Trying to run Windows 10 on my Mac, but having Problems!

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Trying to run Windows 10 on my Mac, but having Problems!

Ok, so I have been trying to get Windows 10 running on my 2010 13 Inch MacBook Pro, which I upgraded with a Samsung SSD 860 EVO and 16 GB Of ram. (I also took out the Optical drive for a second SSD to run in Raid 0 - I had to delete that since it didn't work with Windows.) I tried following a Youtube guide by making a copy of Bootcamp and editing the files - and I got everything to work, and the Mac is booting from the USB Flash drive I made - but there are only two options when I hold Alt. The regular Mac os and EFI Boot. When I click EFI Boot, I go through the setup process - until I have to choose my hard drive. I choose the drive that has enough space (400 Gb. The other ones have 0 to 200 MB, so that can't be it.) At first, it said something about NTFS. So I clicked "Format" and that worked - now it's saying the "Selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI Systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT Disks." Is there any way to fix this? I have a Windows 10 Disk that I purchased from Microsoft, do I have to use that? Or do I have to run Windows 7??

MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), null

Posted on Sep 23, 2018 7:31 PM

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Answer 1

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Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Sep 24, 2018 5:37 PM in response to Lionhead876

A 2010 Mac does not support W10. It only supports W7/W8.1 and uses legacy BIOS, not EFI. All suggestions to modify Bootcamp files, use a USB, etc., will lead to problems, with bad/incorrect/non-functional drivers.

The designated Windows disk should be in the main bay of the Mac. If you need macOS, it can be on the second disk.

If you still have the original internal Optical drive, I suggest you use it to install Windows 7/8.1 using DVD. If you must have W10, then upgrade the W7/W8.1 to W10 in-place. This allows the W7/W8.1 Apple-provided BC drivers to function properly under W10.

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Answer 2

Lionhead876 Author

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4 points

Sep 30, 2018 1:34 PM in response to Loner T

Hi! Thanks for the quick response. For Disk 3, it said it was busy. I'm not sure if that was the right one or not. I did it for 2 different disks, here are some photos. I also included the DiskUtil in case I typed the wrong disk.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Sep 26, 2018 6:59 PM in response to Lionhead876

See Install Windows 7 on your Mac using Boot Camp - Apple Support for reference. On the 2010 model, you will need to use the built-in Optical drive and the designated disk in the main disk bay. Once Windows is up and running, you can replace the Optical drive with the second disk.

Your BC Assistant should have only two options - Download and Install.

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Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Sep 24, 2018 8:03 PM in response to Lionhead876

From the link you provided ...

If you have a newer Mac (i.e. a model from [late] 2013 or later), you're in luck; Bootcamp actually installs Windows in EFI mode as a standard.

You have a 2010 Mac. 😉 The above statement should be corrected to say

2013 or older models only support BIOS mode,
Late 2013 - 2014 models support both BIOS and EFI (these are transition models),
2015 and later models support only EFI.

Also, see Resolved - Install a Windows 7 partition on Mac OSX without Optical Drive or USB | MacRumors Forums .

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Answer 5

Lionhead876 Author

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4 points

Sep 23, 2018 7:40 PM in response to Lionhead876

I have just looked into several websites - one said to run a program called gdisk . Another said to burn the iso to a dvd drive. I can buy an external one and use the windows 10 disk? or is there another way to do this?

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Answer 6

Lionhead876 Author

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4 points

Sep 24, 2018 5:40 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks for the quick reply! Would something like this work:

https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/2fy3be/by_popular_demand_my_better_than_bo otcamp_guide/

Or will that still lead to problems? I guess if I have to I can reinstall the Original Mac DVD drive, and buy a Windows 7 disk.

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Answer 7

Lionhead876 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 25, 2018 7:26 PM in response to Loner T

Hey!

Long story short - I booted into Windows 10 following the guide, but the drivers won't install cuz their not supported. I think I'll just go with Windows 7, I've been spending weeks trying to figure this out. Is there a guide you can link me to install with the disk? After I take out my second SSD and put the optical drive back in, Do I install windows 7 from a disk? And can I put the SSD back in afterward? Thanks! Hopefully, everything goes smoothly from now, and I won't have to bother you! 🙂

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Answer 8

Lionhead876 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 30, 2018 11:39 AM in response to Loner T

I marked it as solved because it did answer my questions - but I just ran into some problems. I'm trying to wipe my 500 GB SSD - But it says 429 GB, even after I erased it with a terminal command. Should I make a new thread for this? I wanna make sure it's clean before I continue.

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Answer 9

Lionhead876 Author

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4 points

Sep 30, 2018 12:12 PM in response to Loner T

Sure! I just went to Disk Utility on the Internet Recovery and for one of the drives I see 70 gb of free space but can't repartition it. I'll try that command.

EDIT : Everytime I try it, it says command not found. I made sure to look at it and im typing it correctly, and im replacing N for 0s3

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Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Sep 30, 2018 1:11 PM in response to Lionhead876

Lionhead876 wrote:

Sure! I just went to Disk Utility on the Internet Recovery and for one of the drives I see 70 gb of free space but can't repartition it. I'll try that command.

EDIT : Everytime I try it, it says command not found. I made sure to look at it and im typing it correctly, and im replacing N for 0s3

In Recovery, you can use

gpt -vv -r show /dev/diskN

and diskN should be the full disk, like disk0, disk1, disk2, etc., not the specific slice like disk0s3.

The Video shows errors.

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Answer 11

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Sep 30, 2018 4:29 PM in response to Lionhead876

Disk0 has about 70GB missing and you can see it as Free Space after GPT3.

Disk1 is a bit more messy. Is this the designated macOS disk? If yes, do you have a backup of macOS?

Neither disk should have the 134MB partition.

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Answer 12

Lionhead876 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 30, 2018 4:50 PM in response to Loner T

Hey!

Both of these drives I wiped. I have an external hard drive that I used SuperDuper on - this program copies all the files from my main ssd to the external hard drive, so that means it is a bootable drive as well. its a usb 1 tb hard drive that i use to copy my files to and the recopy back on my raid ssd (which i have deleted in attempt to run bootcamp.)

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Answer 13

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Sep 30, 2018 6:16 PM in response to Lionhead876

I did notice the error. If you have wiped both disks, I suggest installing Windows on the main bay disk using a DVD after the Optibay is temporarily disconnected. Once Windows is fully functional, you can add the second disk and restore your SuperDuper backup to the Optibay disk. You can then test and verify.

To disconnect the Optibay disk, disconnect the SATA cable from the disk end, not the Logic Board.

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Answer 14

Lionhead876 Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 1, 2018 3:39 PM in response to Loner T

Wait... so i power off my macbook, and then reinstall the dvd drive first? and the i install windows with that? or do i boot from my external ssd after the dvd drive is reinstalled and then do i disconnect optibay disk??

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Answer 15

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Oct 1, 2018 5:18 PM in response to Lionhead876

Since both your internal disks do have a functional OS, you will need to re-install the Optical drive, boot from the external disk in macOS, run BCA and once the Windows installer starts from the DVD, before you select the internal disk, disconnect the external boot disk, otherwise it will cause problems.

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Trying to run Windows 10 on my Mac, but having Problems!

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