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How to Bootcamp / Dual Boot Windows 10 on a mid-2011 iMac using USB

How to Install / Bootcamp Windows 10 on a mid-2011 iMac using USB

Apple has released support for bootcamping Windows 10, but only on 2012 Macs and later. Despite not being supported. it is possible to install Windows 10 on earlier iMacs and it seems to run quite well.

IMPORTANT: Unplug all external and physical hard drives (where possible) that you won't be installing to to avoid accidentally erasing them. Also make note of which drives and partitions remain (e.g. System and Storage hard drives), and be super careful to not erase the wrong one.

RECOVERY: If you nuke your machine, restore your time machine backup. Instructions here.

Requirements

  • A mid-2011 iMac or similar running OSX El Capitan
  • An 8GB or larger USB drive
  • An ISO containing Windows 10 (I used Windows 10 Enterprise)
  • 50GB free disk space, 100GB recommended

Step 1: Disable El Capitan's System Integrity Protection

El Capitan ships with a new OS X feature: System Integrity Protection (SIP), also known as "rootless" mode. This reduces the attack surface for malware that relies on modifying system files by preventing any user, whether with system administrator ("root") privileges or not from modifying a number of operating system directories and files.

It is necessary to disable OSX's System Integrity Protection so you can modify the Bootcamp Utility in the next step.

  1. Restart your Mac.
  2. Before OS X starts up, hold down Command-R and keep it held down until you see an Apple icon and a progress bar. Release. This boots you into Recovery.
  3. From the Utilities menu, select Terminal.
  4. At the prompt type exactly the following and then press Return: csrutil disable
  5. Terminal should display a message that SIP was disabled.
  6. From the  menu, select Restart.

Once you have finished installing Windows you should enable SIP again by following the same steps but run csrutil enable instead.

Step 2: Modify Bootcamp to allow creation of a bootable USB

For some reason Apple decided that if your Mac has an optical drive, there could be no reason you need to Bootcamp off a USB. If you're like me, you haven't touched an optical disk in a few years and prefer the ease and speed of using a USB flash drive instead.

  1. Find out your Macs Model Identifier and Boot ROM Version:
  • Open Terminal and run system_profiler SPHardwareDataType. Note down the values.
  • My mid-2011's Model Identifier was "iMac12,2" and the Boot ROM Version was "IM121.0047.B23".
  1. Open terminal and navigate to /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app/Contents
  • Change directory: cd /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app/Contents
  • Show files in directory: ls
  1. The file we are going to edit is the Info.plist file.
  • Make a backup of this file by running: sudo cp Info.plist Info.plist.bak
  • You will need to enter your OSX user account password.
  • If you get the error saying cp: Info.plist.bak: Operation not permitted, SIP is still enabled, please refer to step 1.
  1. Open the Info.plist in your favorite text editor, to keep this guide simple, I'll use nano.
  • sudo nano Info.plist
  1. You want to edit FOUR things:
  2. Add your Boot ROM Version to DARequiredROMVersions
  3. Delete the word "Pre" from UEFIModels and add your Model Identifier
  4. Delete the word "Pre" from USBBootSupportedModels and add your Model Identifier
  5. Remove your model from Win7OnlyModels (if it's there)
  6. Close and save the file by pressing Ctrl+x followed by y on your keyboard.
  7. The last step is to do a code sign. Boot Camp Assitant will not run if it's been edited. You need to resign it. Open Terminal (use spotlight to find it) and type this:
  • sudo codesign -fs - /Applications/Utilities/Boot\ Camp\ Assistant.app
  • It will probably ask for your password. Then it will say you need to download a developer tool from Apple. Agree to download it. (You don't need to install the whole X-Code, if it asks.) Once its been installed (it's automatic), you need to go BACK to Terminal and run that command again. This time it will work.

Step 3: Download the Bootcamp Windows Support Software

This download will contain the Windows drivers you will need to run Windows on your Mac. Windows 10 will install and run without them but not very well and a lot of hardware either won't work, or won't work very well until you install the drivers.

  1. Open Boot Camp Assistant from Applications -> Utilities
  2. Click continue at the introduction, if you completed step 2 correctly, you should see three options.
  • Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk
  • Download the latest Windows support software from Apple
  • Install Windows 7 or later version
  1. Choose none of three options, instead:
  2. From the Actions menu select Download Windows Support Software
  3. Select your Macs Desktop or Downloads folder as the destination for the download
  4. The download is 1.35GB so may take a few minutes

Step 4: Create the bootable Windows 10 USB

  1. Open Boot Camp Assistant from Applications -> Utilities
  2. Click continue at the introduction, and check the box in Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk. Ensure no other boxes are checked and click continue.
  3. If you have not already done so, insert the USB flash drive you want to burn the Windows 10 image to. Remember that any data on the USB drive you select will be erased.
  4. Continue the wizard, selecting the Windows 10 ISO file when prompted.
  5. After completing the wizard you will have your bootable Windows 10 installer USB.
  6. Copy the folder you downloaded in in Step 3 containing the Bootcamp Windows Support Software to root of USB flash drive.

