jmcarlson
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Q: Bootcamp on Yosemite on a iMac Install Windows 7 is grayed out

I have an iMac 10,1 (late 2009) with a 3 TB drive (1 partition Mac OS Extended Journaled).  I have done a clean install and want to bootcamp with Windows 7 (I have on a USB bootable stick).  When I run the bootcamp assistant (version 5.1.4), I get the following error:

 

Screen Shot 2015-05-15 at 6.12.09 PM.png

Even if I uncheck "Download the latest Windows support..." it still remains grayed out.

 

Here's my partition info:

Screen Shot 2015-05-15 at 6.11.57 PM.png

 

What do I need to do to enable "install or remove Windows 7"?  I believe I'm supposed to create the Windows partition in Bootcamp so what is missing?  Thanks!

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 15, 2015 6:19 PM

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jmcarlson

Q: Bootcamp on Yosemite on a iMac Install Windows 7 is grayed out

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 16, 2015 6:34 AM in response to jmcarlson
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
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    May 16, 2015 6:34 AM in response to jmcarlson

    1. Run Disk Utility Repair and try BC Assistant.

    2. Boot the Mac in Safe mode - OS X Yosemite: Start up in safe mode and try BC Assistant.

    3. Run the following two steps, twice, and try BCA.

         a. Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

         b. How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

    4. If none of these work, post the output of the following terminal commands.

         diskutil list

         diskutil cs list

         sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

         sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

     

         Sudo commands require you password, which is not echoed back to you, and will warn you about improper use.

  • by jmcarlson,

    jmcarlson jmcarlson May 18, 2015 10:53 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 18, 2015 10:53 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanks...I tried steps 1-3 with no change.  Here's the additional info you requested:

     

    diskutil list

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:                  Apple_HFS Mac OS                  3.0 TB     disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

     

    diskutil cs list

    No CoreStorage logical volume groups found

     

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=3000592982016; sectorsize=512; blocks=5860533168

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 5860533167

           start        size  index  contents

               0           1         PMBR

               1           1         Pri GPT header

               2          32         Pri GPT table

              34           6        

              40      409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

          409640  5858853952      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      5859263592     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      5860533128           7        

      5860533135          32         Sec GPT table

      5860533167           1         Sec GPT header

     

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

    Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 97451/255/63 [1565565872 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 - 4294967294] <Unknown ID>

    2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

     

    I appreciate your help!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 18, 2015 11:14 AM in response to jmcarlson
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    May 18, 2015 11:14 AM in response to jmcarlson

    1. Does your Optical drive function properly? Your model cannot use a USB to boot from. You will need to burn the W7 ISO to a physical DVD. Disk Utility (Yosemite): Burn a disk image to a CD or DVD. The DVD in the internal Optical drive should enable the Install W7 option. You cannot use an external Optical drive since you already have a built-in one.

     

    2.  On your iMac you may run into a black screen issue, please see - Boot Camp: iMac displays a black screen during installation of Windows 7 - Apple Support. This applies to iMacs with AMD GPUs. The iMac 10,1 identifier belongs to multiple iMacs based on How to identify iMac models - Apple Support.

  • by jmcarlson,

    jmcarlson jmcarlson May 18, 2015 1:05 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 18, 2015 1:05 PM in response to Loner T

    Hi! 

     

    #1 - no luck.  I put a Windows 7 ISO on DVD (verified it booted on a Windows computer) in the internal DVD drive and still the same thing...still grayed out.

     

    Any other ideas? 

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 18, 2015 1:16 PM in response to jmcarlson
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    May 18, 2015 1:16 PM in response to jmcarlson

    If you insert the DVD on the OSX side, can you open it in Finder and see files on the DVD?

  • by jmcarlson,

    jmcarlson jmcarlson May 18, 2015 3:15 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 18, 2015 3:15 PM in response to Loner T

    Yes, I can see the Windows installation files.

     

    I reinstalled the iMac with Mavericks (thinking maybe something in Yosemite was incompatible) and I'm still getting the same error.  Another iMac of the same generation with Mavericks can run bootcamp fine.  The major difference between the two is the 3 TB drive in the problem iMac.  Both were installed with the same usb media, software updates completed.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 18, 2015 4:11 PM in response to jmcarlson
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
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    May 18, 2015 4:11 PM in response to jmcarlson

    BCA can handle 3TB drives like a Fusion drive which has two physical drives. Can you try Safe Mode and test BCA again? We can try other options with manual partitioning.

  • by jmcarlson,

    jmcarlson jmcarlson May 18, 2015 6:17 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 18, 2015 6:17 PM in response to Loner T

    Sorry, still no change.  Can we try manual partitioning next as you mentioned?  Do you suggest staying on Mavericks or move to Yosemite?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 18, 2015 6:57 PM in response to jmcarlson
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    May 18, 2015 6:57 PM in response to jmcarlson

    Mavericks is fine and a bit more stable.

     

    On an older Mac (prior to Late 2013), Windows is installed using the legacy BIOS method. It is also known as the Hybrid MBR method, which has some limitations. It cannot handle entries larger than 2TB because of 32-bit numbers used. It also cannot have more than four entries. BCA creates a 1:1 mapping between EFI, OS X, Recovery HD and Windows on the GPT and MBR side. This also disallows any resizing of movement of Windows.

     

    Given these restrictions,

     

    1. If you want Windows to be smaller than 1TB, it must fully reside in the first 2TB of the disk.

    2. If you want Windows to be larger than 1TB, it must start within the first 2TB of the disk.

     

    Before we do manual partitioning, can you check the Console logs (Applications -> Utilities -> Console logs) for any Bootcamp error messages. type in boot in top right search box and look for any errors.

  • by jmcarlson,

    jmcarlson jmcarlson May 21, 2015 12:45 AM in response to Loner T
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    May 21, 2015 12:45 AM in response to Loner T

    Loner T - thank you very much for your help, but the end user has decided not to pursue a boot camp partition and wanted their iMac back.  Somewhat sad since I am curious about the resolution but all other macs are launching the "Install Windows 7" option ok so I can't test it further.   Your are fantastic and generous with your time!  Thanks!!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 21, 2015 3:48 AM in response to jmcarlson
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    May 21, 2015 3:48 AM in response to jmcarlson

    You can post back on this thread, if you encounter a similar machine in your travels.

     

    One resolution is to re-install OSX which does not alter any other files and test.