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I kept getting a BSOD in OOBE when I was setting up Win 11 (error: SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION).

I've seen people say that it's because of Windows 11 installing Intel display drivers, instead of AMD ones. It's also the same .sys file: igdkmd64.sys every BSOD.

I deleted the .sys file, and now when it boots, it'll show the Win 11 icon, then it fades out after a minute or so, then the screen goes black for another minute or so and then it restarts.

I've gone into Safe Mode and opened Device Manager and now it shows the AMD Radeon driver installed but also shows the Intel display driver which I have deleted many times, which it might be using instead of the AMD one, but apart from that I don't why it's doing this when it's not in Safe Mode.

I booted out of Safe Mode, and it let me into the Desktop for 1 minute before BSODing with the same .sys file. It must have reinstalled itself after I deleted it. However, it has just let me back into the Desktop without BSODing but for how long- and it BSODed when in the Desktop.

Alright, in System Information > Display, it shows the IGDKMD64.SYS driver next to Driver but also shows Intel(R) HD Graphics! So, was it AMD? Let's have a closer look. Under the first listing (Intel HD Graphics), the second listing (AMD Graphics) shows "Name" - "AMD Radeon HD 6700M Series"?! What's going on?!! I have no clue.

On the Intel listing it says Resolution: Not Available, but on the AMD one it says 2560 x 1440 (1 hertz), which means it is using the AMD one but then switches to the Intel one (when out of Safe Mode) which results in the crash.

I guess my theory below is correct! It shows the Driver for the AMD thing as "ATIKMPAG.SYS". But, even if I delete "IGDKMD64.sys" (for the Intel thing), "IGDKMD64.sys" comes back.

My theory is that it's switching between the AMD Driver and the Intel Driver, which then it crashes.

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  • A 2011 computer [of any type] is barely qualified for Win 10, let alone 11. Win 11 demands Secure Boot & TPM 2.0 by default, which Mac doesn't have. See jensd.be/1429/windows/… for a workaround. Can't provide this as an answer, it's something I've never tried.
    – Tetsujin
    Sep 28, 2022 at 17:19
  • There are no 'real' Windows 10 drivers for that Radeon - AMD Released one last 'might work for a while' driver for all this series of cards in 2015, then a 'hail mary' beta early 2016 which you should avoid. amd.com/en/support/graphics/amd-radeon-hd/… [This has been an issue for ordinary Windows users since 2015] The Intel onboard GPU for the Sandy Bridge in those iMacs never had any Win 10 drivers at all. Intel used Win 10 in the same way as AMD, to unceremoniously dump whole categories of older GPUs.
    – Tetsujin
    Sep 28, 2022 at 17:32
  • … I know all this from back in 2015/16 when I was doing cross-platform online support for a gaming company. ;)
    – Tetsujin
    Sep 28, 2022 at 17:33
  • Hello everyone! I found something interesting that shows Intel and AMD as the graphics driver (I only have one though, which, a live Ubuntu USB, showed it as the AMD one.) So, please read the post again as I included some more details.
    – WhatTheClown
    Sep 28, 2022 at 17:47
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    You have to work it from top to bottom, because it starts with a Win10 installer, then forces a Win11 payload into it. It's not a trivial task - & it still might not work because your computer isn't even minimum spec for Win 10, let alone Win 11. I have no hardware I can test this on, but these are pitfalls I remember from way back in 2015, when Win10 was new.
    – Tetsujin
    Sep 28, 2022 at 17:55

1 Answer 1

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I have an iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) with 16 GB of memory. I have a triple boot of macOS High Sierra, Ubuntu Linux release 22.04 and Windows 10 version 21H1. I decided to reformat the Windows 10 volume and install the current Windows 11 release in this volume. Windows will remain BIOS booting, where as both macOS and Ubuntu will remain EFI booting.

Note: Some actions given in the following procedure are not actually necessary to install Windows 11 on my Mac. These actions are included for others, who may adapt the procedure to their own particular needs.

Installation Procedure

Note: I used a wired Apple keyboard and wired Logitech M110 mouse.

