iMac late 2011 running 24.04 Ubuntu won't boot from other media

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1

Ubuntu Support Template

Ubuntu Version:
24.04 3 LTS

Desktop Environment (if applicable):

Problem Description:
Hi

I’m happily running Ubuntu 24.04 on my old iMac late 2011.

Recently added a 2nd SSD which I want to use for running Fusion 360 for 3D home design.

I tried to get Fusion installed through Wine, but all attempts failed to get it working.

While I was running Fusion 360 already on my Windows 11 laptop, I though I might run the iMac dual boot, Ubuntu on the 1st SSD and Windows 10 on the 2nd (old mac not suited for win11), however I have not been able to boot from grub using a USB, SD or DVD, all made bootable through various apps like rufus, balena etc.

The initial Ubuntu install could also only be done (booted) from DVD, I can’t get the Mac to see USD or SD bootable media.

Any help and/or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,

Jaap

Relevant System Information:
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What I’ve Tried:
List the solutions or workarounds you’ve already attempted.

Before Posting:
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2

https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=36468

Results could be worse but they aren’t good either.

The general rule is that anything below “Gold” is a waste of time.

3

I already tried the Cryinkfly install version, but failed so gave up.

Also thought this might impact performance so prefer direct from Windows.

First I need to get the dual boot working, 2nd ssd is still empty.

Is there a way to install from a bootable partion on this disk?

Thanks,

Jaap

4

I’ve installed and run Ubuntu on lot of Macs, but mostly a little bit newer than than, which have been EFI support. With the oldest Macs I used, I remember needing to install rEFInd as a boot manager.

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5

Also, for Windows specifically Apple did support it using “Boot Camp”, but only specific versions. For that model, they say Windows 7 and 8. IIRC Boot Camp set up a BIOS emulation mode for Windows and didn’t (U)EFI. I’ve never been a Windows user, but I did install this a lot back in the day working at a shop. Again, rEFInd might help with this.

6

Your Mac cannot see United States Dollars :thinking: :dollar_banknote:

Another suggestion here
I understand that it is a utility to start from a CD/DVD and then boot a USB thumb drive

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7

Try this: Plop boot manager, that tool saved me many times on machines

that dont like booting from usb, this tool simulates a virtual media:

https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html

8

Managed to get rEFInd installed and seeing a windows 10 USB stick.

Installation of Windows 10 didn’t go as expected, kept on failing, but when I used the online account instead of a local account, it went through.

Now have a working Windows 10, but one (or more) of the mac’s fans starts slow but gradually increases and stays running on ignorant level. Haven’t found a fix yet.

The other thing is to get the Grub or rEFInd menu back, as it will only boot directly to windows now. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks,

Jaap

9

I’m not familiar with Macs but from what I have read, you use the Option key to select the device to boot from (usb). Have you tested the USB with the Ubuntu installer on another computer to verify that it boots? You indicate in your initial post that you already have Ubuntu installed on this machine so why install again, do you want it on a different drive? If you have Ubuntu installed on a drive on this machine and want to install it to another drive, you can put an entry in the grub.cfg file of the installed Ubuntu to boot the iso directly and not need a USB/DVD. Can you access the BIOs on your Mac to change the boot order? Do you have an entry there for Ubuntu?

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10

Hi, maybe I was not clear enough, here is the thing.

I removed the original disks from the iMac.

I installed 2 ‘new’ SSD’s in the iMac and it was running Ubuntu 24.04 on the first SSD.

I then wanted to add Windows 10 on the 2nd SSD so I can dual boot it.

Until I installed rEFInd I was not able to get a USB, SD or DVD detected during GRUB startup.

I now got the windows installed on the 2nd SSD however it will now directly boot to windows, never get to see the GRUB or rEFInd menus.

Please note the iMac does not have BIOS like on windows machines.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Jaap

11

“Windows” machines (all the descendants/clones of the original IBM PC, now collectively called “PCs” for short and being pedantic af) don’t have BIOS either since ~2012. All have UEFI now. MACs had it years earlier so a 2011 iMac likely has it already (unsure, don’t know this class of products and have zero interest in getting acquainted). If - and only if - the OP managed to install everything in “UEFI mode” it should now be possible to access the firmware settings and select each one to boot, including rEFInd which is a bootloader like any other. If not, reinstalling rEFInd from Windows should bring it up again so it can be used to select/chainload other bootloaders, GRUB or Windows Bootloader Manager.

12

I think I’m back to square one, it boots windows but in repair mode, and with next boot it hangs with the blue window flag, so in a loop here.

So first install was stable for one evening,

Think I’m going back to the Mac OS and try windows 10 on bootcamp. Only don’t know if I can then also run Ubuntu next to it.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for the help.

Jaap

13

There must be a way to access the UEFI boot settings. You might have better luck find that information at an Apple site such as the one below which gives a number of options. So you now have Ubuntu one one drive and windows on another but only see windows, is that correct? Have you tried chainloading Ubuntu from windows using bcdedit whcih can be done.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102603

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14

Macs never used UEFI. Intel Macs had EFI-based firmware, but it’s not the same a PC and there is no configuration UI like on PC. There is only holding the Option key on startup to get to the boot picker. And also in MacOS in System Preferences (now System Settings) you can choose the default “Startup Disk”.

More recent Intel Macs can easily boot Ubuntu with the EFI boot picker, but older ones were deficient. I successfully used rEFIfind, but it’s been a long time. As I remember it, once it was installed correctly rEFInd’s menu loaded on startup.

Windows is a whole different thing. Again, with very recent Intel Macs you can boot it with EFI, but the supported option from Apple was to run their Boot Camp Assistant (and app in MacOS), which would do a few things: 1) re-partition the disk, 2) create boot media from your Windows image with included drivers (and maybe other modifications), 3) set a secret BIOS-emulation mode to boot the Windows installer and the Windows partition once installed and 4) after Windows is installed it installs hardware drivers from Apple. The Boot Camp Assistant that works on each Mac model varies, and they only support certain Windows versions. It will error out with newer versions in my experience. Trying to just boot the Windows media via EFI doesn’t usually work on these older Macs.

Windows and Ubuntu dual boot on a Mac is not something I’ve ever tried myself. Maybe rEFIfind will let you boot Windows directly with EFI, which I think would simplify things

15

Hi,

finally got windows installed with bootcamp drivers and rEFInd menu on startup, so now can select MAC OS, Windows 10 or Ubuntu!

Problem I faced was the windows installer run to the same error when selecting the partition, it was in GPT.

Using gdisk from the Ubuntu side and selection both partitions (not only the new windows one), it finally accepted this and went through full installation (now typing this from the Windows installation).

Reminds me I still have to run the ‘csrutil enable’ in recovery mode right after this!

Thanks for all the help and directions.

Cheers, Jaap

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