How to activate Target Display Mode on iMac 27", Late 2009?

Hi all,
I'm trying to use my iMac as a display for my PC. Unfortunately I can't activate the iMac's Target Display Mode (TDM) through a DVI-to-miniDisplayPort cable.
As far as I know, the TDM exists on my iMac (27 inch, Late 2009).
I am following these steps:
(1) start the iMac,
(2) start the PC,
(3) press Cmd+F2,
but nothing happens on the iMac (as if I didn't press anything).
The PC's DVI output works on another screen, though.
Here are my settings:
- iMac: 27 inch, Late 2009, 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 with miniDisplayPort, OS X 10.8.4 (12E55)
- PC: Gigabyte's GTX 770 graphic card with DVI-I output, Windows 8 fully updated
- between the two: DVI-D cable plugged into Apple's DVI-to-miniDiplayPort adapter
Any advice?
Thanks a lot :-)

Please very carefully read:
support.apple.com/kb/ht3924
In it you will see that TDM only works on a late 2009 iMac in Mini Display Port to Mini Display Port, no other configurations will work. If your iMac is an early 2009 iMac (please check the Tech Specs for each on Apple's website) TDM is not supported on that model.

Similar Messages

How do I get Windows 7 to display in Target Display Mode on IMac

I am increasingly frustrated by my inbability to get my Mac Mini running Windows 7 to display on my late 2013 27" IMac using Target Display mode.
My setup:
1. IMac 27" Late 2013 running OSX 10.9.2 with all the latest drivers as of Mar 7, 2014.
2. Mac Mini Server Mid 2011 running Windows 7 SP1, 64bit, all the latest Windows drivers as of 3/7/14, using the latest BootCamp Drivers for this machine, ver 5.1 downloaded 3/5/14 to this machine using Boot Camp utilities in its OSX mode.
3. Connected via Apple Thunderbolt cable.
My process is as follows:
a. Turn on the IMac, boot up in the normal manner, preparing it to run in Target Disk Mode in OSX.
b. Turn on the MacMini boot up via BootCamp, in the normal manner in to Windows 7.
c. When Both machines are on and connected via their Thunderbolt ports, I enter cmd-F2 on the IMac keyboard to enter Target Disk Mode.
Nothing happens.
I use this IMac to display my MacBook Pro in OSX, so I know it is working, but I can't see where the problem is.
I have reviewed all of the Apple support information and followed it explicitly, to no avail.
When I have called the Apple support team, I get little help, they assert that they can't troubleshoot because it is not all Apple hardware/software (everything including the Thunderbolt cable is Apple except for the Windows OS)
Any suggestions will be welcome...
Thanks!

I have finally achieved some clarity on how Target Display Mode works, or rather doesn't work.
And I have been mistaken in some of my prior comments.
Target Display Mode is a function of the host machine, at this point only the IMacs. And it is only available when the host machine is running OSX.
But the most recent Thunderbolt versions of the IMac have been significantly dumbed down in this functionality.
The prior generation of IMacs whose video was supported through the Mini Display Port supported almost any input from a Mini Display Port compliant Computer through the use of various mechanical adapters, and certainly from any Mac Hardware or software combination. It was a very versatile setup, and the IMac in this manner could serve as an absoloutely beautiful monitor for a wide variety of hardware/software combinations.
When the current version of the IMac was deployed using the Thunderbolt ports for input for external video, we apparently left a world of standards based video input and entered the world of Apple proprietary video.
The current model of IMacs with thunderbolt video have a very limited functionality in Target Display Mode compared to those of us who have used it previously. and it only functions when the client machine is running OSX.
No other video input from any source will display.
I am not quite clear on the reasons one would want to display OSX on an OSX native machine, but you can do it. I guess MacBook Pro or Air running OSX will now display on the IMac if that is your need.
Likely the most likely need for Target Display Mode for the rest of us is to run Windows on an external machine and display the video on the IMac, as we have been able to do with the prior generations of IMacs for several years now.
Apple has been unwilling to distribute the technical specifications of its video input requirements in Target Display Mode, (other than to assert it requires OSX), and these technical specifications appear to be proprietary.
I have personally unsuccessfully tried to display the output from both Windows 7 and a Windows 8 machines running from a Windows thunderbolt port into a thunderbolt port on a current model IMac using Target Display Mode.
Unfortunately, there are still a few applications that won't work in Mac world and require a native Windows machine. My current need is to run Dragon Naturally Speaking via Citrix to a remote Citrix server and a Windows app. Parallels and VMWare Fusion do not work, nor does the OSX version of Dragon Dictate function via Citrix. So I am stuck.
I hope that Apple, so long a leader in technology, will restore the functionality it abandoned when it embraced thunderbolt as its only video iniput in Target Display Mode.
Thanks!

