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Installing Windows 10 on pre-2012 Macs

TheRainKing

TheRainKing

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 11, 2012
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I know they're not officially supported, but does the Bootcamp Assistant actually PREVENT you from installing Windows 10 or is just a case of there being no drivers for earlier Macs?

I'm sure it's possible to just install Windows 8.1 and then upgrade to Windows 10, but is that method safe or will I encounter problems?
 
freeuser said:
yes, you can update Win8.1 to Windows 10, but I don't recommend it any more, due to significant problems with drivers and updates, that crashes my Windows. Igdkmd64.sys blue screen BSOD error, no bootable device and other problems, so you have to check every update with the MS tool carefully. I have gone back to Win8.1 with much lesser problems and comparable speed.

http://www.howtogeek.com/224471/how-to-prevent-windows-10-from-automatically-downloading-updates/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.

I don't really want to install Windows 8.1 because I hate that stupid touch screen UI.

I guess I'll be sticking with Windows 7. :(
 
I recently installed Windows 7 64bit (officially unsupported) on my 2007 iMac and Microsoft gave me a free upgrade to Windows 10. The Boot Camp Assistant didn't bother me at all.
 
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I installed Windows 10 on my mid 2011 iMac with no problems. Upgraded from 7 first, then after activating it, did a clean install with no problems. Downloaded from this site in this forum the bootcamp 6 update for 2011 and below that someone downloaded and put up for those who had older machines. Installed update inside of Windows 10. No problems. He basically extracted the file from the download package.
 
dfine1966 said:
I installed Windows 10 on my mid 2011 iMac with no problems. Upgraded from 7 first, then after activating it, did a clean install with no problems. Downloaded from this site in this forum the bootcamp 6 update for 2011 and below that someone downloaded and put up for those who had older machines. Installed update inside of Windows 10. No problems. He basically extracted the file from the download package.
Click to expand...
Please help me out here then, I have an iMac 2011mid 21.5 inch as well. I got windows 10 may x64 bit version and I've edited boot camp's info.plist code in a way that allows me to get the install drive format and get windows 10 as well and bypass windows 7 only. Now my only problem is that when I try to install the drives through boot camp the blue screen with a sad face pops up with "system thread extension not handled" error. I can only enter inside in safe mode nothing else. But if I choose to continue anyway it gets stuck on the booting screen forever of windows.
 
Do NOT use the bootcamp drivers, or even try to create the installer using bootcamp assistant. Just install Windows 10 like any old PC. Thats all these intel macs are. Bootcamp drivers are not necessary, Windows will install its own drivers. Anything it doesn't install automatically you can get from the manufacturer such as intel, broadcom or AMD.
Win10 works perfect like this. The only BSOD problems and such are related to apples poorly developed bootcamp software.
If you need to create a partition, use disk utility and do it yourself.

This is how it is installed on my 2009 MacBook, and on my 2008 Mac Pro. Everything works as it should.
 
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Project Alice said:
Do NOT use the bootcamp drivers, or even try to create the installer using bootcamp assistant. Just install Windows 10 like any old PC. Thats all these intel macs are. Bootcamp drivers are not necessary, Windows will install its own drivers. Anything it doesn't install automatically you can get from the manufacturer such as intel, broadcom or AMD.
Win10 works perfect like this. The only BSOD problems and such are related to apples poorly developed bootcamp software.
If you need to create a partition, use disk utility and do it yourself.

This is how it is installed on my 2009 MacBook, and on my 2008 Mac Pro. Everything works as it should.
Click to expand...
Wait wait wait, you mean all the hours I spent editing boot camp was a waste ;(. Okay so can we run it down once more please? I would be really grateful... Can I still install through a normal USB? Or do I have to get a windows installer disk? Like, do I just download the Iso file from Microsoft and mount it on the pendrive/disk, or do I have to go buy a windows installer disk? Please help I'm clueless...
 
Andrien said:
Wait wait wait, you mean all the hours I spent editing boot camp was a waste ;(. Okay so can we run it down once more please? I would be really grateful... Can I still install through a normal USB? Or do I have to get a windows installer disk? Like, do I just download the Iso file from Microsoft and mount it on the pendrive/disk, or do I have to go buy a windows installer disk? Please help I'm clueless...
Click to expand...
Download the iso from microsoft, and burn it to a DVD. Boot from the DVD, and install it. I assume you have an optical drive being as most Pre-2012 macs do. Thats all you need to do. Nothing special from a regular PC. What mac are you trying to install it on?
 
