How to remove the optical drive from an older 2007-2009 imac

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oldhifi

macrumors 65816

• Jun 16, 2017

I Found a nice 27 Inch MB953lla, can it be up graded to Sierra with no problems?? What about the next OSX upgrade?

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) – Technical Specifications
Processor and memory

• 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache
  3.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache
• 2.66GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache; Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.2GHz
  2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache; Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.46GHz; Hyper-Threading for up to eight virtual cores

4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; four SO-DIMM slots support up to 16GB

Size and weight

• Height: 20.4 inches (51.7 cm)
• Width: 25.6 inches (65.0 cm)
• Depth: 8.15 inches (20.7 cm)
• Weight: 30.5 pounds (13.8 kg)1

Connections and expansion

• One FireWire 800 port; 7 watts
• Four USB 2.0 ports
• SD card slot

Communications

• Built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking;2 IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)

Audio

• Built-in stereo speakers
• Two internal 17-watt high-efficiency amplifiers
• Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack)
• Audio line in/optical digital audio input (minijack)
• Built-in microphone
• Support for Apple Stereo Headset with microphone

Environmental Status Report

iMac is designed with the following features to reduce its environmental impact:

• Arsenic-free display glass
• BFR-free
• PVC-free5
• Highly recyclable aluminum and glass enclosures
• Meets ENERGY STAR 5.0 requirements
• Rated EPEAT Gold

Acoustic Performance

DECLARED NOISE EMISSIONS in accordance with ISO 9296

Jdzieds

• Jan 3, 2010

I have an old imac slot loading G3 500mhz desktop with OS 9.2.2. Recently the cd/dvd player stopped accepting dvds & cds. It loads them fine, but after a few seconds the player just ejects them. It worked just days ago.

Any possible solutions?

louishen

• Jan 3, 2010

Its either broke or just needs a clean

Getting the drive out is a bit of a pain (I once had to get a small optical disk out of one), but you could give a cleaning disk a try if you have one handy

Or you could try compressed air to blow out any dust

Jdzieds

• Jan 3, 2010

harryb2448

• Jan 3, 2010

hughvane

• Jan 3, 2010

Mac SK

• Jan 3, 2010

Jdzieds

• Jan 4, 2010

I tried to clean it with a laser lens cleaner. I inserted the disc, but I’m not sure if it spins to clean. I can’t click play so how do I know it spins? I have my cd player on auto play, but not sure it is trying to play the cleaning disc.

After I used the lens cleaner, I tried to play a dvd and cd, but both were just ejected after several seconds. I need help.

How do I unistall my updates?

Mac SK

• Jan 5, 2010

Jdzieds

• Jan 10, 2010

but, how do I get the cleaning disc to spin if play on my iMac is disabled. and how can I uninstall my recent updates??

hughvane

• Jan 10, 2010

I think you’re down to removing the optical drive from the iMac. Not easy, but not impossible. I can send you links to How To manuals on request.

What I think MacSk is suggesting is that you link your iMac to another (healthy) Mac via your ethernet setup. It’s called Networking. You can do all sorts of maintenance on the troublesome Mac via the other computer. However, that doesn’t/won’t solve the optical drive problem.

Apple does not support Boot Camp Assistant installations of Windows 10 on 2011 and earlier iMac models. The exact list of supported Mac models is given below.

The following Mac models support 64-bit versions of Windows 10 when installed using Boot Camp.

If you have one of the models listed below, then you should use the Boot Camp Assistant to install Widows 10.

• MacBook Pro (2012 and later)
• MacBook Air (2012 and later)
• MacBook (2015 and later)
• iMac (2012 and later)
• Mac mini (2012 and later)
• Mac mini Server (Late 2012)
• Mac Pro (Late 2013)

I have read where others have successfully used the Boot Camp Assistant to create a Windows flash drive installer. This was accomplished by first editing a .plist file contained within the Boot Camp Assistant software. I have the following problems with doing this.

• The Boot Camp Assistant software has to be hacked in order to create the Windows installer.
• The resulting flash drive installer defaults to a Windows installation that uses the EFI boot method. Apple did not officially start supporting this method of booting Windows until after the 2011 model year. I have always assumed the Windows Support Software, supplied by Apple for my Mac, was designed only for the legacy BIOS boot method of installation.

I have no problems EFI booting the USB Windows installer, but I still want to install Windows to use the BIOS boot method.

Here is what I wish to accomplish.

• Install Windows 10 Pro 64 bit. I have downloaded the latest Windows 10 (Version 21H1) iso file.
• Install Windows 10 into a newly formatted volume. I do not want to first install an earlier version of Windows and then upgrade to Window 10.
• Boot Windows using the legacy BIOS boot method.
• Use only one partition on the first internal drive ( disk0 ) for the Windows files. The single internal disk in my Mac uses a 512 byte sector size.
• Install Windows using the latest version of macOS. Currently, this would be High Sierra (macOS 10.13.6).

I would desire to preform the installation without any of the following.

• No third party software
• No optical (DVD) drive
• No Boot Camp Assistant
• Without disabling System Integrity Protection (SIP).

I would prefer not having to boot to macOS Recovery via the internet, built-in recovery or an USB flash drive macOS installer. But, since macOS Recovery is not a third party tool, I am not opposed to its use.

Certain situations require a Mac to be booted from an external boot volume, rather than the primary startup disk. There are plenty of reasons for booting from external volumes, whether it’s to troubleshoot problems, repair disks, partition, format everything, update, or even reinstall Mac OS X. We’ll cover the two easiest ways to do this, during boot with the Mac Boot Manager, and also through System Preferences using the Startup Disk selection tool.

You’ll need a bootable drive of some sort to be able to do this, whether it’s a USB installer drive you made yourself for macOS Mojave, macOS High Sierra, macOS Sierra, Mac OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, for OS X Mavericks or prior versions of Mac OS X, a mirrored external hard drive made through SuperDuper, or even a boot disc. Any Mac running Lion (10.7) or newer will also be able to use the Boot Manager to startup from the Recovery partition.

How to Boot from an External Device on Restart with Mac Boot Manager

This can be used to select any bootable drive connected to the Mac:

• Connect the external drive or device to the Mac
• Reboot the Mac and after the startup chime hold down the OPTION key during boot until you see the boot selection menu
• Click the external volume to boot from it

You will find that external drives typically are shown with an orange icon, with their interface printed on the icon itself. Similarly, CD’s and DVD’s are shown with a disc icon. In this screen shot example, the right-most orange boot drive is a USB flash disk.

This option on boot trick works for quite literally any boot volume, whether it’s an external USB drive of any sort, a Thunderbolt hard drive, boot DVD, CD, the Recovery partition, even in dual-boot environments with other versions of OS X, or a Linux or a Windows partition with Boot Camp, if it’s bootable and connected to the Mac it will be visible at this boot manager.

Though boot DVD’s and CD’s will be visible through the aforementioned boot manager, you can also start the Mac directly to DVD or a connected disc by holding down the “D” key during restart after you hear the chime. This is fairly uncommon these days, but it was the primary method of accessing recovery partitions before Mac OS X became a download from the App Store, and before USB installer drives became more common.

Additionally, Macs with recovery partitions can be start directly into Recovery HD by holding down Command+R during system start.

Though recovery and discs can be booted with their own commands, it’s ultimately easier to just remember the Option key method since it is a single key and because it’s universal. The only exception is with target disk mode, which requires a different sequence to use.

You’ll also notice an option to join a wi-fi network when at the Boot Manager, that can be left alone unless you need to perform an internet restore of Mac OS X.

How to Select a Different Boot Drive from Startup Disk Manager

You can also select a different boot volume from the Startup Disk system preference panel:

• Attach the boot drive to the Mac
• Open System Preferences from the  Apple menu and choose “Startup Disk”
• Select the newly connected boot volume from the list, then choose “Restart” or reboot the Mac as normal to start from that disk

One thing to consider about this approach is that the setting choice stays in place until it has been changed again through the Startup Disk Manager. This means that if the chosen startup volume has been disconnected from the Mac, on the next reboot a blinking question mark may appear, because the set startup disk is no longer visible. If that blinking question mark is persistent, that can be easily remedied by holding down the OPTION key, selecting the normal Macintosh HD boot volume at startup as outlined above, and then going back to Startup Disk in System Preferences to choose the proper MacOS or Mac OS X startup volume again.

7 tips for ejecting a CD or DVD from your Mac or external drive

Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm.

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It’s been a while since Apple has offered Macs with built-in optical drives that could make use of a CD or DVD. The last models were the 2012 Mac Pro and the mid-year 2012 non-Retina 15-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple first removed the optical drive in the 2008 MacBook Air, and by the end of 2013, all built-in optical drives were gone from the Mac lineup. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a demand for optical drives or the CDs or DVDs that are used in them. That’s why external optical drives are a popular peripheral for many Mac users.

Whether you have an older Mac that has a built-in optical drive or an external drive, you can eject a CD or DVD in several ways.

The 7 Most Common Ways to Eject a CD or DVD

The Mac, unlike most Windows PCs, doesn’t have an external eject button on its CD/DVD drive. Instead, Apple made use of the ability of optical drives to respond to an open or close command sent over the drive’s electrical interface. By using the open and close commands, the Mac offers several options for ejecting a CD or DVD.

• Some Apple keyboards have an eject key, usually located in the upper right corner of the keyboard. Press the Eject key to eject the CD or DVD from the drive.
• On any keyboard, including those originally designed for use with a Windows PC, press and hold the F12 key until the CD or DVD is ejected from the drive. This may take several seconds.
• Locate the desktop icon for the CD or DVD. Click and hold on the icon and drag it to the trash. You’ll notice that the trash icon changes to an Eject symbol as the CD or DVD icon is positioned over the trash.
• One of the quickest ways to eject a CD or DVD is to right-click on its desktop icon and select Eject from the pop-up menu.
• Some applications, such as Disk Utility, have an eject command in a menu or toolbar. Launch the application and use the eject command to eject the CD or DVD.
• Use the Eject menu applet located in the Mac’s menu bar. If you don’t see one, you can add a menu bar item to eject a CD or DVD.
• When all else fails, click and hold the mouse or trackpad button while restarting your Mac.

Ejection Tricks Specific to External Optical Drives

External optical drives typically respond to the seven methods of ejecting a CD or DVD on a Mac, but they also have a few tricks of their own.