Step 5: Create the bootcamp partition

You can do this using the Bootcamp Assistant, but it does reboot and attempt to boot from the optical drive as soon as it completes. I prefer to use the OSX Disk Utility instead.

  1. Open Disk Utility from Applications -> Utilities
  2. Choose your internal hard drive and select the Partition button along the top.
  3. Click the + button and create a new partition by shrinking the existing one.
  4. Create the new disk with at least 40GB disk space, I would recommend 60GB or higher.
  5. Name the partition BOOTCAMP and format using MS-DOS (FAT).
  6. Click Apply, this will take a few minutes, be patient.

Step 6: Delete the Hybrid MBR

During step 5, OSX tried to be helpful by converting our legal GPT disk partition into a hybrid MBR partition, which makes OSX see the disk as GPT and Windows it as MBR. Windows 10 requires a GPT disk when using EFI boot, so we need to revert this change using a tool called GPT fdisk (gdisk).

If this step is not completed you will get this error when installing Windows 10:

Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is not of the GPT partition style

To avoid this:

  1. Download GPT fdisk from its Sourceforge page and install it. You will probably get a warning that it's not a signed application, if you do open OSX System Preferences -> Security and Privacy -> General and you should see a note down the bottom about the application you just tried to open with an offer to open it again.
  2. Find the device number for the internal hard disk:
  3. Open Disk Utility from Applications -> Utilities
  4. Choose your internal hard drive (not one of the partitions) and note down the Device, it's probably disk0.
  5. Open Terminal from Applications -> Utilities
  6. Launch gdisk on your internal hard disk by running sudo gdisk /dev/disk0, if your internal hard disk was not disk0 in the previous step, replace disk0 with what it was here.
  7. Type p to view the partition table to verify you're working on the correct disk. You should see the BOOTCAMP partition we created in Step 5. If not, type q to quit without saving your changes and double check the device number.
  8. Type x to enter the experts' menu.
  9. Type n to create a fresh protective MBR. Note that gdisk won't confirm a change; it'll just show you a new experts' prompt.
  10. Type w to save your changes. You'll be asked to confirm this action. Do so.

Note this action also requires OSX SIP to be disabled, if you get permission errors, make sure you have completed Step 1.

Step 7: Install Windows

  1. Reboot your Mac with the bootable Windows 10 Installer USB plugged in.
  2. Before OS X starts up, just after you hear the startup sound, repeatedly press and hold down the Option (or Alt key if your using a Windows keyboard) for a second or two until you see the boot selection options.
  3. You should see an option to boot from a USB device labelled "EFI Boot", choose this one.
  4. The Windows 10 installation will now start, follow the steps, selecting Custom Installation.
  5. On the screen where you select your partition be careful, ensure you select the "BOOTCAMP" partition you created earlier before proceeding with installation.
  6. Windows will restart 4 or so times during installation. Be ready to hold down the Options / Alt key after each reboot, but instead of selecting the USB device named "EFI Boot" select the newly created hard disk labelled the "EFI Boot" instead to ensure the installation continues smoothly. This is the same method you will use to choose between booting into OSX or booting into Windows once setup is complete.
  7. Finish installing Windows until you get to the desktop.

Step 8: Install the Bootcamp Windows Support Software

The Bootcamp Windows Support Software should be on the Windows 10 installer USB you created earlier.

  1. Open Windows Explorer and go to the USB drive
  2. Unless you renamed the folder, open WindowsSupport -> Bootcamp -> setup.exe.
  3. This will install all the required drivers and the bootcamp utility for Windows.

Step 9: Re-Enable El Capitan's System Integrity Protection

See Step 1.

Issues

The drivers installed as part of the Bootcamp Windows Support Software work well, WiFi, Graphics, External Monitors, Webcams and Bluetooth are all working. Audio was the only immediately noticable issue, though strangely the audio provided through my 2008 Apple Cinema display works without issue.

Mid-2011 iMac Audio Does Not Work

I could not get the iMac built in sound to work on Windows 10, despite the webcam working. I tried a few things that did not work:

As my external Apple Cinema display's audio was working it was not to much of an issue for me to deal with, but if anyone finds a solution please let me know.

Sources & Acknowledgements

@scottannan
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I spent a long time working on this... my issue was that the bootable drive wasn't large enough to handle windows 10 files. This article helped: https://alexlubbock.com/bootable-windows-usb-on-mac

@tnrese
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tnrese commented Mar 29, 2021

I couldn’t find the DArequiredROMVersions in the terminal so the rest didn’t work help!

@v6668468
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Hi guys.

Windows 10 (21H1 release) was successfully installed on a Macmini Mid-2011 under High Sierra 10.13.6 thanks for this manual. But with some difference.

Step 1. no difference

Step 2. no difference

Step 2. No "DARequiredROMVersions" settings needed in Info.plist.
Also removed my Macmini5,1 model from SupporedNonWin10Models key.

