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Remove Mac OS X and install Windows?

I'd like to run a new 11.6" MacBook Air exclusively on Windows 7 without wasting any 'space' on the Mac OS. Is there a SIMPLE way to install Win 7 and completely erase Mac OS?

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I believe it's possible with Boot Camp. I used Google with your question and a LOT of stuff came up. You might want to read up about that. – Randolph West Nov 22 '10 at 16:33
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closed as exact duplicate by Arjan, random♦ Nov 22 '10 at 19:24

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Yes, attach a CDROM drive, boot from MacOS (hold down the C key while the device boots). When The install routine starts, select your language and go to disk utilities at the top of the screen.

Select the partition on the left, and erase it. Restart the computer with Win7 in the Rom drive. Install Win7 remembering to delete the largest partition on the disk (the old HFS+ partition created by OS X), and put a new NTFS one on it.

Complete the install of Win7. Congratulations, downgrade complete. ;)

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I believe that you had a typo in there (the downgrade part). I think you meant upgrade. Good directions though! +1 :D – David Nov 22 '10 at 16:37
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Riiiiiiiight :) – Everett Nov 22 '10 at 16:38
Thanks Everett! If only everyone communicated as clearly as you do... Any suggestions as to how I should partition the 160 GB hard drive? – Eshel Nov 22 '10 at 17:17
Harrymc does have a point. On one hand, it's not a bad idea to have a backup OS. However, in order for this to be useful, you have to have the content of your HD readable by the OS. This means formatting FAT32. You won't be able to store files above 4GB. You can't format ExFAT on an internal drive and have Win7 recognize it. If you format NTFS (Win7 likes this) then you have to add software to OS X to make it compatible. There is a security risk to be addressed for having a "backdoor" OS on a system too. – Everett Nov 22 '10 at 17:46
Ouch, this is way over my pay grade. Bottom line, in case of trouble, can I simply boot the Mac OS from the USB device which is included in the original package from Apple? At the risk, of course, of losing all Win 7 data, which will be backed up anyway. – Eshel Nov 22 '10 at 18:09
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It is not a good idea to delete the Mac partition, as one needs to boot into OSX every now and then to get firmware updates and stuff. It is better to resize it to the minimum and keep it.

If you do not have a DVD drive, you can use a USB instead, as explained here:
Macbook Air – Install Windows 7 with Boot Camp without an External DVD Drive

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If the only purpose for having OS X on the drive is to do firmware upgrades, install OS X on an external USB drive. A Mac can boot from it. Wait, don't the new Mac Book Airs come with OS X on a thumbdrive? – Everett Nov 22 '10 at 17:10
@Everett: I don't know whether the disk-space saving justifies taking the risk of ending up without any functioning OSX. He has an OSX that functions well at the moment, so why not keep it? – harrymc Nov 22 '10 at 17:13
Because of how easy it is to get an OS back on the system. Attach a Rom drive and boot holding down C while the OS X disk is in the drive. Install OS and voila. He wants the space, so he takes the risk of loosing all data due to a non functioning OS. This is the same risk if he was using a Windows only machine though, so I'm not really considering it that big of a deal. – Everett Nov 22 '10 at 17:16
@Everett: I am not so sure that I would counsel him to take the risk. Unless he had already taken it into account when posting. In case of a problem, there will be no fail-back option. – harrymc Nov 22 '10 at 17:30
See my comment to Eshel, this may explain what I'm thinking. – Everett Nov 22 '10 at 17:51
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