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I own a 2011 21,5" iMac, and I need to install Windows to run some software that is Windows only.

I have done this in the past by altering Bootcamp assistent so it can use bootable USB drives, which is not natively supported on the 2011 iMac. (as explained here)

Now lately I reinstalled my iMac, so I wanted to modify Boot Camp again. As it turns out Apple 'fixed' this workaround by making bootcamps internal files not editable anymore.

So after I realized I couldn't use a USB drive, I tried using a bootable DVD, this didn't work, since Boot Camp gave me the message that "There is no bootable USB drive installed". In other words, Boot camp thinks it needs a bootable usb drive, when those aren't supported on my model.

So my question; does anyone know a way to work around this 'fix'?

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  • What version of OS X is install on your iMac?
    – user3439894
    Mar 20, 2016 at 23:58

2 Answers 2

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Boot Camp Assistant.app - among other apps in the Utilities folder - is protected by System Integrity Protection as outlined here.

By disabling SIP you will be able to edit the info.plist again.

So boot to Recovery Mode by pressing cmdR while booting.

  • Open Terminal.app (menubar -> Utilites -> Terminal)
  • Enter csrutil disable
  • Reboot your Mac
  • Edit the file /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app/Contents/Info.plist
  • Reboot again to Recovery Mode and enable SIP again: csrutil enable
  • Reboot your Mac

You should also be able to edit the file directly after booting to Recovery Mode without disabling SIP:

/Volumes/name_of_main_volume/usr/bin/nano /Volumes/name_of_main_volume/Applications/Utilities/Boot\ Camp\ Assistant.app/Contents/Info.plist

You'd have to make notes how and what to add though because you may have no real internet access.

Even if you can create a USB Windows installer, this does not necessarily mean that you can boot your Mac to Windows using this flash drive.

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  • Thanks a lot! This worked, I had to make a few more minor adjustments to the file than before to make it work with a bootable USB drive, but you helped me a lot!
    – Johan
    Mar 25, 2016 at 10:46
  • What were the other adjustments you had to make? I'm stuck on this for now.
    – jtanman
    Mar 30, 2020 at 8:28
  • @jtanman You have to prepend an (at) to send a message to Johan directly (example: @Johan)
    – klanomath
    Mar 30, 2020 at 8:33
  • Ah it was such a hassle even when I got the option to do it, it just kept giving me an unable to format my usb drive error. Ended up borrowing a Windows and used Rufus and did it in one try.
    – jtanman
    Mar 31, 2020 at 9:03
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I have a version of the Modified Boot Camp Assistant that I made. It should work with your Mac.

Download only if you have properly secured your mac. If someone replaces this with a malicious package, you could be at risk.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1emw_qeIGZqq5CTR30HPhNQJWs8s5y6_a/view?usp=sharing

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    How is this modified and how do we know that we can trust this executable?
    – mmmmmm
    Mar 13, 2019 at 18:23
  • I second the above comment from Mark -- red security flag for someone posting a modified executable via a quasi-anonymous link. OP may mean well but the internet is (and has been for years) too dangerous to recommend this kind of trust-by-default approach.
    – gosmond
    Mar 14, 2019 at 0:30

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