How to: Boot Camp without a Boot Screen

[zoltm]

**********************
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 339, in <module>
File "<string>", line 296, in main
File "<string>", line 73, in sevenzipExtract
File "c:\jenkins\workspace\brigadier\build\brigadier\out00-PYZ.pyz\subprocess", line 493, in call
File "c:\jenkins\workspace\brigadier\build\brigadier\out00-PYZ.pyz\subprocess", line 679, in __init__
File "c:\jenkins\workspace\brigadier\build\brigadier\out00-PYZ.pyz\subprocess", line 896, in _execute_child
WindowsError: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified
**********************

I would like to first thank @h9826790 for his excellent write-up guide on doing bootcamp without boot screen. If it's not the availability of this well written guide I probably would have not done this bootcamp windows installation. I have to admit, ever since my conversion from the Windows/PC camp to the MacOs camp since 2009, I have not installed a single copy of Windows in my computer for almost 10 years. As a recent project required, it would be more convenient if I have a working copy of Windows to try out some apps, hence this exercise. Make a long story short, in principle I follow the guide and manage to install a copy of Windows 10 (from 1803) and then upgrade to 1809. I am able to use the BootCamp panel from Windows booting back to my Mojave 10.14.4 installed in an NVMe blade while my Windows 10 is installed in an SSD at the 2nd optical bay. Upon returning to Mojave, I can use StartUpDisk under System Preference to booting back to Win10.

As a contribution back to the community, I would like to share some problems I have had following the guide and how I might have solved the problem. I have the same problem as @blue_macaco. I manage to use brigadier to download a DAT file for both MacPro5,1 and iMacPro1,1. However, it looks like part of the script is some how broken that lead to the 7.zip executable failed to install, hence the DAT download cannot be further unzip into the respective Drivers sub directory. Base on the postulation, I went to download and install 7zip at https://www.7-zip.org/a/7z1900-x64.exe in the freshly installed Windows.

Therefore, from step 6, I install 7zip, per above.

Then run brigadier -m MacPro5,1 and then the above error would gone away. After that, you could see some stuff being decompressed to the respective folders under the directory BootCamp-031-11269

Then I run brigadier -m iMacPro1,1.

I have to say, I think when I run "msiexec /i bootcamp.msi" I hit on the problem it saying that I do not have a Windows 7 for it to install on. Hence, when I run "msiexec /x bootcamp.msi" I hit on a similar problem saying there is no bootcamp for uninstall.

Because of the problem above, I then copy the DRIVERS directory from Bootcamp5 to Bootcamp6, then I run "msiexec /i bootcamp.msi" from Bootcamp6 (the directory where you have the iMacPro1,1 bootcamp files).

Viola, I manage to get the Win10 going in my cMP, I am thankful that for the first time to have Windows running on my mac computer.

Sorry folks, I do not enjoy much on installing Windows in my cMP, if I am diligent enough, I should have redo the process and better document the actual procedures. If it works now, I dare not to fix it again.

By sharing the above procedures, I hope someone would get some inspiration on how to get around the above problem as stated by @blue_macaco.

If some more experienced inmates who may spot the potential issues that I might have commit with what I have done, please kindly point that out and hopefully there is some solution for them (e.g. I might have installed some stuff that I don't really need.)

Hope this help someone. Cheers and thanks to this great community.

 

[marioliv66@]

Hi, I'm following @h9826790 ´s tutorial. for the moment I was able to install windows 10 pro version 1607 (I have not made any updates yet). I made the step with Brigadier to download Bootcamp 5 but as said in a previous tutorial he downloaded the version 4. So I next downloaded Bootcamp 5.1.5621. With Brigadier I could have Bootcamp for iMacPro 6.1. Now I hesitate about following the manipulations, what do you advise me? Should I rename the Bootcamp.5.1.5621 folder in Bootcamp5 and continue the tutorial? Thank you for voting help.

