Windows 10 on MacBook Pro 2011

[fintechfooty]

I bought the Windows 10 full x64

from NCIX and every time I try to boot from disc or even Boot Camp Assistant I get a black screen. The Windows logo nor the setup screen ever show up. I've tried multiple external CD drives as well as a USB and nothing works. I've even fully upgraded my Mac to Yosmite and still nothing. 

 

As I was talking to a Geek Squad associate I realized he knew nothing so now I'm here. My only solution I guess would be to install Windows 7 and then upgrade to 10? 

 

I don't know if this is a common problem and if so I couldn't really find topic. 

 

Thanks guys 

[Xilo]

Boot Camp doesn't support Windows 10 atm.

[Circaflex]

Boot Camp doesn't support Windows 10 atm.

Incorrect, Boot Camp works with Windows 10 currently, it is just not officially supported by Apple. There are plenty of users running it without problems.

 

I never liked the bootcamp assistant to be honest, you could always do it manually and use refind. here is a guide

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/3fjyn2/install_windows_10_with_boot_camp_drivers_on_old/

Edited August 3, 2015 by Circaflex

[Xilo]

Incorrect, Boot Camp works with Windows 10 currently, it is just not officially supported by Apple. There are plenty of users running it without problems

Working and officially supported are two very different things. Just because something works for some people doesn't mean it will work for everybody and it shouldn't be counted on.

[ATLien_0]

How did you set up boot camp? The 2011 models likes mine have an older efi if I recall, so if you try the USB method it may not work. Apparently the best way is through dvd install 

[+Warwagon MVC]

I've been using it since about the 1st insider preview.

[fintechfooty]

So I went home and tried to install Windows 7 and even that will not install So I have no idea what to do.

 

With both Windows 10 as well as 7, I am able to:

1. Put in the disk and have the system read it when using the OSX Yosmite GUI

2. Then when I use Boot Camp Assistant it creates a partition

3. After the partition is created, the computer is reset and in both cases I am left with a black screen with the space key blinking at the top left corner.

So it must have something to do with my computer... Any thoughts?

[slam_speech]

FWIW, you might want to try to partition it through Disk Utility, create Win 10 USB manually, and boot into the USB by restarting and holding down the 'option' key.  This is for Windows 8, but it shows how to do a manual installation.

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/bootcamp-installation-for-unsupported-macs-w8-w8-1-w10-solution.1795357/

[syncore]

I managed to do a full 1:1 clone of my Windows 10 Pro desktop PC to my 2011 MBP. However, I run Windows 10 in Yosemite using Parallels Desktop, not Boot Camp. Sorry if this is not relevant to you, as it seems you want to do a dual boot, not use a VM. Anyway, here's what I did:

On the MBP, I was already running Windows 8.1 in Parallels, so I did the upgrade to 10 just to get the activation to be saved on MS's servers, with no intention of actually using this version since I wanted a "clean" install (the version from my desktop PC's was a new clean install).

I then made a clone of my desktop PC's Windows 10 HD as an image using EaseUS TODO Backup. I copied this image to an external USB drive and hooked it up to the MBP. On the MBP, in Parallels I booted from the EaseUS TODO Recovery CD. I then chose to restore the image from the external HD using the "recover to dissimilar hardware" feature of EaseUS TODO Backup. This lets you move Windows installations between different computers with different hardware. Windows 10 works perfectly in Parallels on my MBP and is activated. I couldn't be happier, since I did not have the time to install all of the software from my desktop onto my MBP and I needed something that "just worked" for software development.

[fintechfooty]

I am still considering whether or not to use a VM. Performance when I used Windows 7 on VMWare was solid but I rarely used it. Now I am considering using Windows 10 as my main OS so I am a bit worried about the hit in performance.

[fintechfooty]

Maybe with a little more input some other people may understand but yesterday I began an operation of creating a boot camp partition and then modifying VMWARE to install on that. I have posted a link below which outlines the steps in simple detail and the source which is referred to whenwhen reading the HongKiat page has much more detail. I am going to continue from Step 2 tonight and update. 

I can't post the link right now but on Google it is the first link when I search "HongKiat how to install Windows when all else fails"

A question that alludes me is "Why has this become so hard?". 

[fintechfooty]

So I edited the BootCamp package contents and added my MacBook Pro as a UEFI and USB Boot Supported laptop. 

I then wiped the entire Mac and created a new partition as ExFat and installed Windows.  Everything almost went great but now the sound is not working. The device cannot be configured properly.

 

I looked further into the issue (looking on the bus and trains so could've been more detailed) and I've found articles talking about how EFI install will mess up the Nvidia and Audio drivers. 

So now I must find a way to get the Audio working because installation through BootCamp does not work! 

 

 

 

[fintechfooty]

BTW Hong Kiat method above got me into the setup screen but as it began searching for available hard drives it came back with none so there was no location I could install Windows onto. 

[binaryzero]

Those MacBook pro 2011s were a lemon from the get go.

[fintechfooty]

I can definitely see that.