How to install Windows 10 "Boot Camp" on a Mac External Drive the EASY way! (2020 edition)

[@Djjolly037]

Anyone with a Mac 2018 and newer, disabling secure boot is only needed on those models because of the T2 chip, all other Mac models, restart and hold down option to choose your bootable usb or ssd that you have windows installed on. Took me forever to find this information

[@tervalia]

Omg, you literally saved me from a mental breakdown. THANKYOU!

[@Juju-se3jy]

I dont have the iso option u know how? Macos high sierra

[@choyang4309]

dk who u r but i love u

[@Itsachabb]

I already had the mental breakdown but thank you still

[@hamzaosama5814]

Thanks so much you saved me

[@JBelieber06]

This was very helpful! I just bought a MacBook 6 months ago and then found out last week I need to have a windows computer for school. Saved me a lot of money!

[@angelux079]

Nice

[@silentdream-]

I’ve been trying to run Boot Camp for around 6 months + but there was always a problem or any type of error. But then I realised that I could use my external drive to have more space. NOTHING worked, but I finally managed to do it with your video! This tutorial is perfect. These steps were nice, quick and easy to understand... thank you so much.

[@KromaaStudio]

hey but can you change to the macos again?

[@supermario1767]

@@KromaaStudio you can

[@silentdream-]

@@KromaaStudio ofc

[@KromaaStudio]

@@supermario1767 is it works with external hdd? i cant really afford ssd righ now

[@supermario1767]

@@KromaaStudio yes but very slow

[@theWalkingMan98]

This comment is intended for people in 2022. Most of the steps are very similar. However I had difficulty with WinToUSB. The newer version 7.0 did not work for me. I had to find version 5.5 online (just like the video). After installing the older version and following along the rest of the tutorial it went all smooth. Great tutorial.

[@jhaaae]

Hi, where did you find the 5.5 online version?

[@isabellaw3151]

@@jhaaae very easy just search win to usb version 6 and older and it will come up

[@isabellaw3151]

@@jhaaae do you want the link ?

[@dragonalfie3155]

@@isabellaw3151can i have it

[@NewRetro-i4r]

It is possible with Rufus

[@simineelamkav793]

Just did this tutorial in August, 2024. I can confirm that this worked like a charm! Thank you so much for the very clear and concise guide. I have an Intel 2017 iMac, and the main workarounds that I needed to do were to use version 5.5 for WinToUSB, and to look online for the VMWare version, which is now free. You can delete it after it’s on the SSD though. Thank you once again!

[@streamcutthemoffbyswaygo]

idk what it is but it won’t work for me

[@simineelamkav793]

@@streamcutthemoffbyswaygo What part are you stuck on?

[@streamcutthemoffbyswaygo]

@@simineelamkav793it was using the WinToUSB part that had me stumped as it was a lot different to how Jeff explained it… after a long time trying I finally managed to get it working - thank you for your updated version!

[@simineelamkav793]

@@streamcutthemoffbyswaygo No problem!

[@haydenherndon7539]

@@simineelamkav793 did your wireless mac keyboard and mouse work or did you need to get another mouse when getting on windows

[@ShaunJoe]

*UPDATE* If you are installing on a Mac that is 2017 (or earlier) it will not have the F2 chip. This means, at 13:10 , you enter your password but on screen it will state it as a ‘Firmware password’. Then, when you’re done, and the four Utilities options appear again, you won’t have an option for a red cross to initiate startup disk selection. Instead, you click in the top left on the menu bar and manually choose ‘Startup Disk’ and continue to follow the tutorial.

[@Zakilein]

But then I get "no bootable device." I am plugging into a usb 3.0, do you think usb-c is needed? Drivers should be working too...

[@bue7884]

Thank you

[@omarmahmoud9073]

I did that but I keep getting the "The bless tool was unable to set the current boot disk." message. Any fixes for that?

[@mesin6902]

Instead of the windows logo I get a folder with question mark ?