  1. Create an USB flash drive installer: Using macOS, I downloaded the following ISO file.

    Win11_22H2_English_x64v1.iso

    I also used the Boot Camp Assistant to download the Windows Support Software for this Mac. This should be the same as found at Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5621. I copied the contents of both downloads to a MBR partitioned, ExFAT formatted USB flash drive, then renamed the file AutoUnattend.xml to NoAutoUnattend.xml.

    To copy the contents of the Win11_22H2_English_x64v1.iso file, you must first open this file with the DiskImageMounter application, then copy the files and folders found in the mounted volume.

    Below is a Windows 11 File Explorer view of the files and folders in the root folder of this flash drive.

    File Explorer

  2. Install a clean Windows 11 Pro from the flash drive: I started by UEFI booting from the USB flash drive. I proceeded with the installation until the window shown below appeared.

    Note: Reaching this window causes the drivers in the $WinPEDriver$ folder to be automatically loaded.

    Next, I selected the red button with the white X. In the popup, I selected the OK button. Next, I selected "Repair your computer", "Troubleshoot" and "Command Prompt", in the order given. This opened a Command Prompt window titled "Administrator: X:\windows\SYSTEM32\cmd.exe". In this window, I entered the following commands. You may need to substitute different drive letters and index value.

    diskpart
list volume
select volume c
format fs=ntfs label=BOOTCAMP quick
active
exit
dism /get-imageinfo /imagefile:d:\sources\install.wim
dism /apply-image /imagefile:d:\sources\install.wim /index:6 /applydir:c:\
dism /image:c:\ /add-driver /driver:d:\$WinPEDriver$ /recurse /forceunsigned
bcdboot c:\windows /s c: /f bios
bootsect /nt60 c: /mbr
exit

    Finally, I selected "Turn off your PC" to shut down the Mac.

  3. Install updates from the internet: First, I unplugged the ethernet cable from the Mac. From the Mac Startup Manager, I selected BIOS booting of Windows from the internal drive as the default. After booting to Windows 11 on the internal drive, I entered Audit Mode (by pressing the key combination control+shift+F3). I installed the Windows Support Software (Boot Camp Support Software). When asked, I did not restart the Mac. Instead, I connected the Mac to the internet and opened the Apple Software Update application. I updated Apple Software Update before updating any other items. In my case, I needed to update Apple Software Update twice, then I installed the other updates, which included an update to Boot Camp. Afterwards, I restart the Mac. Finally, I installed all updates (including optional updates) offered by Windows Update. As you can see below, this included an AMD graphic driver update.

    drive updates

  4. Setup the Mac for the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE): From the the System Preparation Tool, select the options as shown below, then select the OK button.

    System Preparation Tool

  5. Finish the installation: I turned on the Mac and followed the instructions. Among other tasks, this step created my user account.

Final Configuration

The information below came from the Windows 11 System Information application.

Item Value
OS Name Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Version 10.0.22621 Build 22621
System Manufacturer Apple Inc.
System Model iMac12,1
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU Unsupported
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400S CPU @ 2.50GHz, 2501 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Apple Inc. 87.0.0.0.0, 6/14/2019
SMBIOS Version 2.4
BIOS Mode Legacy
Secure Boot State Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 16.0 GB
Kernel DMA Protection Off

The images below show the use of AMD graphics.

Settings System Information AMD Catalyst Control Center

Note: I selected "Enable AMD Video Quality in supported video player applications", as shown below.

Global Video Quality

Activation

Windows 10 was activated before installing Windows 11. The result was an automatically activated Windows 11, as shown below. In other words, I upgraded for free.

Activation

References

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  • Thank you - I will try this sooner or later as I need to backup some stuff I've made with Ubuntu
    – WhatTheClown
    Oct 9, 2022 at 19:12
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    Works flawlessly :)
    – WhatTheClown
    Nov 15, 2022 at 7:17
  • @Jayesh: I updated step 1. I hope this makes the instructions clearer. I did not use the Boot Camp Assistant to create the USB drive contents from the iso file. If you have further questions, you will need to post a new question. In this new question, provide a link to this question (or my answer).
    – David Anderson
    Oct 11 at 9:22

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