• Most external optical drives have an eject button built into the front of the drive’s case. Pressing the eject button causes the device tray to open or the optical media to be ejected if it’s a slot-loading device.
• Some external optical drives appear to be missing an obvious eject button, but if you look closely, you’ll see a small hole in the front of the case large enough to insert a straightened paper clip into it. Push the paper clip into the eject hole until you feel resistance and then push it a bit further to open the CD/DVD drawer on the optical drive.

Your Mac can override the function of the external eject button if it thinks the optical disc is in use. You can get around this problem by first quitting the app that is using the optical drive and then using the external eject button.

If the external optical drive still won’t eject the disc, shut down your Mac and try using the drive’s eject button. After the disc is ejected, you can restart the Mac.

If All Else Fails

External optical drives are usually made from standard optical drives mounted in an external case. The drive can usually be removed from the case. When you remove it, the drive tray may expose the eject hole that was covered up by the enclosure. Then, you can use the paper clip method.

Going to Extremes

When nothing seems to work, it may be time to break out a flat-blade screwdriver. You can force the tray on a tray-based optical drive open with the aid of a prying device. Here’s how:

Turn off the external optical drive and disconnect it from the Mac.

Insert the flat blade screwdriver tip into the lip between the tray and the case of the drive.

Gently lever the tray open. You may feel some resistance and hear the sound of gears moving within the drive. Perform this step slowly. Brute force should not be required.

When the tray opens, remove the optical media.​

Devices made by Apple have a reputation for being well built and made with high quality components, whether it’s the iPhone, iPad, IMac or Apple’s own version of the laptop, a MacBook. Macbooks are well known for being good quality hardware wrapped in a very stylish shell. Unfortunately, sometimes form gets in the way of function, and one of those areas on a Macbook is the CD/DVD optical drive, otherwise known as a SuperDrive.

Although during general usage there shouldn’t be any problem with a SuperDrive, if for whatever reason you insert a disc that cannot be read correctly, the drive might refuse to eject the disc, even if you push the eject button a few times or right click eject from the desktop. This can be especially troublesome trying to boot because the drive will get stuck in a loop trying to read the disc and it makes the MacBook unusable until you remove the disc, you might not reach the desktop at all.

Unlike ROM drives fitted to Windows PC’s and laptops, the Macbook SuperDrive does not have a small pinhole where you can insert a paperclip to forcefully eject a stuck disc. Actually removing a stuck CD or DVD from a MacBook is pretty easy if you know how.

So, before panicking about having to send your MacBook away to get the stuck disc out, try the steps below and it might just save you time and money!

Standard Ways to Eject a Macbook SuperDrive

1. This first method is pretty straightforward. If you have a mouse or mighty mouse connected, reboot the MacBook and hold down the mouse button while booting. If you are lucky, this simple trick will work.

2. This is a follow on solution from above but applies if you don’t have a mouse connected. Press and hold the trackpad/touchpad button while booting the Macbook to try and eject the disc from the drive.

3. Although this is more of a long shot, some people have reported success by simply leaving the MacBook turned on for around 5-10 minutes while it’s attempting to boot. It might eventually boot up and the stuck CD/DVD will automatically eject.

Eject the Disc via Software

There are a few tools around that can try and forcefully eject the optical media from your drive. As it’s a bit safer to try ejecting the disc via software, we’d advise you to try these programs out before resorting to the other methods.

ForcEject is a tiny little tool of about 100KB that simply does what is intended and tries to force your Superdrive to eject its stuck optical disc.

To use the ForcEject Tool, download and run it and an icon will appear on your menu bar. Click on the icon to popup a menu and either select to eject an internal or external SuperDrive. Hopefully this will pop out the stuck disc in your drive.

ReDiscMove is a slightly old tool dating from 2007 but it’s even easier to try and eject your stuck disc because it consists of nothing more than a confirmation window.

Download and run ReDiscMove and it will simply popup a window asking “Are you sure you want to force the cd/dvd to eject”. Click OK to try and force the disc to eject itself. The “Avbryt” button is Swedish for cancel and to abort the attempted eject, the author must have forgot to translate the button.

DiskEject has two versions in the archive, one for Intel based systems and one for PowerPC based systems, so you need to make sure to run the correct version for your Mac. “About this Mac” from the Apple menu will tell you which is needed.

It also has three different versions of the tool for you to use. The Standard version is what you should run first, and if that doesn’t work try the Advanced version. Note the Advanced tool might cause your SuperDrive to make a few strange noises while running, this is normal. There is no interface or popup, so if it didn’t work after a few seconds, the program likely wasn’t successful.

The third version of DiskEject is a service that you can install and then call via a keyboard shortcut, a useful option if this is not a one off. Run DiskEject in the “DiskEject Service” folder and let it install the service. To set up the shortcut go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services > General > DiscEject, and then supply a shortcut of your choice.

7. Using the OS X Terminal

This last software based solution is using a built in command line program called drutil which can perform a number of optical disc related functions, one of which is to eject an optical disc. To use drutil, go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal and type the following if you only have one optical drive:

If you have an internal and external drive, use the appropriate command:

drutil eject internal
drutil eject external

Once you have done with the Terminal window you can simply close it. If none of these methods have worked so far, you will have to move onto more manual methods below.

Eject the Disc Using Other Methods

These are other methods or tricks to eject a disc from a Superdrive when it refuses to using software or the default button hold down methods, obviously be careful while attempting these.

8. This method is to tilt the MacBook to an angle of about 45 degrees so the disc would effectively drop out if it wasn’t stuck, and then press the eject key. Tilt Macbook sideways if the drive is on the side of your Macbook, forwards towards you if the drive is at the front.

9. While the tilting above often works, sometimes a more extreme version of that method is required to get the disc to eject. Instead of tilting the Macbook to 45 degrees, simply turn it completely upside down while simultaneously pressing the eject key.

10. Since the disc is being read in an infinite loop, you can try using a small piece of cardboard and insert it into the gap until it touches the disc to stop it from reading, then press the eject key few times. An example of a good material is battery pack cardboard or a thick birthday card or even a credit card may work as well.

Good luck in removing the stuck disc in your MacBook! Hopefully one of these methods works which could save you time and possibly money.

The slot-loading optical disc drives in MacBooks, iMacs, and Mac Minis are definitely more elegant than those flimsy trays on most computers. The part that’s not so elegant is when a stubborn CD or DVD gets stuck!

Over the years, a ton of different methods for ejecting stuck discs have been passed around the Apple community. While some approaches appear to work more reliably than others, there is no single troubleshooting technique that has been proven to work for everyone. In an effort to be as comprehensive and help as many people as possible, I’m throwing in all of the strategies I’ve come across related to this topic. If you’re battling a CD or DVD that refuses to pop out, hopefully you find at least one does the trick!

The standard stuff

For the sake of being complete, let’s start out simple. When a disc won’t eject from your Mac, try the following: 1.) Press and hold the Eject key, 2.) Right-click on the disc icon on the Desktop and select “Eject” from the menu, 3.) Drag the disc icon to the Trash. No luck? Read on for more tips!

Disk Utility

Launch Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities) and select the troublesome CD or DVD in the sidebar. Click the Eject button at the top of the window.

Terminal command

Launch Terminal (Applications > Utilities) and copy the following command: drutil eject

Mouse/Trackpad button

Restart your Mac and hold down the left mouse button (or trackpad if you have a laptop) as it boots up. Keep pressing it until the login screen or desktop displays.

Tilt and shake

Pick up your Mac laptop and tilt it so the CD/DVD drive is pointing downwards. Restart and hold the Eject key down while gently shaking the computer up and down.

The self-fixing Mac

Shut down your Mac, turn it back on, and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Make sure the power cord is plugged in as you do this and the disc just might pop out on its own.

Disrupt the spin

If you listen carefully, you can probably hear your optical drive powering up & down over and over again. As long as the disc spins, it’s not coming out. The first step is to get your hands on a very thin piece of cardboard or even a folded business card (so it’s twice as thick). Now restart your Mac and hold down the mouse/trackpad button as you poke the cardboard inside the SuperDrive slot. The goal is to slip it above the CD or DVD — towards the left side of the drive — and gently jiggle it around to put pressure on the disc. You might have to continue this for up to a minute or so, but it often works when all other methods fail.

The Apple SuperDrive is an external CD / DVD drive that reads and writes to optical discs, and while it works great with many Macs, there are some Mac models where the SuperDrive doesn’t work, like any Mac that happened to come with a built-in optical drive. For the computers that do not support the SuperDrive, connecting the device often pops-up an error message stating that the Superdrive “is not supported on this Mac”.

Before giving up on using a SuperDrive, you might be able to use a command line hack method discussed here to make a Superdrive work on any Mac, whether it’s supported or not. Of course there is no need to do this on supported machines but for devices where the drive isn’t working, it can be helpful.

The approach detailed in this article will be modifying a Macs firmware nvram by using the command line, thus it’s only appropriate for advanced users. Like everything else, proceed at your own risk, and backup your Mac before beginning.

How to Make SuperDrive Work on Unsupported Mac

1. Back up your Mac and data with Time Machine or your backup method of choice before beginning, this is just in case something goes wrong
2. Open the “Terminal” application found in /Applications/Utilities/, or you can open it through Spotlight
3. Enter the following command syntax at the command prompt exactly as it appears:
   sudo nvram boot-args=”mbasd=1″

This should work to enable an Apple External SuperDrive to function as expected on a Mac which is otherwise not supported, but your results may vary. Let us know in the comments below if this trick worked for you.

If you decide you want to reverse this adjustment, or if you find this approach didn’t work and you want to return to defaults nvram setting for that reason or any other, you can reset the Mac PRAM / NVRAM during system start or clear the nvram variable manually from the command line too. Either approach will remove the “mbasd=1” variable from firmware settings on the Mac.

It’s not entirely clear where the original source of this nvram command comes from, but I discovered it in a bit of a web rabbit hole after following a comment left on a SuperDrive article led to a thread on Apple Discussions and an official support article, which outlines getting a SuperDrive working on unsupported Macs, and which Macs do and don’t support the SuperDrive. Apparently any Mac without an optical drive built-in should support a superdrive, but some users manually remove their optical drives to use the space for an additional hard drive, and sometimes a built-in optical drive fails too, thus leading to scenarios where such a command would be useful to enable support for the SuperDrive.