Project Alice said:
Download the iso from microsoft, and burn it to a DVD. Boot from the DVD, and install it. I assume you have an optical drive being as most Pre-2012 macs do. Thats all you need to do. Nothing special from a regular PC. What mac are you trying to install it on?
Click to expand...
It's an iMac 2011 mid 21.5 inch. I'll try this today and let you know :)) and yes it has an optical drive... The only issue is, the iso is 4.9 gigs, and DVDs are 4.7 gigs... What then? :( Can that Mac read dual sided disks? Thanks for the replies man it means a lot, proper replies are rare lol
 
Andrien said:
It's an iMac 2011 mid 21.5 inch. I'll try this today and let you know :)) and yes it has an optical drive... The only issue is, the iso is 4.9 gigs, and DVDs are 4.7 gigs... What then? :( Can that Mac read dual sided disks? Thanks for the replies man it means a lot, proper replies are rare lol
Click to expand...
The ISO file is a lot of times larger than what is actually in the image. It will still fit onto a single layer DVD.
 
@Project Alice is 100% right.

Having attempted this on a MB (early 2008) and MBP (mid 2010), I can say without a doubt that you should try to reinstall the drivers yourself. The Bootcamp drivers do not play well with Windows 10 and there have been quite a few times where I had BSOD issues resulting in me having to start over again.
 
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With the 1903 update I got a WDF_Violation BSOD

I did a Google search and read that if you want to use the BootCamp Drivers you need to replace MacHALDriver.sys with one from the BootCamp Drivers for a newer Mac. This fixed it for me.
 
mdgm said:
With the 1903 update I got a WDF_Violation BSOD

I did a Google search and read that if you want to use the BootCamp Drivers you need to replace MacHALDriver.sys with one from the BootCamp Drivers for a newer Mac. This fixed it for me.
Click to expand...
Yes, on mine I just installed bootcamp form an iMac Pro. Or you can uninstall bootcamp all together. Good on you for figuring it out yourself. This happen to me last week and threw me through a loop lol
 
Mine seems to have gotten stuck at this point- I don't BSOD after uninstalling the drivers, but now I can't seem to get back into macOS because I don't have permission to switch boot drives in windows. Very strange. I tried installing the iMac Pro boot camp, and it seems to work, but I can't get it to actually run properly.
 
Project Alice said:
In Mac OS, open disk utility. Delete the partition you're trying to install Windows on, then re make it and make sure to format it FAT32. Then try installing Windows to it.
Click to expand...
I'm trying this now, thanks for the continuous help friend, means a lot. I'm not booting it in EFI mode okay? I'm using the DVD instead of the usb like you said, because if I use it on EFI I don't get any sounds... Does what you say still work even though it's not EFI?
[doublepost=1559064867][/doublepost]
Project Alice said:
In Mac OS, open disk utility. Delete the partition you're trying to install Windows on, then re make it and make sure to format it FAT32. Then try installing Windows to it.
Click to expand...
It was on FAT32... still doesn't work... What do I do?
 
Andrien said:
I'm trying this now, thanks for the continuous help friend, means a lot. I'm not booting it in EFI mode okay? I'm using the DVD instead of the usb like you said, because if I use it on EFI I don't get any sounds... Does what you say still work even though it's not EFI?
[doublepost=1559064867][/doublepost]
It was on FAT32... still doesn't work... What do I do?
Click to expand...
This should only work for non-EFI installs actually.
If it isn't working, then for some reason the partition isn't a hybrid MBR as it should be. Making a FAT partition out of your main disk in disk utility should create the hybrid MBR. Then when you boot up from the Windows DVD you format it.
 
Project Alice said:
This should only work for non-EFI installs actually.
If it isn't working, then for some reason the partition isn't a hybrid MBR as it should be. Making a FAT partition out of your main disk in disk utility should create the hybrid MBR. Then when you boot up from the Windows DVD you format it.
Click to expand...
I messed around with it, deleted some partition drives or something and I finally got it installed... But there's still no sound. Like, I went to device manager, and this time the Mac sound card is present as well unlike in efi, but it still doesnt work. Any options?
 
Andrien said:
I messed around with it, deleted some partition drives or something and I finally got it installed... But there's still no sound. Like, I went to device manager, and this time the Mac sound card is present as well unlike in efi, but it still doesnt work. Any options?
Click to expand...
Install the drivers. I don't have a 2011 iMac so I can't help you there. However from a short google this seems to be a common issue, and it's a Cirrus audio chip. I would get the drivers directly from them. It seems some people have had mix results on using the drivers from bootcamp 6.
 
Project Alice said:
Install the drivers. I don't have a 2011 iMac so I can't help you there. However from a short google this seems to be a common issue, and it's a Cirrus audio chip. I would get the drivers directly from them. It seems some people have had mix results on using the drivers from bootcamp 6.
Click to expand...
YeaAhhhhh I saw this later, but it worked out decent. I installed boot camp support drivers, display isn't that great and sometimes blackens, is there anyway I can optimize this so that it runs smoothly? As in a way I can put less stress on my Mac running windows... Thanks for the above help huyss
 
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