Boot Camp Assistant Issues
Mac mini (Mid 2010), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8 GB 1067
Mac mini (Mid 2010), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8 GB 1067
What year/model is your Mac?
Models up to 2011 do not support USB installation of Windows, they need a physical CD/DVD. 2012 models support both USB+ISO or DVD. 2013-2014 model support USB+ISO, and 2015 and later models use an internal partition called OSXRESERVED.
I am not looking to install Windows 10 on the Mac, but want to create a USB boot disk to return a PC to life after a hard disk crash.
Yes, it would all be easier if I had the Boot Disk DVD to just start over, but long story short, I don't.
Windows Media Creation Tool running on Windows will let you create a USB and/or DVD. A BCA-created USB has Mac-specific drivers in $WinPEDriver$ and will have issues in resurrecting a Windows PC.
If this Mac has an Optical drive and you have blank media, you can download the appropriate ISO from Microsoft and burn it to a physical DVD.
Thanks!
Will give that a try.
Please post back if you run into any issues.
w4rden wrote:
Hi, I have this question too. But all my boot camp assistant shows is this:
Your specific Mac has a built-in Optical drive is 2011 or older Mac. Such Macs require a physical CD/DVD to install Windows. In most cases, neither do such Macs officially (per Apple) support Windows 10. The USB will only contain the Bootcamp drivers for Windows, but not a USB Windows Installer. Modifying files to work around this causes further problems during or after installation.
So what can I do? Is there a way for me to install windows 7 or 10?
Check Install Windows 7 and earlier on your Mac using Boot Camp - Apple Support or Use Windows 8.1 on your Mac with Boot Camp - Apple Support for your specific Mac year/model.
If you need W10, you need to first install W7/W8.1 (as appropriate) and then an in-place upgrade to W10, but be aware that there are no W10-certified drivers available from Apple. If your Mac has AMD GPUs, you will need to be extra careful with W10. The nVidia and Intel GPUs have better support.
The thing is that the only options available in Boot Camp Assistant are the ones in the first image. I don't get have the option to install windows 8 or earlier
Are you on OS X Sierra?
yes
If you have a physical DVD of W8/W8.1, create a FAT32 partition using Disk Utility, insert the DVD, reboot your Mac and hold Alt/Option key. Do you see a Windows icon from the DVD?
I don't have a physical copy. I only have the iso for W7 Pro and W10 Edu. Will restoring my MacBook back to Yosemite or Lion help? I have everything backed up just in case it's the only way to do this.
Can you burn the W7 Pro ISO to a physical DVD? You can right click on the ISO, choose Burn from the pop-up menu, expand the Burn option, choose the lowest rate and verification and mount after burn options and check the DVD. A DVD-R SL is recommended. If you ISO file is larger than ~4.7GB, you will need a DVD-R DL media disk.
Boot Camp Assistant Issues