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New 2012 iMac as external display for PC

Noticed that no one has tried using Linux on the PC side; although I highly doubt it would work given Apple statement about Mac-to-Mac, I don't know enough about the drivers, TB compatibility in Linux, etc to know if it is worthwhile looking into.

Note self interest in this subject:

Need to build a PC for my son to render scenes in Blender and was planning on using Linux to keep price in check. The GT 650M in his iMac does not have enough RAM or CUDA cores for GPU rendering the scenes he is working on. It would have been nice to not have to buy a monitor since I'd much rather put the $ towards a better CPU (will be Intel's loss).

The high price points and limitations such as this are crippling TB in my opinion. This makes me :( .

Cheers
 
is it easier to use a late 2012 27" iMac as a thunderbolt display if its connected to a mac pro 2013(desktop)? i m planning to upgrade to a mac pro soon so would be great to use my 27" iMac as a display.

Thanks..
 
insane79 said:
is it easier to use a late 2012 27" iMac as a thunderbolt display if its connected to a mac pro 2013(desktop)? i m planning to upgrade to a mac pro soon so would be great to use my 27" iMac as a display.

Thanks..
Click to expand...

Will be fully supported since it is Mac-to-Mac.

The iMac will function as monitor but I doubt it will have other functionality such as USB hub like in the case of a Thunderbolt display - not sure if you can do target disk and target display at same time but that would be really interesting, maybe with two TB cables?

The issue the OP is having is with non OS X computer connected to iMac.

Makes me wonder whether a Hackintosh could be made to work?

Cheers
 
RCAFBrat said:
Will be fully supported since it is Mac-to-Mac.

The iMac will function as monitor but I doubt it will have other functionality such as USB hub like in the case of a Thunderbolt display - not sure if you can do target disk and target display at same time but that would be really interesting, maybe with two TB cables?

The issue the OP is having is with non OS X computer connected to iMac.

Makes me wonder whether a Hackintosh could be made to work?

Cheers
Click to expand...

thanks for the help. so basically the iMac has to be powered on to osx to make it work as a monitor? if thats the case its sad we can't have access to the usb & hard drive of the iMac then.
 
insane79 said:
thanks for the help. so basically the iMac has to be powered on to osx to make it work as a monitor? if thats the case its sad we can't have access to the usb & hard drive of the iMac then.
Click to expand...

According to this support article, video and sound only although iMac continues to operate normally in the background:

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14264

Same here (this is an excellent article):

http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/ins-outs-imacs-target-display-mode/

Although I doubt it would work, it would be interesting to know if it is possible to do target display and target disk modes at the same time using two Thunderbolt cables; also wonder if target disk mode exposes external USB drives attached to the target Mac or just the internal drive(s).

Cheers
 
Has anyone come with a fix to mak the new slim iMacs into an external monitor running windows? i thought a hack or a software to fix that would eb out by now?

Thanks..
 
i have curious will work the new mac pro in bootcamp mode with an iMac Slim 2011 2012 or 2013 in target display mode?

Sometime i play games in bootcamp.
 
Apologies for dredging up an old thread, but years after this initial post... and this is still the most robust thread on this topic. I have a late 2013 iMac and would love to get Target Display Mode working.

Has anyone managed to get this working? On some product reviews, and a post earlier on this thread, SOME people seem to have gotten it to work.

Has anyone been able to try with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...gclid=CPChxLvk6MoCFQsvgQodYj4IMg&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
Pants_problems said:
Apologies for dredging up an old thread, but years after this initial post... and this is still the most robust thread on this topic. I have a late 2013 iMac and would love to get Target Display Mode working.

Has anyone managed to get this working? On some product reviews, and a post earlier on this thread, SOME people seem to have gotten it to work.

Has anyone been able to try with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...gclid=CPChxLvk6MoCFQsvgQodYj4IMg&gclsrc=aw.ds
Click to expand...

I'm going to necro this old-old-OLD post to add my two cents.

My current setup:
i7 6800k @ 4.3GHz
GTX 1080
Windows 10 Pro,
Asus X99 A II MB
ThunderboltEX II/Dual PCI Card

iMac 27" Late 2012
i7 3770k
GTX 680MX

Using the ThunderboltEX II card with a Thunderbolt 2 cable I have been entirely unsuccessful in making Target Display Mode on the iMac work. The ThunderboltEX II card works great with the Apple Thunderbolt Display, and the iMac 2012 works great with my Macbook Pro 2015. But when going from Windows > iMac (via Thunderbolt) it doesn't seem to work. Windows doesn't recognize that any device/monitor is plugged in and the iMac doesn't acknowledge the connection either in System Information. From this testing it looks like all the blame falls on the 2012 iMac.

