Classic Mac Pro 5,1 (or simply cMP, also 4,1 upgraded to 5,1) is now considered by Apple as vintage. It’s pretty disappointing considering how capable and upgradable these machines still are. Installing Windows is no longer officially supported, but it’s completely possible though not quite easy.
The Mac Pro enclosure design is a whole new take on the tower workstation. Architected for performance, modularity, accessibility, and upgradability, Mac Pro is built around a stainless steel space frame with an aluminum housing that easily lifts off. The frame features rounded handles. If still can't boot from the USB correctly, make sure that the USB recovery drive is formatted to FAT32, there is enough available storage space for all the recovery data, and check that the recovery image is the correct one for your model of Surface (Such as Surface Pro 3).
Another challenge is that macOS Mojave 10.14 now implies using Metal-capable GPU while most of them are not able to display Apple boot menu (which you normally see holding the Option key) required to boot into Windows. Basicaly your screenremains black until macOS is loaded. Well, some EFI bootable cards that support boot menu exist but they are released almost 10 years ago and are really outdated. What is more, none of them supports displaying of boot menu with 4k 60hz monitor connected.
This guide is for those who want macOS Mojave + Windows 10 + modern GPU (in our case Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX 580 8GB).
Updated 28 May 2019
Installing Windows 10 in 5 steps
It’s supposed that you have the latest Boot ROM version 144.0.0.0.0. If not, please update first.
Step 1: Use separate drive for Windows
Boot Camp Assistant no longer supports cMP and doesn’t allow creating a separate partition for Windows.Windows has to be installed on a separate drive, which is good actually to avoid messing with partitions in future.
We recommend using the internal SATA II connector in one of four drive bays or alternatively one of two SATA II connectors in the optical drive area. Using the HP 654540-001 3.5” → 2.5” adapter (7$) to place 2.5” SSD in a drive bay can be quite convenient.
Of cause, SATA II (up to 300MB/s) is a bottleneck for modern 2.5” SSDs (up to 550 MB/s where SATA III is preferable) but real life experience shows that the difference is hardly noticable unless you deal with lots of big files (e.g. >1GB where sequential read/write speeds matter) on your system drive.
We didn’t test using PCIe → SATA III adapter or PCIe → NVMe adapter for Windows partition. Many people reported it was not possible in their case. If you successfully did it please let us know in the comments below or via e-mail.
Step 2: Create a bootable Windows 10 DVD disk
Warning: DO NOT install Windows from a USB flash drive. 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. Also, you wouldn’t be able to boot into Windows after selecting its drive as bootable in macOS Preferences → Startup disk. Therefore Windows should only be installed in Legacy BIOS mode from an optical drive.
Make sure that your Windows 10 ISO file fits on the DVD disk, in our case we had to burn Windows 10 1803 ISO (64-bit) to a single-layer DVD+R disc 4.7GB.
Burning a DVD disk under macOS can be done with the following Terminal command:
On Windows we recommend using the free ImgBurn app.
Step 3: Boot from your Windows 10 DVD disk
Turn on your mac while holding the “C” key to boot from the optical disk (if you have PCIe drives installed and can’t boot from the disc, remove those PCIe adapters).Proceed with installation normally until you see the “Where do you want to install Windows” drive selection screen.
Step 4: Format the target drive
Press Shift+F10 to launch command prompt. Type the following commands:
Now make sure to select the correct target drive number N (NOT your macOS disk), after that type:
Boot Macbook Pro From Usb Linux
You should now see your drive as Unallocated space.
Press the “New” button to create necessary partitions. There should be only two partitions (for legacy installation, EFI mode creates four) automatically created:
Select the newly created partition 2 and continue with installation normally. Your mac will be rebooted twice.Every reboot do not forget entering the boot menu (by holding the Option key) and selecting ‘Windows’ boot drive there. When finished, boot into Windows.