15 inch early 2011 Macbook Pro to Mid 2010 27 inch Imac Target Display Mode

Hi Guys
I have a early 2011 15" Macbook Pro with thunderpolt port aswell
as a Mid 2010 27" iMac with MiniDisplay port.
I am trying to use the iMac as a second screen for my Macbook.
Both has Mountain Lion on them.
I have both Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt aswell as miniDisplay to MiniDisplay
cables.
I can't get target display mode to work.
The thunderbolt cable doesn't work at all.
The MiniDisplay does seeem to work to an extend but not completeley.
When i plug in the MiniDisplayPort cable to both machines then
the Macbook pro screen becomes blue which means secondary monitor detected.
iMac screen becomes blank. Sometimes i have enough time to see in system preferences that
the Macbook pro actually has a secondary monitor.
But just as it turned blue on the Macbook pro and black on the iMac. It turns blue again
and the iMac returns to it's Desktop.
The exact same happens when i Press Command + F2 on iMac keyboard.
Any help or ideas?

I have a 13"macbook air and a Dec. 2012 iMac 27". Out of the blue it stopped working in Target Display Mode. Switching cables doesn't help, and the iMac and MBair are connect to power. I can see the iMac screen in Share Screen mode on the MB air.
This seems to be an issue, I have encountered eg. in MacRumours:
Jan 11, 2013, 10:17 AM
#5
martinm0
macrumors 6502
Join Date: Feb 2010
I have the same issue with my 2012 27" iMac (3.4, 680MX). When I initiate Target Display mode the iMac goes black and never comes back up. On the laptop I can see the display in Display Preferences, but its as if the backlight doesn't come on in TD mode. (I even did screen sharing into the laptop and can see both displays there.
Anyway, called Apple and they determined its an issue and I have to send in for a replacement.
Anyone else with a 2012 iMac (21.5 or 27), can you please test out Target Display mode and let us know if things are working or not?

Disable sound on imac in target display mode

Have a question about disabling the sound.
I have a MacBook Pro connected to my iMac by the thunderbolt cable. I enable the target display mode on iMac with a script for disabling some configurations on iMac ( including the bluetooth for mouse and keyboard steal ).
I set the sound output in the MacBook Pro to the iMac DisplayPort.
The problem is now i have both outputs on iMac speakers. i want to disable all sound from iMac but keep the output from MacBook Pro on iMac speakers.
Is this posible?
Thanks.

Humm... I might go TosLink between the iMac and the FastTrack and then run the USB connection to the MacBook Pro when your using it in Target Display Mode.
Or vise Versa, leave the USB connected to the iMac and use the TosLink connection for the MacBook Pro.
See > NewerTech CBLAOPTMT Toslink to Mini Toslink Optical... in stock at OWC

How can I use my 27" iMac (2010) as an additional display to my Windows 7 PC (target display mode)?

So I have purchased a windows machines so that I can play all my favourite games on, and it's not so much a problem rather I have a 27" iMac that I would like to use as an additional monitor for said games.
I have had a look at this article on using the iMac as a display for another computer and things looked promising. I think I need a bit of help getting there though as I can't find definitively anything online to tell me exactly what I need. Most stuff talks about connecting other Apple computers that have mini display ports.
My PC's video card is an nVidia Geforce GTX 650 Ti that sports 2 DVI ports and a mini HDMI port (adaptor to full HDMI was included). The iMac has a mini display port. I went out and got a HDMI cable and Moshi Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter (with audio) to try to use the iMac as the additional display. I connected the PC with [a generic] HDMI cable to the adaptor which ran to the iMac and went through the appropriate steps (ie. pressing CMD + F2) to initiate target display mode. Nothing happened.
I have read that other people with different situations tried an SMC reset, but this didn't work for me either.
At this stage I wanted to see if the DVI port would do anything, or perhaps looking at a particular kind of HDMI cable, but wanted to see what the community can offer up as advice.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Hi,
have a read here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924
Regards
Stefan

I have a late 2010 MB Air (mini display port) and a new 2013 iMac (thunderbolt) which I would love to use as an external display. I suspect that target display mode won't work.Any ideas for how to achieve this?

According to the TDM support page, this isn't possible. I tried it with a Mnidisplay port to minidisplay port cable without success. Its a shame that thunderbolt doesn't appear to be backwards compable as I could have achieved this with an older iMac.
Cheers

You are correct....it will not work. Please carefully read Apple's Target Display Mode: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Target Display Mode on late 2013 27" iMac to mid 2010 27" Imac

Hey guy's real strugling to make my 2010 imac become a display, When i connect my 2010 cinema display 23" everything works fine but the minute i try to enable the tdm function on the 2010 imac nothing happen. Like nothing I got the mini display to thunderbolt adapter but nothing happen with the imac.
Any help or suggestion is very welcome.

