Can't boot back to Win10 after installing/running Win10 on 2010 Mac Pro

[PianoPro]

I installed Win 10 to a separate hard drive partitioned 700MB for HFS+, 300MB for Win10 (using Bootcamp with modified plist) on 2010 Mac Pro. Installed from Win10 iso-created DVD because I have no boot screen manager (running RX-580 video card for Mojave). Win 10 install appeared to be working ok, and I booted back into it several times to test it. I had NOT installed any of the Bootcamp drivers at that point but video, HDMI audio, USB mouse, USB keyboard, networking were all working ok.

Then I did a PRAM reset to boot back into High Sierra from a separate SSD. The Win10 partition on the hard drive does NOT mount, but the 700MB HFS partition on the same drive does mount. The Win10 partition shows up in Disk Utility as disk3s3, grayed out, NOT mounted, and mysteriously now says MS-DOS (FAT) rather than NTFS (which it was formatted to be during Win10 installation). Not surprisingly, since it isn't mounted the the Win10 volume does not show up in the Recovery start up disk menu, nor the System Preferences Startup Disk icons. I also tried installing the QuickBoot app and it doesn't show up there either.

Can anyone help? This is the first time I tried dual booting Win10 (its actually a triple boot with HS and Mojave on separate SSDs) and without access to boot screens it's been a very confusing and frustrating process from the git-go.

------
diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *250.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk5 249.8 GB disk0s2


/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *256.1 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk6 255.9 GB disk1s2

...

/dev/disk3 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk3

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk3s1

2: Apple_HFS Backup 700.9 GB disk3s2

3: Microsoft Basic Data 299.0 GB disk3s3

etc.

 

[PianoPro]

No one responded so I guess this problem isn't common. So I'll reinstall another video card that produces boot manager screens and start over.

 

[crjackson2134]

Boot into recovery mode
From the menu bar Utilities>Terminal
In terminal, type “csrutil disable” (Without the quotes)

Next shutdown

Then power on and try the Dtartup Disk tool again

If this works, I’ll post a decent workaround for the Boot Picker.

 

[PianoPro]

Sorry too late. I got frustrated getting nowhere. So I put a HD-5770 (along with the RX-560) back in to get a boot manager screen, reformatted and partitioned without Boot Camp assistance, and reinstalled Win 10 from DVD with UEFI boot. So its now UEFI Win10 installation rather than legacy BIOS (which I presume it was previously using BootCamp Assistant).

NEW CONFIGURATION

So the previous problem went away. The "BootCamp" partition now mounts in HS and shows up in System Preferences Startup Disk and when using using Option to get to boot manager (can't test Startup Disk app in Mojave until I take the 5770 back out because you can't boot into Mojave when 5770 is in the Mac Pro).

I couldn't decide which BootCamp drivers to use so I installed all of them from the last official Mac Pro BC release. Not sure if that was a good idea or not. Maybe some should be removed or changed to newer BC drivers, or just newer generic Win10 drivers. I will have to experiment. I did have to disable the BC Bluetooth driver in order for the ASUS BT dongle driver to load. I use that dongle for my Magic Mouse, but I'll still have to hack the Windows Link Key (not a big job) to make that work seamlessly with HS and Mojave so I never need to re-pair the mouse when switching OS's.

WIN 10 ODDITY WITH RX-560 and HD-5770

The only oddity I see in Win 10 is that the RX-560 driver (supplied with Win 10, but I ALSO installed one specifically targeted at BC from the AMD website) and none of the HD-5770 drivers (tried a bunch including the BC driver) will work together. Every time I install ANY of the RX-560 drivers it disables ANY of the 5770 drivers, but the 5770 still runs with the Basic Win Video Driver. So I still get 2 monitor screens (one hooked to each card) and can still get the boot manager when Win10 restarts. Unfortunately the 5770 fan runs faster (a bit noisy) but not full out with the Win Basic Driver. No matter because I need to later remove the 5770 entirely so I can boot into Mojave too. But it is an oddity.

Conversely, if I reload any 5770 driver, it immediately completely disables the RX-560 card (no video out) and Win gives that message in the Device Manager. And the RX-560 will not run at all with the Basic Win Driver. My searching on the net turned up other cases, but with 2 other video cards, that seemed to do the same type of things even though earlier Win versions worked with the same 2 dissimilar cards. So it appears the Win10 is funny about what 2 (or more) video drivers it will run simultaneously. Again, it's an oddity but won't matter to me since I can't have the 5770 in the Mac Pro (even disconnected from a monitor) along with the RX-560 or Mojave won't boot. I wish I had a fix for that (to keep the Boot Manager screen available when needed) but no one seems to have a clue how to work around that problem.