Step 5: Install Windows drivers and Boot Camp utility
Windows 10 installs all necessary drivers automatically except Bluetooth and internal speaker. These need to be installed from the original Boot Camp package for MacPro5,1.Download and install 7zip, download Brigadier 0.2.4 app, open Windows command prompt where Brigadier is located and type:
When finished, it will create a folder BootCamp-031-11269, you need to install these for Bluetooth and internal speaker correspondingly, make sure you run the command prompt as administrator:
Now we need newer BootCamp drivers intended for iMacPro1,1:
When finished, it will create a folder BootCamp-041-55643, you need to run this command:
When finished, reboot. We also recommend running Apple Software Update to update Wifi drivers:
You probably don’t want to forget installing our awesome Macs Fan Control app, do you? :)
Switching between macOS Mojave & Windows
When you’re in macOS, use Preferences → Startup disk to select a boot drive:
When you’re in Windows, use the Boot Camp Control Panel from your Windows tray to select a boot drive:
This guide is based on this MacRumors thread. Special thanks to h9826790 for sharing his useful experience. Any comments are welcome.
Boot Camp Assistant User Guide
You can use Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows 10 on your Intel-based Mac.
Newer Mac computers use a streamlined method to install Windows on your Mac. To find out whether your Mac uses this method, see the “Learn more” section in the Apple Support article Install Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp Assistant. If your Mac is an older model that requires an external USB drive, follow the instructions in Install Windows on your older Mac using Boot Camp instead.
Boot Mac Pro 5.1 From Usb
What you need
The keyboard and mouse or trackpad that came with your Mac. If they aren’t available, use a USB keyboard and mouse.
A full-installation, 64-bit version of Windows 10 on a disk image (ISO file) or other installation media.
You can download a Windows 10 Disc Image (ISO File) from Microsoft.
Sufficient free storage space on your startup drive. For information about the amount of free space needed, see the Apple Support Article Install Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp Assistant.
Before you begin
Before you install Windows, make sure you back up important files.
You can use Time Machine or any other method to back up your files. For information about backing up files, see Back up your files with Time Machine and Ways to back up or protect your files.
Perform the installation
On your Mac, do the following steps in order.
Step 1: Check for software updates
Before you install Windows, install all macOS updates.
On your Mac, log in as an administrator, quit all open apps, then log out any other users.
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Software Update, then install all available macOS updates.
If your Mac restarts after installing an update, open Software Update again to install any additional updates.
Step 2: Prepare your Mac for Windows
Boot Camp Assistant prepares your Mac by creating a new partition for Windows named BOOTCAMP and downloading the Boot Camp support software.
Important: If you’re using a Mac notebook computer, connect it to a power source before continuing.
On your Mac, open Boot Camp Assistant , located in /Applications/Utilities.
At the Introduction screen, click Continue.
The system is checked for total available disk space. Older Time Machine snapshots and cached iCloud files are removed to make space for Boot Camp. This process may take a long time to complete (you can click the Stop button to skip this process).
If you have only one internal disk, choose the Windows ISO image, specify the partition size by dragging the divider between the macOS and Windows partitions, then click Install.
If you have multiple internal disks, follow the onscreen instructions to select and format the disk you want to install Windows on and to choose the Windows ISO image.
If you select your startup disk: You can create an additional partition for Windows. Specify the partition size by dragging the divider between the macOS and Windows partitions.
If you select an APFS-formatted disk: You can either create an additional partition on the disk for Windows, or erase the entire disk and create a partition for Windows. If you choose to create an additional partition, specify the partition size by dragging the divider between the macOS and Windows partitions.
If you select a non-APFS-formatted disk: You can erase the entire disk and create a partition for Windows.
If Boot Camp is already present on the disk you select, you also have the option to uninstall it.
Important: You can’t resize the partition later.
When this step is complete, the Windows installer starts.
Step 3: Install Windows
In the Windows installer, follow the onscreen instructions.
When the installation is finished, your Mac automatically restarts using Windows.
Follow the onscreen instructions to set up Windows.
Step 4: Install Boot Camp on Windows
After installing Windows, Boot Camp drivers that support your Mac hardware start installing.
Note: If the support software doesn’t install automatically, you need to install it manually. For instructions, see the Apple Support article If the Boot Camp installer doesn't open after using Boot Camp Assistant.
In the Boot Camp installer in Windows, follow the onscreen instructions.
Important: Do not click the Cancel button in any of the installer dialogs.
If a message appears that says the software you’re installing has not passed Windows Logo testing, click Continue Anyway.
You don’t need to respond to installer dialogs that appear only briefly during installation, but if a dialog asks you to install device software, click Install.
If nothing appears to be happening, there may be a hidden window that you must respond to. Look behind open windows.
When the installation is complete, click Finish.
After your Mac restarts, follow the instructions for any other installers that appear.