blog/classic-mac-pro-and-windows

[utterances-bot]

Classic Mac Pro (5,1): installing Windows 10, switching between macOS Mojave & Windows without boot screen - CrystalIDEA Blog

https://crystalidea.com/blog/classic-mac-pro-and-windows

[kleuter]

Posted by Derek Dean on 2020-09-18

I'd gotten everything installed and working on my 2009-2010, Mac Pro 5,1 running a rx 480. So, hurray, however, I completely skipped step 5. I loaded 7zip, I downloaded brigadier and let it run and update, then copy and pasted the line codes in Command Prompt. None applied or could be found. Same with the Apple Boot camp update. Won't update. I didn't have sound, but I updated the Realtek driver and that solved that. As of now, everything works, it's running. I'm happy and excited. I owe Crystal Idea Software a lunch because I was pricing a pc build and now, I don't have to. So, huzzah!

Windows has updated and restarted multiple times without any issues. To be in the safe side, I pulled my Mac OS start up disk out so I don't accidentally overwrite anything. When the time comes, if I need my Mac, I'll put my Radeon 5770 in, get the boot screen and go from there. Whether I have to do all of this over again remains to be seen. But, until then, I have a gaming pc again. And can't thank you guys enough for all your help.

[kleuter]

Posted by Andriy Tevelyev on 2020-09-25

Great to read it works also in 2020. I'm going to buy a new SSD for Windows 10 and try it.

[kleuter]

Posted by Derek Dean on 2020-09-25

This is just my two cents so listen or don't. But if you're dual booting to play video games (as I did) and you have a standard HD laying around. Use that. Save the money. If you plan on using windows, as an operating system and using programs and so on. Than ssd all the way everytime. But for video games. Sure windows start up is 40 seconds longer. And launching steam is 15 seconds longer. But for video games once they are playing, ssd vs HD makes no difference. I was all set to buy an ssd (I have a backup I keep for my Mac... Two.) but realized I have at least 3 hds just sitting around, used them, saved $100. Happy as can be.

[kleuter]

Posted by Andriy Tevelyev on 2020-09-25

Yeah, the problem I don't have a spare HDD either. So might as well buy an SSD. But now I just tried to boot Windows 10 installer from a DVD as author suggests by holding C-key, and it doesn't work. It shows quickly windows logo, and then just black screen with a blinking cursor in the corner.

[kleuter]

Posted by Derek Dean on 2020-09-25

In that case, get an ssd. I'd pulled my OSX HD out completely, just in case. After holding the C key during start up, I got to format the drive and all that.

After that, it gave me the option of upgrade or custom install. I always went with custom figuring it was a fresh install. I tried multiple times that way and it kept saying there was an error. For the heck of it, I did a format again, and then choose the other option and for whatever reason, that's how it worked. Now, I'm not the expect on what your experiencing at all. But, I'd suggest, if possible, try a different os install disk. If you can download from the windows site or however you get a copy, but of all the errors I'd encountered, that was never one of them. Which makes me wonder if it's a disc error instead of an install error.

[kleuter]

Posted by Andriy Tevelyev on 2020-09-25

Actually it works. Had to just wait for this cursor to blink for a few minutes.

[kleuter]

Posted by Fred Robet on 2019-11-13

Great guide, but I desagre with the end of step 4:
"Every reboot do not forget entering the boot menu (by holding the Option key) and selecting ‘Windows’ boot drive there. When finished, boot into Windows."
How can we do that as we do not have boot screen (due to Metal GPU)?
These 2 last sentences of the step 4 must be deleted, the installation works better without pressing the Option button.

[kleuter]

Commented by zizi377 on 2020-01-19

just a note, Brigadier will now install the Bootcamp folder with a different (newer ?) number, so remember to used the folder name you have downloaded, not necessarily the BootCamp-041-55643 or BootCamp-031-11269 mentioned in the instructions.

[kleuter]

Commented by Brightbrown on 2019-06-17

It took me MANY days of fussing to arrive at doing it by the methods you and the guy over on MacRumors Forums delineated. Couple of things... Mojave is 100% not happening, I have a nice GTX 980 that MacVidCards had flashed 3 years ago when I got it. If my current SSD array on PCI falters, then I'll look to do the firmware upgrades (being a "if it ain't broke" kinda guy). Other than various errors I made, it all went pretty much the way you spelled it out, even with the older firmware BUT I have have a few questions... I thought win10 had some native unzipping software, why d/l a third party one?

