Windows 7 Bootcamp not recognising devices

This might seem like a long shot, but it was also the only option for me to install Windows into my Bootcamp partition a little while back. It's also the only option for a Mac that used to have an optical drive but no longer does, since for some reason these devices are no longer able to boot from USB.

1. Use Disk Utility to create a FAT partition a little larger than your wanted Windows partition.
2. Install rEFIt.
3. Reboot twice for rEFIt to install properly. As soon as you see the rEFIt boot menu when starting, it's good. Here you choose the 'Partition Tool', with which you'll change the MBR (Master Boot Record). (On a side note: You can easily uninstall rEFIt by renaming the directory at the root of your harddrive)
4. Install VirtualBox, Parallels or VMware. I did this with VMware back at the time, but all of these should work as long as you're able to mount the virtual harddrive like any removable disk.
5. Use the virtualization software to install Windows into a virtual machine at the size of your wanted partition (not what you made it above, but a little smaller than that). You can of course install from an ISO here, making the state of your disc drive irrelevant. Kill the virtual machine as soon as it reboots the first time after finishing the installation, stopping Windows before being able to configure itself.
6. Use the virtualization software's features to mount the virtual harddrive.
7. Install a tool called WinClone.
8. If your virtual drive is mounted, WinClone should be able to see this in the tab 'Image'. Pull this into an image onto your harddrive.
9. Now choose the 'Restore' tab in WinClone and restore this image to your Bootcamp partition.
10. Now you can reboot and boot into your Bootcamp partition with rEFIt, which is no longer of any use from this point on, but you can keep it around as well. Windows should now continue configuring itself and finish the installation.

I stumbled across this solution here in the Apple Support Community and posted about it here a while ago on a German Apple User Forum, if that turns out to be of any use to anybody.

Apple iMac and MacBook Pro models did not have UEFI firmware and the ability to boot Windows installers from USB flash drives until at least the 2012 model year.

Your firmware does not have the ability to boot from a USB flash drive Windows installer. You should install Windows using your DVD drive. If you no longer have a DVD drive, you may still be able to install using the Windows 8 iso file. This have been done successfully using Windows 7 on a 2010 15" macbook pro (MBP6,1). If you wish, I could update the procedure for Windows 8. (Or are you installing 8.1?). Anyway, go here for more information.

To install directly using the GPT partitioning table is only recommended if your computer has a UEFI. Your model does not. Most people who succeeded usually have a problems with one or more drives not working properly. There is no advantage in trying. Installing using the MBR partitioning table will work without any problems.

You don't have to use BootCamp. Most who don,'t, want something different than the default; such as an extra NTFS or ExFat partition. The procedure depends on what you have in mind.

Updated Procedure for Installing Windows 8.1 Using VirtualBox

The original steps are posted here.

Steps 1-14. No change

Steps 15-17. Substitute Windows 8.1 for Windows 7.

Step 18. No change

Step 19. Images slightly different, but not worth updating.

Step 20. The rest the virtual machine installation will be repeated again after booting Windows on the physical machine. For most questions, you can use the default answers. Use the provided answers below when the following windows first appear. When asked a second time, you can provide your own answers.

(Hint: For a better view, click on the image or open in a new window.)

When the following window appears, enter a name for the computer. You will enter this same name later. I used the name Shark. Choose any name you like.

When the window below appears, choose Customize.

VirtualBox creates a virtual Public network for your virtual machine. Therefore I would click on "No" in the window shown below.

To be safe, I would not let any updates download or install until after the Boot Camp Support Software (the drivers) is installed. Therefore, when the window below appears, I would choose "Don't set up Windows Update (not recommended)".

When the window below appears, choose "Create a new account".

Select "Sign in without a Microsoft account", when the window below appears.

Enter a temporary user name, password and password hint, in the window shown below. You can delete or disable this account later.

Step 21. Replace

From the Start Menu, select "Computer" to open a window containing the hard disk drives and devices with removable storage.

with

Right click on the Start Menu and select "File Explorer" to open a window containing the devices and drives.

The first image will be slightly different. Replace

Select "Start Menu→All Programs→Accessories", then right click on "Command Prompt" and select "Run as administrator", as shown in the image below.

with

Right click on the Start Menu and select "Command Prompt (Admin)".

Disregard the second image. The Desktop shown in the third image will be different.

Step 22. Replace Windows Explorer with File Explorer.

Step 23. Same instructions. Replace image with the following. This step takes a long time to complete.

Step 24-26. No changes.