HOW TO BOOT FROM Mac OS to Win 10 WITHOUT BOOT MANAGER SCREEN?

So now that I have Win 10 working and "Bootcamp" partition mounting in Mac OS, I need to figure out how to boot back and forth with ONLY the RX-560 card in the Mac (no boot manager screen). I see the same problems discussed in other threads but since they are usually an OS old or older, its hard to figure out the best solution. So far I observe I can't get back to Win 10 using the Preferences Start Disk app. That produces nothing but a black screen with a blinking cursor when I do a Restart. I think this is the "wrong partition blessed" problem discussed here

[No bootable device Bootcamp MacPro]
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/no-bootable-device-bootcamp-macpro.2005522/#post-23698668"]

I tried the suggested "bless" command from the terminal and it worked. I also remember seeing someone had scripted it in another thread. So maybe that is the best solution to get back to Win 10 from Mac OS. But I will also look at the other suggestions. Apparently BootChamp and QuickBoot apps no longer work? What about BootRunner? Does that even work without a Boot Screen capable video card? Does ReFind work without Boot Screen capable video card? The latter looks dangerous to uninstall if it doesn't work. Anyone have an up to date recommendation for this problem?

HOW TO BOOT FROM Win 10 to Mac OS WITHOUT BOOT MANAGER SCREEN?

Then the reverse problem. Bootcamp item in Win 10 doesn't work. And neither did Recovery Mode (can't get into it any more coming out of Win 10 - does that not really work or did I mess something else up?) Resetting PRAM did work but that seems awkward. Are there any other better solutions?

I've posed a lot of questions above and would be grateful for any suggestions or corrections. I don't mod Mac Pro's as a hobby (do use it for hardware and embedded software design), so I don't have much experience or history about this stuff in my memory banks. I'm just trying to get another year out of it until the 7,1 finally appears (fingers crossed).

2010 Mac Pro, 6-core, ASUS BT dongle, Magic Mouse, wired keyboard, 2 SSD (Mojave and HS), 3 HD's (including Win10). Everything else stock.

 

[crjackson2134]

Sorry too late. I got frustrated getting nowhere. So I put a HD-5770 (along with the RX-560) back in to get a boot manager screen, reformatted and partitioned without Boot Camp assistance, and reinstalled Win 10 from DVD with UEFI boot. So its now UEFI Win10 installation rather than legacy BIOS (which I presume it was previously using BootCamp Assistant).

NEW CONFIGURATION

So the previous problem went away. The "BootCamp" partition now mounts in HS and shows up in System Preferences Startup Disk and when using using Option to get to boot manager (can't test Startup Disk app in Mojave until I take the 5770 back out because you can't boot into Mojave when 5770 is in the Mac Pro).

I couldn't decide which BootCamp drivers to use so I installed all of them from the last official Mac Pro BC release. Not sure if that was a good idea or not. Maybe some should be removed or changed to newer BC drivers, or just newer generic Win10 drivers. I will have to experiment. I did have to disable the BC Bluetooth driver in order for the ASUS BT dongle driver to load. I use that dongle for my Magic Mouse, but I'll still have to hack the Windows Link Key (not a big job) to make that work seamlessly with HS and Mojave so I never need to re-pair the mouse when switching OS's.

WIN 10 ODDITY WITH RX-560 and HD-5770

The only oddity I see in Win 10 is that the RX-560 driver (supplied with Win 10, but I ALSO installed one specifically targeted at BC from the AMD website) and none of the HD-5770 drivers (tried a bunch including the BC driver) will work together. Every time I install ANY of the RX-560 drivers it disables ANY of the 5770 drivers, but the 5770 still runs with the Basic Win Video Driver. So I still get 2 monitor screens (one hooked to each card) and can still get the boot manager when Win10 restarts. Unfortunately the 5770 fan runs faster (a bit noisy) but not full out with the Win Basic Driver. No matter because I need to later remove the 5770 entirely so I can boot into Mojave too. But it is an oddity.

Conversely, if I reload any 5770 driver, it immediately completely disables the RX-560 card (no video out) and Win gives that message in the Device Manager. And the RX-560 will not run at all with the Basic Win Driver. My searching on the net turned up other cases, but with 2 other video cards, that seemed to do the same type of things even though earlier Win versions worked with the same 2 dissimilar cards. So it appears the Win10 is funny about what 2 (or more) video drivers it will run simultaneously. Again, it's an oddity but won't matter to me since I can't have the 5770 in the Mac Pro (even disconnected from a monitor) along with the RX-560 or Mojave won't boot. I wish I had a fix for that (to keep the Boot Manager screen available when needed) but no one seems to have a clue how to work around that problem.