Step 3. no difference

Step 4. Described way doesn't work since the latest iso's of Windows 10 contain install.wim file larger than 4Gb, so Bootcamp can't write it on FAT32 FS with "No enough space on startup disk" error. People says that Apple has already fixed the problem and use exFAT in the latest versions of Bootcamp, but in my case with High Sierra it still uses FAT32. So I had to use this manual https://twocanoes.com/using-larger-windows-10-isos-with-boot-camp-assistant/ and Boot Camp ISO converter utility to repack the original M$ iso file splitting install.wim file.
https://twocanoes-software-updates.s3.amazonaws.com/Boot%20Camp%20ISO%20Converter1_6.dmg
The utility is claimed as paid, but now it's discontinued and costs $0, so you can go through "buying" procedure and get an activation key for free. Evaluation way works as well (if you prefer) :)
Now this step works perfectly.
Alternatively you can install older Windows 10 releases and then upgrade Windows to the lates release using its own update system. I tested with 2004 release without repack. It works, but Windows doesn't upgrade itself to the latest 21H1 release so I had to get back to the "iso splitting way".

Step 5. Created bootcamp partition using the native way. Run Bootcamp and chosen the only option: "Install Windows 7 or later version". It has initiated partition creation and then rebooted Mac to windows installation process. No additional actions were needed.
Note: if you reboot to installation process manually (holding "Option" button after Mac is turned on), then you'll see 3 boot options

  1. Macintosh HD (regular macos)
  2. Windows (from your USB device)
  3. EFI boot (from your USB device)
    You must choose option 2 - Windows. EFI boot didn't work in my case and gets stuck on windows logo. Option 2 shows a message "Booting from Bootcamp created disk" (or somehow so, can't see the original message any more), then blinking cursor for about a minute (keep calm and be patient) and then installation process starts.

Step 6. skipped.

Step 7. During Installation process there was no necessity to catch reboot moments and choose Windows boot. It always reboots in Windows.

Step 8. After drivers installation all the devices work out of the box. Even my Monitor audio via HDMI cable. No issues, no additional troubleshooting.

Faced an issue with Bootcamp helper utility under Windows. The feature "reboot to macos" doesn't work. It always boots back to Windows. You have to use hold "Option" button during boot to get to boot manager menu and choose Macintosh HD way manually.

Have fun!

@Ibraadin10
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Guys I have a quick question, I followed all steps but is it normal after I installed windows on the windows Menu in the first Settings my iMac mid 2011 restarts and I get only the windows screen, nothing is loading or giving me a sign that it works. I’ll post a pictures underneath pls help :)!
Uploading image.jpg…

@koller18
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koller18 commented Oct 5, 2021

The problem with sound and other devices is solved here!

@mwasking
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best and easiest guide

I got stuck at the last step. When I reboot and try to select the Bootcamp disk for windows, the screen freezes and doesn't proceed.

@Padremedia
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Padremedia commented Dec 27, 2021

Hi guys.

Windows 10 Professional was successfully installed on a iMac Mid-2011 under High Sierra 10.13.6.
All drives works including graphics and audio like normal win10..

this is how i did it: (you must have a original windows 10 product key to complete. thats all)

  1. Install Windows 7 through the normal bootcamp process
  2. Install the bootcam files too and connect to the internet
  3. Go to the website: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 and follow the steps to create windows 10
  4. When prompted choose: upgrade this computer
  5. When prompted give your windows 10 key
  6. the computer will restart atleast four times, hold your Cmd/Alt key according to your keyboard and choose 'windows'
  7. it will take maximum of an hour ...you will see the noram windows 10 desktop.
  8. after that , windows will automattically downlaod drivers required for windows like audio and vga...

100% success...no coding nothing...just sit back and relax.....(frshanadu@gmail.com)

That allowed me to upgrade in place without changing the format of the drive or partition.

@macamir
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macamir commented Feb 12, 2022

Hi, I downloaded iso file from MS website for installing on my iMac mid 2011(12,1) but when I am trying to create bootable drive bootcamp keeps giving error message "There is not enough space available on the disk."... tried with different usb drives still the same... can someone help here please?
Also I have 2 hard drives in my mac so installing it on seperate hard drive than my macOS High Sierra so do I need to still format to create GUID partition? thanks

@rivermansmankid
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Holy shit stick cum stain. You are an absolute legend. I love you

@ignatievvictor
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On my windows 10 on mid 2011 display port not working. Do you check your display port and external hdmi for monitor working well?

@koller18
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Holy shit stick cum stain. You are an absolute legend. I love you
image

@koller18
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On my windows 10 on mid 2011 display port not working. Do you check your display port and external hdmi for monitor working well?