For reference, Apple says the SuperDrive works with the following Macs:

• MacBook Pro with Retina display (newer models may require a USB-C adapter)
• MacBook Air
• iMac (late 2012) and later
• Mac mini (late 2009) and later
• Mac Pro (late 2013)

Oh and if you’re wondering about getting an Apple SuperDrive to work in BootCamp or with Windows in general, you’ll want to follow these instructions to use an Apple SuperDrive in Windows, which applies to Boot Camp as well as a general PC.

Did this trick work to enable SuperDrive functionality for you? Do you have any other tips, tricks, or suggestions on getting an Apple SuperDrive to work on an unsupported Mac? Share your experiences in the comments below!

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Saturday, May 22, 2010

Techie: How to remove a CD or DVD from an iMac

It’s frightening when you’ve got a CD or DVD in your iMac AND the drive disappears from Finder AND the eject button on the keyboard does not work.

It happened to me when I ejected a CD and then reinserted it too quickly – which is something I won’t be doing again in a hurry – which is another way of saying I’ll make sure I’ve got the brain engaged first next time.

However for when I’m being totally clueless before my second cup of tea in the morning this is my reminder to myself which I thought I would share with others!

This is how you get a stuck CD / DVD out!

• Make sure the CD or DVD disc is not in use. Quit all applications that are using files on the disc.
• Go to Applications
• Go to Utilities
• Go to Terminal
• do not clear what is there
• type in “drutil eject” (leaving out the quote marks) and press return
• your iMac will whirr and the disc will eject!

You can now breathe again!

I’m assuming the process will probably also work with the SD card slot although that’s less of a problem as part of the card is always visible.

Other guides to “what to do” include:

• Apple Support: Apple Computers: Troubleshooting the slot load optical disc drive
• Apple Support: If you can’t eject a CD or DVD or open the drive tray
• Apple Support: (for authorised repairers only) iMac (Slot Loading): Troubleshooting CD/DVD Eject Failures
• MacRumours Guides: Force Eject a Stuck CD or DVD
• Corewerkz: video: How To Remove Stuck CD From iMac / Slot Loading Optical Drive (the credit card trick)

I absolutely cannot vouch for any of these methods but thought it might be helpful to make a record of them here – just in case!

Journal of an iMac Virgin

It’s been suggested to me that I need to update my Journal of an iMac Virgin for those of you would like to know how I’m getting on with my new 27″ iMac after a bit more than two months of use.

I’m going to be doing another post next week but in the meantime, for those who are interested but have not read them, here’s my earlier posts:

• Journal of an iMac Virgin #1 08 Mar 2010
• Journal of an iMac Virgin #2 13 Mar 2010

In the meantime I’m now going to watch another episode of the BBC Modern Masters Series on my 27″ HD screen – about Matisse.

Keep your iMac cool with an in-line temperature sensor

Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm.

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Upgrading the storage in an iMac is a DIY project that has always been difficult, though not impossible. With the advent of the late 2009 edition iMacs as well as all subsequent iMac models, there’s a new twist that limits how you can upgrade the iMac’s hard drive.

iMacs have always had a temperature sensor for their internal components. The operating system monitors the hardware’s temperature and adjusts the internal fans to ensure optimal airflow to keep the iMac’s inner workings cool.

2009 and Earlier

Up until the late 2009 model iMacs, the hard drive had a temperature probe mounted to its cover. When you upgraded, all you needed to do was to re-attach the temperature sensor to the new storage unit’s case, and you were ready to go.

The process changed with the 2009 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs, however. The temperature sensor is now a cable that connects directly to a set of pins on the hard drive and reads the temperature from an internal probe. It’s a better system until it comes to swapping out the hardware.

The Problem With Temperature Sensors

The problem is that no standard exists for which pins to use for the temperature sensor. In fact, each brand of drive Apple uses for late-2009 iMacs uses a different, custom cable. For the end-user, this means that if you decide to upgrade the iMac’s storage yourself, you can usually only replace it with hardware from the same manufacturer.

If you use a drive from a different manufacturer, there is a good chance that the temperature sensor will not operate. In order to compensate, your iMac will set its internal fans to the maximum RPM, creating a nerve-wracking noise.

Fortunately, a workaround exists. You can pick up a DIY kit for upgrading a hard drive in an iMac that includes a universal temperature sensor. This unit will work with any brand of hard drive or SSD, allowing you to choose the one that meets your needs without having to worry about runaway fans in your iMac.

How to Upgrade Your iMac’s Drive

The process of upgrading an iMac’s storage system involves accessing the iMac’s internals. Getting inside involves removing the computer’s display to gain access.

Apple has changed how it attaches the display to the iMac’s chassis over the years, resulting in two different methods of removal.

2009 Through 2011 iMacs

In ’09-’11 iMacs, the display’s glass panel includes embedded magnets that adhere the screen to the chassis. This simple attachment method allows you to easily remove the glass using two suction cups to break the magnetic seal.

After disconnecting the magnets, the only things keeping the screen attached are a few cables. Detach them to expose the inner workings of the computer, including the hard drive.

2012 and Later iMacs

In 2012, Apple changed the design of the iMac models to produce a thinner profile. Part of that design update changed how the iMac’s display was attached to the chassis. Gone are the embedded magnets in the glass; instead, the glass is now glued to the chassis. This assembly method allows for a thinner profile and a higher display quality since the display and glass panel are now fused together, resulting in a crisper display with a higher contrast ratio.

The downside is that in order to remove the display, you must now break the glued seal. You also have to reglue the glass to the rest of the unit when you’re done upgrading the iMac.

Helpful Guides for Drive Replacement

Before you consider a drive replacement on a 2009 or later iMac, view the teardown guides at iFixit for your particular iMac model, as well as the install videos at Other World Computing (OWC) to see step-by-step guides to replacing your iMac’s hard drive.

SSD Replacement

Your hard drive isn’t the only DIY project you can perform once inside your iMac. You can replace the hard drive with a 2.5-inch SSD (3.5-inch to 2.5-inch drive adapter required). In 2012 and later models, you can also replace the PCIe flash storage module, though this involves almost a full disassembly of all internal components, including removing the power supply, hard drive, logic board, and speakers.

By the time you’ve completed the PCIe flash storage upgrade, you would have rebuilt your iMac almost from the ground up. As you can imagine, this last upgrade isn’t for beginners, but for those who enjoy extreme Mac DIY, it may be a project for you. Be sure to review the iFixit and OWC guides mentioned above before you decide to tackle this project.

Plexberry

• Mar 20, 2015

I have an old G5 power pc mac tower. It has no operating system. I now have a OSX leopard cd for it. But when I turn on the computer I can’t eject the disc tray to get it in.

It’s really trying to open it just can’t! I need to force eject it. Usually this is done by forcing a needle into an eject hole but Mac’s don’t have this. I know how to do it with an operating system on it (Disc Utilities) but how to do it without an operating system on it?

I have an external CD drive but I can’t tell it to boot from that as I don’t have an operating system on it I can’t tell it where to boot from.

Stuck and it’s so annoying! Any help is greatly appreciated!

Plexberry

• Mar 20, 2015

Thank you but there seems to be no way to bring the flap down. If I start to prise it away it’s clearly beginning to snap so obviously I’ve stopped. The Mac towers are beautifully made but it tends to be at the expense of things like this – or at least for the layman like me. Because I can’t see how to bring that flap down without breaking it or ejecting the CD without using software!

Thanks again for your speedy reply

harryb2448

• Mar 20, 2015

• Mar 20, 2015

I wouldn’t think the the flaps oner the optical drive is that different to the MDD Macs, and I could always use something thin to force the flap open, then use the large paperclip and flat nosed pliers if needed to grab the tray and hold on when it attempts to open.

You mat need to slide in some thin plastic strips like from a cut up credit card if the disk is hung up and needs some guidance, and some judicial force is sometimes required, or power off the Mac after it starts to eject the disk to save fighting it sucking in the drawer.

Slydude

Well-known member

• Mar 20, 2015

I don’t think that will work. It’s been a long time but I don’t think the G5s could boot with the option key held down. I think it had to be the C key.

Setting that aside for a moment Plexberry has a different problem. He can’t insert the DVD to boot the machine until the drive door is open.

@Plexberry Try booting with the mouse button held down as Harryb suggested. You may have to try a few times before it works. If that does not work try the following. It worked on my old Mac Pro and I think it worked on the G5 as well.

1. Take your thumb and apply a small amount of inward pressure to the drive door.
2. The door should open slightly exposing a small gap at the top.
3. Slide your fingernail into the gap and pull down on the drive door. This should open the drive door and either free the drive to open or expose the hole allowing you to insert a paperclip into the hole.

I’ve done this a few times and it shouldn’t require enough pressure to damage the drive.

• Mar 20, 2015

If I recall correctly, there was a control key sequence one could use to force eject any CD and an optional sequence if there were two optical drives installed to force the alternate drive to open.

Darned if I can remember them, but it worked on my MDD Mac with two optical drives.

by Jenefey Aaron Updated on 2021-12-22 / Update for OS X

You may need to boot up your Mac using an external drive or boot volume once in a while, rather than using a start up disk. Booting with an external disk has a lot of significance. Maybe you want to troubleshoot some problems, repair the disk, do partitions, format the entire disk, update, and install OS X etc. All these are executed perfectly when you use an external boot volume to boot up your Mac. In this article, we are here with the detailed step by step guide on how to boot Mac from external hard drive easily. So, let’s get started…

THow to Recover Data from External Hard Drive in 3 Ways?

Part 1: How to Boot Mac from USB Drive/CD/DVD

Actually, it is possible to boot Mac from external drive or a hard drive, but there are a few specific requirements needed for your Mac to become eligible for that process.

• First, you have to have an Intel-Based Mac.
• Second, the CD or DVD you are using to boot must contain Apple’s Super Drive or if you are using a USB drive then it should be formatted with GUID Partition, and you are also required to install OS X installer. Apple is against booting Mac from an external storage device, because you may install an older version of OS X than the one you were using.

Boot from CD or DVD:

If you want to boot your MacBook/Air/Pro/iMac from an optical media like CD or DVD you need to follow the steps below:

1. Open your Mac or restart the device if you were already using it.

2. When the startup music is playing press and hold the “C” key from the keyboard.

3. This will start the OS X installer from the CD/DVD on your Mac.

So, it is not too complicated to Mac boot from CD/DVD. You can easily burn a bootable image of OS X on a DVD by using Disk Utility.