Now that I'm out $160, I suppose I'll sell this iMac and buy a new monitor.

Really bummed that Apple still has yet to release firmware or support of any kind for Windows PC's over TDM. (Or it's just some lame-ass UEFI restriction)

Hope this helps someone someday.. ~
 
Well, seems I'm in the right place here)
Already about a week trying to figure out the best solution for building Windows PC, which I will be able to connect to my iMac 21.5" (mid 2011), using target display mode.
Maybe offended have the trouble with connection, cause he is using thunderbolt PCI card in his motherboard with discrete graphic adapter. When (according to the confirmation in this thread about Windows Laptop with motherboard, which have built in thunderbolt port) maybe successful connection will require motherboard with built in thunderbolt port with (preferably) internal (intel based) graphic card? Does anyone tried this configuration with his iMac 2011-2014?

UPD: OK, just finished to read all 6 pages of this thread and looks like the "solution" that I mentioned was tried already several times...Does anyone tried to make the same connection between the PC with installed MAC OS on it and thunderbolt (2011-2014) iMac?
 
Last edited:
Hi all,

I'm also having an issue connecting a PC to my 2011 iMac using Thunderbolt and Target Display Mode.

The PC:

i7 6850
Titan X (Pascal)
Asus X99 Deluxe II
Thunderbolt EX3 Add-in card
StarTech adaptor which converts USB-C-shaped Thunderbolt 3 port to MiniDisplayPort-shaped Thunderbolt 2 port

iMac:

iMac 12,2
i7 (3.4 GHz)
AMD Radeon HD 6970M


Anyone have any luck? I'd really like to use my 2011 iMac as my PC's display. I'm only using the PC for work (video post production), and otherwise I'd like to keep using the iMac for daily stuff (web browsing, etc.). I don't have the deskspace for an entire second monitor just for the PC.

Interestingly, in Windows 10 I can see that the Thunderbolt port is responding to the iMac.

Thunderbolt.png

But when I press command + f2 on the iMac...nothing.

FYI, I did install bootcamp on the PC, and I noticed one of the drivers was a Thunderbolt display...not sure it matters though.

Also FYI in my PC's BIOS settings there is no option for iGPU, because I believe the i6850 doesn't have integrated graphics. I have, however, attached a cable that connects my Titan X Pascal's display port out to the mini display port in on my Thunderbolt EX3 Add-in card, which should be delivering my video signal to the Thunderbolt AIC card and allowing the card to output video via Thunderbolt 3...




offended said:
I'm going to necro this old-old-OLD post to add my two cents.

My current setup:
i7 6800k @ 4.3GHz
GTX 1080
Windows 10 Pro,
Asus X99 A II MB
ThunderboltEX II/Dual PCI Card

iMac 27" Late 2012
i7 3770k
GTX 680MX

Using the ThunderboltEX II card with a Thunderbolt 2 cable I have been entirely unsuccessful in making Target Display Mode on the iMac work. The ThunderboltEX II card works great with the Apple Thunderbolt Display, and the iMac 2012 works great with my Macbook Pro 2015. But when going from Windows > iMac (via Thunderbolt) it doesn't seem to work. Windows doesn't recognize that any device/monitor is plugged in and the iMac doesn't acknowledge the connection either in System Information. From this testing it looks like all the blame falls on the 2012 iMac.

Now that I'm out $160, I suppose I'll sell this iMac and buy a new monitor.

Really bummed that Apple still has yet to release firmware or support of any kind for Windows PC's over TDM. (Or it's just some lame-ass UEFI restriction)

Hope this helps someone someday.. ~
Click to expand...
 
jeffreysousa said:
Hi all,

I'm also having an issue connecting a PC to my 2011 iMac using Thunderbolt and Target Display Mode.

The PC:

i7 6850
Titan X (Pascal)
Asus X99 Deluxe II
Thunderbolt EX3 Add-in card
StarTech adaptor which converts USB-C-shaped Thunderbolt 3 port to MiniDisplayPort-shaped Thunderbolt 2 port

iMac:

iMac 12,2
i7 (3.4 GHz)
AMD Radeon HD 6970M


[..]