HOW TO BOOT FROM Mac OS to Win 10 WITHOUT BOOT MANAGER SCREEN?

So now that I have Win 10 working and "Bootcamp" partition mounting in Mac OS, I need to figure out how to boot back and forth with ONLY the RX-560 card in the Mac (no boot manager screen). I see the same problems discussed in other threads but since they are usually an OS old or older, its hard to figure out the best solution. So far I observe I can't get back to Win 10 using the Preferences Start Disk app. That produces nothing but a black screen with a blinking cursor when I do a Restart. I think this is the "wrong partition blessed" problem discussed here

[No bootable device Bootcamp MacPro]
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/no-bootable-device-bootcamp-macpro.2005522/#post-23698668"]

I tried the suggested "bless" command from the terminal and it worked. I also remember seeing someone had scripted it in another thread. So maybe that is the best solution to get back to Win 10 from Mac OS. But I will also look at the other suggestions. Apparently BootChamp and QuickBoot apps no longer work? What about BootRunner? Does that even work without a Boot Screen capable video card? Does ReFind work without Boot Screen capable video card? The latter looks dangerous to uninstall if it doesn't work. Anyone have an up to date recommendation for this problem?

HOW TO BOOT FROM Win 10 to Mac OS WITHOUT BOOT MANAGER SCREEN?

Then the reverse problem. Bootcamp item in Win 10 doesn't work. And neither did Recovery Mode (can't get into it any more coming out of Win 10 - does that not really work or did I mess something else up?) Resetting PRAM did work but that seems awkward. Are there any other better solutions?

I've posed a lot of questions above and would be grateful for any suggestions or corrections. I don't mod Mac Pro's as a hobby (do use it for hardware and embedded software design), so I don't have much experience or history about this stuff in my memory banks. I'm just trying to get another year out of it until the 7,1 finally appears (fingers crossed).

2010 Mac Pro, 6-core, ASUS BT dongle, Magic Mouse, wired keyboard, 2 SSD (Mojave and HS), 3 HD's (including Win10). Everything else stock.

Okay, it’s too late tonight for me to type this all out on my iPad from bed. Tomorrow when I get some time, I’ll get back with you and help with this. There are a couple of options.

 

[PianoPro]

Okay, it’s too late tonight for me to type this all out on my iPad from bed. Tomorrow when I get some time, I’ll get back with you and help with this. There are a couple of options.

Thanks. I'd appreciate any help.

 

[PianoPro]

I went with the "bless" shell script given in How to: Boot Camp without a Boot Screen.
Easy to access from the menu bar, minimum work to implement, and minimum changes to the system. Just have to remember it will break if you ever need to do a PRAM reset or move disks around.

That works really well to get from Mac OS to Win 10. And then as long you want to return to the same Mac OS from Win 10 it works for that too. And that's ok.

But I don't know how well that's going to work when Windows wants to update something by auto rebooting several times. I suspect it will come back to the Mac OS (which you don't want) in those cases. It's too late in the morning here to experiment with how that will work, but I suspect that won't be pleasant. And sometimes you just want to reboot Windows on your own, so I'm not sure how to do that and then still get back to the MacOS without a PRAM reset, which will re-enable SIP and stop the script from working (requiring a reboot into the Recovery mode to do a partial disable of SIP again).

Geez, you'd think Apple could just fix the bug in the Disk Startup utility and add APFS detection to the Boot Camp control panel? Those problems don't only affect the Mac Pro.

 

[PianoPro]

As expected when Windows auto restarts it boots back to the Mac OS. So you have to wait for the Mac OS to re-boot and manually execute the script again to boot back to Win 10. You can't automate that because you don't know in advance from the Mac OS that Windows will be updating and rebooting.

What is needed with the script solution is a something similar in Windows that would always auto boot back to Windows until told to resume booting from the boot volume that was saved in PRAM when Windows was originally booted. It would have to have a way to know when Windows was going to auto reboot so it wouldn't assume those were original boots.

I may try Boot Runner, which produces a Mac-like Boot Manager overlay, which would at least get rid of the unnecessary extra boots into Mac OS. Or try the rEFInd trick, which more closely mimics the preferable original Bootcamp control panel solution.