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As a casual Windows user since the late 90's (my family did have a Macintosh "PowerPC" prior) and as an more aware Windows user since XP/Vista and as an enthusiast Windows user since 7; this process of installing Windows on a Mac via Boot Camp was quite the experience.

I wanted to fully utilize the Mac hardware with Windows (mainly for gaming and sticking with 8.1 until I'm sure 10 will be flawlessly compatible or when I get around to building a Windows PC) as well as learn a little about how Macs work so I delved into this project green to OS X taking notes along the way, picking out the necessary information for each step, and noticing that there was not a complete writeup for installing Windows 8.1 Pro on a non-supported iMac; I decided to put together my notes in four parts with the intention of helping someone who may be in the same situation I was in.

Mac computers that officially support Windows 8.1:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201457

*although the Mac I'm using is listed on the link, I still had to look into piecing together the right steps to installing Windows and was apparent when I modified the Info.plist file as the Mac model identifiers weren't included