Interestingly, in Windows 10 I can see that the Thunderbolt port is responding to the iMac.

View attachment 663153

But when I press command + f2 on the iMac...nothing.

FYI, I did install bootcamp on the PC, and I noticed one of the drivers was a Thunderbolt display...not sure it matters though.

Also FYI in my PC's BIOS settings there is no option for iGPU, because I believe the i6850 doesn't have integrated graphics. I have, however, attached a cable that connects my Titan X Pascal's display port out to the mini display port in on my Thunderbolt EX3 Add-in card, which should be delivering my video signal to the Thunderbolt AIC card and allowing the card to output video via Thunderbolt 3...
Click to expand...

Great idea to install the Bootcamp drivers. I never managed to get anything to show up in device manager! I know you can try to force the iMac into TDM using the terminal command [osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to key code 144 using command down'] without the [] of course.

Keep in mind you may have to hit fn+command+f2 on the keyboard to trigger TDM.

Also, you are correct in assuming your 6850 doesn't have an iGPU. Sorry for not being of much help, but best of luck.

offended ~
 
Hello guys,

Just planning to build a PC myself here and would love to see this work somehow any come up lately?
Jeffreysousa did your setup work as it seems you went further than anyone yet by having the iMac recognized as a display?

Thanks
 
Keao said:
Hello guys,

Just planning to build a PC myself here and would love to see this work somehow any come up lately?
Jeffreysousa did your setup work as it seems you went further than anyone yet by having the iMac recognized as a display?

Thanks
Click to expand...
No, it doesn't work, unfortunately. I gave up. My iMac was recognized by my PC over Thunderbolt, but it was recognized as a computer with which to network, not as a display.

It seems like both computers need to be running MacOS for target display mode to work.

Huge bummer. I just ordered a proper monitor and have sold my iMac to a friend.

Good luck,
Jeff
 
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Reactions: Keao
Yeah definitely a big bummer for me too... My desk space is limited and having one big monitor next to the tower was all I could afford.... I'll wait and see if the rumors about the renewal of the mac Pro by the end of this month proves to be true or not... And the price tag it'll carry to decide which way to go next.

Damn you Apple for cutting this sweet functionnality and being so disapointing on the MacBook pro keynote.
 
Keao said:
Yeah definitely a big bummer for me too... My desk space is limited and having one big monitor next to the tower was all I could afford.... I'll wait and see if the rumors about the renewal of the mac Pro by the end of this month proves to be true or not... And the price tag it'll carry to decide which way to go next.

Damn you Apple for cutting this sweet functionnality and being so disapointing on the MacBook pro keynote.
Click to expand...
Do you need to keep your iMac? Or were you just planning on using it as a display? Because if it's just a monitor I recommend selling it and buying a nice, compatible, fuss free DisplayPort monitor...

I'm a looong time Apple user who just last month switched to PC.

I've tried to keep the things I love about Apple, but it's been nothing but frustration. iMac as a nice display? Nope. Thunderbolt PCIe card so I can use my old external hard drives? Days of digging through BIOS settings to get it to work. Currently unsuccessful. Since I knew I needed a new monitor, I was interested in the LG UltraFine 4K, which is USB-C only. According to other threads, it requires MacOS! It won't work with Windows PCs with USB-C. Even my Apple keyboard, which I like the feel of typing on... it's brightness keys won't control my brand new 24" Dell display.

In other words, Apple has all their sh*t on lock down.

My advice would be to just quit Apple cold turkey. Don't sink days and days into getting their peripherals to work (as I have).

And don't wait for the Mac Pro. It's not coming. I waited two years for it before throwing in the towel.

My desk: outgoing iMac in back, new Dell 24 Gaming Monitor in front running off the PC.

0d423e05e66aee7f5c5106194ea9ceb7.jpg


Good luck,
Jeff
 
  • Like
Reactions: Keao
Thanks for your answer Jeff,

I was tempted to do the same as you but in the end will go a slightly different way. I bought and assembled a full PC with a good GPU-CPU combo for 1500€ and will be switching my iMac late-2012 with my father's late 2009 or something which is still compatible with TMD. This way I can keep running MacOS smoothly and since my use of the Imac will be less intensive (coding and media library mostly) I'll have all I needed.

But I definitely feel you I'm kinda fed up with all that bullcrap, especially as I feel they're deliberately locking everything up even when they know it'll piss off power users all around the world.

I wish you to have a blast with your PC as I'm having with mine :)
 
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