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MisterAndrew

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 15, 2015
2,878
2,361
Portland, Ore.
Notice: This thread only applies to the classic Mac Pro from 2009 to 2012 (4,1 & 5,1). It does not apply to a MacBook Pro, iMac, or any other Mac besides the classic Mac Pro, but users of those other Macs may still find some of the information in this thread useful.

No boot screen? No problem. :)

Warning!: It has been discovered that Windows when installed in EFI mode is corrupting the Mac Pro’s firmware by signing it with multiple Secure Boot (X.509) certificates. Therefore Windows should only be installed in Legacy BIOS mode on the Mac Pro (5,1 and older.) Detailed information on this issue can be found within the BootROM thread.

Native solution: You can switch between macOS and Windows using Apple's utilities. The latest Boot Camp 6.1 software allow you to select APFS macOS drives in the Boot Camp control panel in Windows. The Boot Camp drive is selectable in Startup Disk in System Preferences in macOS and will boot properly when installed in Legacy BIOS mode. You can use one of the 3rd party programs I've listed below if you want to, but they require SIP (System Integrity Protection) to be at least partially disabled.

User h9826790 has outlined instructions here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ut-a-boot-screen.2114788/page-9#post-26689280. Note that instead of deleting partitions from within Windows setup you can alternatively format the disk in macOS using Disk Utility as MBR partition scheme and select the exFAT file format. Then reformat the disk during Windows setup. Note that to format the disk with MBR partition scheme with Disk Utility you must select "View" and then select "Show All Devices." Then select the drive and click erase.

Make sure you install the Mac Pro 5,1 Boot Camp software first (or whichever is correct for your system) so that all the correct drivers for your system are installed. Then, as the previously linked instructions dictate, uninstall the core Boot Camp Services and then install the iMac Pro version.

Periodically Apple updates the Boot Camp software. Use the previously linked instructions to uninstall the old version and install the latest version. Note that you will not be notified when there is an update.

3rd party solutions: There are a few nifty programs that allow you to dual boot Windows and MacOS easily. There's a free one called BootChamp by Kevin Wojniak. It's a simple program that places a Windows icon on the menu bar. To boot Windows simply click the icon and then select Restart into Windows. There's another one called QuickBoot that is like a mini Startup Disk preference pane that also works from the menu bar like BootChamp. It gives you control over your macOS startup disks in addition to your Boot Camp disk. Then there is a paid program called Boot Runner by Twocanoes. It basically does the same thing as BootChamp but instead of placing an icon on the menu bar it gives you a fancy customizable boot menu that overlays the login screen. It has advanced options and is useful if you have multiple OS installations including Linux. These programs make a temporary change in NVRAM to select the startup disk so that part of System Integrety Protection must be disabled. To do that start your computer in Recovery Mode by holding command + R at startup. Open Terminal from the Utilities menu and type “csrutil enable --without nvram” and then restart the computer.

BootChamp can be downloaded from https://www.kainjow.com/.

QuickBoot can be downloaded from https://buttered-cat.com/product/quickboot/.

Boot Runner can be found at https://twocanoes.com/products/mac/boot-runner/. There is a 14-day free trial available to new users.
 
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MisterAndrew

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 15, 2015
2,878
2,361
Portland, Ore.
What are the long term implications of leaving SIP disabled permanently?

Has anybody tried Boot Runner? This appears to work as an overlay on the MacOS login screen, so should get around the problem of not having boot screens. It also works with SIP enabled.

https://twocanoes.com/products/mac/boot-runner/

Disabled SIP is like running Mavericks or earlier. Thanks for finding Boot Runner. Maybe I’ll try that. It would be nice to have the SIP security features enabled.
 
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MisterAndrew

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 15, 2015
2,878
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Portland, Ore.
Found out you can keep SIP enabled for file protection. Instead of disabling all of it we can just disable it for NVRAM. Twocanoes instructs you to do that when setting up Boot Runner. It works for BootChamp too.
[doublepost=1523656455][/doublepost]I updated the instructions to include Boot Runner.
 
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Theophany

macrumors 6502a
Nov 16, 2008
633
186
NW London.
Found out you can keep SIP enabled for file protection. Instead of disabling all of it we can just disable it for NVRAM. Twocanoes instructs you to do that when setting up Boot Runner. It works for BootChamp too.
[doublepost=1523656455][/doublepost]I updated the instructions to include Boot Runner.

Interesting. So disable SIP just for NVRAM and BootChamp works - that sounds like it is the ideal solution!
 

MIKX

macrumors 68000
Dec 16, 2004
1,815
690
Japan
Personally .. I don't like any version of Windows but if I absolutely HAVE TO use it I like to have a "pure" experience .. so . I recently installed both Win 7 & WIn 8.1 64 bit on my upgraded to 5,1 cMP on dedicated harddrives.

Sometimes the boot up is longish but (I boot with only the relevant Win installed HDD ) after the spinning backslash does it's stuff all is well. No need at all to install Bootcamp Win components .. everything works. Keyboard OK ! plus my USB 3.0 & 3.1 driers get installed automatically.

The crux of my argument is that using this way .. there are no OX / Win clashes at all.
 
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MisterAndrew

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 15, 2015
2,878
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Portland, Ore.
Personally .. I don't like any version of Windows but if I absolutely HAVE TO use it I like to have a "pure" experience .. so . I recently installed both Win 7 & WIn 8.1 64 bit on my upgraded to 5,1 cMP on dedicated harddrives.