Boot from External USB:

Using your USB drive to boot Mac is not as simple as you think. You need to prepare your USB drive beforehand for this specific purpose. You have to format the USB drive and insert the proper Operating System, which is OS X.

1. Turn on your Mac.

2. As soon as the startup music begins you need to press and keep holding the “Option” key.

3. After that release that key, the Startup manager will be launched.

4. Startup Manager will begin scanning your device and you will be provided with a list of devices that are connected to your Mac.

5. Now, select the drive you want to use with your mouse.

6. Finally, press “Return” key on the selected option to boot Mac.

This way you can boot your Mac with an external USB drive, but the most critical part is to prepare the USB drive. If you have multiple USB drives connected, then the Startup Manager shall list the drives with the bootable OS. So, this is how to boot Mac from USB drive.

Part 2: Common Problems and Fixes When Boot Mac from External Drive

You may face several issues during MacBook Pro Boot from USB or any external drive. So, a few FAQs are mentioned below which may help you when you are facing any difficulties.

1. Have you tried connecting to a different USB port?

If you are unable to startup the installer after connecting the USB drive to your Mac, then first you should try connecting it to a different USB port. It may fix the problem.

2. Have you formatted the USB drive with GUID partition?

If you are having problems with your USB storage device then you need to make sure that if you have properly formatted the drive with GUID partition. You have to do it properly otherwise the Intel-Based Mac won’t start.

3. Is your Mac shutting down after connecting the disk?

Actually, the MacBook contains a preventive measure and because of that computer shuts down automatically when a damaged USB drive is connected or if the USB port itself is damaged.

4. Is your Disk needs repair?

If your Mac fails to boot from an external drive even though you have properly installed the OS X installer, then maybe your disk is damaged. You should open Disk Utility and ask permission to repair disk.

5. Have you connected the USB drive properly?

There are two types of Apple keyboards, Wired and Wireless. There are also some keyboards with inbuilt USB ports but they may not have enough power to run the drive.

So, this is how to startup Mac from external drive. Follow the frequently asked questions to clear any doubts that you have while booting from external hard drive Mac.

In case, you want to recover any lost or deleted Mac files after a boot, we highly recommend you to go for Tenorshare 4DDiG Data Recovery for Mac. It is a utility data recovery tool capable of recovering any type of data from Mac with ease. Go for it!

New trapezoidal box is harder to stack but much easier to open.

Andrew Cunningham – Nov 30, 2012 11:19 pm UTC

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If you want to feel like you’re buying an iMac but you don’t want to drop the cash (or if you’re waiting for the 27-inch version), we’ve got you covered today: first we told you what it was like to try to get one early this morning, and now that we’ve succeeded in our quest, we’re going to walk you through taking the new computer out of its box.

Apple is known for paying close attention to the packaging of its products, and while other computer makers have improved their own boxes quite a bit in the last few years, new Apple boxes are still noteworthy enough for a picture tour.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the new iMac’s box is thinner than the old one, but not quite in the way you’d think. The old box was perfectly rectangular, but the new box is trapezoidal, with a wider base and narrower top. This seems like it would make the computers difficult to stack up if you’ve got a lot of them.

Cut the tape and open the lid, and you’ll be greeted with a styrofoam block that both protects the top half of the computer and houses most of the accessories.

Remove the styrofoam block and you’ll get your first glimpse at the computer. Older iMacs would need to be yanked upward out of their boxes at this point, an annoying process especially for the large, heavy 27-inch models. Not so anymore: the new box has a front face that falls completely open.

The styrofoam in the bottom of the box is also a bit different than it was before. Previously, there were two big chunks of foam that grabbed at the base of the iMacs and didn’t want to let you pull it out of the box; now, you can easily lift the iMac off of the styrofoam bases and then pull the remaining foam off from the left and right. Much easier.

The first thing you notice once you’ve actually extricated the iMac from its various wrappings is that it is indeed much slimmer than previous models. It’s not uniformly thin throughout as some of Apple’s product photos would have you believe, but it is much thinner and much less boxy. The non-reflective screen is also immediately apparent; when I photograph most gadgets, I need to take great pains not to appear reflected in their super-glossy screens. You can’t see me in the picture of the iMac despite the fact that I’m sitting right in front of it. Some reflections, especially light sources, still appear, but the situation is much improved over every iMac since the 2007 model introduced the aluminum-and-glass aesthetic to the line.

We have yet to turn the system on, so we’ll leave further observations for our full review. One final thing to note is the iMac’s complement of ports. The 21.5-inch iMac picks up a second Thunderbolt port for the first time, and the SD card slot has been moved to the rear—in older iMacs the SD card slot was adjacent to the optical drive, and we’ve heard some horror stories about people who have inserted their cards into the wrong slot by mistake.

Listing image by Andrew Cunningham

Promoted Comments

• rmaine Smack-Fu Master, in training jump to post

The cat isn’t alive until you open the box and look. While in the box, it is both live and dead.

I have a 2008 model iMac that just can’t be turned on. When it died, it shorted the house’s fuse with it. Is there any way that I can wipe out the hard drive (without much effort) before throwing it away?

Opening the case and removing the hard drive is not an attractive option. I’ve read an iFixit tear-down and the hard drive is located behind the screen, which requires me to have plenty of tools to remove it.

Note: there is a similar question with the exception is that my iMac has a Firewire port. I wonder if that makes a difference, since it won’t power on in the first place.

Some movies show a magnet-like device to clear out hard drives. I wonder whether that’s doable in real life?

2 Answers 2

I had a 2009 iMac where the power supply went bad. The glass screen is just held on with magnets. Just grab on the top edge and pull it off, disconnect wire harness. The hard drive is right behind it. Just disconnect hard drive and unbolt. Not much of any tools required, and easy to do. Then you can just recycle the rest of the unit if you don’t want, and destroy hard drive by opening it and removing the disk platens (that look like silver CDs. Just lightly sand and scratch them up, and no one will ever read them. Throw them and the drive in the metal recycle.

Well, if you’ve totally written off the Mac, including the hard drive, why not just destroy it?

Hammer etc

I mean, literally destroy it such as taking a hammer to it in the back yard. Then you can just remove the hard drive and destroy that as well. You may want to lay down a sheet or something first, and be sure to wear safety glasses, but this will do the trick.

External enclosure

Another advantage of the ‘hammer’ approach is the option of destroying the outer shell and removing the hard drive and continuing to use it by inserting it inside an appropriate external enclosure.

Bath

If you’re not keen on the above approach, another option is to fill a bath tub with enough hot water to submerge your iMac. Be sure to mix two (or more) cups of salt in it and place the iMac in it overnight. Then you can just throw it away the next day.

Magnet

In terms of whether using a magnet in real life to scramble your data is doable, you would need a sufficiently strong magnet to achieve the result you want. Ideally you would have to get a hold of a Neodymium magnet, as this will have the strong magnetic fields necessary to erase or scramble the data.

My iMac killed its hard drive the second year of use and then the entire screen/graphics card and logic board had to be replaced at the three year mark. It unfortunately began to misbehave again shortly thereafter.

I use mine to run a 54″ Bravia HDTV as the extended desktop and use EyeTV and noticed numerous graphics errors lines, and failures to refresh the screen during overheating bouts. I observed that the upper left hand corner of the iMac has some sort of an air pocket that traps extreme heat from the graphics card there. (The rear-viewed ‘right’ of the top air exhaust slot).

This top left hot air pocket-trap seems to be due to negative cabinet air pressure interfering with natural heat convection on the left side; heat collects there but just can’t get out! The fans are part of the problem and just don’t help at all.

To verify this, I installed a small temperature probe in the back top left hand (from the front) side of the back air exhaust slot (right side viewed from rear) around 20 cm (9″) from edge. The usual temperature reading there runs around 130єF (54єC!) and often (always during malfunction or addressing error graphics lockup-freeze) exceeds a peak-hold temperature of 140єF (60єC).

At first I mistakenly thought forcing cooler air into the bottom might reduce this but it does not. There is an air pocket there caused by the vacuum back-pressure of the internal fans, which are all trying to suck air in through limited air inlets, and blowing out the upper right side of the slot so heat just accumulates there and it just runs away

The correct and ideal simplest way to permanently fix your overheating 24″ Imac (iMac6.1 iCore 2 Duo at least, and several other models) requires two fixes.

First download and install smcFanControl 2.2.2. Set it up to provide (still quiet) minimum fan speeds of 2200 rpm for the HD and 2800 rpm for the CPU, leave the Optical Drive fan at 600 rpm to minimize dust accumulation (or just tweak it up if/when you will be using it much)

Next obtain a 12 vDC enclosed squirrel cage fan like the San Ace B76 – you need not buy a new one nor this particular (best) model, but any enclosed suction-blower fan of this type (rather than an open blade straight exhaust) is ideal. It shouldn’t cost much at a surplus shop. Get and hook it up to any common 9vDC/AC adapter (around 10 vDC) to run it cooler and more quietly than full 12v speeds, since it is now sucking heat instead of blowing cold air.

Tape it (with clear boxing tape) to the rear left corner of the back (3″ from the side) so it sucks air out of the hottest point of the back slot and blows it away upwards.

Your iMac will now be fixed – the air slot temps will seldom ever exceed 106єF (40єC) again (even under heavy graphics use) and your graphics card will stop cooking.

Barring other serious dust or other heat sink assembly issues, your iStatNano display should now (roughly) read (degrees C): (at 26єC Ambient room temperature)

• HDD 42є
• CPU 33є
• GPU 40є
• GPUD 46є
• GPUH 38є
• Amb 26є
• DVD 1 39є

Always blow out your system with a vacuum’s air exhaust hose by blowing air pressure into the back slots and the small round center air exhaust under the desktop stand (to reverse-flow and force air and dust back out the bottom intakes) with power off once every six months or so to keep the air passages clear. Suction alone (out the bottom) does not do such a good job, and may actually draw dust further into the machine if used from the top at the heat exhaust slots.

[crarko adds: I haven’t tested this one. Has anyone else needed to do something like this to prevent over-heating? If so, please post your experience in the comments section.]

Here you can find the exact specifications of this Mac, along with guaranteed compatible upgrades for it , and an upgrade tool to let you quickly build an order which can be saved for later or shared with a friend .

• Model: MacBook Pro Mid 2009 15″
• Part Number

The MPN (Marketing Part Number), also sometimes called the model number, marketing number, order number or part number. This is the part number under which Apple sold this particular Mac model. Only base configurations have part numbers, while Macs sold with various build to order/configure to order options do not have them. What we consider a single Mac may have multiple part numbers, which may refer to different specifications of RAM, drive size, or case colour that were offered as base options. Part numbers also differ by country or region.