You say "open Windows command prompt where Brigadier is located" not sure I exactly understand the mechanism here. I understand the need to navigate to the right directory, can I just drop the folder into the command window and have it fill in the path (assume shift-f10 for opening it)? Been manmy a year since I did much cruising around at a command prompt, and that was in bash! Does "-m MacPro5,1" go and download the right software from Apple? Is msiexec" another exe that gets installed with bridigier in that same folder? DO those iMac Pro BC stuff install the control panel thing in windows to select the startup disk?

Almost forgot... does this bring some form of HFS+ driver to win10, I don't see it mentioned? Also the CP in windows that CAN go to apple to get updated software?

DId I say how much I appreciate your advice?

[kleuter]

Commented by Macapple130 on 2020-09-18

Hi great guide. I would like to share a couple of things which ended up differently for me but still successful.
So I have a mac pro 5.1 with Mojave loaded and an EFI R9 280 GPU 3gb with an External USB sound card.

I decided I need a bit more under the hood so went with a Sapphire 580 pulse with no EFI so it gave me something to think about. I already had boot camp and separate drive set up with windows 10 but during the latest window updates it blue screened on me and I couldn't get it repaired so needed to reinstall but couldn't due to the restrictions. Whilst a damaged Windows does give you the option to reinstall over the internet I found your guide and followed it for a clean install. I did try the trick of copying Bootcamp and amending the Plist but that's been cut off now. The difference for me from above was in the following. So....

I downloaded the latest Windows 10 iso which was around 5.7gb and burnt it onto a Bluray. I have a blue ray player/burner I took out a of an old HP and put it in the mac. It works fine. So it gave me the opportunity to install the latest windows ISO and not worry about getting hold of old smaller sized versions (unless you need those).

I took all the drives out except the one I was going to load Windows on and I put it in slot 4 (I don't think it matters, it was just where I was going to put the Windows SSD disc). Taking all the disks out Saves on messing anything up but also when windows updates it boots back quicker. Keep it this way for the whole installation as it should reboot the same drive and also helps with the tons of Windows updates which need rebooting every second.

The next issue I came across was after downloading the cMP 5,1 and imac 1.1 bootcamps with Brigadier the 1,1 Bootcamp MSI (Exe) would not let me load without authority from the setup program which kind of stumped me as you cant run the setup program on the newer 1.1 bootcamp.

So I decided to try another route, first I ran a windows compatibility check the 5,1 BC setup file and found it can be installed in Windows 7 mode. It allows you to install the entire 5,1 package but the only problem is the included Apple updater will not work to update any of the files even in compatibility mode. So once installed I went to the imac 1,1 folder and found the installer for theApple updater, installed that and then it automatically updated everything to the latest version of boot camp on windows.

I've tested it and its been fine so far and I have been able to boot back to Mac drive and use the Settings in OSx to set the start up disc to windows.

Hope this helps

[kleuter]

Commented by Vlad Knows on 2020-08-31

Hey all,
Have a cMP 5,1 (mid-2010). I did this tutorial and worked like a charm, with some hiccups. Figuring out how to get 144 BIOS version took me a day and then realized I could just download the Mojave installer again and update the firmware that way. Then, finding DVD-Rs was funny cause some stores don't even sell those anymore. I went to Best Buy the other day and this guy was like lets look, and didn't find any (eventually found some at Walmart). Next, I had some SATA HDDs laying around that I plugged into the Mac, however when it came to installing windows on them, the only solution I came up with was to remove all the HDDs and only leave the one I'm installing windows into in the first slot. From there, I had some issues with brigadier and writing the correct folder numbers in cmd. All in all, everything works now and I'm super excited to use Windows 10 and OSX Mojave on this timeless machine.

[kleuter]

Commented by Jamie Kehoe on 2020-04-20

I have been trying to get my juiced up Mac Pro (4,1 to 5,1 - 3.46GHZ Processors, 64GB Ram, Radeon RX Vega 64, NVME Mojave) to dual boot and have seen success a couple of times where it has been working booting back and forth. Now I get a dreaded 'No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key' if I try to boot into Windows. I cannot gain access to Windows again and I was booting it normally and switching before, but it didn't last. Not sure if there is something in the update to Windows that is causing issues? I setup my system in a different way than in this post, but in the same fashion, I used VMWare on my laptop to install the system to an external caddy for the 2TB drive using WinToUsb - I set it up using 'MBR for bios and UEFI'. Not sure if this is the exact way to go. I have also recently tried a fresh install using just 'MBR for bios' to no avail either. Still getting the no bootable device error. Has anyone got a clue as to what I could do to get this functioning? I am using a licensed copy of Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software, however I noticed that Hasleo software (makers of WinToUsb) have a free Mac utility to read and write to NTFS drives, however I have never used it.