 

[Geitekaas]

Hiya,
It’s true what Zoltm says, you need to be inventive and seek where some of the files are and experiment a little. I did that also and (although the manual of @h9826790 is GREAT, my gratitude is huge, man) you need to tweak a little. Especially the cd commands, some of the files are in a different folder

All works fine here.
A Lycom 129A with nvme samsung 970 pro (now seen as INTERNAL) with HS (have a flashed GTX 680, so no Mojave, drivers hack is still a little bumpy and no Cuda).
A SATA SSD connected under the dvd player with Win10. All functions okay. Even Magic Mouse 2 gestures. Took some restarts and trying-outs though.
Every start-up in Win, I have to off/on my mouse and only then it is seen by Windows. The BT keyboard works like a charm and all the bootcamp functions work. I can live with the strange on/off mouse behaviour.


Two things nag me though.
I have a Accelsior S PCI Adapter. Used it before with the old SSD and HS. Doesn’t work with Windows... even after cloning with EasyUS todo. Damn. Would love to have that working. My Windows SATA SSD on a pci card. Do I need to buy another pci, like the Sonnet Tempo? What do you people think?
Or one of these cards:
Sedna PCI Express (PCIe) SATA III (6G) SSD Adapter with 1 SATA III Port (with Built in Power Circuit, no Need SATA Power Connector, Best for Mac), SSD not Included (at amazon)


Secondly, seeing the SYSTEM RESERVED disk. Am I to understand that this will solve just that:

Anyway, everything is working but switching back onto MacOS Mojave i see an extra partition mounted named ‘System Reserved’ I was trying to search this thread to see if there was any way to make it hidden or not mount upon reboot. So far nothing solid.

Update: I found by using

Code:
sudo nano /etc/fstab
and putting

Code:
LABEL=System\040Reserved none ntfs rw,noauto
did the trick.



Well, anyway, people, after reading for weeks and trying and rebooting and installing, jeez, I finally solved most of the puzzle. Lagacy, from DVD, with a work around though... but I have two bootable drives for my work in Mac os x and in Windows!
Happy camper. Just those two questions. Who helps?

Have a great one

 

[blue_macaco]

Hi everyone,

so I finally had some time to give it another go. With the update post by @zoltm I managed to get past point 16) in the guide by @h9826790. Actually, it wasn't that complicated from there. I downloaded 7zip via the link that @zoltm posted. Just that made the error message in CMD disappear. The next barrier was that inside the Bootcamp5 (after renaming) folder, there was no Bootcamp/Drivers/Apple directory. However, I had previously downloaded the Bootcamp drivers via the Bootcamp app (you have to do this in High Sierra, Mojave won't do it), so what I did was just copy the missing Bootcamp/drivers directory from that folder to the Bootcamp5 folder on the USB stick. From there I could go on with @h9826790's guide and it all worked. I installed High Sierra on an NVMe after that, then upgraded to Mojave and then switched the flashed GTX680 with the RX590 Nitro. Now I'm able to switch back to Mojave via the Bootcamp app on Win10 without having the bootscreen!

Phew, this took me quite some time but mostly because I didn't know the way how to get there. Wish I could contribute more to this awesome community, but for now I can only confirm that it can be done by someone without coding skills if you follow the guide and the updates mentioned above, and it shouldn't take you more than an hour or so. Thanks a lot everyone!

 

[hamselv]

OK, done!

Thanks for providing all the required info. This is my version of "how to do it".

1) Insert the Windows installation DVD into the super drive (How to burn a Windows installation disc properly). [N.B. Do NOT replace the DVD by USB installer. It won't work]

2) Shutdown the Mac

3) Hold "C" to boot (if you have NVMe installed, and can't boot from the disc, please try remove the NVMe)

4) Follow the on screen instruction until reach the "Where do you want to install Windows" step
View attachment 797517

5) "Delete" all the target SSD's partitions. In the above capture (downloaded from internet), you can see that there are 4 partitions for existing EFI mode Windows. Select each partition one by one, and click Delete. Be careful, do NOT remove other drive's partition. All partitions should be on the same drive. e.g. In the above example, all belongs to Drive 0. There is no requirement to remove any other hard drive from the cMP. But if you want to play safe, you can physically remove them between step 2 and 3 to avoid error.

Eventually will looks like this. No more partitions, but just a single large piece of Unallocated Space.
View attachment 797518

6) Click New. This will automatically create the correct and required partitions with all available space. For legacy installation, should be only two partitions automatically created.
View attachment 797527

7) Select the newly created partition, and continue the installation.