In modern Macs it is usually an 8 or 9 digit code, with the last 2 characters being “/A” or occasionally “/B”. The one or two characters immediately before the “/” depend on country or region – “B” is the UK, “LL” the USA, etc. We represent this portion as “xx”.

EMC numbers cover a narrow group of Macs, or sometimes an individual machine. There are exceptions, but usually models that share an EMC number were released at the same time, and share all attributes apart from minor differences in CPU and other internal components. In a very few cases, Macs of the same model were sold with multiple different EMC numbers.

The EMC number is usually a 4 digit numerical code, though in a few cases there are additional characters.

Model Identifiers often cover a narrow range of Macs. Usually one particular type of Mac, with a specific screen size, released at a particular time. Though in some cases a later revision that is substantially similar, will carry the same Model ID.

Staring with the Intel Macs released in 2006, Model IDs were in the format MacNameX,Y where MacName is a recognisable Mac model (iMac, MacBookPro etc.), and the X and Y are numbers.

However in 2022, a couple of years after the ARM switchover, Apple started using the format MacX,Y – the X and Y are numbers, but the “Mac” is the same across different models.

Old pre-Intel (PowerPC) Macs were almost all PowerMacX,Y or PowerBookX,Y (the exception being the very first iMac, which is: “iMac,1”).

Model numbers, also sometimes called family numbers, are an identifier that often cover a fairly wide range of Macs. In cases where the fundamental design of a Mac has remained mostly unchanged, but incremental upgrades have been made to internal components, a single Model Number can cover more than 20 individual Macs, released over several years. Other Model Numbers are unique to a single machine.

It is usually a 5 character code in the format AXXXX, where the Xs are numerals. Some very old Macs have a Model Number that starts with an “M” rather than “A”.

• CPU Speed: 2.8GHz
• RAM Type: DDR3 PC8500 SODIMM 1066MHz
• RAM Slots: 2
• Max RAM by Slot: 2 x 4GB
• Maximum RAM: 8GB
• RAM Pairing: Modules may be installed individually
• Drive Connection: SATA 300
• Drive Platter Size: 2.5″
• Device Connectivity: USB 2.0, FireWire 800
• Bluetooth: 2.1+EDR
• Video Output: Mini DisplayPort
• Revision Produced From (Year): 2009
• Repair and Upgrade guides:From ifixit.com

• RAM Upgrades
• Internal Drives
• External Drives
• CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drives
• Expansion Cards
• Batteries & Power Supplies
• Graphics & Displays
• Keyboards, Mice & Trackpads
• Cables, Hubs & Tools
• Repairs
• Configure RAM & Drive Upgrades

• RAM Type: DDR3 PC8500 SODIMM 1066MHz
• RAM Slots: 2
• Max RAM by Slot: 2 x 4GB
• Maximum RAM: 8GB
• RAM Pairing: Modules may be installed individually

Compatible RAM for this Mac

RAM stands for Random Access Memory, it is a short term store for data which is only used while the machine is in operation. This is not where your data and applications are stored (that’s the Hard Drive or Solid State Drive) so RAM can be replaced without worrying about any data transfer issues.

How much RAM you need depends very much on what you are doing with your Mac. Adding more and more RAM does not necessarily speed your machine up – rather the better way to think about it is that not having enough RAM will slow you down. When your system runs out of physical memory it will use virtual memory on your hard drive instead, this is orders of magnitude slower than RAM, and will result in more instances of the spinning wheel or stuttering.

The more RAM you have, the more things you can do at once and you are able to switch between them better. Also as later operating systems come along they have greater requirements, so a machine feeling fast running OSX 10.7 with 4GB of RAM may well feel sluggish in OSX 10.10 with the same.

Here are the amounts of RAM we have found to be the real minimum for comfortable use in different operating systems. The minimum levels here are not absolute, but even lighter users will be well advised to take steps to minimise RAM use (principly restricting the number of applications they use simultaneously) if they are below them. Of course for some more specialist users of RAM intensive applications, even the ideal amounts listed will be grossly inadequate.

• Mac OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard – Min 2GB, ideal 4GB or above
• Mac OSX 10.7 Lion and 10.8 Mountain Lion – Min 4GB, ideal 6GB or above
• Mac OSX 10.9 Mavericks,10.10 Yosemite, 10.11 El Capitan – Min 6GB, ideal 8GB or above
• macOS 10.12 Sierra and Later – Minimum 8GB, and this is generally reasonable for light usage though 16GB is more comfortable.

Some systems may not be able to use these amounts but will still run the newer OSs, in these cases maximising your RAM will be the best you can do. To get a better idea of your own specific RAM requirements, you can use the Activity Monitor utility built into macOS. This will let you see how much RAM you really need while using your Mac in the way you use it. Activity Monitor is inside your Utilities folder, which is inside your Applications folder. Apple have an in-depth explanation of how to use Activity Monitor here.

There are lots of different types of RAM. The RAM modules and compatability information below was generated from the Serial Number or Model ID you selected, and is guaranteed to work 100% or your money back. Even if your manual says otherwise! Original manuals, and even online documentation, are not updated after a machine is released and therefore not up to date with the actual maximum RAM that can be used. Many machines can make full use of more RAM than the offical spec, and we guarantee that the maximum amounts we list will work flawlessly, and be fully utilised by your Mac.

Que vous ayez besoin de remplacer votre lecteur optique ou de l’échanger avec un lecteur SSD, voici comment retirer le DVD En effet, après la mort du lecteur optique dans mon iMac 2008, j’ai décidé simplement de le retirer complètement et d’avoir juste une baie vide pour le moment, en espérant une meilleure circulation de l’air. Il existe des kits que vous pouvez acheter qui vous permettent de placer un lecteur de stockage dans la baie de lecteur optique, mais pour l’instant, je voulais juste retirer le lecteur optique mort.

Si vous connaissez votre chemin autour des vis et connecteurs, le processus est en fait assez facile, surtout parce que les anciens iMac ne sont pas très collés comme les nouveaux modèles, donc tout est tenu en place avec des vis Torx

Ce dont vous aurez besoin

Avant de commencer, vous aurez besoin de quelques

Ventouses (iFixit vend une paire spécifique pour ce genre de travail)

• Un petit tournevis cruciforme
• Un tournevis Torx T6
• Un tournevis Torx T8
• Pince à épiler (Utile lorsque vous faites tomber des vis dans des endroits restreints)
• Selon l’année de votre iMac, vous aurez peut-être besoin de différentes tailles de tournevis Torx, c’est pourquoi il est préférable d’avoir un petit bits, de cette façon, vous aurez tous les bits dont vous avez besoin, peu importe quoi. Pour ce tutoriel, je travaille sur un iMac 2008, et les outils spécifiques listés ci-dessus sont ceux nécessaires pour ce modèle particulier, mais il est possible que le vôtre ait des vis Torx de tailles différentes. Cette page vous aidera à trouver ce dont vous avez besoin

Récemment, un ami m’a demandé comment ils pouvaient réinitialiser leur routeur sans fil à ses paramètres par défaut, car ils ne pouvaient plus se souvenir du mot de passe WiFi. Vous arrive-t-il jamais? Moi aussi!Voici quelques raisons pour lesquelles vous devrez peut-être réinitialiser votre routeur sans fil: 1) Vous avez utilisé un mot de passe difficile à mémoriser, vous l’avez oublié et n’avez pas le mot de passe stocké ailleurs ou 2) Il a été configuré par quelqu’un d’autre. 3) Vous voulez

Le partage de connexion standard consiste à connecter votre téléphone, tablette ou autre appareil à votre smartphone, en partageant la connexion de données vos autres appareils. Mais vous pouvez parfois avoir besoin de votre iPhone ou iPad en ligne via votre PC ou votre Mac. Ceci est particulièrement utile lorsque vous vous trouvez dans une zone où la puissance du signal est faible – peut-être si vous n’avez pas de signal Wi-Fi.

Recently I became the mostly happy owner of an HP Pavilion dm1z. I say “mostly happy” because I wasn’t thrilled with its performance. To give the system a boost, I decided to swap the pokey 5,200-rpm hard drive with a speedy Solid State Drive (SSD).

The Samsung SSD upgrade kit I bought came with Norton Ghost 15–a utility that would copy the entire contents of my existing hard drive to the new drive–on CD. But the Pavilion, like so many ultrabooks, ultraportables, and other ultra-compact laptops, has no CD drive. How was I supposed to install Ghost?

A friend of mine had a similar problem with some new drive-less systems he’d purchased. He wanted to install his licensed, disc-based copies of Microsoft Office, but couldn’t.

This begs the question: If your PC lacks an optical drive, how can you install software that’s stored on a CD or DVD?

You have two options. First, you can buy or borrow an external drive. A quick check of Ebay reveals tons of USB DVD burners selling for $20-40. Might be a handy item to have on hand.

Second, try downloading your software instead. When I checked Samsung’s support page for my SSD kit, I found not only manuals and drivers, but also Norton Ghost 15.

I downloaded it, installed it, then activated it using the license key that came with the actual disc.

You can do likewise with Microsoft Office: just download the trial version that matches the version you already own, then activate it using your product key. (This gets a little trickier with older versions of Office, as Microsoft currently offers only the 2010 edition for download. You might need to hit up some torrent sites to find older trials.)

This method should work for the vast majority of other software as well. Usually you can download a trial or demo version and then unlock it with your license key. And the added bonus is you’ll have the latest updates right from the get-go.

Optical drive, shmoptical drive. Who needs it?

– Last updated on September 28, 2007 by VG

Many times Windows users face strange problem when they can’t see the icon of optical drives (CD/DVD drives) in My Computer (also known as Windows Explorer or This PC) window. The drive icon doesn’t show in Explorer but the drive works fine in other computers.

If you are also facing this problem and can’t see your optical drives (CD/DVD Drives/Writers) in My Computer window, this tutorial will help you.

