Boot Camp on iMac 11,3 with no ODD working

Question

Hello guys,
I have been up and down for a month now with this problem....mostly down
I have iMac 27" i3 (mid 2010) with broken ODD and I want to install Windows 7 64 via Boot Camp Assistant.
I have done all this:
Maverick Boot Camp - Partition and USB installation of Windows 7
I mean everything, step by step and I'm always stuck on:
No bootable device --  insert boot disk and press any key
1st step: Downloaded clean .iso of Windows 7 64bit,Home Premium (Tried with Ultimate 64 clean .iso also)
2nd step: Edited my Info.plist from Boot Camp Assistant which states=>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>32BitSupportedModels</key>
  <array>
  <string>MacBook7,1</string>
  <string>MacBookAir5,2</string>
  <string>MacBookPro10,1</string>
  <string>MacPro5,1</string>
  <string>Macmini5,3</string>
  <string>iMac12,2</string>
  </array>
  <key>BuildMachineOSBuild</key>
  <string>14A360</string>
  <key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key>
  <string>English</string>
  <key>CFBundleDisplayName</key>
  <string>Boot Camp Assistant</string>
  <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
  <string>Boot Camp Assistant</string>
  <key>CFBundleGetInfoString</key>
  <string>Boot Camp Assistant 5.1.2, Copyright © 2014 Apple Inc. All rights reserved</string>
  <key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
  <string>DA</string>
  <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
  <string>com.apple.bootcampassistant</string>
  <key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key>
  <string>6.0</string>
  <key>CFBundleName</key>
  <string>Boot Camp Assistant</string>
  <key>CFBundlePackageType</key>
  <string>APPL</string>
  <key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key>
  <string>5.1.2</string>
  <key>CFBundleSignature</key>
  <string>????</string>
  <key>CFBundleVersion</key>
  <string>497</string>
  <key>DARequiredROMVersions</key>
  <array>
  <string>IM41.0055.B08</string>
  <string>IM42.0071.B03</string>
  <string>IM51.0090.B03</string>
  <string>IM52.0090.B03</string>
  <string>IM61.0093.B01</string>
  <string>MP11.005C.B04</string>
  <string>MB11.0061.B03</string>
  <string>MBP11.0055.B08</string>
  <string>MBP12.0061.B03</string>
  <string>MM11.0055.B08</string> /after this line added my ROMVersion which is IM112.0057.B01/
  </array>
  <key>DTCompiler</key>
  <string>com.apple.compilers.llvm.clang.1_0</string>
  <key>DTPlatformBuild</key>
  <string>6A280m</string>
  <key>DTPlatformVersion</key>
  <string>GM</string>
  <key>DTSDKBuild</key>
  <string>14A359</string>
  <key>DTSDKName</key>
  <string>macosx10.10internal</string>
  <key>DTXcode</key>
  <string>0600</string>
  <key>DTXcodeBuild</key>
  <string>6A280m</string>
  <key>LSApplicationCategoryType</key>
  <string>public.app-category.utilities</string>
  <key>LSMinimumSystemVersion</key>
  <string>10.9.0</string>
  <key>NSMainNibFile</key>
  <string>MainMenu</string>
  <key>NSPrincipalClass</key>
  <string>NSApplication</string>
  <key>PreESDRequiredModels</key>
  <array>
  <string>MacBook7</string>
  <string>MacBookAir5</string>
  <string>MacBookPro10</string>
  <string>MacPro5</string>
  <string>Macmini6</string>
  <string>iMac13</string>
  </array>
  <key>PreUEFIModels</key>
  <array>
  <string>MacBook7</string>
  <string>MacBookAir5</string>
  <string>MacBookPro10</string>
  <string>MacPro5</string>
  <string>Macmini6</string>
  <string>iMac13</string>
  </array>
  <key>PreUSBBootSupportedModels</key> /deleted the "Pre" from this line/
  <array>
  <string>MacBook7,1</string>
  <string>MacBookAir3,2</string>
  <string>MacBookPro8,3</string>
  <string>MacPro5,1</string>
  <string>Macmini4,1</string>
  <string>iMac12,2</string> /after this line added my Model Identifier which is iMac 11,3/
  </array>
  <key>Win7OnlyModels</key>
  <array>
  <string>MacBook7,1</string>
  <string>MacBookAir3,2</string>
  <string>MacBookPro5,5</string>
  <string>MacPro2,1</string>
  <string>Macmini4,1</string>
  <string>iMac10,1</string>
  </array>
</dict>
</plist>
** I forgot to mention that this was done on a duplicated Info.plist on the desktop and then replaced with the original one located under the Boot Camp Assistant Package Contents folder**
3rd step: Then I open the Terminal and write the following:
sudo codesign -fs - /Applications/Utilities/Boot\ Camp\ Assistant.app
and it asks for my password,....I type the password and it changes the signature without a problem.
I can verify that I can see the option available in Boot Camp Assistant now.....as a first option that is.
4th step: I format my 16GB USB Flash Drive with Disk Utility in MS-DOS(FAT) Format.
5th step: I start the Boot Camp Assistant process and I select the downloaded(clean) windows 7 64bit .iso file.
6th step: Then I'm opted to divide my OS X partition so I can have room for my Windows partition. I opt for 130GB and the computer restarts after the partitioning.
And then I get the infamous:
No bootable device --  insert boot disk and press any key message.
Please help, i'm open for suggestions.
Thanks in advance.
Regards

Answer 1

For Macs with built-in Optical drives, changing the Bootcamp info.plist allows a USB to be created, but the second problem is left unsolved. Bootcamp Assistant has code, which tells the CSM-BIOS layer to boot from a specific device path, which is the Optical drive. This needs to be changed in the NVRAM, and the simplest method is to hold Alt key before BA switches to BIOS mode and tells the Mac to boot from DVD. This is not 100% successful in all cases, but you can try it.
I wish the Apple engineers had another BA key in this info.plist, which was WindowsBootDevice == USB/OD/SomeOtherDevice and users could change it or put it on the BA UI.
OD failures are a pain, especially on iMacs. Windows installer does not like an external OD, so it is a pain.
If you have a second Mac which does not require an OD, Winclone can be used to move an installed BC partition to another mac, but it is a more expensive option.