fronw
Level 1 (4 points)
Desktops

Q: boot camp and windows 10

I am trying to install Windows 10 with Boot Camp Assistant. I follow all the directions exactly as posted. I have a late 2012 iMac 21.5". It has a 1 terabyte internal hard drive. I have updated to the latest version of OSX. i have downloaded a legal image of windows 10 professional, though that does not seem to matter since I cannot install it. Anyway. I follow all the directions in Boot Camp Assistant. I am using an external hard drive for WININSTALL. Boot Camp Assistant works fine until it is time to create the partition on the hard drive called Bootcamp. It creates the partition, but does not put anything in that partition. Boot Camp Assistant tries to boot from the new partition, but obviosly, there is nothing there. I have tried booting the WININSTALL disk, which does boot and wants to install Windows 10, but it cannot or will not install to the Bootcamp partition. You know what the error message says, because others have told you what it says, so I won't repeat it. Obviously, Boot Camp Assistant is not using GPT but rather MBR to create the Bootcamp partition. I have tried many, many, many times to use Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows 10 on the internal hard drive, but every time it does exactly the same thing. I suppose I am crazy for trying to do the same thing so many times. Obviously, there is something wrong with my iMac, since it seems that others are able to install Windows 10 on their iMacs. So, would someone please tell me how to fix the problem so that I can install Windows 10 on the internal hard drive of the iMac?

iMac, iOS 10.0.2, Boot Camp Assistant

Posted on Sep 26, 2016 1:32 PM

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fronw

Q: boot camp and windows 10

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Loner T,Helpful

    Loner T Loner T Sep 27, 2016 8:19 AM in response to fronw
    Level 7 (24,182 points)
    Safari
    Sep 27, 2016 8:19 AM in response to fronw

    fronw wrote:

     

    I am using an external hard drive for WININSTALL.

    You need a USB2 Flash drive of 8+ GB. You should not use an external HDD, it causes further problems.

     

    It creates the partition, but does not put anything in that partition.

    BCA is not supposed to, till the Windows Installer starts and copies files to the internal disk to put Windows on the internal disk. WININSTALL contains all the files necessary to install Windows.

     

    I have tried booting the WININSTALL disk, which does boot and wants to install Windows 10, but it cannot or will not install to the Bootcamp partition. You know what the error message says, because others have told you what it says, so I won't repeat it. Obviously, Boot Camp Assistant is not using GPT but rather MBR to create the Bootcamp partition.

    EFI Boot needs a GPT disk, the legacy BIOS mode needs a Hybrid MBR (overlay on a standard GPT disk). Your 2012 preUEFI Mac supports only MBR properly. EFI boot will not work properly and cause driver issues.

     

    I suppose I am crazy for trying to do the same thing so many times. Obviously, there is something wrong with my iMac, since it seems that others are able to install Windows 10 on their iMacs. So, would someone please tell me how to fix the problem so that I can install Windows 10 on the internal hard drive of the iMac?

    Run BC Assistant and remove the current partition. Disconnect all external storage, run the following two procedures

     

    Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

    How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

     

    Run BCA, and use a USB2 flash drive (not a HDD). The USB drive will be erased/formatted. The ISO or Windows 10 DVD contents will be copied to this flash drive with Apple drivers which support reboot environment that supports your keyboard and mouse and display. Do not interrupt the installation in any way using Alt/Option key.

     

    Please also see https://help.apple.com/bootcamp/mac/5.0/help/ .

  • by fronw,

    fronw fronw Sep 27, 2016 7:27 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 27, 2016 7:27 AM in response to Loner T

    I am in the process of using BCA to install Windows 10 on my iMac. Before resetting the SMC and the NVRAM I tried installing the files to WINSTALL on a 128 GB USB 2.0 flash drive. It took all night and was not finished this morning when I got up. Right now the blue line indicating progress is in about the middle, and does not appear to be doing anything. I sure hope it does not take another 8 hours to install the files on the flash drive! That was the reason I tried using an external hard drive as mentioned in my initial post.

  • by fronw,

    fronw fronw Sep 27, 2016 8:18 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 27, 2016 8:18 AM in response to Loner T

    Well, just as I expected, the installation did not work. It booted into WINSTALL and started the installation, but it refused to install to BOOTCAMP!!! The error message is: "Windows can't be installed on drive 0 partition 4 (Show details)" when I go to the details it reads: "Windows cannot be installed to his hard disk space. Windows must be installed to a partition formatted as NTFS." So what now?

  • by fronw,

    fronw fronw Sep 27, 2016 8:50 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 27, 2016 8:50 AM in response to Loner T

    Never mind. I pressed the blue "Delete" and then pressed the blue "New" after clicking on the BOOTCAMP partition. It formatted correctly and installed the software. While your answers helped me get through the initial problem I was experiencing, it did not get me to an installation of Windows 10. I was able to figure out the final solution myself. Thanks for your assistance.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 27, 2016 9:17 AM in response to fronw
    Level 7 (24,182 points)
    Safari
    Sep 27, 2016 9:17 AM in response to fronw

    fronw wrote:

     

    The error message is: "Windows can't be installed on drive 0 partition 4 (Show details)" when I go to the details it reads: "Windows cannot be installed to his hard disk space. Windows must be installed to a partition formatted as NTFS." So what now?

    This is normal and expected. Instead of deleting the existing FAT32 partition, you need to format it to NTFS as shown

     

    S0004_W10FormatUSB.png

     

    If it is working, I suggest leaving it as is.