8) For Windows 10, the LAN line should work straight away after installation completed. So now, you can use Edge to access the internet.

9) Go to https://github.com/timsutton/brigadier/releases

10) Download brigadier.exe (0.2.4)

11) insert a USB drive (this is not mandatory, but just make the command prompt work easier)

12) Format the USB drive to FAT32

13) Copy brigadier.exe to the USB drive (assume it's the E drive)

14) Open Command Prompt (search CMD can find it)

15) type

e:

16) type

brigadier -m MacPro5,1

17) Once finished, rename the "Bootcampxxxxxxxxxx" folder to "Bootcamp5"

18 ) type

brigadier -m iMacPro1,1

19) Once finished, rename the "Bootcampxxxxxxxxxx" folder to "Bootcamp61"

20) search CMD again, but this time right click, and choose "run as admin"

21) type

e:

22) type

cd Bootcamp5/Bootcamp/Drivers/Apple

23) type

msiexec /i bootcamp.msi

24) After installation finished and reboot. Search CMD again, right click, and choose "run as admin"

25) type

e:

26) type

cd Bootcamp5/Bootcamp/Drivers/Apple

27) type

msiexec /x bootcamp.msi

This will NOT remove the drivers, but just the bootcamp apps

28) type

cd Bootcamp61/Bootcamp/Drivers/Apple

29) type

msiexec /i bootcamp.msi

30) Let it finish the installation and reboot. And now you can install the hard drives back in.

So now, if you run the bootcamp apps. You should see something like this.
View attachment 797522
Language doesn't really matter, but you can see all the selections.

Those HFS+ High Sierra options will show the hard drive's name (e.g. 8T Backup)

Those APFS Mojave options will show as "Mac" above macOS.

From now on, you can use startup disk in Mojave to select Windows 10 (I renamed the SSD, usually it should shows BOOTCAMP, but not Win 10)
View attachment 797524

And of course, we can use bootcamp apps in Windows to select Mojave.

And have everything working as expected. e.g. Keyboard functions keys, Magic Mouse, BT 4.0, Wifi ac, USB 3.0, etc.

P.S. I am not sure if step 24 - 27 can be skipped or not. You may try, may safe you a minute for rebooting.

Thanks for the guide. Should I use the 32 or 64bit .msi? Installing the bootcamp61 side failed with a dll error, and after rebooting with only the bootcamp5 drivers installed, I got a BSOD with the error code WDF_Violation. Have you ever experienced this?

 

[crystalidea]

Hi, Windows 10 installed on a separate drive in legacy mode, boots fine when selecting via boot menu "EFI Boot" option.
If I select this drive manually as Startup disk in Preferences, Windows doesn't boot, I only see black screen with blinking cursor. Any ideas? thanks.

PS. I'd like to use RX 580 which doesn't offer a boot menu.

 

[bookemdano]

Hi, Windows 10 installed on a separate drive in legacy mode, boots fine when selecting via boot menu "EFI Boot" option.
If I select this drive manually as Startup disk in Preferences, Windows doesn't boot, I only see black screen with blinking cursor. Any ideas? thanks.

PS. I'd like to use RX 580 which doesn't offer a boot menu.

It's because you installed Win10 in UEFI mode (and thus didn't follow the steps in this thread). If you want to use Startup Disk to select your Windows partition you will need to wipe and reinstall Win10 in CSM/BIOS mode, which the tutorial guides you how to do.

 

[crystalidea]

Actually I do have only one partition on the Windows boot drive, not EFI/etc. But I installed from a USB flash drive...

It has been discovered that Windows when installed in EFI mode is corrupting the Mac Pro’s firmware by signing it with multiple Secure Boot (X.509) certificates.

Do I need to fix somehow my firmware now??

 

[crystalidea]

thank you, h9826790, this method works just great.

 

[Andrien]

OK, done!

Thanks for providing all the required info. This is my version of "how to do it".