Simply follow the simple steps given in following methods to fix the problem:

Table of Contents

METHOD 1:

1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

3. Look for “UpperFilters” and “LowerFilters” strings in right-side pane. If you find them, delete them.

4. Restart the system and now you should have access to your optical drives.

METHOD 2:

If the above method doesn’t work for you or if you can’t see “UpperFilters” and “LowerFilters” keys in Registry, then following steps will help you:

1. Open Registry Editor and go to following key:

2. Create a new key Controller0 under atapi key.

3. Select the new Controller0 key and in right-side pane, create new DWORD EnumDevice1 and set its value to 1

3. Close Registry Editor and restart your system.

That’s it. Now you’ll be able to see your CD/DVD drive in My Computer window.

METHOD 3:

If the above mentioned method doesn’t work for you, you can directly add the DWORD in Registry by executing following command in Command Prompt:

reg.exe add “HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0” /f /v EnumDevice1 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001

Make sure you open Command Prompt as Administrator as mentioned here .

METHOD 4:

If you don’t want to modify Registry yourself, download following ZIP file, extract it and you’ll get a ready-made Registry script which will modify Windows Registry automatically:

METHOD 5:

If the above mentioned methods don’t work for you, try following solution given by our reader “Vishal”:

1. Open Device Manager using devmgmt.msc command and enable “View -> Show hidden devices” option. Now locate the DVD/CD-ROM drives and IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers items.

2. Right-click on each entry present under both “DVD/CD-ROM drives” and “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers” sections one bye one and select Uninstall.

3. Once all have been removed, right-click again and select Scan for hardware changes.

The drives will be rediscovered and when the drivers are loaded back, the drives will re-appear in My Computer window.

You can also try to restart your computer.

You are here: Home » Troubleshooting Guides » [FIX] Optical Drives (CD/DVD) Icon Not Showing in My Computer Window

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

I tried all method and non of them worked. The device manager did not showed any cd/dvd drive in the computer.

However here is my solution:

1) Find out the cd/dvd drive name
1a) remove cd/dvd drive from the computer
1b) placed in an ODD box and connected with USB (windows 8 recognized it)
1c) marked up the name of the cd/dvd drive
2) download the right driver from the internet (cdrom.sys)
3) backup the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\cdrom.sys file
4) replace the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\cdrom.sys file with the downloaded one.
5) reboot computer

Hopefully it will help someone with the same issue. Good luck!

Method 5 worked for me! After trying the 4 above, plus others I found elsewhere.

Well,well done the method number 4 worked perfectly, so much thanks for massive help….

This helped. Hope it doesn’t disappear again
thanls

Took longer to work up the courage to use these steps than the actual execution. Method 5 worked after I used the first two. That ‘reg.exe, etc.’ was a little over my head, but the script you provided worked just fine. I had to reboot the computer several times, but the DVD/CD drive finally showed up, and it worked. Could ask for no more, a big thanks!

wow. its works…….. 🙂 thank you so much..

Thanks for all the time and effort you went to. I had no luck with getting rid of BD rom nor getting my dvd/cd rom working . but thanks to you i was able to give it a real good try
thanks again.

Thanks you so much :)))) the 2nd method worked for me

Thank you so much, Method 1 worked straight away for me…..Whooo-hoooo “I Don’t Beeeee-lieve It. Very grateful to you.

I have tried everything I am confused not It my d drive is not connected afther installing windows 10

None of them worked.Hlp me please.!

Both the disk drive and the atapi controller are present in the device manager and the device status says working perfectly; however, I cannot find the icon or d drive anywhere!

Thanks for this. It’s worked for me.

i tried every thing but my cd drive dose not works

i did it all the methods but still not appearing . what shall i do

I was very wary of these methods, registry editing can do some damage if done incorrectly or for malicious reasons. But I went through the methods and I ended up on method 3 and it worked wonderfully. Thank you! I was stumped.

The 5th method is the only that worked on my laptop and the DVD icon show and i could use my DVD perfectly .. but when i turned off my laptop and switch it back the icon disappear again
so what can i do .

Method 1 worked for me. Thanks a lot for your hard work team 😉

The article contains a pictorial demonstration of the hard drive removal instructions for Dell desktop computers. Note that same model number may refer to different chassis types and form factors.

Most of operating Dell desktop computers come from the OptiPlex production line but have few different chassis. The OptiPlex models come in several sizes and chassis styles that have been changed and evolved with newer technology. Dell chassis are primarily a tool-less, but certain procedures (such as removing drive’s bracket rails) require the use of one or more of the following tools: Set of screwdrivers that includes a small flat-blade screwdriver and small Phillips screwdriver. Plastic Scribe to pry the snap-fit flexible parts can be helpful too.

OptiPlex AIO (Dell All-in-one)

All-in-one models: 3010/3011/9010(2012/2013), 3011(2013), 3030/9030 (2014)

To remove the hard drive you will need to remove a stand from the monitor part. To do so, use a plastic scribe to release the stand cover from the back of the stand, and then remove the stand cover from the chassis. Next step: Removing the four screws from the back of the stand and lift the stand up and away from the chassis. To remove the rear cover – use a plastic scribe to unlock the tab on the top left corner ( at the optical drive ) of the chassis. Work your way around to loosen the rest of the tabs and remove from the chassis. Hard Drive located right in the center for 9020 AIO model, other models have the drive in the corner (red arrow) as on the picture from Dell manual for 3030:

Push the hard-drive bracket to release it from its lock(#1) and lift the hard drive from one edge(#2). Slide and remove it to access the hard-drive cable. Disconnect the hard-drive cable from the hard drive, and remove it from the computer. Pry the hard-drive bracket apart to release the hard drive. Remove the hard drive from the hard-drive bracket.

Hint: Refer to article about cables and connectors for HDD/SSD wiring.

Dell OptiPlex MT/Minitower, DT/Desktop, SFF Small Form Factor, and USFF Ultra Small Form Factor

OptiPlex MT (Dell analog for classic Minitower with 36cm x 17.5cm front panel size) models: 320, 330 (2007), 360 (2008), 380 (2009), 390, 740, 745, 755 (2007), 760 (2008), 780 (2009), 790 (2011), 960, 980, 990, 580, 3010, 3020, 3040, 5040, 7010, 7020, 7040 (2015), 9010, 9020 (2013), XE2. OptiPlex SFF stands for Dell Small Form Factor computers, and that family term is analog for Mini-ITX motherboard size. One group of extra small Dell computers belongs to Ultra Small Form (USFF) family, and normally they are mounted on the back of a monitor. There are also even much smaller computers of MICRO family. Interestingly, the same model of Dell computer can be shared among different chassis types. To distinguish them people add MT, DT, AIO, SFF, USFF and MICRO acronym to each model when refer to particular computer, for example: “9020 USFF”, “9020 SFF”, “9020 MT” and so on.

The drive removing instructions for all of these modern computers are pretty straightforward, because they all have more or less traditional desktop design for generic computer types. After turning off the computer and removing all cables from system case, lay your computer on its side with the computer cover facing up. Remove the screws from the edge to release the cover. If your computer cover has a cover latch, slide and hold the cover latch. Grip the indents on the computer cover, and slide the computer cover toward the back of the computer.

On the picture below is an example of drive removing steps for Dell OptiPlex 3020/9020 Micro.

Squeeze the hard-drive bracket (blue) to release it from its loc and pull it back as shown on the picture above to access the drive cable. Disconnect the cable and slightly bend a plastic bracket apart to release the hard drive.

How to open older Dell Desktop case

Opening the older Dell desktop computer case can be a little tricky.

Without a manual to your particular model it may be difficult to locate cover release latches, but once they are located, the door will open without using any screwdriver or other tool. Dell desktop cases come with few design of cover release latches and unlocking buttons. You may need to locate the cover release latch and slide it back as you lift the cover. Then grip the sides of the computer cover and pivot the cover-part up using the hinge tabs as leverage points.

The original polycarbonate MacBook 3,1 (13-inch, Late 2007) was Apple’s first notebook to use new features, such as the glossy display, the sunken keyboard design and the non-mechanical magnetic latch. The MacBook 3,1 (polycarbonate model) followed the same line. With this late-2007 revision, the MacBook keyboard received several changes to closely mirror the one which shipped with the iMac.

MacBook 3,1 (13-Inch, Late 2007)

Apple also added several keyboard short-cut to control multimedia, and removing the Apple logo and the embedded numeric keypad from the command keys.

Release Date

November 1, 2007.

Specifications

• Processor: 2.0 GHz or 2.2 GHz. Intel Core 2 Duo (T7300/T7500). Front size bus : 800 MHz .
• Memory: 1 GB (two 512 MB) or 2 GB (two 1 GB) 667 MHz PC2-5300. Expandable to 6 GB (4 GB supported by Apple).
• Hard drive: 80 GB, 120 GB or 160 GB. Optional 250 GB.
• Internal Slot-loading: 4× DVD+R DL writes, 8× DVD±R read, 4× DVD±RW writes, 24× CD-R, and 10x CD-RW recording.
• Operating system: OS x 10.7 Lion.
• Display: 13.3-inch glossy widescreen LCD, 1280 × 800 pixel resolution (WXGA, 16:10 = 8:5 aspect ratio).
• Graphics: Intel GMA X3100 using 144 MB RAM (up to 384 MB available in Windows through Boot Camp).
• Connectivity: Integrated Airport Extreme 802.11a/b/g/n (draft-n enabled) Gigabit Ethernet. Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR.
• Camera: iSight Camera (640 x 480 0.3 MP).
• Video out: Mini DVI (replaced the iBook’s mini-VGA display port with a mini-DVI display port).
• Connectivity: Integrated AirPort Extreme 802.11 a/b/h/g. Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR.
• Battery: 55-watt-hour lithium polymer battery, removable.
• Peripherals: 2 USB 2.0. 1 Firewire 400. 1 Optical digital/analog audio line-in. 1 Optical digital/analog line-out.
• Average Weight: 5.2 lb.
• Dimensions: 1.08 in x 12.78 in x 8.92 in.
• Colors: Available in black and white colors.

Discontinuation, Price

Discontinued: February 2008.

Price:

• 2.0 GHz/1 GB RAM/80 GB HD/ComboDrive/White – $1099
• 2.20 GHz/1 GB RAM/120 GB HD/SuperDrive/White – $1299
• 2.20 GHz/1 GB RAM/160 GB HD/SuperDrive/Black – $1499.

Features

• The embedded numeric keypad and the Apple logo were removed from the command keys.