No bro, we are service center ✌

@ignatievvictor
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Damn. I spent so much nerves and time to get win 10 working on my macbook. Even patched sound driver, but display port Dont seen by win10((

@MiGabri
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MiGabri commented Jul 27, 2022

Hi guys, i arrived to the step where in the main disk the partition scheme was change to GPT + MBR, but i have some doubt about the use of gdisk to roll back the partition scheme to GPT only;
under step 6 i did not understand this statement: "Type n to create a fresh protective MBR. Note that gdisk won't confirm a change; it'll just show you a new experts' prompt."

@berko05
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berko05 commented Dec 18, 2022

To OP's audio problem: I just experienced the same problem after setting up Windows 10. But I found the solution. Following this thread to install Windows 10 in Legacy mode, using hybrid GPT/MBR scheme and installing the drivers in Audit mode BEFORE setting up W10 (OOBE), got my audio back up and running 100%.

I think it's good to mention W10 in UEFI sometimes would randomly not boot for me at all, not even to safe mode (it keeps getting stuck at the blue W10 logo), above steps resolved this issue aswell.

@f-bone
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f-bone commented Dec 24, 2022

Hi guys! excellent work! noob request/plizbro - is it possible to upload a clonezilla image of the factory HDD with high sierra and windows 10 installed and working? I know I am asking a lot but that could be the only way for me to successfully setup my 2011 iMac.

@makaper
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makaper commented Jan 7, 2023

Imac 12,2 (27 inch, Mid 2011) 10.13.6, checking in...

Firstly, thanks to all posters above.

I followed the instructions (specifically the revision by v6668468 with the following modifications:

Step: 2

i) Don't forget to add quotes to "Boot Camp Assistant.app". In other words, the folder you are looking for resides in

/Applications/Utilities/"Boot Camp Assistant.app"/Contents

ii) As an admin on my mac (and also with one additional admin account), I was not able to complete this step within terminal (tried chmod and a few other tricks without success). Instead, I opened finder and navigated to /Applications/Utilities/. Then I right clicked on the "Boot Camp Assistant" and chose "show package contents." Then I right-clicked on the "Contents" folder and gave myself permission to read/write from the folder by clicking the little "plus" symbol under security and permissions. Then I was able to actually open the folder and edit the info.plist file using text editor.
iii) I then went into text editor prefs and made sure the file would be saved as plain text.
iv) I got stuck at some point, rebooted, then almost gave up, and then I made some more edits to the info.plist. I'm not totally sure what sealed the deal. In fact, I added a key, 64BitSupportedModels which wasn't in my original and I removed my 12,2 from the 32BitSupportedModels key. Not sure if that even did anything tbh.

FYI The Bootcamp process ran for approx 1 hr before it completed on my highly specced imac12,2. The Disk Utility (see below) also took a looooooong time. So be patient!

Step: 5

I followed the instructions in the original post by using Disk Utility to create the partition. Probaby this is what they meant by "the native way" but I thought I'd be explicit.

It was smooth sailing after that (I allotted 100gb of ssd space for windows) and nice to have a clean install of win10.

Here is the info.plist file which worked for me:

<key>32BitSupportedModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir5,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro10,1</string>
	<string>MacPro5,1</string>
	<string>Macmini5,3</string>
</array>
<key>64BitSupportedModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir5,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro10,1</string>
	<string>MacPro5,1</string>
	<string>Macmini5,3</string>
	<string>iMac12,2</string>
</array>
<key>BuildMachineOSBuild</key>
<string>16B2657</string>
<key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key>
<string>English</string>
<key>CFBundleDisplayName</key>
<string>Boot Camp Assistant</string>
<key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
<string>Boot Camp Assistant</string>
<key>CFBundleGetInfoString</key>
<string>Boot Camp Assistant 6.1.0, Copyright © 2016 Apple Inc. All rights reserved</string>
<key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
<string>DA</string>
<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
<string>com.apple.bootcampassistant</string>
<key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key>
<string>6.0</string>
<key>CFBundleName</key>
<string>Boot Camp Assistant</string>
<key>CFBundlePackageType</key>
<string>APPL</string>
<key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key>
<string>6.1.0</string>
<key>CFBundleSignature</key>
<string>????</string>
<key>CFBundleSupportedPlatforms</key>
<array>
	<string>MacOSX</string>
</array>
<key>CFBundleVersion</key>
<string>6067.60.1</string>
<key>DTCompiler</key>
<string>com.apple.compilers.llvm.clang.1_0</string>
<key>DTPlatformBuild</key>
<string>9P107g</string>
<key>DTPlatformVersion</key>
<string>GM</string>
<key>DTSDKBuild</key>
<string>17G11015</string>
<key>DTSDKName</key>
<string>macosx10.13internal</string>
<key>DTXcode</key>
<string>0930</string>
<key>DTXcodeBuild</key>
<string>9P107g</string>
<key>ExternalInstallOnlyModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBookAir7,1</string>
</array>
<key>LSApplicationCategoryType</key>
<string>public.app-category.utilities</string>
<key>LSMinimumSystemVersion</key>
<string>10.11.0</string>
<key>NSMainNibFile</key>
<string>MainMenu</string>
<key>NSPrincipalClass</key>
<string>NSApplication</string>
<key>PreESDRequiredModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7</string>
	<string>MacBookAir5</string>
	<string>MacBookPro10</string>
	<string>MacPro5</string>
	<string>Macmini6</string>
	<string>iMac13</string>
</array>
<key>UEFIModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7</string>
	<string>MacBookAir5</string>
	<string>MacBookPro10</string>
	<string>MacPro5</string>
	<string>Macmini6</string>
	<string>iMac12,2</string>
</array>
<key>USBBootSupportedModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir3,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro8,3</string>
	<string>MacPro5,1</string>
	<string>Macmini4,1</string>
	<string>iMac12,2</string>
</array>
<key>PreWindows10OnlyModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBookAir7,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro12,1</string>
	<string>MacPro6,1</string>
	<string>Macmini7,1</string>
	<string>iMac17,1</string>
</array>
<key>SupporedNonWin10Models</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook6,1</string>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir3,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir3,2</string>
	<string>MacBookAir4,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir4,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro6,1</string>
	<string>MacBookPro6,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookPro8,1</string>
	<string>MacBookPro8,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro8,3</string>
	<string>Macmini4,1</string>
	<string>Macmini5,1</string>
	<string>Macmini5,2</string>
	<string>Macmini5,3</string>
	<string>iMac10,1</string>
	<string>iMac11,1</string>
	<string>iMac11,2</string>
	<string>iMac11,3</string>
	<string>iMac12,1</string>
	<string>MacPro5,1</string>
</array>
<key>UEFIOnlyModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook8,1</string>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookPro11,4</string>
	<string>MacPro6,1</string>
	<string>iMac16,1</string>
</array>
<key>Win7OnlyModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBook6,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir3,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir3,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro5,5</string>
	<string>MacPro2,1</string>
	<string>Macmini4,1</string>
	<string>iMac10,1</string>
	<string>iMac11,1</string>
	<string>iMac11,2</string>
</array>

@frankh93
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frankh93 commented Jan 8, 2023

Imac 12,2 (27 inch, Mid 2011) 10.13.6, checking in...

Firstly, thanks to all posters above.

I followed the instructions (specifically the revision by v6668468 with the following modifications:

Step: 2

i) Don't forget to add quotes to "Boot Camp Assistant.app". In other words, the folder you are looking for resides in

/Applications/Utilities/"Boot Camp Assistant.app"/Contents

ii) As an admin on my mac (and also with one additional admin account), I was not able to complete this step within terminal (tried chmod and a few other tricks without success). Instead, I opened finder and navigated to /Applications/Utilities/. Then I right clicked on the "Boot Camp Assistant" and chose "show package contents." Then I right-clicked on the "Contents" folder and gave myself permission to read/write from the folder by clicking the little "plus" symbol under security and permissions. Then I was able to actually open the folder and edit the info.plist file using text editor. iii) I then went into text editor prefs and made sure the file would be saved as plain text. iv) I got stuck at some point, rebooted, then almost gave up, and then I made some more edits to the info.plist. I'm not totally sure what sealed the deal. In fact, I added a key, 64BitSupportedModels which wasn't in my original and I removed my 12,2 from the 32BitSupportedModels key. Not sure if that even did anything tbh.

FYI The Bootcamp process ran for approx 1 hr before it completed on my highly specced imac12,2. The Disk Utility (see below) also took a looooooong time. So be patient!

Step: 5

I followed the instructions in the original post by using Disk Utility to create the partition. Probaby this is what they meant by "the native way" but I thought I'd be explicit.

It was smooth sailing after that (I allotted 100gb of ssd space for windows) and nice to have a clean install of win10.

Here is the info.plist file which worked for me:

<key>32BitSupportedModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir5,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro10,1</string>
	<string>MacPro5,1</string>
	<string>Macmini5,3</string>
</array>
<key>64BitSupportedModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir5,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro10,1</string>
	<string>MacPro5,1</string>
	<string>Macmini5,3</string>
	<string>iMac12,2</string>
</array>
<key>BuildMachineOSBuild</key>
<string>16B2657</string>
<key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key>
<string>English</string>
<key>CFBundleDisplayName</key>
<string>Boot Camp Assistant</string>
<key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
<string>Boot Camp Assistant</string>
<key>CFBundleGetInfoString</key>
<string>Boot Camp Assistant 6.1.0, Copyright © 2016 Apple Inc. All rights reserved</string>
<key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
<string>DA</string>
<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
<string>com.apple.bootcampassistant</string>
<key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key>
<string>6.0</string>
<key>CFBundleName</key>
<string>Boot Camp Assistant</string>
<key>CFBundlePackageType</key>
<string>APPL</string>
<key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key>
<string>6.1.0</string>
<key>CFBundleSignature</key>
<string>????</string>
<key>CFBundleSupportedPlatforms</key>
<array>
	<string>MacOSX</string>
</array>
<key>CFBundleVersion</key>
<string>6067.60.1</string>
<key>DTCompiler</key>
<string>com.apple.compilers.llvm.clang.1_0</string>
<key>DTPlatformBuild</key>
<string>9P107g</string>
<key>DTPlatformVersion</key>
<string>GM</string>
<key>DTSDKBuild</key>
<string>17G11015</string>
<key>DTSDKName</key>
<string>macosx10.13internal</string>
<key>DTXcode</key>
<string>0930</string>
<key>DTXcodeBuild</key>
<string>9P107g</string>
<key>ExternalInstallOnlyModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBookAir7,1</string>
</array>
<key>LSApplicationCategoryType</key>
<string>public.app-category.utilities</string>
<key>LSMinimumSystemVersion</key>
<string>10.11.0</string>
<key>NSMainNibFile</key>
<string>MainMenu</string>
<key>NSPrincipalClass</key>
<string>NSApplication</string>
<key>PreESDRequiredModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7</string>
	<string>MacBookAir5</string>
	<string>MacBookPro10</string>
	<string>MacPro5</string>
	<string>Macmini6</string>
	<string>iMac13</string>
</array>
<key>UEFIModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7</string>
	<string>MacBookAir5</string>
	<string>MacBookPro10</string>
	<string>MacPro5</string>
	<string>Macmini6</string>
	<string>iMac12,2</string>
</array>
<key>USBBootSupportedModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir3,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro8,3</string>
	<string>MacPro5,1</string>
	<string>Macmini4,1</string>
	<string>iMac12,2</string>
</array>
<key>PreWindows10OnlyModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBookAir7,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro12,1</string>
	<string>MacPro6,1</string>
	<string>Macmini7,1</string>
	<string>iMac17,1</string>
</array>
<key>SupporedNonWin10Models</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook6,1</string>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir3,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir3,2</string>
	<string>MacBookAir4,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir4,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro6,1</string>
	<string>MacBookPro6,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookPro8,1</string>
	<string>MacBookPro8,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro8,3</string>
	<string>Macmini4,1</string>
	<string>Macmini5,1</string>
	<string>Macmini5,2</string>
	<string>Macmini5,3</string>
	<string>iMac10,1</string>
	<string>iMac11,1</string>
	<string>iMac11,2</string>
	<string>iMac11,3</string>
	<string>iMac12,1</string>
	<string>MacPro5,1</string>
</array>
<key>UEFIOnlyModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook8,1</string>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBookPro11,4</string>
	<string>MacPro6,1</string>
	<string>iMac16,1</string>
</array>
<key>Win7OnlyModels</key>
<array>
	<string>MacBook7,1</string>
	<string>MacBook6,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir3,1</string>
	<string>MacBookAir3,2</string>
	<string>MacBookPro5,5</string>
	<string>MacPro2,1</string>
	<string>Macmini4,1</string>
	<string>iMac10,1</string>
	<string>iMac11,1</string>
	<string>iMac11,2</string>
</array>

After reading all the answers I managed to get the instalation going but after the third restart I get only BSOD over and over... Did you install the latest W10? Or which version you used? Thanks in advance

@mp4kv
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mp4kv commented May 16, 2023

Steps I used to solve BSOD from igdkmd64.sys error:

Boot into OS X.

Install this program: https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac. There is an 8 day free trial.

Restart your computer.

Reboot back into OS X. You can now use finder to edit the files from your bootcamp partition.

Open disk utility, right click your bootcamp partition and select show in finder.

Browse to /Windows/System32/drivers. Find the igdkmd64.sys file and rename it to igdkmd64backup.sys.

Boot into your windows partition. You should not crash now. Disable IntelHD display adapter in device manager.

Notes:
-You must have received the BSOD before this will work or the igdkmd64.sys file will not be there to rename

-First I tried to rename the file using the command prompt within windows recovery, but it does not appear when viewed from windows, I can only see the file from the mac side

-I tried disabling automatic driver installs using group policy and advanced system settings, before doing any of this, but the IntelHD driver insists on installing

Specs: 2011 iMac12,1 on High Sierra 10.13.6 - using Windows 22H2 iso. (had to split wim file)

@mikcheck
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I GOT WINDOWS 10 FULLY FUNCTIONING ON MACBOOK PRO EARLY 2011 (MacBookPro8,2) !!! 😜
FOR AUDIO FIX USE https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher
FOLLOW THIS TUTORIAL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMoR3wGUUJo&ab_channel=Mayunix

@marcpongnon
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Not entirely sure what it is I am doing wrong but still can't get MacBook Pro late 2011 to recognize other partition.

@mikcheck
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there's a workaround, before boot in windows installation, boot in mac, go to disk utility, erase bootcamp created partition with macos journaled, then reboot in windows installation, delete partition and recreate, format and go on.

