Only Windows 7 on an iMac (A1195) - no bootcamp, no dual boot

[hycday]

Hi all,

I am trying to do a simple thing, that seems very well documented online, yet no solution seem to help me:

I have found an old iMac (A1195, i think 2006 model if I am correct) with no hard drive in it. I had a spare one which I connected (formated in NTFS with MBR). I wish to install Windows 7 ONLY on it for a simple project, i.e. NO other OS on it.

Everywhere i search online, I get answered about bootcamp, about dual boot, but i want none of them: i want only Windows 7 on this iMac.

I have a Windows 7 CD, as well as a USB stick with Windows 7 on it (NTFS, MBR).

When I plug the USB (and boot pressing Option key): I dont see the USB key.....(however, when I format it as NTFS/GPT, I see the USB key, but when I select it, the image freezes on the iMac).
When I insert the CD and select it (boot pressing Option key): I get to see a black screen with the following :

"1.

2.

Select CD-Rom Boot Type:_"

I cannot do anything from here. I tried something I read online: press the "1" as soon as I select to boot from the CD, keep pressing, then screen will go black, keep pressing the 1, and press Enter, then black again, kep pressing the 1, and press Enter again and it should work, but it did not in my case (one possible reason : I have an AZERTY keyboard, the keypad keys are broken, and the numbers might need to be pressed with the CAPS, which I can't activate in this "DOS" screen, could it be the reason ?)
edit: I found another keyboard, but the numpad would not turn on (the LED) on the iMac (whereas it does on another computer). The CAPS does work, but again, nothing happens when I press the "1"

Note: already trying resetting the NVRAM, and tried using the "Hrutkay Mods" premade Windows 10 64bit (edited boot efi) (search on this forum for info) as well as doing my own modified iso...didnt work.

So overall, I really struggling to install Windows 7 here.

- Why does the iMac not see the USB key when in MBR ?
- Why does the iMac freezes when selecting the USB key when in GPT ?
- Why cant i pass the black screen when booting from the CD ?
- Would it work if I plug the HD on a PC, install Win7 on it, then plug it back on the iMac and then install the bootcamp drivers ?

Also, what other options do I have ? I am really struggling to find more info online...
Even sometimes I read that actually my iMac would not work with the bootcamp drivers ?

Any help is welcomed.

Thank you in advance for your time !

 

[hycday]

so, I finally found a solution !

I was never able to run an install of W7 or Win10 via USB (USB MBR was never visible, USB GPT freezes as soon as I select to boot from it).
I was never able to run from a CD (W7: asks me to select CDRom Boot type, Win XP CD stops turning and therefore installing just after HDD is formated and files are not found since CD doesnt turn anymore).

I ended up installing W7 x64 MBR via a software that was shared in this forum : WintoHDD.
Was doubtful but it worked like a charm. Only thing is that i had to open the iMac etc. Kind of a hussle, but works !

I am just a bit unsatisfied to not have found the reason why the above did not work, or how to solve it (just out of curiosity).



So now, one bonus question in order to complete the install successfully :

I understand that to have everything work correctly, i need to install bootcamp drivers ?

so, how to do that ?
I downloaded from Apple the file BootCamp4.0.4033.zip
I only need to run it on my Windows 7 and thats all ?

Or should I use this software instead : https://github.com/timsutton/brigadier ?

any advise, points to keep in mind ?

 

[mmomega]

I have several iMacs with CD Drives running windows native. None of them would boot and install from a USB drive.
A few of them I had removed the internal CD drive and replaced with an additional SSD, they also would not install via an external CD drive. It had to be internal.

Long way around was I did have 1 iMac with an internal drive. I removed it's hard drive, installed Windows 7 via DVD, remove hard drive and then place it in one of the other iMacs. It booted right up.
Repeated the process for the 2nd iMac.
They are still running today with latest Windows 10 on them.
2009, 2010, 2011 models.

You don't have to 'completely' install the BootCamp package.
Once you open device manager and find the items that do not have drivers, you can on some devices, pull the drivers directly from the manufacturers website and install.
Wireless drivers, ethernet drivers, GPU, Intel chipset, many of those you can get directly.
A few things from Apple you have to install like the webcam and a few other items.
You can open the BootCamp package and there are folders for every manufacturer driver inside, like Broadcom drivers, Intel drivers and so on and you can install just that particular device driver if Windows doesn't automatically find one.

Now I don't have particular experience on Windows natively on pre-2009 model so mileage may vary.

 

[hycday]

thanks a lot for your answer and experience feedback ! really appreciate it.

i ended up doing like you said : removing the HDD, plugin it on a PC, installed on the HDD, then putting it back on the iMac.

So for the drivers, you recommand from bootcamp or brigadier ?

 

[Jforte]

Hello. I have a strange problem...
I read a bit about it, no conclusive solution.
I have a 27 inch mid 2011, with 2 SSD drivers and the superdrive (SATA 0 ssd1, SATA 1 ssd2, SATA 3 superdrive) and with a NVIDIA 780m with kepler beta vbios 3 from Nick...
A Agile ago, i installed Windows 7 from a DVD on a second partition, but at the time, i only have 1 SSD and the AMD 6970m graphic card.
Yesterday i tried to install Windows 7 on the second SSD, put the DVD, it bootted well, but when i choose "Install" (after choosing laguage, keyboard layout and country), i get any error regarding missing drivers for the DVD drive.
I read some people had this error when using a USB flash drive on a 3.0 USB port, not this...
I tried to get the inf file from appleodd (exe file from bootcamp drivers), i choose this drivers, it won't work.
I tried to do a USB flash drive with Windows 7, doesn't work.
It's strange how do i boot from the Windows 7 DVD, and then get this missing CD/DVD driver error.
Maybe superdrive doesn't, like the Sata 2 port from Logic board (can"t remember if it was there before, but the Sata 2, is SATA 3gbps, Sata 0 and SATA 1 are 6gbps)?
My goal is to install Windows 7, because if i install Windows 10 directly i get no sound. From Windows 7 i can upgrade to w10 later.
Can somebody help me?