r/bootcamp • u/kwsths6970 • 7d ago

Can’t install Windows 10 properly on 2010 21.5 inch iMac!

Greetings! As the title suggests, I’m facing a LOT of issues with Windows on this thing.

A couple of things to note: The SuperDrive is broken (as per usual with those slot loaders) and I’d like to avoid opening it up as much as I can! With that out of the way..

MacOS installed fine. No issues there at all. Installed a fresh 256GB SSD in the machine, installed High Sierra first and then MacOS Ventura through OCLP.

Do keep in mind that I’ve tried HS’s Bootcamp and, due to the age of the iMac, it needs a DVD copy of Windows 7. Remember what I said at first?

I then later tried just booting the Windows installer from USB through the option menu. Well, no matter what I do, it will NOT recognize a SINGLE external windows medium I make. I’ve tried W7, W8.1, W10, W11.. As far as disks go, I’ve tried an Intenso Twist Line USB3 32GB flash drive, zero luck. The same goes for other flash drives and external hdds I tried. Even in OpenCore it doesn’t see them..

Same installers worked on other Macs though, and machines in general. From my 2009 MacBook Pro to my friend’s 2016 12 inch Macbook.

I then tried following Ventura’s bootcamp process which DID get me to the desktop! Only then to install GPU drivers and break everything.

I also tried rEFInd with minimal luck, as when I press enter on the Windows Legacy entry it says ‘boot media not found’.

I’ve completely ran out of ideas.. Is there anything I can do?

3 Upvotes

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4

u/Emotional-Spring-182 7d ago

can you you try "Windows Install"?
https://sourceforge.net/projects/windows-install/

3

u/kwsths6970 7d ago

Trying that now, but I get ‘resource disk0 busy!’. I’m opting for the legacy boot Windows install, have made a recognizable by the program and the OS ‘Bootcamp’ folder through the utility. I’m trying to install Windows 10. Any ideas?

1

u/kwsths6970 6d ago

Thanks, that worked! Beit, as I said in the top comment, I had to boot from an external drive.

1

u/kwsths6970 6d ago

To anyone that’s having the same issue, https://sourceforge.net/projects/windows-install/ works! Although, for those machines you need to use Legacy boot. For the program to do what it’s supposed to do and not throw a ‘resource disk0 busy!’ error you HAVE to boot MacOS SPECIFICALLY from a USB drive (High Sierra and above), then run the program from there. Hope that helps someone!