[@Zakilein]

@@jacklloydbeats7828 Yeah when you start up the pc instantly push Command and hold, then it asks you what you want to boot from. And you always have to do this, otherwise it won‘t find any bootable disk because it is empty

[@officialzylo]

Guys for anyone stuck at the "enter new filmware password" Go to the Apple logo and select "startup disk" and it will show u the wintousb drive :) i was stuck there for like 10 mins but then i figured it out And also.. thank you so much for this!!!!!! This helps like heaven

[@someweirdguy7384]

Tysm

[@babyjap]

You lifesaver

[@LeBreadman]

THANKSSS MANN

[@AndersLiljeqvist]

Jeff, your friendly, calm, and focused tutorials and reviews are just a delight to follow. 5/5, great work!

[@mschumacher1805]

and in DECENT English

[@mahmou6]

Tip for those who couldn't direct copy the win support folder and win to usb. Copy them first to the downloads folder then move them to desktop. Also, for selective booting press option/ alt on your keyboard once you hear the chime just before the apple logo appears. Cheers!

[@vickchester4285]

Still having problems with copying these files from mac download folder to vm windows desktop. Any suggestions??

[@mahmou6]

@@vickchester4285 copy them to the Windows downloads folder

[@Dylan-fm2pb]

Heyy @mahmou6 I followed every step to get bootcamp to my 513gb USB but the part where you restart your MacBook and it shows as Windows didn’t show up for me it showed the Apple icon and that’s it. Bootcamp is still on my MacBook but I want it on my 512gb USB if you can help me out that would be the best, I really need this for my class which is starting in 4 days, much love thanks for reading

[@mahmou6]

Hi@@Dylan-fm2pb are you sure Windows would run on USB. I tried this on an external SSD and it worked. Also, did you switch off secure boot?

[@DanielMonteiroNit]

Logitech is the kind of ad I actually love to see. Big fan since the 90s and they consistently keep me happy

[@Me4EverNatalie]

Legit and easiest computer tutorial I’ve ever watched. GOAT.

[@AbstractChange]

Thank you so much for this exceptionally well done video. The steps worked perfectly for me on my 16" MacBook Pro. After completing the steps in this video, I was able to make some additional tweaks so I can use the same Windows SSD across both my MacBook AND iMac. If anyone is curious, here are the additional steps I took so that I can use the same Windows SSD for either my MacBook or iMac (Intel-based iMac, of course): 1. On the second Mac device (in my case, this was an iMac), boot into macOS and use Bootcamp Assistant to download the "Windows Support Software" onto a separate external storage. I wasn't able to put this onto the Windows SSD. I believe this is because of the Windows SSD being FAT-formatted (though, FWIW, mine was formatted as exFAT). So, I just used another external storage I had available. 2. I decided to rename the folder to WindowsSupportSoftwareOther so I wouldn’t mix it up with the WindowsSupportSoftware folder found at the root of the Windows SSD. 3. In recovery mode of my iMac, I followed similar steps to make sure it can boot from an external device (as shown in this video). 4. Now shut down the iMac and plug in the SSD which has Windows configured. 5. Boot the iMac into the Windows SSD 6. Windows, for me, had an initial message of something like "preparing devices" and then restarted automatically 7. After the restart, Windows allowed me to log in. However, I noticed my magic keyboard and mouse were not working with the iMac. 8. Go to device manager and note the devices that have a warning triangle next to them (I had around 5 devices with warnings). 9. For each device, select “Update Driver". However, instead of using the WindowsSupportSoftware found at the root of the Windows SSD, be sure to select the WindowsSupportSoftwareOther that was generated by the iMac instead. 10. At this point, I needed to restart Windows and then everything was functioning properly. 11. However, when I next booted the Windows SSD via my MacBook, the keyboard/touchpad was no longer functioning on the MacBook. But, after simply rebooting Windows via the MacBook a couple times (no driver changes), everything was working again. 12. Now, I’m able to boot up the same Windows SSD via either my MacBook or my iMac.

[@nickhansbauer]

Is this solution still working well for you? Do you still always have to reboot several times after switching?