[kleuter]

Commented by NF13344 VWT5 on 2019-12-10

For anyone who is bothered by same problem as me, that the windows install disk keeps making 4 partitions..

1. First do format the new disk in Bootcamp, it will make 2 partitions. One will be FAT32 that is not allowed by windows10.
2. Remove disk, take it to windows and connect it and run partition tool in windows. Erase FAT32 and put NTFS in place.
3. Put back in mac, and start windows install from DVD. Now it will work!

[kleuter]

Posted by Daniel Toman on 2019-06-18

Thank you for this very straightforward guide. Much easier than wading through forums! One note however, about your final step:

When finished, it will create a folder BootCamp-041-55643, you need to run this command:
msiexec /i BootCamp-031-11269\Bootcamp5\Bootcamp\Drivers\Apple\bootcamp.msi
BootCamp-031-11269 corresponds to the Mac Pro 5,1 download. There is no directory called "Bootcamp5" in there, that looks like a vestige from @h9826790's directions where he recommends to rename the BootCamp-031-11269 to Bootcamp5 for convenience. The actual path to the Mac Pro 5,1 installer would be: msiexec /i BootCamp-031-11269\Drivers\Apple\bootcamp.msi.

However I'm not able to run this installer on my Mac Pro 5,1 in Windows 10, I get an error saying "Boot Camp requires that your computer is running Windows 7." So I took your advice and just installed the Broadcom and RealTek drivers.

I'm guessing the command you probably meant to write for the final step, to install the iMacPro 1,1 version of Boot Camp is:
msiexec /i BootCamp-041-55643\BootCamp\Drivers\Apple\BootCamp.msi

[kleuter]

Commented by Gabriel Androczky on 2019-12-10

It will download files in a folder named BootCamp-041-88815. Worked for me. Thanks.

[kleuter]

Commented by Thomas E. Willson on 2020-04-12

The trick is to open an Administrator command prompt (or Powershell) and then run the command.

[Leepete9000]

Thank you for this guide! I just used it to install Windows 10 on my cMP 5,1 (flashed from 4,1) w/ a RX580.

Is it possible to update Windows 10 from here?

I can't update AMD Adrenalin Software with this OS.

[kleuter]

Is it possible to update Windows 10 from here?
To the latest Windows 10 - I believe yes.

To future release of Windows 11 - highly doubt.

[Leepete9000]

Is it possible to update Windows 10 from here?
To the latest Windows 10 - I believe yes.

To future release of Windows 11 - highly doubt.

Great! Thank you!

[esutton]

Is USB boot a possible cause of my issues? The Win 10 install USB boots and runs, I just can't get past selecting disk to install windows.

• cMP 5,1 (mid-2010), Windows 10 USB (because too big to fit on DVD)

After step 4: Format the target drive, I have 3 new partitions:

• 100 MB System
• 15 MB MSR Reserved
• 1862 GB Primary

Select primary, and press Next to continue install, displays:
We couldn't create new partition or locate an existing one.

I guess I can go back to the MSDN download, and see if i can find a Win 10 ISO without updates that might fit on a 4.7GB DVD.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
I cannot believe how hard it is to get Win 10 installed on a MacPro5,1 (mid 2010)

[h9826790]

Is USB boot a possible cause of my issues? The Win 10 install USB boots and runs, I just can't get past selecting disk to install windows.

• cMP 5,1 (mid-2010), Windows 10 USB (because too big to fit on DVD)

After step 4: Format the target drive, I have 3 new partitions:

• 100 MB System
• 15 MB MSR Reserved
• 1862 GB Primary

Select primary, and press Next to continue install, displays:
We couldn't create new partition or locate an existing one.

I guess I can go back to the MSDN download, and see if i can find a Win 10 ISO without updates that might fit on a 4.7GB DVD.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
I cannot believe how hard it is to get Win 10 installed on a MacPro5,1 (mid 2010)

You must use DVD.

Boot from USB automatically select UEFI Windows installation. That cause your problem.

Use DVD default to legacy installation. That makes the difference.

If you want UEFI Windows, you should install OpenCore first. Otherwise, Windows will work a security certificate into the NVRAM private stream, which is somehow considered as firmware corruption on the cMP. And can brick the cMP if multiple certs are installed

[DjRiBas]

Could you start the installation from a SATA hard drive instead of the DVD? So you could use an ISO that does not fit on a 4.7 GB DVD.