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I have iMac, late 2011, Intel CPU.

Original OS X was Leopard updated to High Sierra.

Hardware cannot update to any later version.

Installed Windows 7 using Bootcamp in High Sierra.

Updated Windows 7 to Windows 10. Windows 10 had problems, i.e. System Restore did not work, a driver for Bluetooth not installed.

I decided to try a clean install of Windows 10. But Bootcamp setup file prepared under High Sierra says it requires Windows 7. Because of problems when update Windows 7 to 10, is it possible to install Windows 10 without starting with Mac OS X / Windows 7?

Note: Windows 10 will do a clean install (everything on drive deleted, reformat as 1 NTSF partition during Windows install). Bootcamp setup will open in Windows 10 but stops and states it requires Windows 7. Is there another version of Bootcamp available?

Note: Without Bootcamp, after installation, Windows 10 gets stuck when restarted. I get Mac white screen, then Windows blue flag with spinning dots. Screen blacks out, then starts over with Mac white screen. Repeats indefinitely. (However, no problem restarting during install process.) Thanks for any information.

Bad news accepted, just want to know if this is possible and how to do it. If not; I'll deal with it.

Many thanks in advance.

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  • The answer is yes. I know this because I have installed Windows 10 on my 2011 iMac. What size is your screen? Which Windows 10 did you install? When updated from 7 to 10, did you note if Windows 10 was activated? If not, do you have the Windows 7 product key?
    – David Anderson
    Dec 13, 2019 at 8:42
  • It's a 21.5" screen. (Sorry forgot to mention in post.) Installed the latest available Windows 10 Pro from Microsoft ISO download page. Yes, Windows 10 did activate with digital license. (Do have Windows 7 product key, if needed.) Many thanks for quick response. Glad to hear you were successful. I hope this works. Thanks in advance for your help. Very grateful.
    – Davis
    Dec 13, 2019 at 13:52
  • No, I did not mean to imply installing Window 10 was going to be easy. I just wanted to make sure Windows 10 was already licensed on your Mac. I probably should reinstall Windows 10 to check if anything has changed before you install. The instructions are given here.
    – David Anderson
    Dec 13, 2019 at 13:56
  • I've been reading install guide. Looks like it will take some time. (That's OK.) Going to read over again and make some notes. May have a question. If don't have questions, I'll probably start. Or should I wait for you to check if anything has changed? Thank you so much for all this help.
    – Davis
    Dec 13, 2019 at 15:24
  • I will install Windows 10 now and let you know. BTW, my machine is also an iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011).
    – David Anderson
    Dec 13, 2019 at 15:43

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