You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: arpeggi5150
arpeggi5150 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Bootcamp Windows 10 Issues - Bootable USB Drive Could Not Be Created An Error Occurred while formatting and Display Issues

Hey Apple Community long time reader first time poster. So here's my situation. I apologize but this post will be a bit longer than I would prefer! here we go...


I am trying to install windows 10 on my families iMac Mid 2010

(i3 Dual Core 3.06 GHz Boot Rom 99.0.0.0.0)

First off, I know this is not supported fully but I believe it is fully possible as far as my research shows so far. I have (Mostly) successfully installed windows 10 but for reasons I will explain I am trying to reinstall the "proper way" or at least in a way that will fix my issue (display issue)


A little Backstory...

This Mac natively runs High Sierra. I've used DosDude1's Patch to Upgrade this computer to Catalina and it seems to be running smooth as butter and the computer was quite cluttered before the reinstall of OS X so the Performance boost has actually been quite significant. If there are any issues I have yet to see them. (a couple super minor graphical glitches that seem to sort themselves out [Youtube Glitch but works on a refresh, temporary artifacting on finder windows etc]) Natively this computer can not run windows 10, but it seems since the upgrade to Catalina boot camp is happy to offer me the option to install windows 10. Good deal


ROAD BLOCK #1: HOWEVER, the internal disk drive on the machine does not seem to be functioning. Therefore using a windows install DVD is out of the question. (Right? I've heard external dvd drives will not let you boot, I don't have one anyway and I'm on a time crunch so I wouldn't be able to order one)


SO I read online that people have had luck editing the plist file in bootcamp to enable usb creation. I seem to have had success doing that.



HOWEVER when I go to format the USB disk for installation I get this error

"Your Bootable USB Drive Could Not Be Created - An error Occurred while formatting the disk"



I've tried reformatting the usb drive using Disk Utility I've tried different flash drives all with no luck.


The only thing I've been able to get to work is manually copying the contents of the Windows ISO to the usb drive itself and boot from that and install windows. That actually has worked


HOWEVER, (here we go haha)


When I installed windows (I've tried this twice now) both times when I boot up Windows after install I see the windows logo and the spinning loading white dots. Everything seems to be loading up perfectly and then the screen shuts off (seemingly as it completes startup). Shining a flashlight shows nothing. No mouse. NOTHING.


This made me think it was shutting off (maybe overheating or BSOD/hang causing a reboot?)

but gut instinct made me question if MAYBE the display was simply "switching" to the other output (Perhaps a simple config issue? or a driver issue?)


Luckily I happened to have the proper adapters to hook up a VGA to the output of my iMac (it's not a firewire output but the older larger one. Perhaps Thunderbolt? I honestly forget what it's called)


ANYWAY I plug it in and low and behold the secondary VGA monitor is working perfectly with a clean desktop output and I am able to log in.


Windows seems to be working for the most part, but I am unable to get apple update to work, and I am unable to seem to find the right drivers for the Graphics card HD 4670 (or if I am they aren't working) also there is no sound. when I try to install the drivers from the Windows Support software it doesn't seem to be the right drivers (or I get a complaint that the drivers are "for windows 7 only" and even in compatibility mode they don't install. This all leads me to believe that perhaps I installed incorrectly so I decided to go back to the windows 10 boot install, however that leads me back to being stuck not being able to get past that Disk Formatting error in boot camp.


TL:DR


  1. Boot camp won't format my disk
  2. Windows 10 Won't output to the Built in LCD No matter What
  3. Windows 10 won't update the drivers or apple software update seemingly no matter what
  4. When I manually create the USB Boot Drive I get #3


Should I try to reinstall windows with a different ISO (I believe I tried that but would try again) or should I try to get the drivers going from the windows side?


Should I just give up and keep it all Catalina? I've had so many problems just getting Catalina to work getting boot camp to do usb settings manually creating usb but I seem to have been to able to get past all of it and it would be great if I could just figure this out. I'm willing to give up if it's impossible but I'm just so close really feel like it is possible. Id even settle for windows 7 if necessary but boot camp in Catalina doesn't seem to have that option?


Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated been at this for 3 days straight with almost no breaks to sleep and have a family member waiting to get back to work.


Thanks for your time in reading and responding please let me know if I need to provide any more data.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Jul 25, 2020 5:22 AM

Reply

Similar questions

5 replies
User profile for user: Loner T
Loner T
User level: Level 9
59,526 points

Jul 27, 2020 8:38 AM in response to arpeggi5150

You are trying to 'brute-force' W10 with a foundation of unsupported features -


  • Catalina,
  • EFI Boot,
  • missing AMD drivers for a GPU that AMD may no longer support under W10
  • plist editing
  • ...


You are in uncharted territory.


If you must have W10 on this machine


  • install a VM engine (Parallels, Fusion or VirtualBox), which may provide a more reasonable path forward. Also, you can clone the VM disk to a partition, if necessary, or,
  • install W7/W8.1 and then run an in-place upgrade to W10, which will grandfather the W7/W8.1 drivers. Be aware that such a path has it's own pitfalls, e.g., ability to repair W10
  • Installing W7/W8.1 would require High Sierra or older macOS, so Catalina is also a problem



Reply
User profile for user: arpeggi5150
arpeggi5150 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jul 30, 2020 1:19 AM in response to Loner T

I really apprecite the response however i made another post that i maybe should have combined with this one that may have been a bit more helpful. So I understand Catalina, EFI, Plist, and and Win 10 are not supported. I've tried all of the following.


Win 7 and 8.1

Downgrading to High Sierra and then Installing

Forcing BIOS boot through USB

And doing MINIMAL Plist editing simply to create the usb key.

I've tried not editing the plist and creating my usb key manually


No matter what i do there doesn't seem to be a way to force booting from BIOS using USB. The disk drive is dead so using a disk is no good.


VM possibly cloning the partition seems to be one of the only viable options i haven't tried so great idea there! Read some people having success with that.


The struggle I kept having was getting WIndows 7 / 8.1 to boot into BIOS from the US key instead of requiring the CD/DVD BOOT

Reply
User profile for user: arpeggi5150
arpeggi5150 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jul 31, 2020 12:03 AM in response to Loner T

This definitely seems like a viable option and had i found it last weekend i most certainly would have done that. However i'm wondering if time/money wise and long-term investment wise it may be more effective to replace the Drive and do it the old fashioned way. Since that is something we were planning on doing to the system long term.


What do you think is the best option?


Thanks again for the helpful responses! I know this system is pretty old at this point but it's still running pretty well considreing it's a decade old!

Reply
User profile for user: Loner T
Loner T
User level: Level 9
59,526 points

Aug 1, 2020 7:23 AM in response to arpeggi5150

If you are considering replacing the internal disk(s), it is an effort. My recommendation is to look at macOS Sierra, which should work on your model. Also, consider installing W7/W8.1 first and verify that it will work properly. Your Mac has not Apple-certified drivers for W10, so you will end up with standard WHQL drivers, which may or may not work properly.


The 27-in/21.5-in 2010 iMacs are very nice machines. If they are working, I see no reason to discard a decade-old iMac.

Reply

Bootcamp Windows 10 Issues - Bootable USB Drive Could Not Be Created An Error Occurred while formatting and Display Issues

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up