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Level 1

18 points

Boot Camp & Win 10 on a 21.5" Retina 4K iMac?

I got a lovely new 21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display last week, bumped up with a Core i7, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB Flash drive 🙂

I previously had Windows 10 installed on my old 21.5" iMac, which was a 2011 model (the last of the "fat" ones before the 2012 slim down). I successfully installed it using Boot Camp 5.something (whatever the latest version was before Boot Camp 6) despite it not being officially supported.

I have tried to use Boot Camp 6 to install Windows 10 on my new iMac, but it just won't work.

I understand that according to the Boot Camp page at Apple.com, the new "Late 2015" 21.5" 4K and 27" 5K iMac models are not listed as being compatible (with any Windows, not just 10). I had hoped that was just because the page hadn't been updated yet... but I guess that's not the case? 😟

The first time I tried BCA6, it got as far as the actual Windows installation, but the Windows installer then refused to install Windows 10 to the Boot Camp partition, even though I had used the installer to format it to NTFS, exactly as the instructions tell you.

I ran BCA6 again to remove and recreate the partition, and tried again... this time I didn't even get as far as the Windows installation - BCA6 errored out, complaining that it could not download the support software.

Tried again... same thing happened.

Any ideas? Should it work, and something has gone wrong, or is it that it really is not yet supported?

Has anyone else managed to install Windows 10 on a late 2015 21.5" 4K iMac?

iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, Late 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Nov 7, 2015 12:03 PM

37 replies

mattdodd Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 9, 2015 6:43 PM in response to Loner T

Ah, OK.

But... how can I do that when Boot Camp doesn't ask for or give the option to use a USB stick?

(At least not the times I've tried it so far.)

Also, how can you be sure that the Late 2015 4K and 5K iMacs are supported, when Apple's own site does not list them?

I'm not the only person having problems with Boot Camp (which despite being Apple software does not appear to "just work").

e.g. When will Windows 10 be supported on the new iMac Retina 5K Late 2015 model?

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Nov 9, 2015 7:04 PM in response to mattdodd

There is a tool called brigadier (https://github.com/timsutton/brigadier) which allows manual downloads from Apple servers. This is an example using the model string - iMac17,1 - which is a 2015 iMac 5K. Notice it also supports iMac 16,1 and iMac 16,2 which are the two 4K models. Please also notice the URL used to download the package. Apple Software Update from the Windows side downloads the same package. This also has the new Magic Trackpad2 driver.

./brigadier -h

Usage: brigadier [options]

Options:

-h, --help show this help message and exit

-m MODEL, --model=MODEL

System model identifier to use (otherwise this

machine's model is used). This can be specified

multiple times to download multiple models in a single

run.

-i, --install After the installer is downloaded, perform the install

automatically. Can be used on Windows only.

-o OUTPUT_DIR, --output-dir=OUTPUT_DIR

Base path where the installer files will be extracted

into a folder named after the product, ie.

'BootCamp-041-1234'. Uses the current directory if

this option is omitted.

-k, --keep-files Keep the files that were downloaded/extracted. Useful

only with the '--install' option on Windows.

-p PRODUCT_ID, --product-id=PRODUCT_ID

Specify an exact product ID to download (ie.

'031-0787'), currently useful only for cases where a

model has multiple BootCamp ESDs available and is not

downloading the desired version according to the post

date.

-rMBP:brigadier-master MyName$ ./brigadier -m iMac17,1 -o Bootcamp-iMac17.1

Using Mac model: iMac17,1.

Model supported in package distribution file at http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/08/53/031-13951/0azyj3l0sl4tkq4p874eibr rbokomwt6qw/031-13951.English.dist.

Distribution 031-13951 supports the following models: iMac16,1, iMac16,2, iMac17,1.

Making directory Bootcamp-iMac17.1/BootCamp-031-13951..

Fetching Boot Camp product at URL http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/08/53/031-13951/0azyj3l0sl4tkq4p874eibr rbokomwt6qw/BootCampESD.pkg.

100.0% 673644544 / 673639138 bytes

Expanding flat package...

Extracting Payload...

Extracted to Bootcamp-iMac17.1/BootCamp-031-13951/WindowsSupport.dmg.

Done.