@marcpongnon
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I will try to attempt this again, do you have an instagram account that I would be able to reach out to you on? I do not check my github account as this is not a life or death situation but this would be extremely beneficial to me.

@marcpongnon
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I will go ahead and try that when I get back to CT because I am currently in FLorida and do not have my laptop with me.

@halomov
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halomov commented Sep 27, 2023

i followed all steps in the instruction, i dunno if it was right, now im in the the window to choose bootcamp partition but windows 8.1 wont install, it says error the drive needs to be NTFS? please help.

@DanielWood886
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DanielWood886 commented Sep 27, 2023 via email

@halomov
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halomov commented Sep 28, 2023

Hi, did you watch my video? (I also explain the whole process including upgrading the HDD). It should help you. https://youtu.be/Uxu-cyTr5JU?si=cFzxeD-oqKTVbfLc Le mer. 27 sept. 2023 à 06:51, halomov @.> a écrit :

@.
* commented on this gist. ------------------------------ i followed all steps in the instruction, i dunno if it was right, now im in the the window to choose bootcamp partition but windows 8.1 wont install, it says error the drive needs to be NTFS? please help. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://gist.github.com/oznu/8796d08d73315483c3b26e79a8e3d350#gistcomment-4705477 or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AOF4LTDJUPQTVUY73B5ZRI3X4OWGNBFKMF2HI4TJMJ2XIZLTSKBKK5TBNR2WLJDHNFZXJJDOMFWWLK3UNBZGKYLEL52HS4DFQKSXMYLMOVS2I5DSOVS2I3TBNVS3W5DIOJSWCZC7OBQXE5DJMNUXAYLOORPWCY3UNF3GS5DZVRZXKYTKMVRXIX3UPFYGLK2HNFZXIQ3PNVWWK3TUUZ2G64DJMNZZDAVEOR4XAZNEM5UXG5FFOZQWY5LFVAZTGNRZGU4DMNVHORZGSZ3HMVZKMY3SMVQXIZI . You are receiving this email because you commented on the thread. Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675 or Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub .

may we also ask for the driver for the audio? mac 12,1 imac 2011

@bosconogueiramd
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gistfile1.txt
Hi there, I have a MBP 2011 late. I have installed Windows 10 using boot camp (dual boot). Everything works, but the second monitor.
It´s not been recognized by windows 10 (despite the fact it works ok on Mac OS partition).
I am not a really person that understands advanced solutions.
Anyone could help me?

@roughana
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roughana commented Feb 2, 2024

I have iMac mid 2011 27". I have tried the procedure and variants several times and at one point managed to install all the way through, but then the first windows update gave me BSOD and I started again. Now I'm stuck with Windows logo and no progress after an earlier BSOD related to igdkmd64, but this driver wasn't visible from Mac Side using Paragon NTFS....
At some moments the reboot went into recovery mode but since the installation hadn't finished I wasn't able to get to command prompt because a password was requested for defaultuser0.
This whole process seems like a precarious deck of cards.
I'll start again.

@Ericday20
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I get Almost finished with setup, creating pin adding email declining office and Dropbox. Then it restarts a couple times, goes in recovery, downloads critical updates. And repeates. Not sure how to fix

@frankh93
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frankh93 commented Mar 5, 2024

I get Almost finished with setup, creating pin adding email declining office and Dropbox. Then it restarts a couple times, goes in recovery, downloads critical updates. And repeates. Not sure how to fix

Recently I found this post https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/448340/installing-windows-11-on-mid-2011-imac-full-install-not-boot-camp-but-it-bsod and I waa able to install W11 on my iMac mid 2011. Hope it works for you.

@jayzarna
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jayzarna commented Mar 6, 2024

I have now had a successful bootcamp Windows 11 install on my 2011 mid Imac with 16GB ram and is working. I also have Open Core Legacy Patcher which runs multiple versions of Mac OS including Ventura and Sonoma without a hiccup. For the Bootcamp windows install which was quite the challenge, I followed various links which I will post under. But suffice to say that it does work, and it also installed the AMD drivers so my Imac works flawlessly in Windows11 Bootcamp.

Initially the Imac came with a 256GB SSD and a 2TB Hitachi HDD. I upgraded the 256GB to a Crucial 2TB SSD which also works. I had managed to get Windows 11 Working on the SSD and proceeded to make a clone of the same on to an external drive and then once the new Crucial SSD was purchased and installed, I transferred the cloned image onto it.

On the Mac OS side I have also tried VM Ware and other options, but the keyboard does not work. I have not been able to figure that out and as I do have Bootcamp Windows I have not bothered subsequently.

So here are the steps (wherever you get stuck, at that particular stage, search online and continue) on the attached PDF. Unfortunately it is not allowing me to attach a file so I am copy/pasting the process.

Finally installed Windows 11 on Imac after months of struggling.
First is to make sure that the Disk drive is MBR and not GPT, even though we use GUID to partition the SSD.
On the 250 GB SSD I kept 90GB for Windows 11.

