Bootcamp -> Windows via USB on new iMacs

Thank you, but I already know about all of those things 🙂

I have Bootcamp & Windows 7 installed on all my iMacs, and have had it on most of my Intel Macs before… the only thing I'd like to know which is not in the links you provided (yet), is wether or not you can install Windows via USB on the néw iMacs. This has previously not been possible on older iMacs (like my current model of 2009, and my girlfriend's iMac of 2006) because Apple didn't "allow" it by disabling this feature in the EFI.

The manual actually specifically mentions this:

You can install Windows with an installation disc you provide or, on some Mac computers, with a USB flash drive that contains a Windows 7 ISO image downloaded from Microsoft. Boot Camp Assistant helps you burn the image to the flash drive.

Hence my question regarding the new iMacs 🙂

Is there an Apple employee on the forums who could give us an answer to this perhaps? 🙂

Thanks for the response 🙂

I have gone through the manual hoping to find an answer, but there's no clear answer as of yet. I would assume (like you mention as well) that all Macs without an internal Superdrive would support doing a Windows installation from a USB stick/HD, but so far I haven't been able to find a definite answer anywhere.

I was hoping to find someone here (wether it's an Apple support genius or not) who could shine some light on it, but I guess we'll have to wait for an answer untill the new iMac has been released in the wild 🙂

Hi Dalstott,

I have tried that actually. When I start Bootcamp I do at some point run into that option. Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem for me as when I actually try to use the USB stick during installation, Bootcamp mentions that it cannot find a proper installation DVD.

I tried creating a USB stick via Windows on another computer, with the help of various tutorials (including Microsoft's tutorial). This included copying an official Windows install DVD ánd an official Windows install ISO. All my attempts were with various USB sticks and HD's, ranging from a Kingston and homebrand USB Stick, a Freecom USB HD, and finally a LaCie USB HD. So far nothing worked. Even when installing ReFit, Bootcamp keeps me from installing as it keeps mentioning that it cannot find a proper install DVD 🙂

Oh, nice find! From the article's explanation, it seems like I have the exact same issue. I'll give this one a try when my new iMac arrives. Worst case scenario, if this article won't fix the issue, there will probably be more information regarding USB-installs on the new iMac sans superdrive 🙂

Thanks again Dalstott… I have actually never even heard of Installingcats.com, so i would've totally missed it 🙂

Actually, it was drop-dead-simple 🙂

It literally was the easiest installation I could think of. I used 2 USB sticks (8GB stick for Windows install, 2GB stick for Bootcamp drivers). I preformatted both USB sticks to Fat-32 via Diskutility, and after that I just followed the steps that Bootcamp Assistant provided.

The only thing you have to make sure of is to have a Windows install DMG or ISO available, and in my case I had to get a 64bit one. The old ISO I had contained both 32 ánd 64 bit versions, and Bootcamp won't know what to do with it in that case. When I provided Bootcamp with a pure-64bit version (I didn't want to install a 32bit-version) everything went incredibly hassle-free, ánd a lot faster than an install via DVD (obviously) 🙂