the OS X install DVD. Instead, download Boot Camp 6 from this post. Then, once installed, open Device Manager and determine what devices still need drivers. You can download the correct up to date drivers from Boot Camp 4 from here. Do not install the whole Boot Camp 4 package, but merely the drivers you need. Essentially, you are using the Boot Camp 6 support software with Boot Camp 4 drivers.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Do NOT install Boot Camp software off of the OS X install DVD. Instead, download Boot Camp 6 from this post. Then, once installed, open Device Manager and determine what devices still need drivers. You can download the correct up to date drivers from Boot Camp 4 from here. Do not install the whole Boot Camp 4 package, but merely the drivers you need. Essentially, you are using the Boot Camp 6 support software with Boot Camp 4 drivers.

Can you walk me through this process please? How do I install individual drivers from the Boot Camp 4 package? What if the Boot Camp 6 setup.exe doesn't open and instead throws a "not supported" error?

 

[Altemose]

Can you walk me through this process please? How do I install individual drivers from the Boot Camp 4 package? What if the Boot Camp 6 setup.exe doesn't open and instead throws a "not supported" error?

Start by installing Boot Camp 6. It should not throw an error but report back if it does. For the Boot Camp 4 drivers, you can install them package by package from the "Drivers" folder within the Boot Camp download.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Start by installing Boot Camp 6. It should not throw an error but report back if it does. For the Boot Camp 4 drivers, you can install them package by package from the "Drivers" folder within the Boot Camp download.

Long story short: Windows 10 is working great for me.

Setup.exe did not work for me. I had to manually go in and run BootCamp.msi as an administrator (using task manager), which hung at the RealTek drivers. I deleted the RealTek drivers, then tried installed BootCamp.msi, which went perfectly.

The one driver I still can't find is for the coprocessor. First off, why is it needed? What does it do? Where do I find it?

EDIT: I'm also experiencing an issue where sometimes the lock screen (time and date) will not respond to keyboard input. Since my trackpad can't register physical clicks, I have to plug in a USB mouse to get passed that screen. Strangely, the keyboard works fine to enter my PIN every time no matter what.