High Sierra was on a APFS partition and when I used Bootcamp to partition, on HS it only made then main Bootcamp partition, which was ExFat. I made another smaller 205MB partition with MSDos Fat 16. When I didi that Disk Utility made another Bootcamp partition of 200MB thereabouts and there was an uninitiated partition that was added automatically. Without this the installation does not go further.

When I went ahead with this mode and did what was suggested I got an error when trying to make the C drive active. For this I had to then use Gdisk and make sure that these partitions including the APFS was MBR. This was done via the Apple Stackexchange Blog

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/308824/how-to-convert-a-drive-from-the-gpt-format-to-the-hybrid-gpt-mbr-format-when-usi

Here are the methods involving in editing the MBR table to create a hybrid partitioning scheme.

Method 1: Use the Third Party Tool gdisk

  1. While booted to macOS, download and install gdisk.
Note: If you get a popup similar to the one shown below, then will need to run the Terminal application command shown below before trying to install gdisk.

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/gdisk-*.pkg

  2. 
Note: The Terminal application can be found under "Utilities" on the menu bar.

  3. Picture of the popup.

  4. Disable SIP and then boot back to macOS. This will allow you to use the commands gpt, gdisk and fdisk. You also can execute gpt, gdisk and fdisk from macOS Recovery, but this may require you to precede the gdisk command with a path.

  5. The command given below can be used to partially display the information contained in GPT stored on disk0. You will need this information verify the changes made to the MBR table. (See the above question for the output from this command.)
gpt -r show /dev/disk0

  6. Enter the command given below.
sudo gdisk /dev/disk0

  7. Enter the input given below. This input is correct for the drive used as an example in this answer. Your actual input may vary from what is shown.
Note: The control+C key can be pressed at anytime to terminate the gdisk command without saving any changes.

r

  8. h

  9. 2 3 4

  10. y

  11. ff

  12. n

  13. 07

  14. y

  15. 07

  16. n

  17. w

  18. y

  19. 
Note: If you encounter the question shown below, enter the answer n.

Unused partition space(s) found. Use one to protect more partitions? (Y/N):

  20. 
Below is an example of the output after entering the command and the above input.
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.4

  21. Partition table scan:

  22. MBR: protective

  23. BSD: not present

  24. APM: not present

  25. GPT: present

  26. Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

  27. Command (? for help): r

  28. Recovery/transformation command (? for help): h

  29. WARNING! Hybrid MBRs are flaky and dangerous! If you decide not to use one,

  30. just hit the Enter key at the below prompt and your MBR partition table will

  31. be untouched.

  32. Type from one to three GPT partition numbers, separated by spaces, to be

  33. added to the hybrid MBR, in sequence: 2 3 4

  34. Place EFI GPT (0xEE) partition first in MBR (good for GRUB)? (Y/N): y

  35. Creating entry for GPT partition #2 (MBR partition #2)

  36. Enter an MBR hex code (default AF): ff

  37. Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): n

  38. Creating entry for GPT partition #3 (MBR partition #3)

  39. Enter an MBR hex code (default 07): 07

  40. Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): y

  41. Creating entry for GPT partition #4 (MBR partition #4)

  42. Enter an MBR hex code (default 07): 07

  43. Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): n

  44. Recovery/transformation command (? for help): w

  45. Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING

  46. PARTITIONS!!

  47. Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): y

  48. OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/disk0.

  49. Warning: The kernel may continue to use old or deleted partitions.

  50. You should reboot or remove the drive.

  51. The operation has completed successfully.

  52. 
As the above message suggests, it would be a good idea to restart the Mac.

  53. Enter the command given below to verify the changes.
sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

  54. 
Below is an example of the output after entering the command. Except for the start value of partition 1, the remaining start and size values should match the output from the gpt -r show /dev/disk0 command.
Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 60788/255/63 [976562540 sectors]

  55. Signature: 0xAA55

  56.      Starting       Ending
    
  57. #: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]


  58. 1: EE 0 0 2 - 25 127 14 [ 1 - 409639]

  59. 2: FF 25 127 15 - 1023 254 63 [ 409640 - 487304680] Xenix BBT

  60. *3: 07 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 487714816 - 390623232] HPFS/QNX/AUX

  61. 4: 07 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 878340096 - 97654784] HPFS/QNX/AUX

  62. 
Note: The descriptions , Xenix BBT and HPFS/QNX/AUX are either wrong and/or outdated.


  63. If desired, enable SIP.

Once the disk could be made Active, one use the DISM commands to get the Install.wim or Install.Esd file loaded on the drive. This is done via the Apple Stack exchange blog:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/448340/installing-windows-11-on-mid-2011-imac-full-install-not-boot-camp-but-it-bsod#:~:text=A%202011%20computer%20%5Bof%20any,which%20Mac%20doesn%27t%20have

Follow the answer and tha tis what I did and it has worked. At places I used other information but I have now forgotten the exact steps. Sorry.

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