Bootcamp problem

Hi guys, first of all I'm sorry for my bad english, I'll try to explain as best as possible.

So for starting, some information about what I'm doing, what I have done and what I have.

iMac mid 2011 El Capitan 10.11 version.

burn iso windows 7 home basic first, and then tried also windows 7 ultimate (the result was the same)

After I downloaded, following bootcamp instruction and using it, the support software for windows on a usb, boot camp let me partiton my mac (1 TB, I gave to windows 125 gb). Then when my computer restarted after it finished this process, a black screen with a white curson appears. I tried to change windows iso but nothing works.

IMPORTANT: I used an external optical driver(it's linked by USB) to burn iso images cuz my optical driver it's clearly broken. After I successfully burned my iso image on dvd, I tried to insert the dvd on imac's optical driver,but it reads as empty dvd.

I also tried some "tricks" as holding alt on restart and choosing the dvd by external drive, holding c, but it gave me always the black screen with this white cursor.


I hope I was as clear as possible

Sounds like you're missing video drivers.

I'd suggest using a USB stick for the install and following these instructions:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT205016

Thank you for that information, so I followed the guide but I couldn't use the iso on the usb so I used the dvd "iso". Now after I have deleted the old ripartition to do the things again but now correctly, it shows this: http://prnt.sc/c9u0z4

Maybe I have to remove the usb( in which there are driver support ecc. ) and then continue? or I have to click continue?

The following test in the screen says:

"Boot Camp has to update the USB drive before installing Windows 7.

The USB drive connected to your Mac contains a boot volume. To install Windows 7 from the DVD, Boot Camp Assistant should disable this feature. The unit will not remove any information. Do you want to continue?"

I remember that the first time I did I pressed continue but maybe was this the problem? I don't think, it never says xD

I'm afraid my italian is limited to the very useful Google Translate app but yes, continue. It's just making the USB bootable on the Mac.

The important step is copying those files over before rebooting.

ok, anyway I have translated too the text in the message before xD (with google translate and checked the translation , it seems to be pretty good)

mrplow said:

I'm afraid my italian is limited to the very useful Google Translate app but yes, continue. It's just making the USB bootable on the Mac.

The important step is copying those files over before rebooting.

Click to expand...

I have followed all the steps but always the same story: black screen with white cursor.

Only one thing I want to underline: when I selected the downloaded file from apple and copying in the pen drive where it was the softaware files and support ecc., it apperas two option. The first one is replace and second one is to "unify" files.. I clicked replace but idk. I don't think that's the problem.

Did you read the link MrPlow suggested in post # 2? In the link, it lists the three files that need to be replaced? Are they the same files you are referring?

Your iMac came with an optical drive, so use the DVD to install Windows 7 after setting up the BootCamp partition.

How do you know the DVD is not empty?

RE: "IMPORTANT: I used an external optical driver(it's linked by USB) to burn iso images cuz my optical driver it's clearly broken. After I successfully burned my iso image on dvd, I tried to insert the dvd on imac's optical driver,but it reads as empty dvd."

Did you then try it on the external, to see if your iMac would see the files on the DVD?

ferrarr said:

How do you know the DVD is not empty?

RE: "IMPORTANT: I used an external optical driver(it's linked by USB) to burn iso images cuz my optical driver it's clearly broken. After I successfully burned my iso image on dvd, I tried to insert the dvd on imac's optical driver,but it reads as empty dvd."

Did you then try it on the external, to see if your iMac would see the files on the DVD?

Click to expand...

Yes, I've tried to boot from external dvd, once I have restarted the computer and holding "alt", the computer shows me the hard disk: macintosh, recovery and the DVD (in the external optical drive) called Windows. But when I choose it, black screen with a white cursor is the only thing that I see. It seems stucked and don't want to go on. The enxt step should be a black screen with a bar loading in which there's written "Windows is loading file", but it never did.

I have followed the instruction given by mrpillow. I downloaded the files and replaced.

The external optical driver works correctly. I've already said that it shows the dvd and "I can see the folders inside the dvd"

is there anyone who can help me?

What version of BootCamp appears in Utilities? Windows 7 will install on your iMac with BootCamp 4 and 5.1 only and running El Capitan it may be a later version.

the version of bootcamp is 6.0.0. So, is there any possibility to do a downgrade of bootcamp app? or I don't what can I do?

The best solution, which you may not agree with, is buy a cheap Dell Latitude or similar laptop for Windows. It is the best option if you must use Windows without going back to say Snow Leopard OS X.6 which is no longer supported by Apple with security updates.