How to Install Windows via USB with iMac with No Optical Drive

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GJZen Author

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How to Install Windows via USB with iMac with No Optical Drive

I got iMac mid 2010. I replaced the Optical Drive to SSD. Now I can't install windows bootcamp. Please help.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Aug 8, 2015 7:53 AM

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Answer 1

GJZen Author

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Aug 8, 2015 7:56 AM in response to GJZen

Loner TAug 8, 2015 7:11 AM Re: Bootcamp without Optical disc drive
Re: Bootcamp without Optical disc drivein response to GJZen

Your environment seems different with an MBR disk. Please 'q' out of GPT Fdisk.

Can you start a new discussion and post the output of

diskutil list

diskutil cs list

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

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Answer 2

GJZen Author

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Aug 8, 2015 8:01 AM in response to GJZen

MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS DaddyImac#2 399.2 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data WIN7 100.0 GB disk0s4

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *4.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_HFS Data HD 3.0 TB disk1s2

3: Microsoft Basic Data WINDOWS-4T 1.0 TB disk1s3

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Windows_7_SP1_Ultim... *3.3 GB disk2

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Answer 3

GJZen Author

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Aug 8, 2015 8:05 AM in response to GJZen

MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$ diskutil cs list

No CoreStorage logical volume groups found

MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

Password:

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=500107862016; sectorsize=512; blocks=976773168

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

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

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 976773167

start size index contents

0 1 MBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

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

409640 779781448 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

780191088 1269536 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

781460624 880

781461504 195311616 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

976773120 15

976773135 32 Sec GPT table

976773167 1 Sec GPT header

MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 60801/255/63 [976773168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

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

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

1: EE 0 0 2 - 25 127 14 [ 1 - 409639] <Unknown ID>

2: AF 25 127 15 - 1023 254 63 [ 409640 - 779781448] HFS+

3: AB 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 780191088 - 1269536] Darwin Boot

*4: 07 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 781461504 - 195311616] HPFS/QNX/AUX

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Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Aug 8, 2015 8:48 AM in response to GJZen

The disk0 already has the appropriate setup and I assume WIN7 runs properly.

On disk1, you will run into a few issues.

1. On your Mac, WIN7 is installed using a Hybrid MBR on disk0.

2. On disk1, due to it being 4Tb, you need to put Windows within the first 2TB of the disk, due to limitations of a MBR which supports only a 2TB MBR installation with a maximum of 4 entries.

3. One option is to disconnect the 500GB disk0, re-install your Optical drive, install Windows on the 4TB disk1 with proper partition based on item #2, and then reconnect the 500GB disk back to the SATA bus.

4. You can also use Virtualization if you do not need native hardware access for this installation of Windows and workaround item #2.

5. disk1 should be connected to the main SATA bus for Windows to be installed. The Optibay SATA bus throttles SATA speeds onto optibay connector. You can look at the SATA speeds in System Report -> Sata and look for disk1 and look at link speed and negotiated speed. If you can post a screen shot, it would be very helpful.

6. SATA IO may be unstable when a HDD is used on your specific model in the Optibay and may cause unpredictable behavior.

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Answer 5

GJZen Author

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Aug 8, 2015 6:39 PM in response to Loner T

FYI, my set-up right now is:

1. 500G SSD (replaced the optical drive)

2. 4T HDD (replaced the broken HDD)

Now, my plan is to install Windows on 500G SSD not on 4T HDD. WIN7 is the partition I did with SSD but as I mentioned last time, still does not work as per below:

5. Use GPT Fdisk to mark the NTFS partition as bootable. - OK

6. Power cycle your Mac and hold the Alt Key and select the NTFS partition and test. - OK

But after reboot with Alt/Option key on hold, I can select the NTFS partition it boots to just black screen (with blinking underscore at the upper left corner.

In addition, my diskutil list have changed order?

MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *4.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Data HD 3.0 TB disk0s2

3: Microsoft Basic Data WINDOWS-4T 1.0 TB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_HFS DaddyImac#2 399.2 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk1s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data WIN7 100.0 GB disk1s4

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *15.5 GB disk2

1: Windows_NTFS Untitled 15.5 GB disk2s1

/dev/disk3

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Windows_7_SP1_Ultim... *3.3 GB disk3

MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$

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Answer 6

GJZen Author

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Aug 8, 2015 6:58 PM in response to Loner T

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Answer 7

GJZen Author

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Aug 9, 2015 5:01 AM in response to Loner T

Hi Loner,

I got 2 related questions if you won't mind.

1. As I read from previous post, Is it possible to use external Mac Superdrive to install Windows CD? As normal external optical drive does not work.

2. Can I use WinClone to clone my Windows7 of my OLD iMac and restore it to my new iMac?

Thanks.

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Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Aug 10, 2015 8:40 AM in response to GJZen

GJZen wrote:

1. As I read from previous post, Is it possible to use external Mac Superdrive to install Windows CD? As normal external optical drive does not work.

On Macs whose Model Identifiers indicate a built-in Optical drive, an external OD will not work. It causes no boot device errors. You may be able to install if only one drive is connected to the main SATA bus.

GJZen wrote:

2. Can I use WinClone to clone my Windows7 of my OLD iMac and restore it to my new iMac?

Yes, as long as you ensure that a SysPrep is run on the OLD iMac to generalize Windows.

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Answer 9

GJZen Author

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Aug 10, 2015 5:12 PM in response to Loner T

Thank you for your reply as always.... I was inclined to use the WinClone solution (though it did not work with migrating from my OLD bootcamp for some reasons)... I did the VMware, Daemon, Paragon VMDK, Winclone solution and it works!...

I just wonder and hope I could still solve the issue without going to this Winclone solution.

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