Sometimes the boot up is longish but (I boot with only the relevant Win installed HDD ) after the spinning backslash does it's stuff all is well. No need at all to install Bootcamp Win components .. everything works. Keyboard OK ! plus my USB 3.0 & 3.1 driers get installed automatically.

The crux of my argument is that using this way .. there are no OX / Win clashes at all.

I would still be good to install the drivers from Boot Camp. There are specific chipset drivers for the Mac Pro. Also, if you have an updated Airport card from a newer iMac the only drivers available are the Boot Camp ones. It also has HFS+ drivers and while Win 10 no longer mounts HFS+ drives automatically for some reason there’s a way to mount them manually with a registry mod.
 

expede

macrumors regular
Jan 15, 2018
236
67
Sweden
Hi!

I tried the "csrutil enable --without nvram". But it does not work for me. I got the BootChamp working but just with "csrutil disable". Am I missing something here? BootChamp shuts the OSX down but hangs in a "white screen of death". Only "hard core" shut-down seams to resolve that issue. But if I disable SIP it works fine. Just an observation.

Best Regards

/Per
 
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MisterAndrew

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 15, 2015
2,878
2,361
Portland, Ore.
Hi!

I tried the "csrutil enabel --without nvram". But it does not work for me. I got the BootChamp working but just with "csrutil disabel". Am I missing something here? BootChamp shuts the OSX down but hangs in a "white screen of death". Only "hard core" shut-down seams to resolve that issue. But if I disable SIP it works fine. Just an observation.

Best Regards

/Per

Did you type it correctly? E comes after L in enable.
 

Jayson A

macrumors 68030
Sep 16, 2014
2,671
1,935
Does anyone else have the problem where you get stuck on the windows logo with no spinning dots after using BootChamp? It doesn't happen for every boot but maybe once out of 3?
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,611
8,537
Hong Kong
Does anyone else have the problem where you get stuck on the windows logo with no spinning dots after using BootChamp? It doesn't happen for every boot but maybe once out of 3?

NO in my case. Even though I don't use BootChamp now, but I never had that before.
 

dontpokebearz

macrumors regular
Feb 16, 2018
155
108
Maine
This seems awesome. Sorry if this is a noob question - but windows still does not recognize APFS right? Also, is their a way to boot back into MacOS easily? I was reading somewhere that it was not as straight forward as one would think.
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,611
8,537
Hong Kong
This seems awesome. Sorry if this is a noob question - but windows still does not recognize APFS right? Also, is their a way to boot back into MacOS easily? I was reading somewhere that it was not as straight forward as one would think.

If you have an OOTB GPU, then PRAM reset should always bring you back to macOS (even though your graphic card is not flashed.
 
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lilins

macrumors member
Apr 25, 2018
96
29
Villeurbanne
Hi, unearthing the thread. Just to tell you i finally managed to have a working windows boot drive with my vega 64 (even though i can't have access to all the sapphire features from their strixx software...?

My only problem is switching from one os to the other

From windows if i choose reboot to osx - i reboot to winwin

From High Sierra if i choose reboot to bootcamp - i end up with a no bootable device, insert boot disk.

my win ssd is in optical bay 2

tried installing my gt120 in slot 4 but i end up not being able to log in to osx due to distorted image on the gt120 (hdmi to the screen + DVI to hdmi adapter)

in the end... the gt120 is useless to me and i can't switch os... how did everyone with high sierra win 10 1709 did?

edit.

for win to mac the issue seems to be SIP, but even with csrutil enable —without nvram i get same issue - strange. because of mac pro bootcamp version i was also thinking about the way HS boot (preboot volumes etc..) that may differ from before. but even on hfs+ i had same issue.

for mac2win i also think it’s the bootcamp version who is looking for legacyboot instead of uefi boot.
 
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h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,611
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Hong Kong
Hi, unearthing the thread. Just to tell you i finally managed to have a working windows boot drive with my vega 64 (even though i can't have access to all the sapphire features from their strixx software...?

My only problem is switching from one os to the other

From windows if i choose reboot to osx - i reboot to winwin

From High Sierra if i choose reboot to bootcamp - i end up with a no bootable device, insert boot disk.

my win ssd is in optical bay 2

tried installing my gt120 in slot 4 but i end up not being able to log in to osx due to distorted image on the gt120 (hdmi to the screen + DVI to hdmi adapter)

in the end... the gt120 is useless to me and i can't switch os... how did everyone with high sierra win 10 1709 did?

Your Windows 10 installed in legacy mode or EFI mode?
 
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lilins

macrumors member
Apr 25, 2018
96
29
Villeurbanne
Your Windows 10 installed in legacy mode or EFI mode?
i guess it’s efi, as legacy boot won’t find bootable file. is there any legacy bootloader wich would allow me to choose my uefi boot and mac boot? (as the legacy mode seems to display something on the video card)
 
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h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,611
8,537
Hong Kong
i guess it’s efi, as legacy boot won’t find bootable file. is there any legacy bootloader wich would allow me to choose my uefi boot and mac boot? (as the legacy mode seems to display something on the video card)

No, nothing will be displayed unless you has a Mac EFI GPU. But since you practically can't use the GT120. Which means no bootloader you can use.
 
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lilins

macrumors member
Apr 25, 2018
96
29
Villeurbanne
ok but then can anyone explain me how legacy bootloader can display the text with my non mac efi GPU? :) i would have expected a non powering screen as an adequate behaviour! ;)
 
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