[@AbstractChange]

@@nickhansbauer Everything has been functioning fine, ever since those first few reboots. I can boot from the SSD via either computer without issue now. (FWIW, the devices I swap between are a 2017 iMac and a 2019 MacBook Pro).

[@nickhansbauer]

@@AbstractChange awesome, thanks so much :)

[@danielheathers1504]

100% the best step by step tutorial video I’ve watched on KZbin. One note, I already had Parallels so I was able to skip downloading the VMware, but the menus are literally identical, no trouble at all.

[@temoorkhalid]

i also use parallel is it work??????

[@danielheathers1504]

@@temoorkhalid yes the menu options are literally identical. Just replace everywhere he mentions VMware fusion with parallels. The menus, mounting instructions, everything is identical.

[@temoorkhalid]

@@danielheathers1504 thanks i have done but my touchbar not showing

[@danielheathers1504]

@@temoorkhalid You probably need to re-install Bootcamp drivers via the Windows Support Folders in the steps around the 4 minute mark

[@xbox_lol5705]

@@danielheathers1504 I need help my files wont go into the windows

[@conath]

I love how you took the time to disable all the anti privacy features in Windows 10 setup. Thumbs up!

[@tnttomato]

Thank you so much! I’ve tried so many ways and none of them worked until I found your 2017 post and was redirected here! This method works on Mac OS Big Sur if anyone is wondering! AMAZING tutorial!

[@IbrahimAhmed-fx7ch]

can you remove the drive and use normally?

[@annadoan2277]

what drive did u use? i heard the t5 isn’t compatible with big sur :(

[@smeshsmesh9695]

@@annadoan2277 yes it is

[@smeshsmesh9695]

Hey, how did you connect to a network? Because at 17:45 I can't connect to any network because when I click the network icon down below it wants me to do something in the settings and when I go to settings there's no wifi option or anything just ethernet, which I do not have. Pls help me

[@patriciamarie7863]

How did you connect to a network? I don’t have the option to connect to WiFi

[@OnlyGoku69]

As of posting this comment, the drivers seemed to install before the setup, meaning that my keyboard was working. I dont know if this is for everyone but it still worked! Thanks Jeff!

[@arman9146]

I literally watched and did the old video yesterday. If I didn’t do that. Then my experience with this would have been much easier. If only I had just waited a day lol.

[@lalo6667]

Can we use MBR for BIOS and UEFI instead of GPT for UEFI? Because my mbp 2012 have audio issue if using GPT fot UEFI 🙃

[@stanleychen3298]

Jer The Mac won’t recognize the drive in the boot loader then

[@drunemeton]

Jeff: AhMAZing tutorial! Concise and easy to follow along. Plus you have a very natural and friendly style of speaking that makes this complicated process seem simple. Many thumbs fam, soooo many… 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@djt4754]

From the bottom of my hearth, thank you so much, what a follow-along and guide through. one of the best step by step tutorials I ever watched. great content.

[@alfouterspace2517]

Thanks Jeff, this is the best tutorial I could find on the inet . I followed your procedure with the exception, that I used parallels desktop version 17 where the steps are not too different. Kudos

[@baldclub]

Jeff, I got to say you did a great job with this tutorial! Seriously I'm very stoked that I can run Windows 10 off my Samsung T7 Touch connected to my Macbook Pro 16. The laptops are not cheap and I opted for maximizing my graphics performance instead of storage, so ended up with a 500 GB internal drive. I am amazed how well Windows is running off the external drive. OK, let me say this again: Thank you for work and I really appreciate how clear your instructions are and how professional the whole video looks.

[@MobilediscowirralCoUk]

Had it been running fine? How fast?

[@baldclub]

@@MobilediscowirralCoUk Yes actually, it's been stable and fast. I have used it for sure intense work processes, GIS analysis, no problems at all.

[@cemalsonatalicik2336]

Can I partition the ssd and install windows on a portion of t7? I need to use the ssd as a storage device as well. If that's not possible then I will need to do BootCamp internally and use the ssd as just a storage device.

