How To: Install Windows 11 on Mac Pro 7,1 (painless) | MacRumors Forums

Having recently gone through this process -- along the way, I found myself googling this a lot; and I could not find one straight-forward answer, just a bunch of different answers from different sources, all utilizing different methods.

So using my past experiences getting Windows 10 and 11 running smooooothly on my trusty old 5,1 with OpenCore (through MANY different methods), I've decided to compile this guide for any future 7,1 owners that wish to (painlessly) install Windows 11 on their fantastic machine.

Please note that this guide requires you to have access to a computer running Windows (doesn't matter if its a Mac or PC, you just need some form of Windows).

With that said, let's get started:

Required items

• A computer running Windows
• An 8gb USB Flash drive
• A Mac Pro 7,1
• Rufus (ver 3.18 or newer)

Here we go, first we will create a Windows 11 USB Installer:

1. Using your Windows computer, download Rufus
2. Download a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft
3. Use Rufus to create a bootable UEFI, GPT, Windows 11 USB flash installer and bypass the stupid TPM requirement
4. Starting with Rufus 3.2, the option to remove the TPM requirement won't appear until after you've pushed the "START" button
5. Boot selection should be: Disk or ISO Image
6. Press Select and find your downloaded Windows 11 ISO
7. Partition Scheme: GPT
8. Target System: UEFI
9. Press Start
10. Check the box that says: "Remove Requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0"
11. Check any other options you may want
12. Press OK
13. Let Rufus do its thing
14. Once finished, place the flash drive to the side for now (we will use this later)

*Note: If you are planning on installing Windows on a drive OTHER than the stock Apple NVME, I have only tested using the SATA ports (not PCIe), but I imagine PCIe might work. Note that you CANNOT use the USB 3.0 port. So if you have a Sonnet J3i (like me), the drive that will receive Windows must be connected via SATA (if someone can confirm PCIe, I will update these instructions).

Now, time to install Windows on your 7,1:

1. On your Mac Pro 7,1
2. With a drive connected via SATA
3. With the backplane USB 3.0 port disconnected (NOTHING connected to it)
4. With your 7,1 fully assembled and powered on
5. From within macOS
6. Download a Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft
7. Now, use Bootcamp Assistant to Install Windows 10 on your 7,1 to that SATA drive
8. Once Windows is finished installing
9. From within Windows 10
10. Insert the Rufus-made Windows 11 flash drive into one of the 7,1's USB ports
11. Open it and run setup.exe
12. Install Windows 11 (your 7,1 will reboot many times)
13. Activate Windows (if you hadn't done so when you setup 10)
14. Enjoy your amazing machine!

***If you wish to use a drive connected to the USB 3.0 port --

1. Shut down your machine
2. Disassemble the 7,1
3. Connect the drive you want to use via SATA to USB 3.0 connector plugged into the backplane
4. Make sure everything is in it's place
5. Reassemble your 7,1
6. Power back on
7. Format your drive (if your plan was to use that drive in Windows). If not, then Bootcamp back into macOS and format there...

Hope this helps someone in the future. Thanks for reading!