Bootcamp problem Mac Pro 3,1

[ashman70]

I have a Mac Pro 3,1 with an SSD installed in the upper bay alongside my optical drive, the SSD is connected to SATA port A on the motherboard. I am attempting to install Windows 7 via bootcamp however the second option in bootcamp, Install or remove Windows 7 is greyed out. I have Yosemite installed and up to date. Why is the option in bootcamp greyed out and how can I get Windows 7 64bit installed on this Mac Pro?

Thanks

AM

 

[PitBullCH]

I have a Mac Pro 3,1 with an SSD installed in the upper bay alongside my optical drive, the SSD is connected to SATA port A on the motherboard. I am attempting to install Windows 7 via bootcamp however the second option in bootcamp, Install or remove Windows 7 is greyed out. I have Yosemite installed and up to date. Why is the option in bootcamp greyed out and how can I get Windows 7 64bit installed on this Mac Pro?

Thanks

AM

If I remember rightly, it has to be installed on a disk that is potentially bootable - which from an internal disk perspective means one of bays 1-4 - cannot be from disk 5/6 which are usually installed in the optical drive bays.

 

[haralds]

If I remember rightly, it has to be installed on a disk that is potentially bootable - which from an internal disk perspective means one of bays 1-4 - cannot be from disk 5/6 which are usually installed in the optical drive bays.

Correct. That port can be used for booting OSX, but is not configured under BIOS emulation.

 

[ashman70]

I don't think thats true because years ago I had this very same Mac Pro model with the same setup and did it, I just can't remember how, but thanks.

 

[66318]

To get SATA ports 5 and 6 working, you need to enable AHCI support. For the installer, it would require changing it to run AHCI during the install process, probably by loading the right drivers.

An alternative would be to install it while the drive is connected to bay 1-4, enable AHCI post install, then move the drive.

Hopefully my own fuzzy memory here added enough keywords to help find the old solution. Looked at my Win10 install and realized it's not in AHCI mode. Not sure if I'm going to try and change it.