Models

MacBook (13-inch, 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Late/Black 2007)

Model Identifier	MacBook3,1
Model Number	A1181 (EMC 2200)
Part Number	MB063LL/B
Family	13-inch, Late 2007
Released	2007
Display Size	13.3 inches
Dimensions	12.78 x 8.92 x 1.08 in
Weight	5.2 pounds
Processor	2.2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM	1GB
Storage	160GB HDD
Optical	8X DL “SuperDrive”
See also	Sell your MacBook (13-inch, 2.2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, Late/Black 2007) online now

MacBook (13-inch, 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Late/White 2007)

Model Identifier	MacBook3,1
Model Number	A1181 (EMC 2200)
Part Number	MB062LL/B
Family	13-inch, Late 2007
Released	2007
Display Size	13.3 inches
Dimensions	12.78 x 8.92 x 1.08 in
Weight	5.2 pounds
Processor	2.2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM	1GB
Storage	120GB HDD
Optical	8X DL “SuperDrive”
See also	Sell your MacBook (13-inch, 2.2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, Late/White 2007) online now

MacBook (13-inch, 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Late/White 2007)

Model Identifier	MacBook3,1
Model Number	A1181 (EMC 2200)
Part Number	MB061LL/B
Family	13-inch, Late 2007
Released	2007
Display Size	13.3 inches
Dimensions	12.78 x 8.92 x 1.08 in
Weight	5.2 pounds
Processor	2.0Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM	1GB
Storage	80GB HDD
Optical	8X “Combo Drive”
See also	Sell your MacBook (13-inch, 2.0Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, Late/White 2007) online now

Miscellanea

• With the late 2007 revision of the original polycarbonate MacBook, the keyboard received several changes. The same keyboard short-cut to control multimedia was added than that on the iMac.
• This model was available in three configurations: 2.0 GHz/1 GB RAM/80 GB HD/ComboDrive/White; 2.20 GHz/1 GB RAM/120 GB HD/SuperDrive/White; and 2.20 GHz/1 GB RAM/160 GB HD/SuperDrive/Black.
• This MacBook was the only Mac notebook, until the reintroduction of MacBooks in 2015, to be offered in more than one color since the iBook G3.

Links

• MacBook3,1 User Guide
• MacBook Manuals: Memory Replacement Instructions, Hard Drive Replacement Instructions, Battery Replacement Instructions & more
• MacBook Firmware Updates
• Sell you used MacBook and save money for your new device: We buy old MacBooks for the best price online : Instant and free quotes, free and insured shipping, fast payment: Sell old MacBook.

MacBook 3,1 Overview [Video]

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Last week I wrote an article summarizing a lengthy thread on the Apple user forums concerning faulty SuperDrives (see “Exploring Widespread SuperDrive Problems”, 2009-09-14). The drives in question all share the symptom of an inability to read or write to discs, though, as I wrote, “the systems affected, discs affected, and timing of the symptom’s arrival differ among users.”

The slew of symptoms, suggested causes, and solutions that are reported in the forums make it difficult to draw any firm conclusion regarding these issues, save for the fact that what seems to be an unusually high number of SuperDrives are indeed failing. Even comments on both my original article and this article point toward there being some sort of deeper problem at play.

Here at TidBITS, we cover issues such as this in part because we hope that by drawing greater attention to them, we can accelerate their diagnosis and resolution. As Apple pays little, if any, official attention to their own discussion forums, the more people can talk about some problem – both via word of mouth and in the media – the less the company can ignore it. That’s especially important with slippery issues such as this, since only Apple is capable of accurately determining what is going on.

In this case, it appears that Apple may finally be acknowledging that there is a widespread problem. A TidBITS reader, who has asked to remain anonymous, was told by an Apple Developer Relations representative that the company will be looking into the issue. Our reader writes, “I provided Developer Relations with a link to the article on your site and to the Apple tech support forums and the woman who called me promised to investigate.”

In previous tech support phone exchanges, the same reader had been told that Apple employees are directed to treat every SuperDrive failure as an isolated incident, and were not allowed to consider press reports or user discussion forums when attempting to determine whether a problem was widespread.

Despite this, it seems odd that the widespread nature of the SuperDrive problems wouldn’t have become obvious before this if Apple is indeed checking repair logs for commonalities. Perhaps in this case, reportage had a trickle-down effect.

While the support rep’s assurance that an investigation would be conducted is far from an official announcement, it is a step in the right direction. We hope Apple will continue down the path towards doing the right thing for Mac users suffering from flaky SuperDrives.

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USB memory sticks are replacing the DVD as the go to method of installing Linux, but what if you find yourself in that rare situation of having access to neither? There is a way, and even if you don’t particularly need it, it’s a great learning experience that could come in handy.

What you don’t need is a DVD or an USB drive. What you do need is an existing Windows installation and access to the internet, plus the following:

1. A partitioning tool
2. A couple of files for booting an Ubuntu installer
3. Ext2Fsd
4. EasyBCD

This is the process in a nutshell:

1. Make the Linux partitions with the partitioning tool
2. Make the Linux partition available in Windows with Ext2Fsd
3. Download and copy the boot files to the /boot directory on the new Linux partition
4. Install a bootloader that will boot with these files using EasyBCD
5. Install Ubuntu

1. Making partitions

You can use any good partitioning tool for this, like Partition Magic or AOMEI Partition Assistant Home Edition. The key is to have some unused space on your hard drive where you can put the Linux partitions. If you don’t you can resize an existing partition to make space and then create a new partition in the newly unused space.

This isn’t the partitioning guide, but while you do need to be careful not to nuke the wrong thing with this the process is ultimately really simple. Both of the mentioned tools, for example, present things visually in a way that makes it hard to do something stupid like, say, erase your C:/ where your Windows is installed.

What you need to create are two partitions. One should be around 15GB to 20GB or more, of the ext4 type, and the other should be 512MB to 1024MB as a swap partition.

You should end up having something like this:

The selected partition is the Linux partition, and the “Unformatted” one is used as swap. It doesn’t need to be formatted as Linux does that automatically. You just need to tell it what to use as swap.

Once you’ve got these partitions ready you can move on to the next step.

2. Make the Linux partition available in Windows

Windows can’t read Linux partitions on its own, as it doesn’t support the Ext3 or Ext4 partitions (nor most of the others). It doesn’t have the drivers for it. That’s where Ext2Fsd comes in. It’s the driver that allows Windows to read and write to Ext3 and Ext4 partitions.

Download it, install it, and you should have an Ext2 Volume Manager among your apps. Launch that, and if your new Ext3 partition isn’t visible in your Windows Explorer already you can double click on it in Ext2 Volume Manager and set a mountpoint for it. It should look something like this:

You may have to reboot after hitting Apply. And then you can proceed to copying some files on the newly available Linux partition.

3. Copy boot files

Go to the Ubuntu netboot archive, click on the desired Ubuntu version (like Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) at the time of this writing), then your processor architecture (like amd64 or i386 depending on whether you’re on a 64bit or 32bit system), then the ubuntu-installer folder, and the amd64 or i386 in it. Finally you should be on a path like this: /ubuntu/dists/utopic/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64

There you need to download two files: initrd.gz and linux. They’re quite small.

When you have these go to your new Linux partition, create a “boot” directory on it, and put those files there.

Now you’ve got a simple boot environment set up. What these two files contain are, in fact, the Ubuntu installer and the boot process for it!

4. Install a bootloader with EasyBCD

NeoSmart offers this super smart tool called EasyBCD that allows you to install bootloaders to boot just about anything. To download it go to the EasyBCD website, scroll down, and you should see the option to Register to download for free, or buy the program. The free version is for non-commercial use only.

Once you’ve downloaded, installed, and launched EasyBCD you can see the existing bootloader settings. You just need to follow these simple steps to add a bootloader for our new Ubuntu install boot that we’ve set up in a previous step:

1. Click “Add New Entry”, and switch to the “Linux/BSD” tab
2. In the “Type” drop down select GRUB2. Set “Name” to whatever you want (“Ubuntu” or “Linux” would make sense). And just make sure the “Drive” drop down is set to “Automatically locate and load”.
3. Click “Add Entry”, and then press the “BCD Deployment” button on the left.
4. Make sure “Install the Windows Vista/7 bootloader” is selected, or Windows XP bootloader if you use that, and then click “Write MBR”.

That should give you a working bootloader with two options; the standard Windows option, and the new Linux boot option that should get you installing Ubuntu. It loads an AutoNeoGrub utility that scans your partitions for the Linux boot files like the ones we set up.

If for some reason it fails to find it you can go back to BCD and add a new NeoGrub entry where you can specify the exact location of your boot files.

Just go to Add New Entry as above, and then to the NeoGrub tab. There click the Install button, and then the Configure button to open the configuration file.

In the configuration file add these lines:

title Ubuntu find –set-root /boot/linux kernel /boot/linux ro root=/dev/sda5 initrd /boot/initrd.gz title Ubuntu 2 root (hd0,4) kernel /boot/linux initrd /boot/initrd.gz

This will give you two options when you boot into NeoGrub, and one of them should work. Make sure to replace /dev/sda5 and (hd0,4) with the location of your Linux partition. You can check Ext2 Volume Manager mentioned before for the right number of your partition. In the (hd0,4) entry it counts from zero so if it is the Volume5 it should be (hd0,4), and if it is Volume4 it should be (hd0,3) while the /dev/sda5 entry corresponds to Volume5.

Chances are you wont need these manually added entries, and that the automatic AutoNeoGrub entry added before will find your boot files right away and boot them when you reboot.

5. Reboot into the Ubuntu installer

After rebooting you should see a choice between Windows, Linux, and NeoGrub if you’ve added the manual lines. Select “Linux” (or whatever you called it), and it should reboot into Ubuntu install.

6. Install Ubuntu

This is the stanard text graphics based installer that will ask you for your language, location, keyboard mapping, timezone, and install a base system. You can then choose to install extra software on top of it, like Ubuntu Desktop for a full Ubuntu installation.

The details of the install process is beyond the scope of this article. Just make sure that when you get to the partitioning step you choose “Manual” so you can select your Linux and swap partitions to install on instead of overwriting your entire hard drive!

Ubuntu will install its own GRUB bootloader during setup, and it will contain the Windows boot option as well so you should at this point have a dual boot setup on your PC between Windows and Ubuntu.

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How to install Windows 11 on older, unsupported PCs

How to install Windows 11 on older, unsupported PCs

Microsoft will not automatically update unsupported PCs, so users must take it upon themselves to perform the procedure manually. But success requires a simple hack of the process.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft has made it abundantly clear that it wants to limit Windows 11 installations to certain PCs with appropriate hardware security features. Unfortunately, those requirements block many older, yet still useable, PCs from the Windows 11 upgrade. The implication is that users will need to buy new hardware to accommodate Windows 11 sooner rather than later.

