1

I have iMac, late 2011, Intel CPU.

Original OS X was Leopard updated to High Sierra.

Hardware cannot update to any later version.

Installed Windows 7 using Bootcamp in High Sierra.

Updated Windows 7 to Windows 10. Windows 10 had problems, i.e. System Restore did not work, a driver for Bluetooth not installed.

I decided to try a clean install of Windows 10. But Bootcamp setup file prepared under High Sierra says it requires Windows 7. Because of problems when update Windows 7 to 10, is it possible to install Windows 10 without starting with Mac OS X / Windows 7?

Note: Windows 10 will do a clean install (everything on drive deleted, reformat as 1 NTSF partition during Windows install). Bootcamp setup will open in Windows 10 but stops and states it requires Windows 7. Is there another version of Bootcamp available?

Note: Without Bootcamp, after installation, Windows 10 gets stuck when restarted. I get Mac white screen, then Windows blue flag with spinning dots. Screen blacks out, then starts over with Mac white screen. Repeats indefinitely. (However, no problem restarting during install process.) Thanks for any information.

Bad news accepted, just want to know if this is possible and how to do it. If not; I'll deal with it.

Many thanks in advance.

Udhy
  • 6,697
Davis
  • 11
  • The answer is yes. I know this because I have installed Windows 10 on my 2011 iMac. What size is your screen? Which Windows 10 did you install? When updated from 7 to 10, did you note if Windows 10 was activated? If not, do you have the Windows 7 product key? – David Anderson Dec 13 '19 at 08:42
  • It's a 21.5" screen. (Sorry forgot to mention in post.) Installed the latest available Windows 10 Pro from Microsoft ISO download page. Yes, Windows 10 did activate with digital license. (Do have Windows 7 product key, if needed.) Many thanks for quick response. Glad to hear you were successful. I hope this works. Thanks in advance for your help. Very grateful. – Davis Dec 13 '19 at 13:52
  • No, I did not mean to imply installing Window 10 was going to be easy. I just wanted to make sure Windows 10 was already licensed on your Mac. I probably should reinstall Windows 10 to check if anything has changed before you install. The instructions are given here. – David Anderson Dec 13 '19 at 13:56
  • I've been reading install guide. Looks like it will take some time. (That's OK.) Going to read over again and make some notes. May have a question. If don't have questions, I'll probably start. Or should I wait for you to check if anything has changed? Thank you so much for all this help. – Davis Dec 13 '19 at 15:24
  • I will install Windows 10 now and let you know. BTW, my machine is also an iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011). – David Anderson Dec 13 '19 at 15:43
  • I finished updating the instructions. It appears the 1909 update does not have the same problem as the 1903 update. This question probably will marked as a duplicate. If necessary, this can be reversed. – David Anderson Dec 14 '19 at 00:40
  • Yes, answered! Thanks again. I'm starting the process in a few minutes. Will post how it goes. Thank you. – Davis Dec 14 '19 at 10:22
  • I also just finished making changes to my answer to the question How to convert a drive from the GPT format to the hybrid GPT/MBR format when using High Sierra (macOS 10.13.2). Basically, I add a simpler method which uses gdisk. – David Anderson Dec 14 '19 at 11:15
  • Unfortunately my work on this project has been postponed. Hope to continue later this evening. Keeping you updated. – Davis Dec 15 '19 at 21:00
  • I was wondering what happened to you. Later this evening really depends on where you are on the globe. – David Anderson Dec 15 '19 at 21:12
  • Apologies, yes I'm in central time zone (New Orleans, Louisiana). I have been further delayed. I hope to get back to my iMac project sometime late Wednesday night, Dec 18. (Unexpected trip out of town for couple days.) – Davis Dec 17 '19 at 08:40
  • Thank you very much for your help. I consider myself, when it comes to iMac's, a complete novice. Your instructions are very detailed & clear. Except that I, out of my lack of experience, did not understand some of them. I tried several times to do a clean install of Win10 on my iMac, but was not successful. I have resorted back to the original iOS X, used Bootcamp to setup Win7, then updated, from within Win7, to Win10. This time I knew how to manually install iMac drivers from inside Bootcamp Windows Support folder. All is good. Everything works. Runs smooth. Many thanks. Have great new year – Davis Dec 28 '19 at 14:28

0 Answers0