Install Win7 w/ Bootcamp on iMac

I'd like to install Windows 7 on an external (FireWire) drive connected my iMac (27-inch Mid 2010).

I looked at the this Microsoft support page:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2647609

It says that Win7 requires, among other things:

A Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Mac OS X Lion installation DVD
A copy of Boot Camp version 3.3 (4.0 for Mac OS X Lion)

Is it possible to do this installation with a El Capitan (10.11.4)?

iMac (27-inch Mid 2010), OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), 12GB RAM; 60GB SSD; 4TB HDD

Posted on Apr 21, 2016 3:14 PM

18 replies

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 2, 2016 5:25 AM in response to Nello Lucchesi

There are three entries, USB3.0 High-Speed (USB2 and speed 480Mpbs), USB3.0 Super-speed (USB3 and 5Gbps) and a USB hub for Keyboard/FaceTime, etc. Your flash drive is in 3.0 and speed is 5Gbps. Different Mac hardware shows the busses differently, but 480Mbps is USB2.

May 7, 2016 8:32 PM in response to Loner T

You were right. Now with a USB2 thumb drive the Win7 install works perfectly. The only surprise was that I had to format the BootCamp drive to NTFS.

Now, I need to get the (free) Win 10 upgrade installed.

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 7, 2016 9:17 PM in response to Nello Lucchesi

Please create good backups of OS X, W7 and create a Windows System Restore point before you start a W10 upgrade.

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Install Win7 w/ Bootcamp on iMac