-rMBP:brigadier-master MyName$ cd /Volumes/Boot\ Camp/

-rMBP:Boot Camp MyName$ ls

$WinPEDriver$ AutoUnattend.xml BootCamp

-rMBP:Boot Camp MyName$ cd BootCamp/

-rMBP:BootCamp MyName$ ls

BootCamp.xml Drivers Setup.exe

-rMBP:BootCamp MyName$ cd Drivers/

-rMBP:Drivers MyName$ cd Apple/

-rMBP:Apple MyName$ ls -l

total 56516

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 1271976 Oct 12 20:40 AppleCamera64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 2383864 Oct 12 20:40 AppleDisplayInstaller64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 2053824 Oct 12 20:40 AppleKeyboardInstaller64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 2059112 Oct 12 20:40 AppleMultiTouchTrackPadInstaller64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 2065240 Oct 12 20:40 AppleMultiTouchTrackPadProInstaller64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 504712 Oct 12 20:40 AppleNullDriver64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 2383280 Oct 12 20:40 AppleODDInstaller64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 2388592 Oct 12 20:40 AppleRemoteInstaller64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 2385104 Oct 12 20:40 AppleSDCardReader64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 2321408 Oct 12 20:34 AppleSoftwareUpdate.msi

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 2068376 Oct 12 20:40 AppleWirelessMouse64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 2406936 Oct 12 20:40 AppleWirelessTrackpad64.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 MyName staff 4632576 Oct 12 20:37 BootCamp.msi

-rMBP:~ MyName$ grep "Product" /Volumes/Boot\ Camp/BootCamp/BootCamp.xml

<BuildInfo BuildNumber="6237" ProductName="Boot Camp">

<ProductManufacturer>Apple Inc.</ProductManufacturer>

<ProductVersion>6.0.6237</ProductVersion>

<ProductCode>{FCFFE6B6-BAE8-490E-88D0-097A9DA1C43D}</ProductCode>

Nov 9, 2015 7:08 PM in response to mattdodd

I have 4k 21’5 iMac with 2T Fusion
drive.

I had exact same
problem when trying to installing Win10 via Boot Camp

I separate my Fusion drive:

120G SSD drive, install OS x
2T HDD drive for Data storage, HFS

I tried to format my 2T HDD into 2 partitions(HFS + NTFS) by
BCA, wish Windows can be on 128G NTFS and rest are my data storage partition, I
had Win10 USB installer disk(prepared on another Window PC). When BCA try to
install it, it says Windows support drive is not downloaded, if I just start to
download it just stuck at around 30% and never progress.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Nov 9, 2015 7:20 PM in response to Tonyzhoufromsydney

If you download using a Wireless connection, try a wired connection.

Nov 9, 2015 7:23 PM in response to Loner T

Ok, I do use WiFi, and will give a go with Wired connection

mattdodd Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 10, 2015 12:05 PM in response to Loner T

That sounds useful, but I have no idea as to how to get it in a usable form for OS X.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Nov 10, 2015 3:30 PM in response to mattdodd

If you are running BC 6 Assistant, can you check and download software using

mattdodd Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 14, 2015 10:02 AM in response to Loner T

Success! 🙂

I used Disk Utility to create a partition, used BCA to download the Windows Support Software (and then stuck it on a USB stick manually), and then booted up with the Windows 10 ISO DVD I used for my old iMac.

The Windows Installer wouldn't let me format the partition initially, but it was fine once I used the installer to delete and recreate it.

After that, the installation ran smoothly, and I was able to then update and activate Windows, and then use the Windows Support Software I downloaded earlier to install the Boot Camp stuff in Windows.

Many thanks for all your help, Loner T 🙂

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Nov 14, 2015 10:07 AM in response to mattdodd

Please back up OSX and Windows. Use separate external physical disks, if possible. Glad to see it working. 😀

Dec 31, 2015 1:04 PM in response to Loner T

So, I just installed Windows 10 and I'm not getting any sound from the speakers or headphone jack. Do I need to download new drivers to the partition on the OSX side?

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Dec 31, 2015 1:08 PM in response to Joseph1324

Please check Windows Device Manager for any unknown devices. Are Bootcamp drivers installed successfully? Do you have a Boot Camp entry in Control Panel -> System (or elsewhere)?

Dec 31, 2015 2:17 PM in response to Loner T

I found a driver inspector that actually repaired the drivers, so everything works perfectly (as perfectly as Windows can work, anyway) now. I will look into what you suggested, though. Thank you for the quick response.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Dec 31, 2015 2:24 PM in response to Joseph1324

Please be careful with viruses and malware when using such software. You can run setup.exe from the Bootcamp folder and repair the drivers in-place.

Dec 31, 2015 3:18 PM in response to Loner T

Yeah, good point.

Dec 31, 2015 3:52 PM in response to Loner T

Are you saying to run setup.exe from Windows or OSX? I'm pretty sure that's a Windows command, but I don't want to assume anything.

Boot Camp & Win 10 on a 21.5" Retina 4K iMac?