1) Insert the Windows installation DVD into the super drive (How to burn a Windows installation disc properly). [N.B. Do NOT replace the DVD by USB installer. It won't work]

2) Shutdown the Mac

3) Hold "C" to boot (if you have NVMe installed, and can't boot from the disc, please try remove the NVMe)

4) Follow the on screen instruction until reach the "Where do you want to install Windows" step
View attachment 797517

5) "Delete" all the target SSD's partitions. In the above capture (downloaded from internet), you can see that there are 4 partitions for existing EFI mode Windows. Select each partition one by one, and click Delete. Be careful, do NOT remove other drive's partition. All partitions should be on the same drive. e.g. In the above example, all belongs to Drive 0. There is no requirement to remove any other hard drive from the cMP. But if you want to play safe, you can physically remove them between step 2 and 3 to avoid error.

Eventually will looks like this. No more partitions, but just a single large piece of Unallocated Space.
View attachment 797518

6) Click New. This will automatically create the correct and required partitions with all available space. For legacy installation, should be only two partitions automatically created.
View attachment 797527

7) Select the newly created partition, and continue the installation.

8) For Windows 10, the LAN line should work straight away after installation completed. So now, you can use Edge to access the internet.

9) Go to https://github.com/timsutton/brigadier/releases

10) Download brigadier.exe (0.2.4)

11) insert a USB drive (this is not mandatory, but just make the command prompt work easier)

12) Format the USB drive to FAT32

13) Copy brigadier.exe to the USB drive (assume it's the E drive)

14) Open Command Prompt (search CMD can find it)

15) type

e:

16) type

brigadier -m MacPro5,1

17) Once finished, rename the "Bootcampxxxxxxxxxx" folder to "Bootcamp5"

18 ) type

brigadier -m iMacPro1,1

19) Once finished, rename the "Bootcampxxxxxxxxxx" folder to "Bootcamp61"

20) search CMD again, but this time right click, and choose "run as admin"

21) type

e:

22) type

cd Bootcamp5/Bootcamp/Drivers/Apple

23) type

msiexec /i bootcamp.msi

24) After installation finished and reboot. Search CMD again, right click, and choose "run as admin"

25) type

e:

26) type

cd Bootcamp5/Bootcamp/Drivers/Apple

27) type

msiexec /x bootcamp.msi

This will NOT remove the drivers, but just the bootcamp apps

28) type

cd Bootcamp61/Bootcamp/Drivers/Apple

29) type

msiexec /i bootcamp.msi

30) Let it finish the installation and reboot. And now you can install the hard drives back in.

So now, if you run the bootcamp apps. You should see something like this.
View attachment 797522
Language doesn't really matter, but you can see all the selections.

Those HFS+ High Sierra options will show the hard drive's name (e.g. 8T Backup)

Those APFS Mojave options will show as "Mac" above macOS.

From now on, you can use startup disk in Mojave to select Windows 10 (I renamed the SSD, usually it should shows BOOTCAMP, but not Win 10)
View attachment 797524

And of course, we can use bootcamp apps in Windows to select Mojave.

And have everything working as expected. e.g. Keyboard functions keys, Magic Mouse, BT 4.0, Wifi ac, USB 3.0, etc.

P.S. I am not sure if step 24 - 27 can be skipped or not. You may try, may safe you a minute for rebooting.

I'm not very smart, but does deleting the drives make me lose my MacOs?
[doublepost=1559066474][/doublepost]Can you

Thanks for the write up! Before the first step though you can format the Boot Camp drive in Disk Utility with an MBR partition scheme. In Disk Utility click View from the menu bar and select Show All Devices, then select the drive and click Erase. Then the MBR partition scheme can be selected. It can be formatted FAT32 or exFAT, then during the Windows install you don't need to delete any partitions. Just select the partition and format NTFS to proceed with the install.

Do this with MacOs high seirra?

 

[MisterAndrew]

I'm not very smart, but does deleting the drives make me lose my MacOs?
[doublepost=1559066474][/doublepost]Can you

Do this with MacOs high seirra?

I don’t see why not.

 

[crystalidea]

Thanks everyone in the thread for the input, I succeeded with installation and switching between macOS & Windows. Ended up with writing one more tutorial of how to deal with Windows on cMP.

 

[Krueger]

Hi
I have a macpro5,1 with an rx580.
I followed the guide how to bootcamp without bootscreen.
I have two ssds one of them has win10 on it and the other has highsierra.
I also have a hiperx pcie m.2 with mojave on it.
I can switch between highsierra and windows just fine but if I put back the hyperX card than I cant load widows.
It says no bootable disk. When I take out the hyperx than it all goes back to normal. What could be rhe problrm?
Thanks

 

[crystalidea]

It's a known issue unfortunately. I don't even bother buying any PCIe adapters if I want to have Windows on board.