Target Display Mode 2009 & 2010 iMacs
Target Display Mode And Thunderbolt
iMac- How to use your iMac as a Target Display Mode display
iMac (Mid 2011)- Target Display Mode does not work with Mini DisplayPort cable

Use iMac in Target Display Mode with a Power Mac G4

I would like to connect my Power Mac G4 MDD (Model = http://support.apple.com/kb/SP63) to the new iMac (27 inch, Mid 2010) in Target Display Mode. That is, I want the new iMac to be the display for my Power Mac G4. Has anybody done this (including using the iMac 27 inch, Late 2009, which can also do this)? In a general sort of way, this sort of thing is described on this support page: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3924.
The problem: The iMac requires a Mini Displayport connection. The PowerMac has ADC and DVI-I display connections and also came with an adapter for converting DVI-I to VGA. How can I convert/adapt to get the appropriate Mini Displayport connection?
Gefen makes a converter (http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=8913) that will convert DVI-D to Mini Displayport, but the description explicitly says that it will work with DVI-D only while my PowerMac has DVI-I. I know that these are two different, incompatible connections.
Is there another converter that works with DVI-I? Or is there a way to adapt from DVI-I to DVI-D? Or how about a VGA or ADC to Mini Displayport converter?
Thanks.

japamac-
Thanks so much for your reply. You're right on target for what I'm looking for and that article is VERY helpful! If you don't mind, I do have a couple more questions/clarifications.
1) First, I think that I didn't read the Wikipedia reference concerning DVI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DigitalVisualInterface) closely enough. It includes the following paragraph. If I understand it and what you said, it shouldn't be a problem to connect the male DVI-D of the converter into the female DVI-I socket of my Power Mac. Right?
+The long flat pin on a DVI-I connector is wider than the same pin on a DVI-D connector, so it is not possible to connect a male DVI-I to a female DVI-D by removing the 4 analog pins. It is possible, however, to connect a male DVI-D cable to a female DVI-I connector. Many flat panel LCD monitors have only the DVI-D connection so that a DVI-D male to DVI-D male cable will suffice when connecting the monitor to a computer's DVI-I female connector.+
2) I'm not clear on the difference between the Altona AT-DP200 and the Gefen converter. The Gefen converter is somewhat less expensive, so I'm trying to figure out what the downside is. The article you mentioned says that the ATP-DP200 "doesn't scale images", but that seems to only be an issue if I'm trying to connect other devices (PS3, Blu-ray), not if I just want to connect my Power Mac.
The description of the Gefen converter includes the following drawbacks:
+The only major drawback to Gefen's solution is no support for VGA devices or HDCP. A minor gripe would be the fact that the Gefen device only accepts one input resolution and only outputs one resolution (1920 x 1200 at 60 Hz). These limited options aside, the Gefen device looks like it could do the basic trick of transforming a DVI signal to Mini DisplayPort so that you could use your 27" iMac for a few more purposes, provided that the input signal carries the required 1920 x 1200 resolution.+
I'm not clear on what the practical impact of those limitations would be. I don't think the the lack of support for VGA devices or HDCP is an issue for my application. But I'm wondering about the statement that it only accepts one input resolution and outputs only one resolution (1920 x 1200) and the need for the input signal to carry 1920 x 1200. I take it, first of all, that the Power Mac can supply that input resolution. And, what is the impact of the device only having that resolution output to the iMac screen? That is, how would that look on the screen, ugly or okay? Finally, would the Altona device provide a better looking output on the iMac screen because it can apparently handle different resolutions? The manufacturer's description says, "Resolutions: all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (It is Important to select one of the resolutions that display
is capable of displaying, refer to your display’s users manual)."
Thanks again.

Blurry fonts in iMac in Target Display Mode

When I connect Macbook Pro retina with iMac using Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt cable, and use iMac in Target Display Mode the text and fonts are really blurry.
It is the same text in Macbook:
Text in iMac:
The resolution of iMac display is "Best for display", however, I have tried to change it without any success.
Does anyone has similar problem or anyone knows how to fix it? Thanks in advance!

I have found an interesting regularity. If I open window (let's say PDF file) in Macbook Pro and drag it to iMac, then everything is okey. Unless I resize it. Once I resize it, it becomes blurry/smooth again.
Why had this problem and how to fix it?
Changing the resolution in Macbook Pro can help, but 1) I need to change the resolution in Macbook every time when I connect external monitor 2) I cannot resize windows in iMac 3) if I change resolution in Macbook Pro items become really small, so it is hard to see something.
Please help!
OS: OS X Yosemite 10.10
Macbook: MacBook Pro (Retina, late 2013)

How do i set target display mode

How do I set up Target display mode on a IMAC 21.5 inch 2.9 Ghz I5 core. OS X 10.9? I want to project from my Macbook Air 11 inch 1.6 Ghz i5 core OS X Lion 10.7.5.

