Boot camp iso on imac 27 inch mid 2011

On a 2011 Mac, you have never had an option to use a USB Installer. Bootcamp Info.plist modifications lead to pain. Use a physical DVD or create one from a Windows ISO - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/home .

I also have iMac Mid 2011 27"'. The Windows 8 was installed on it with the help of Bootcamp very easily. However now I have to reinstall Windows 8 and in spite of my best efforts based on visits of numerous websites including this forum I could not reinstall Windows. In another link I have contacted Mr Loner and was directed to some other link for help. But nothing happened. As a result my Windows softwares (all originals and genuine) worth around US$ 1500 are not useable now. I have decided that if I could not install Windows 8 on it, I will throw away the iMac as scrap. I am a very old person and I have raised my BP and lost my sleep over this matter and now I want to remain in peace. Please help me Loner. I could not understand that when Windows 8 was installed on earlier occasion why it could not be installed now. Please please help me.

pkbajpai wrote:

I also have iMac Mid 2011 27"'. The Windows 8 was installed on it with the help of Bootcamp very easily. However now I have to reinstall Windows 8 and in spite of my best efforts based on visits of numerous websites including this forum I could not reinstall Windows. In another link I have contacted Mr Loner and was directed to some other link for help. But nothing happened. As a result my Windows softwares (all originals and genuine) worth around US$ 1500 are not useable now. I have decided that if I could not install Windows 8 on it, I will throw away the iMac as scrap. I am a very old person and I have raised my BP and lost my sleep over this matter and now I want to remain in peace. Please help me Loner. I could not understand that when Windows 8 was installed on earlier occasion why it could not be installed now. Please please help me.

I posted on the other discussion some links for you to use. Did you test?

Yes sir. I tried both the links. First link suggested to create and use ISO flash disk. This was not of any use as the option "Create a Windows 8 or later version disk"is not available with my iMac. Second link was also of no use. I created the USB ISO disk but the Bootcamp gave me a curt message that "Installer disk could not be found". One more thing I noticed that my built-in superdrive is reading CDs only and not DVDs. Therefore I used an external DVD drive which is reading all CDs and DVDs. So this is the present position. I wonder how the same machine installed the Windows 8 so easily on earlier occassion. I hope you will appreciate my frustration. Thanks.

2011 Macs need to use a physical DVD and your built-in Optical drive. They will not use an external Optical drive. If it reads CDs, try a DVD Video and test if DVD player comes up. If it does not, you may want to clean the laser using a soft cloth and a credit-card sized piece of plastic.

Dear Loner. I tried to clean the superdrive as advised. But still it is reading CDs Ok but not DVDs. However I think this is the possible reason for my troubles. As far as I remember the Windows 8 was installed on earlier occasion when the installer DVD was used from built-in superdrive. I will replace the superdrive and let you know the results. Thank you very much for trying to help me. Thanks.

Dear Loner, I have enquired from authorised service centre of Apple. The cost of replacement of built in superdrive is very prohibitive in my country (India). It amounts to around 250 US$ !!! I think the time has come to throw away iMac and go for old faithful Windows PC. Thank you very much for trying to help me.

Is there someone who can open your iMac and clean the SuperDrive and test?

Dear Loner. I contacted almost all the computer hardware technicians in the area but could not find one who can open iMac. So question of opening the iMac does not arise. However I was advised by one person to try Parallels to use windows in iMac. Windows is now installed and activated in virtual mode in Parallels. But I am not as comfortable as I was in using Windows in Bootcamp. I wonder if even by replacing the builtin superdrive with new one at a extremely high price of around 250$ I will be able to install Windows on Bootcamp? I think it will better to purchase a new Windows machine which is easily available around this price and say good bye to iMac. Thanks for trying to help me.

What city are you located in?

I am located in Jabalpur MP, India. Nearest service centre of Apple are located at Nagpur MS and Bhopal MP. Both are about 300 Kilometers away from Jabalpur. Quotations for change of super drive were obtained from Bhopal service centre on phone.

A non-OEM Superdrive should cost about USD90. Is there someone local to your city (Jabalpur) who can follow https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+24-Inch+EMC+2134+and+2211+Optical+Drive+ Replacement/8959 (assuming this is the correct model) and install the Optical drive for you?

There are other non-Optical drive methods to install Windows, but these require some cloning and virtualization tools (which are cheaper than $250 😉 ).

I have some contacts in New Delhi. I will ask if they can assist (give me a couple of days). Do you have the original iMac packaging boxes which can be used for packing and shipping. You may need to double-box the iMac, if shipping is required.

Dear Loner, Thanks for trying to help me. It appears that Apple is not popular among individual computer users in my region. I tried my best to locate someone who can open the iMac but my search failed.Apple iMac is used by some business persons but they get support from Nagpur or Bhopal service centres. Anyway on the advice of a friend I tried installing Windows with the help of Parallels. Now Windows is installed in virtual environment on Parallels. It is working fine. But I wish Apple should do something so that Windows is installed through Boot Camp on older iMacs with external DVD drives or make the service charges reasonable. Thanks again.

Glad to see you have a VM version of Windows working. The only challenge with VM installations is that you do not have direct hardware access.

I am still not comfortable in using Windows in V M environment. Alas I could again install Windows with BootCamp. It was so wonderfull to use Windows in its own partition! BTW is there any way I can install Windows on iMac without OS X or can the built in super drive be uninstalled or disabled so that the OS X use only external DVD drive?