Installing Windows 7 on iMac Retina 27'' screen

[ImacGirlMe]

Hello

I am sure this question may have been asked but since I'm new, I'm not sure where to look for the answers. I want to install Windows 7 to my iMac so I can use my windows programs incompatible with Mac.

Here is what I have done so far:

1. Windows 7 premium ISO on USB Flash drive containing 32 GB
2. Installed Boot Camp Assistant
3. This is where I get stuck. The message tells me I can't make a partition because the computer is already partitioned.
4. I have 2 partitions on my computer. One ((Remote Disk )) and 2, DOCUMENTS where all documents, photos and music are. I created that partition when I got the computer a couple of months ago.
5. I have read here and there on how to proceed but I'm afraid I will need a walkthrough for the rest. I'm pretty computer literate, however I'm not very literate on the MAC.

I require help to continue.

PS. On my Flash drive, here is what it looks like. If I have made an error, please tell me how to fix it.

* autorun.inf
* boot
* Boot camp folder
* bootmgr
* efi
* setup.exe
* sources
* support
* upgrade


If you require any more information, please let me know and thank you in advance for your help.


iMac Retina 27'' screen
Year: Late 2013
HD: 1 TB
RAM: 8 GB
Proc: 3.2 GHz Intel Core I-5
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1024MB

 

[Shirasaki]

Well. Probably you need to move your documents to your Mac drive and create a new partition again.
There should be a post in forum telling you how to install Windows under native EFI support, rather than going through BootCamp assistant.

 

[ImacGirlMe]

Oh boy you will have to direct me to that one cause I don't know. I did think that I might have to put the documents back in the main drive but when I tried to partition it, last week and put it all back the way it was, I was unsuccessful. Gee I know there are tons of mac lovers out there but it's not at all user friendly. I'm pretty good with windows and can do a clean install with drivers, programs and everything and successfully but on a Mac, I know very little and it doesn't let you do what you want either. Either that or the problem is between the screen and the chair.

 

[Shirasaki]

Oh boy you will have to direct me to that one cause I don't know. I did think that I might have to put the documents back in the main drive but when I tried to partition it, last week and put it all back the way it was, I was unsuccessful. Gee I know there are tons of mac lovers out there but it's not at all user friendly. I'm pretty good with windows and can do a clean install with drivers, programs and everything and successfully but on a Mac, I know very little and it doesn't let you do what you want either. Either that or the problem is between the screen and the chair.

Trust me. I am also very new about Mac OS X. And I still think this system is not that easy to use than Windows.
You have external hard drive right? You can copy all your documents outside your documents partition and use the space to create a BootCamp partition to install Windows. This is very simple: go to your document partition and select all by pressing cmd + a. Then cmd + c to copy. Then go to your external drive, choose an empty folder, then cmd + v to paste all files to that folder.

You say your last try was unsuccessful. What was the problem? I may try to help you out when I can. although I am not so "user friendly"

 

[ImacGirlMe]

Trust me. I am also very new about Mac OS X. And I still think this system is not that easy to use than Windows.
You have external hard drive right? You can copy all your documents outside your documents partition and use the space to create a BootCamp partition to install Windows. This is very simple: go to your document partition and select all by pressing cmd + a. Then cmd + c to copy. Then go to your external drive, choose an empty folder, then cmd + v to paste all files to that folder.

You say your last try was unsuccessful. What was the problem? I may try to help you out when I can. although I am not so "user friendly"

 

[ImacGirlMe]

Thank you Shirasaki.

I will try that tomorrow. I guess when I tried to merge the two partitions, I couldn,t because it would not let me merge them completely. I would drag the pie chart section toward the other one and it would not merge it completely. I wasn't too sure how to proceed so I just left it until I got further help. Creating the partition had been easy but merging them was not that easy.

I do have an external drive which I will copy everything to tomorrow. Thank you for your response.

 

[Shirasaki]

Thank you Shirasaki.

I will try that tomorrow. I guess when I tried to merge the two partitions, I couldn,t because it would not let me merge them completely. I would drag the pie chart section toward the other one and it would not merge it completely. I wasn't too sure how to proceed so I just left it until I got further help. Creating the partition had been easy but merging them was not that easy.

I do have an external drive which I will copy everything to tomorrow. Thank you for your response.

No worries.
New Disk Utility is just a crap in my opinion. Way harder to use than previous one, and I find, yes, merging two partitions were impossible. I finally ended up formatting my disk again to partition to the scheme I like.
And unlike Windows disk manager, you may really need to remove all partitions and try to merge them together. And sometimes, it is impossible.
In Windows, as you know, we just need to delete other partition, expand existing one to complete merging, if the deleted partition is located right behind the partition you want to expand. Don't know why this does not work under Mac OS X, especially El Capitan.

 

[Gjwilly]

Do you have a Fusion drive?
Fusion Drives are limited to 2 partitions total, including the Windows partition.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202574

 

[ImacGirlMe]

Well here I am again with more questions. Here are the steps I have performed so far:

1. downloaded drivers for windows 7 for installation on Mac
2. have ISO image of Windows 7 premium
3. saved all docs, music and pics to external hard drive
4. Formatted to Fat 32 the second internal drive
5. Merged the drives into one with Boot Camp Assistant

Now I still can't install Windows 7 but I am not sure if I have everything at the right spot either. When I downloaded the Wininstall notes from their website, I put them on the flash drive . Was I also supposed to put the SETUP.EXE only of the Windows 7 ISO on the same flash drive? This is where it gets a bit foggy cause it says I can't install it so I must be doing something wrong. I wonder if there is a way around the BootCamp Assistant.

Thank you for your continued help