aberckefeldt
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Q: Target Display Mode not working with mid-2011 iMac and 2012 Mac Pro (power mac)

So I am trying to use my mid-2011 21.7 in iMac as a display for my 2012 mac pro. I have read whole bunch of forums and support pages, and from what I can tell it should work but nothing happens when both are connected via thunderbolt and I press cmd-f2. I have also tried doing fn-cmd-f2 and nothing happens. I have rebooted both machines with no luck. Any idea what I am doing wrong here?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 28, 2015 12:11 PM

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aberckefeldt

Q: Target Display Mode not working with mid-2011 iMac and 2012 Mac Pro (power mac)

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  • by rkaufmann87,

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Jul 28, 2015 12:42 PM in response to aberckefeldt
    Level 9 (58,956 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 28, 2015 12:42 PM in response to aberckefeldt

    You are not doing anything wrong. The issue is the only 2011 iMacs that support TDM are the 27" models, your 21.5" will not support it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

  • by aberckefeldt,

    aberckefeldt aberckefeldt Jul 28, 2015 1:10 PM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 28, 2015 1:10 PM in response to rkaufmann87

    so why does it specify here the size on the older versions but it says 2011 in general will work? I am starting to think the mac pro is the problem. Even though it's a 2012, it has a mini display port. Do you know if I could just get a mini display port cable and use it between the two or is that just asking too much? Haha

  • by rkaufmann87,

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Jul 28, 2015 1:54 PM in response to aberckefeldt
    Level 9 (58,956 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 28, 2015 1:54 PM in response to aberckefeldt

    Not to sound harsh but the bottom line is it will not work. If you want to spend time researching the why I am okay with that but please don't ask me to do it for you.

  • by aberckefeldt,

    aberckefeldt aberckefeldt Jul 28, 2015 2:23 PM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 28, 2015 2:23 PM in response to rkaufmann87

    You're the one who is on this forum choosing to answer questions... Because you decided to answer mine, I assumed you knew a bit about the problem so I asked a follow up question. I simply asked if you knew, I never asked you to do anything for me.

     

    Besides, your answer wasn't even correct. All iMacs 2011 and up can do target display mode as long as both devices have thunderbolt ports.

  • by rkaufmann87,

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Jul 28, 2015 2:27 PM in response to aberckefeldt
    Level 9 (58,956 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 28, 2015 2:27 PM in response to aberckefeldt

    My info was correct.

  • by woodmeister50,

    woodmeister50 woodmeister50 Jul 29, 2015 3:23 AM in response to aberckefeldt
    Level 5 (5,649 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 29, 2015 3:23 AM in response to aberckefeldt

    aberckefeldt wrote:

     

    ....All iMacs 2011 and up can do target display mode as long as both devices have thunderbolt ports.

    You just answered your own question.  The 2012 MacPro has a display port

    and not a Thunderbolt port. Thunderbolt iMacs can only work in Target Display

    connected to a Thunderbolt equipped Mac.  See table:

    iMacs you can use
    as a display

    Cable
    you need

    		Port you need
    on your other Mac

    iMac (27-inch Late 2009)

    Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort

    		Mini DisplayPort or Thunderbolt

    iMac (27-inch Mid 2010)

    Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort

    		Mini DisplayPort or Thunderbolt

    iMac (Mid 2011)

    Thunderbolt

    		Thunderbolt
    iMac (Mid 2012 and later)ThunderboltThunderbolt

  • by diaslourenco,

    diaslourenco diaslourenco Aug 4, 2015 4:52 AM in response to aberckefeldt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2015 4:52 AM in response to aberckefeldt

    Hello,

     

    I had the same issue this week. And I have been using the 21 inch imac as a target display for at least 1 year now. But this week suddenly it stop working.

     

    Just a background, a sales guy also told me that the 21 inch imac would not work, but it is incorrect as you can see in apple support pages.

     

    I have contacted the support all things they have recommended it didn't work. So I did a bit more search and I solved it through reseting the SMC. To do this I had to do the following in my iMac:

    -Shut it down

    -unplug the power cord for 15 seconds

    -Plug it back in and wait 5 seconds

    -restart the iMac

     

    After it was running the CMD+F2 worked again.

     

    Hope it solves your issue as well.

     

    Best regards