Windows 10 bootcamp on 2012 Mac Pro? Wondering if anyone has had success with Sierra and bootcamp to windows 10 on the 2012 pro? By the looks of things bootcamp support has been officially dropped for these models with the latest OS releases. I have windows 10 on my 2012 Mac Pro.
Apple does not support Boot Camp Assistant installations of Windows 10 on 2011 and earlier iMac models. The exact list of supported Mac models is given below.
The following Mac models support 64-bit versions of Windows 10 when installed using Boot Camp. MacBook Pro (2012 and later).
MacBook Air (2012 and later). MacBook (2015 and later).
iMac (2012 and later). Mac mini (2012 and later). Mac mini Server (Late 2012). Mac Pro (Late 2013) I have read where others have successfully used the Boot Camp Assistant to create a Windows flash drive installer. This was accomplished by first editing a.plist file contained within the Boot Camp Assistant software.
I have the following problems with doing this. The Boot Camp Assistant software has to be hacked in order to create the Windows installer. The resulting flash drive installer defaults to a Windows installation that uses the EFI boot method. Apple did not officially start supporting this method of booting Windows until the 2012 model year.
I have always assumed the Windows Support Software, supplied by Apple for my Mac, was designed only for the legacy BIOS boot method of installation. I have no problems EFI booting the USB Windows installer, but I still want to install Windows to use the BIOS boot method. Here is what I wish to accomplish. Install Windows 10 Pro 64 bit. I have downloaded the latest Windows 10 (Version 1709, OS Build 16299.15) iso file. Install Windows 10 into a newly formatted volume.
I do not want to first install an earlier version of Windows and then upgrade to Window 10. Boot Windows using the legacy BIOS boot method. Use only one partition on the first internal drive ( disk0) for the Windows files. The single internal disk in my Mac uses a 512 byte sector size. Install Windows using the latest version of macOS.
Currently, this would be High Sierra (macOS 10.13.2). I would desire to preform the installation without any of the following. No third party software. No optical (DVD) drive.
No Boot Camp Assistant. Without disabling System Integrity Protection (SIP). I would prefer not having to boot to via the internet, built-in recovery or an. But, since is not a third party tool, I am not opposed to its use. Installing Windows 10 without DVD or Third Party Tools This answer applies to Mac models where the following is true.
An optical drive and/or Windows installation DVD is unavailable. Such cases include when the optical drive has been removed or is broken. Also, when a Windows iso file is available and the Mac has a working optical drive, but no blank DVD can be obtained. Windows 10 needs to be installed to boot using the legacy BIOS method. This generally includes Mac models that where shipped with an optical drive. Your Mac is capable of 64 bit EFI mode booting from a properly created USB flash drive Windows 10 installer. Note: Unless apple officially supports Windows 10 on your model Mac, there is no documented way of knowing if your Mac can 64 bit EFI boot from a USB flash drive Windows 10 installer.
The only way to know is to build such an installer and try booting. The Windows specifications are given below.
Edition: Windows 10 Pro. Processor: 64 bit. Version: 1709.
OS Build: 16299.15 The macOS is version 10.13.2 (High Sierra). Below, are the basic steps needed to install Windows 10 for an BIOS boot, when the USB flash drive Windows Installer boots in EFI mode. I have made the following assumptions. Apple has not supplied the drivers for a 64 bit Windows 10 installation. It is a common misconception that the latest Windows Support Software from Apple should always be used to install Windows 10.
This is wrong. Microsoft Windows is designed to use legacy drivers when current drivers are not available or nonexistant. You should use the latest Windows Support Software that apple has released for your model Mac. I assume this is what you get when the latest Boot Camp Assistant application available for your Mac is used to download the Windows Support Software. Note: I actually have a 2007 iMac running Windows 10 Pro 64 bit. The software was installed (from a DVD) on a freshly formatted partition using the Windows Support Software designed for a 32 bit Windows 7 installation.
Windows will be installed on the primary internal drive. In other words, the drive with the disk identifier of disk0.
Note: Windows can be installed on drives other than disk0, but this may also require a 500 MB 'System Reserved' boot partition on disk0. In any case, the procedure to implement this situation is beyond the scope of this answer. Windows will be installed on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th partition of the drive.
Note: Windows can be installed on partitions greater than the fourth partition. Again, the procedure to implement this situation is beyond the scope of this answer. Below are the installation steps. Note: To get a better view of the images shown below, either click on an image or open an image in a new window. Download the latest Windows Support Software for your Mac.
For the 2011 iMac, this software can be found at. On my Mac, these files were downloaded to the /Downloads/BootCamp5 directory. This software can also be use with the Mac models given below. You are referring to step 12.
I changed this step to include a test to see if the disk is using the GPT/MBR hybrid partitioning scheme. Your internal disk was not using the GPT/MBR hybrid partitioning scheme.
This is why you received the error message: The selected disk is not a fix MBR disk. The ACTIVE command can only be used on a fixed MBR disks. You are assuming Windows knows when a disk is hybrid partitioned. When a disk is correctly hybrid partitioned, Windows will think the disk is only using the MBR partition table. Windows will be unaware there is also a GUID Partition Table (GPT). – Dec 27 '18 at 22:44.
— updated after BootCamp 5 release June 2013 — Where can you get a direct download of Windows drivers for Macs if BootCamp is stuck, and says ‘could not continue’ or you have some other problem downloading the drivers? The brute force solution: it’s a darned large download, so physically take your machine to somewhere with a very fast internet connection that can download 600MB – 1GB in a couple of minutes. There, you’re done. Especially if you have a laptop, this would be the simplest solution – even take it to an Apple Store. For the rest of us:. If you have 64 bit Windows 8, and your Mac is 2010 or later (2009 or later for Mac Pro) then see if this page works for you:. If not, then first find out your Mac’s ModelIdentifier.
Q: How do I find my Mac’s Model Identifier? A: Open System Information, and look in the Hardware Overview section. In other words: Click Apple menu - About this Mac - More Info - System Report - Hardware. Now, read down the list in the Hardware Overview panel, looking for Model Identifier.
If you’re stuck, see the. Note that a ModelIdentifierHasNoSpacesInItAtAll. Second, get a download manager. You can try doing without, but the reason you’re on this page is that you’re having trouble getting a file to download reliably. A download manager such as or solves this problem. Then, search for your ModelIdentifier in the table below. Click the link to get the download package.
Be patient as they are 600MB to over 1GB. It will be much simpler if you do the download in OS X, because OS X can open the downloaded file and also open the dmg file inside it. Still in Mac OS X, once your pkg is downloaded, double click it and install to a folder on your hard drive so you know where to find it. During the Installation, click the “Change Location” option so that you can choose where it gets installed.
The folder contains a nest of folders, the last of which contains a dmg disk image file. Double click that to open. Here are your Windows installer files. Copy them to a usb drive, or a burnable CD. NB, it’s still 660MB or more, so it’s a full CDs worth of burning time. You can now proceed with Boot Camp assistant Windows installation and boot the Mac in Windows.
If you must do the download in Windows instead OS X, it’s harder. You will need the help on to open the pkg file and the dmg file inside it. BootCamp Direct Download Links Most of these driver downloads work for both Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Windows 8 on 32-bit is not officially supported, but almost everything seems to works on fine on not-officially supported models: the only specific shortcoming I’m aware of is that the screen brightness buttons don’t work on all models.