Krueger, which adapter do you use?

 

[blue_macaco]

I'm not very smart, but does deleting the drives make me lose my MacOs?
[doublepost=1559066474][/doublepost]Can you

Do this with MacOs high seirra?

@Andrien you're deleting the target drive, that is the drive you want to install your Windows on. You have to delete all partitions one by one, as stated in step 5) in the guide. If your OSX is on one of them it will obviously be deleted, too. To be sure, you can physically remove the disks that you don't want to delete. Since you're booting from a DVD there is no need for an OS on the machine. Hope that helps

 

[Krueger]

It's a known issue unfortunately. I don't even bother buying any PCIe adapters if I want to have Windows on board.

Krueger, which adapter do you use?

Thanks for the quick reply
I have this card:
https://www.kingston.com/us/ssd/consumer/shpm2280p2

 

[crystalidea]

Deleting partitions one by one is not the best idea, you can accidentally delete one of macOS drive partitions.
Just press Shift+F10, then type these commands:

diskpart
list disk​

Now make sure to select the correct target drive number N (NOT your macOS disk), after that type:

select disk N
clean
exit
exit​

 

[Objectivist-C]

snip

I tried to follow this guide to install Windows 10 (1903) on a spare drive in my cMP 5,1 (w/ bootscreen-capable card), but have hit a roadblock.

I burned a BD-R with drutil, then rebooted while holding down the Option key. It gave me two boot options for the disc, ‘Windows’ and ‘EFI Boot’, iirc. I chose the former.

After deleting all the partitions on the target drive, I hit ‘New’, and it gave me a prompt to set the partition size. I left it at the default. It then created a single partition, showing no unallocated space remaining. Selecting the new partition and hitting next resulted in an error message (that I neglected to screenshot). Playing around with formatting and deleting and re-creating the partition had no effect.

Any idea what I’m doing wrong?

e: I also tried installing through Boot Camp Assistant, which of course balks at Windows 10.

 

[crystalidea]

I tried to follow this guide to install Windows 10 (1903) on a spare drive in my cMP 5,1 (w/ bootscreen-capable card), but have hit a roadblock.

I burned a BD-R with drutil, then rebooted while holding down the Option key. It gave me two boot options for the disc, ‘Windows’ and ‘EFI Boot’, iirc. I chose the former.

After deleting all the partitions on the target drive, I hit ‘New’, and it gave me a prompt to set the partition size. I left it at the default. It then created a single partition, showing no unallocated space remaining. Selecting the new partition and hitting next resulted in an error message (that I neglected to screenshot). Playing around with formatting and deleting and re-creating the partition had no effect.

Any idea what I’m doing wrong?

e: I also tried installing through Boot Camp Assistant, which of course balks at Windows 10.

Which error message do you get? You can also check out my tutorial, link in the signature.

 

[Objectivist-C]

It was something about being unable to create a partition.

I found a tutorial on how to bypass the version check in BCA so I’m in the middle of trying that.
[doublepost=1559550638][/doublepost]Well, BCA only wants to install to my macOS boot drive, so I tried booting from the BD-R again.


The message is "We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. For more information, see the Setup log files.". It's the same whether the drive is unallocated space or if it has the single partition.

(also I can’t see your sig for some reason)

 

[crystalidea]

You must use a separate drive for Windows

 

[RetroDan]

OK, done!

Thanks for providing all the required info. This is my version of "how to do it".

--truncated for length

Yeahhhh...doesn't work. I keep getting the 'can't install windows on this drive' error, no matter what I do. Even though I'm booting off of a DVD, it keeps trying to install via EFI mode - there doesn't seem to be a way to force it to use legacy.

 

[crystalidea]

Do you use internal SATA connector for the Windows drive?

 

[RetroDan]

Do you use internal SATA connector for the Windows drive?

If you mean to ask if I am trying to install it onto a single-partition hard drive in one of the four drive bays, then yes.

 

[crystalidea]

Did you do the Step4 with command line?