Looking at the processor of both Macs, both of them are from 2011 or later, so they have got Thunderbolt. In this case, you just have to buy a Thunderbolt cable and connect it to both MacBook Air and iMac. Then, press Command and F2 keys on your iMac to enable Target Display mode.
Read > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US Also, see > http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11302?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Apple Mini DVI to DVI Adapter to connect Win7 tower to iMac / Target Display Mode

I currently run Windows on bootcamp on the iMac (Mid-2011), although the tasks I perform (3D modelling, rendering and such) cause the Mac to get very hot, and as a result hae a slight burn mark on the LED LCD screen.
I am buying a Windows machine, and am to uninstall bootcamp and use the Mac purely for OSX, but use the iMac screen as a monitor for the tower using Target Display Mode. My issue is - the Windows 7 tower only has DVI output. And as I understand, the Mid-2011 iMac only supports Target Display Mode via a thunderbolt cable.
My question is - Will the Apple Mini DVI to DVI adapter allow me to connect the DVI-only tower to the iMac? Thanks in advance x

Oh, I should mention also that the iMac is the 27" model. Mid-2011 3.4Ghz Intel Core i7 with 4GB RAM and 1TB Harddrive. And ATI HD5450 1GB Graphics.

Can windows 8.1 in boot Camp display in target display mode on an IMac?

I have given up on Windows 7 running in Boot Camp on my 15" MacBook Pro and displaying it on my 27" IMac via thunderbolt and Target Display Mode.
The FAQ concerning Target Dsiplay Mode farily clearly says Windows 7 won't work.
But it does not say Windows 8.1 will or will not drive Target Display Mode via thunderbolt.
see: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5219, question 29
Has anyone found that running Windows 8.1 in BootCamp on a MacBook Pro Retina mid 2012 will display via a thunderbolt cable in to Target Display Mode on a late 2013 IMac 27"?
I don't want to go to the trouble of installing Windows 8.1 and trashing my otherwise functional Windows 7 Boot Camp installation unless it is going to display properly on my late 2013 27" IMac running OSX 10.9.3 via thunderbolt.
Thanks in advance!

no, tdm doesn't work under bootcamp regardless of which windows is being used, imho i don't think it will ever work under bootcamp

TS3775 Hi I am trying to connect my mba mid 2011 with an imac 27" 2011 with target display mode tdm. When I am using a thunderbolt cable nothing will work. When I use a minidisplay cable, both screens turn blue but eventually nothing happens. What is the

Hi I am trying to connect my mba mid 2011 with an imac 27" 2011 with target display mode tdm. When I am using a thunderbolt cable nothing will work. When I use a minidisplay cable, both screens turn blue but eventually nothing happens. What is the problem

Your answer is likely in Target Display Mode: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Apple Support If you are familiar with this document, please re-read it and I suspect you may find something you either missed or are doing incorrectly.

IMac 27" Target DIsplay Mode + Answer to Windows 7 Boot Camp Install

First, I'd like to address the handful of complaints I've come across about installing Windows 7 via Boot Camp on the new 27"iMac.
The issue of the screen going blank when almost done has an easy albeit annoying answer. Simply connect the iMac to an external display, I used a small vga lcd with the Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter. When the iMac's screen goes black the external lcd will continue, and when Windows 7 starts up it will download the updated ATI drivers. From there alls well.
Second, my problem.
Target Display Mode is a great feature. It worked great when I first used it, and it works great now except for the fact that the Command+F2 button combination stopped working. I have to manually unplug my MacBook Pro in order to get my iMac's original screen up. At first Command+F2 would allow me to switch back and forth, and now it does nothing.
Any suggestions?

Well, the usual first things to try for a display-related issue are
Reset PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
and of that does not help, reset SMC
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543
which is basically unplugging the iMac from power and reconnecting it following the precise procedure.
Note: After resetting PRAM, you should go to System Preferences +Startup Disk+ pane to make sure your internal drive is selected (highlighted) as the startup disk.

Target Display Mode - Connecting pre-Thunderbolt Macbook Air to Thunderbolt iMac.

I want to use Target Display Mode in order to display my late-2010 Macbook Air (pre-Thunderbolt) to a Thunderbolt-based iMac. Is there an adapter solution to connect, say, a mini display port + USB port on the MB Air to the iMac Thunderbolt port, such that TDM would work?

Depends upon the situation. Take a look at this blog:
http://blog.macsales.com/10899-target-display-mode-and-thunderbolt

How to activate Target Display Mode on iMac 27", Late 2009?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for