Windows 10 on bootcamp. USB ports not working.

Question

Level 1

7 points

Windows 10 on bootcamp. USB ports not working.

Hello. I set up windows 10 on my older Mac Pro for my son to play games with a friend. The cylinder shaped model. Can not remember the year sorry. Everything worked fine until I updated drivers. Suddenly the keyboard and mouse stopped working so can not log in with the password. It looks like the usb ports are not working. Tried a different mouse and different usb ports but no go. Can not log into safe mode or Bios mode as the keyboard does not work so can not hold down any of the suggested buttons. I downloaded a startup usb windows but can not use that to startup either as how do I do that with no keyboard or mouse working?

Thank you for any help.

Posted on May 6, 2025 11:48 PM

Reply

Answer 1

May 10, 2025 7:18 PM in response to mopahhh

"I find your lack of specifics disturbing."

Star Wars quip aside, you haven't provided any info with regards to your model year. Assuming that you have a Mac Pro built 2016-2019, I believe its built-in security may be why external media cannot boot. 2016 Macs introduced us to hardware security chips that go by the names T1 and T2. If you have one of these, then you may have a setting called Secure Boot; and by default, it may be turned on to prevent "unblessed" USB sticks from booting --like a Windows installer.

To check your Secure Boot state, start the machine up in the Recovery environment (Command-R) and look for the Security menu at the top. If you see Startup Security Utility, this is where you want to be.You should have three settings here; select the second or third (no security; not recommended) to allow the use of external boot media. Quit the utility and reboot.

Insert your install media now, then restart the machine holding the Option (or Alt) key on your keyboard. This should bring up a graphical catalogue of things that will start up. Your USB stick might be here as "Windows" or "EFI Boot". If it isn't, the stick could need to be reformatted with a Windows Media Creation Tool.

Let us know how things shake out, and we'll go from there.

Nate

Reply

Answer 2

mopahhh Author

Level 1

7 points

May 10, 2025 7:58 PM in response to Nathan Alden

More info required would have been a lot easier than typing all that. Worked it out myself and "Hold F8" while restarting was the solution. That brought up all the options like safe mode and repair etc. All of the above techniques you mentioned I had already tried previously but would not work. Thanks anyhow.

Reply

Answer 3

May 10, 2025 9:44 PM in response to mopahhh

Right, boss. I'm glad you were able to fix things yourself. If Windows was working beforehand, there is a much simpler method; hold the Shift key as you click Restart. Might have worked.

NEVER bite a hand that feeds. The solution given was based on the symptoms you presented, nothing more.

Nate

Reply