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Bootcamp and Thunderbolt Devices

J

jday7757

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 21, 2012
70
19
I've been using Parallels 10 for a few Windows programs since I got my retina iMac back in December. With the release of Windows 10, I decided to try bootcamp for the first time. After many attempts and trial and error on procedures (simply using Bootcamp Assistant did not work), I was able to get Windows 10 installed and running. My problem is that apparently, bootcamp does not recognize external thunderbolt drives. I knew I had to install bootcamp on the internal SSD, but was surprised to learn that I couldn't use my external RAID for storage under Windows. If I am wrong on that point and someone can tell me how to make that work, I'd love to hear it.

However, that is not my main issue/concern. I made the Windows partition large enough that I can live with only using the internal SSD for storage of my Windows apps/files. However, my iMac will not even boot into Windows if the thunderbolt drive is connected. I can get to the boot choice screen, but after selecting Windows, I just get a black screen followed by a black screen with blinking cursor. If I want to run Windows, I have to actually shut off my computer and disconnect the thunderbolt drives and then turn on and boot into Windows. Has anyone else had a problem like this? If so, were you able to overcome it and be able to boot into Windows without disconnecting thunderbolt devices? Of course, if so, could you explain how you did it? Thanks.
 
Although unfortunately I cannot help you in this issue, Apple support sites suggest user disconnect all thunderbolt devices when installing windows using boot camp. I bet apple does know there would be an issue, although, if they try to solve this or leave it behind, would be a myth.

In fact, I even need to disconnect everything except mouse and keyboard (if I have) before starting installation of windows 10 on my Macbook Air.
 
jday7757 said:
I've been using Parallels 10 for a few Windows programs since I got my retina iMac back in December. With the release of Windows 10, I decided to try bootcamp for the first time. After many attempts and trial and error on procedures (simply using Bootcamp Assistant did not work), I was able to get Windows 10 installed and running. My problem is that apparently, bootcamp does not recognize external thunderbolt drives. I knew I had to install bootcamp on the internal SSD, but was surprised to learn that I couldn't use my external RAID for storage under Windows. If I am wrong on that point and someone can tell me how to make that work, I'd love to hear it.

However, that is not my main issue/concern. I made the Windows partition large enough that I can live with only using the internal SSD for storage of my Windows apps/files. However, my iMac will not even boot into Windows if the thunderbolt drive is connected. I can get to the boot choice screen, but after selecting Windows, I just get a black screen followed by a black screen with blinking cursor. If I want to run Windows, I have to actually shut off my computer and disconnect the thunderbolt drives and then turn on and boot into Windows. Has anyone else had a problem like this? If so, were you able to overcome it and be able to boot into Windows without disconnecting thunderbolt devices? Of course, if so, could you explain how you did it? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Is the blinking cursor the Mac/OS X cursor or is it the Windows cursor?
 
It is a short white (underscore) line in the upper left corner.
 
jday7757 said:
It is a short white (underscore) line in the upper left corner.
Click to expand...

It sounds like it has booted into BIOS but it attempted to boot from your external device…

As soon as you select Windows, try pressing F8 (or Fn+F8) like any other Windows PC for boot options.
 
Shirasaki said:
Although unfortunately I cannot help you in this issue, Apple support sites suggest user disconnect all thunderbolt devices when installing windows using boot camp. I bet apple does know there would be an issue, although, if they try to solve this or leave it behind, would be a myth.

In fact, I even need to disconnect everything except mouse and keyboard (if I have) before starting installation of windows 10 on my Macbook Air.
Click to expand...

Yes, I had to basically disconnect everything connected to my iMac to get Windows installed. My current problem is that now that Windows is installed via bootcamp, I still have to disconnect devices before booting into Windows.
 
jday7757 said:
Yes, I had to basically disconnect everything connected to my iMac to get Windows installed. My current problem is that now that Windows is installed via bootcamp, I still have to disconnect devices before booting into Windows.
Click to expand...
And what's worse, you even cannot use those devices after your Windows is running.
 
Thanks for all the replies. After confirming I cannot use the connected thunderbolt drives even for files/storage after Windows is running, I've decided to delete the bootcamp partition and just go back to using Parallels for my Windows usage.
 
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