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But it doesn’t have to be that way. With a little ingenuity and some sleight of hand, users can install Windows 11 on many of their older personal computers despite Microsoft’s stated requirements. The key is to mix key aspects of the Windows 10 ISO file with files from a Windows 11 ISO file.

A caveat: This procedure is NOT SUPPORTED by Microsoft. While company blog posts suggest the company is aware of users taking these drastic steps, they have not yet taken counter steps to block them, and they don’t currently have plans to do so—but that doesn’t mean that they won’t. This is not a procedure you should use on production systems or other systems vital to business operations. Proceed at your own risk.

How to install Windows 11 on older, unsupported PCs

To assure we are all on the same page, the following procedure will update an existing unsupported Windows 10 PC to Windows 11. On qualifying hardware, this upgrade is performed automatically as part of the standard security update process. On hardware failing to meet the requirements, the installation must be performed manually.

It is important to note that successful Windows 11 installations will still require TPM 1.2 or better and UEFI boot capability. This will also only work for the 64-bit versions of both operating systems. Those requirements are immutable.

The reason Microsoft created such a short list of approved CPUs and such a long list of CPUs that did not make the grade was because of VBS and core isolation requirements. Older CPUs do not contain the subsystems necessary to efficiently run VBS protocols, which means those PCs will see a noticeable decrease in overall performance unless VBS and core isolation are disabled.

As an example of unqualifying hardware that could run Windows 11 with VBS disabled, consider my media PC purchased in 2016. It has an Intel Core i7-6,700K CPU and was once my primary gaming PC. It uses an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU, so it is still powerful enough to play casual games and display multiple sporting events at the same time. It has no sensitive data, so I feel confident in running it with core isolation disabled. There are numerous other examples of such capable and useful PCs deemed too “outdated” for Windows 11.

To start the update process, download the ISO files for both Windows 10 and Windows 11 from Microsoft. While you could use the Media Creation Tool to create USB drives with these files, it will be easier if you just download both ISO files to the PC you wish to upgrade.

Now, that you have the two ISO files, mount the Windows 10 ISO by double-clicking the file name. As you can see in Figure A, you will see a new drive (E:) with several files and sub folders.

Figure A

Create a new folder, let’s say on your desktop, name it “Windows11_Special_Install,” and copy the contents of the mounted Windows 10 ISO to this new folder. This will create a modifiable version of the mounted ISO file.

Unmount the Windows 10 ISO by right-clicking the drive (E:) and selecting “Eject” from the context menu.

Now, mount the Windows 11 ISO file by double-clicking it. Navigate to the “sources” subfolder and scroll down to the file named “install.wim,” as shown in Figure B.

Figure B

Copy the Windows 11 version of install.wim to the Windows11_Special_Install/sources folder, replacing the Windows 10 version of that file.

Unmount the Windows 11 ISO file by right-clicking the drive and selecting “Eject” from the context menu.

At this point, you should turn off VBS and core isolation security on your soon-to-be-updated PC, if it is still on.

Now, run the setup.exe app from the Windows11_Special_Install folder and follow the prompts to reinstall Windows 10. Of course, you won’t be installing Windows 10, you will be installing Windows 11 without the normal testing for authorized CPUs and other requirements.

Click the advanced options link during the installation process and choose to run the install without online assistant or updates. We want to install from the file we copied over and not from a file stored in the cloud. This means there will be updates to download and install after the initial process is completed.

When the installation and update are complete, you should be running an official Windows 11 operating system on a PC with an unsupported CPU. You can copy the contents of your Windows11_Special_Install folder to a USB thumb drive and use it to install Windows 11 on other capable but unqualified PCs as well.

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The two most common ways to erase a hard drive are by formatting or wiping the drive. We look at both approaches and discuss security issues and techniques.

Perhaps you have decided to forgo system upgrades and get rid of your computer system and purchase a new one. If you’ve decided to donate your old computer to a charity, local group or school, it’s extremely important to make sure your computer’s hard drive is completely free of data.

In the “no good deed ever goes unpunished” department, you need to ensure that you don’t donate more than you planned. The last thing you want is to pass on a PC when sensitive business information, or even personal information such as stored passwords, personal documents and credit card numbers that could be retrieved. When you donate a computer, you really don’t know where it may end up or if it will go through the hands of a malicious person with the capability to restore previously recorded and deleted data.

There are many ways to go about making sure your data can never be retrieved. Obviously, you can choose to physically smash the hard drive, but there are alternatives that enable you to keep the system intact so you can donate a complete system.

Quick Tip: Wondering what some of the technology words used in this article mean? Click the hyperlinks on computer, Internet and technology words to read Webopedia’s tech term definition.

In this definition.

Erasing and Formatting: Just Not Secure Enough

Simply erasing all the data on your hard drive and formatting it is not enough security. You can spend hours going through your hard drive and deleting all the files and documents you want, but using the delete key on your keyboard in Windows will only remove the shortcuts to the files making them invisible to users. Deleted files still reside on the hard drive and a quick Google search will show many options for system recovery software will allow anyone to reinstate that data.

Formatting the hard drive is a bit more secure than simply erasing the files. Formatting a disk does not erase the data on the disk, only the address tables. It makes it much more difficult to recover the files. However a computer specialist would be able to recover most or all the data that was on the disk before the reformat.

For those who accidentally reformat a hard disk, being able to recover most or all the data that was on the disk is a good thing. However, if you’re preparing a system for retirement to charity or any other organization, this obviously makes you more vulnerable to data theft.

For some businesses and individual users, a disk format may be something you consider secure enough, depending, of course, on the type of data and information you saved to your computer. As long as people understand that formatting is not a 100 percent secure way to completely remove all data from your computer, then they are able to make the choice between formatting and even more secure methods. If you have decided a disk format is a good choice, at the very least to do a full format rather than a quick format.

Editor’s Recommendation: Need help understanding formatting? This Webopedia “Did You Know…?” technology article provides instruction on how to format a hard drive.

Disk wiping options (aka “data dump”)

Even more secure than reformatting is a process called disk wiping (or disk scrubbing). The term disk wiping is not only used in reference to hard drives but any storage device such as CDs, RAIDs, flash drives and other storage devices.

Disk wiping is a secure method of ensuring that data, including company and individually licensed software on your computer and storage devices is irrecoverably deleted before recycling or donating the equipment. Because previously stored data can be brought back with the right software and applications, the disk wiping process will actually overwrite your entire hard drive with data, several times. Once you format you’ll find it all but impossible to retrieve the data which was on the drive before the overwrite.

While disk wiping algorithms differ from product to product, they all will generally write the entire disk with a number (zero or one), then a reformat will be needed. The more times the disk is overwritten and formatted the more secure the disk wipe is, but the trade-off is the extra time to perform additional rewrites. Disk wipe applications will typically overwrite the master boot record (MBR), partition table, and every sector of the hard drive.

For more information on how to dispose of data and/or hardware you can learn more here!

Disk wiping standards

The government standard (DoD 5220.22-M), considered a medium security level, specifies three iterations to completely overwrite a hard drive six times. Each iteration makes two write-passes over the entire drive; the first pass inscribes ones (1) over the drive surface and the second inscribes zeros (0) onto the surface. After the third iteration, a government designated code of 246 is written across the drive, then it is verified by a final pass that uses a read-verify process.

There are a variety of products available for different operating systems that you can purchase, or freely downloaded online to perform more secure disk wipes. If time to perform the disk wipe is a consideration, there are also tech security companies who offer disk wipe services.

Did You Know… In 2003 two MIT students purchased 158 used disk drives from various locations and found more than 5,000 credit card numbers, medical reports, detailed personal and corporate financial information, and several gigabytes worth of personal e-mail and pornography on those drives.

UPDATED: This article was updated April 2, 2021 by Web Webster.

Introduction: How to Pass Inspection & Complete a Drive Cycle

In this video I’ll show you how to complete a drive cycle and pass inspection after turing off your check engine light. It is true that your car will not pass inspection if the check engine light is on. However there is more to it than simply turning it off. By the way the easiest way to turn off the check engine light would be to disconnect the battery for 30 seconds. Inorder to pass inspection your car needs to complete a full drive cycle so that all (8) internal monitors have a status of “Ready”. If any of the (8) monitors have a status of “Incomplete” that means you have not yet completed a full drive cycle and you need to drive your car around more. Your car will need to experience city driving situations and highway driving situations inorder to complete a full drive cycle.

Usually if your check engine light is on that means you need some repair work done on your car but that is not always the case. I drive a 2002 Chevy Impala and the check engine light has been coming on for about 4 years. The trouble code is “P0420”. That means the catalytic converter is functioning below the normal efficiency levels. Back in 2007 when I first noticed the problem I had the catalytic converter replaced. At that time the performance of the Impala was greatly reduced. Specifically when ever the accelerator was pressed there was a significant time delay before the car would accelerate. It almost seemed as if the transmission was slipping and then suddenly it would catch and the car would accelerate. The problem however was not the automatic transmission. The problem was the catalytic converter. There was a carbon blockage that clogged the air flowing through the power train. Exhaust was escaping through the EGR valve because the catalytic convert was blocked up so much. So I bought the new catalytic converter. The cost was roughly $800 as I learned that my vehicle was manufactured to the California emissions standards and not the federal emissions standars. That was news to me.

About two or three months after the catalytic convert was replaced the check engine light came on again. This is around the time I asked for an OBD-II code scanner for Christmas. The same “P0240” trouble code was being stored in the engine control module. The catalytic converter was under warranty so I had it replaced thinking it may have been defective. Again the “P0420” trouble code came back. At this point I started to see a pattern.

There was no performance problem with my car anymore. That had been resolved after the first catalytic converter was installed. The only issue was that the check engine light kept coming on. The Oxygen Sensors before and after the catalytic convert have been tested and I was assured they were functioning properly. If the Oxygen Sensors are out of whack that could possibly trick the engine control module into thinking that there is a problem with the catalytic converter. So that was ruled out.

To this day in order to pass inspection I have to erase the check engine light and complete a drive cycle. Only then will my car pass inspection. Of course two weeks after the inspection the check engine light will come back on. Hope this informations helps someone out, or maybe you have your own theory about whats really wrong. I would love to hear your thoughts.

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