[@xbox_lol5705]

@@cemalsonatalicik2336 I need help dragging the files to mac 7:50

[@itcouldalwaysbeworse]

Amazing. I had been looking for a tutorial to do this for many months, and each one failed. I was directed to this by a friend, and not only did this work a charm, but it's hands-down the easiest tutorial to follow. Thanks so much.

[@prasannavunnava]

Hello, I followed the instructions but looks like there’s an issue. After selecting “setup” in windows nothing changed - I’m still not able to use the MacBook trackpad or keyboard. Is there any way I can change that ?

[@itcouldalwaysbeworse]

Hi @@prasannavunnava Go to 14.40 in the video. He says you need a USB mouse to be able to finalise the Windows install and then install the Bootcamp drivers, as the built in keyboard and trackpad won't work at this point in the install. This bit is crucial :)

[@prasannavunnava]

@@itcouldalwaysbeworse yes yes I did that, after install and setup It’s still not working

[@itcouldalwaysbeworse]

@@prasannavunnava Ah I see. Sorry, I'm not able to help any further; I just followed these instructions blindly! 😆 I hope you manage to get this resolved.

[@itcouldalwaysbeworse]

@@prasannavunnava Just to confirm, after going through the Windows setup using your USB mouse, did you immediately install the Bootcamp drivers (on the WindowsSupport folder that was copied into the C: drive earlier)? That is when the keyboard and trackpad started working for me.

[@joewilson4878]

Thank you so much man, this video was everything I needed - step by step. I really appreciate your help. I hope you have a happy and successful life.

[@Dunnay48]

EVERYONE WHOSE DRIVERS DIDN’T INSTALL: you have to go to the $WinPEDriver$ folder, then go into each folder and right click and choose install on all of the files labeled “Setup Information”, except for the ones in the “Intel” folder! This will manually install each driver, which fixed it for me.

[@kevinjiji7974]

i ran into the same problem. how did you manage to manually install them?

[@baoboba]

@@kevinjiji7974i went into device manager, then under Other Devices (there should be devices with the ⚠️), then updated them using the folder (like how he updated the speakers in the video)

[@squishy4968]

I did this a couple months ago this same way and it works wonderfully! I highly recommend this!

[@mohitthegoodguy]

Which SSD did you use ?

[@tjmorgan8194]

Is the settings we set in VMware the fastest the computer will go?

[@arafath717]

Will it affect gaming performance?

[@hitendraspatil]

@WeThePeople is 64GB SSD sufficient?

[@mdaaftab1845]

Make the same video on Linux in Mac bootcamp

[@Rbajaj1986]

Great video - truly excellent. If anyone else had the issue I did which may be Monterey related and did not see the drive as an option in recovery mode just restart and hold option instead and you'll have the option to boot from the external drive. The first time crashed. Repeated it and it worked 👍

[@omarsad6352]

Thanks a lot, spent 30 minutes figuring out why I couldn’t find the drive.

[@oliverknechtle8589]

Thank you so much Jeff. This video is awesome. I've never seen a Tech-tutorial as good as this one.

[@KunShining]

At 13:38, if you can’t find the close button to get out of the Ultilities, you’ll have to restart from the drop down menu in the corner. Press and hold the Option key until it prompts you to choose where to boot then choose your extern drive. I’m following this tutorial on Monterey so I think that’s where the difference lies. My booting up was a bit unstable at the beginning as it automatically restarted and booted back into Mac but after a few retries I managed to get Windows up and running. Hope this helps ❤️ Thank you for the amazing tutorial 9to5Mac 🙏🏼

[@OUCGN]

I stil didn't understand:( Do you have any link for any video? Thanks!

[@axlcinema]

I'm having the same problem, I press alt, when starting my Mac, I see two drives, try boot into the non Macintosh drive. It looks like windows is loading then my machine restarts and auto boots back into Mac OS. Did you do anything specific to fix the issue?

[@ElTuco84]

I followed your tutorial step by step and everything worked perfectly. You won a subscriber sir. Excellent tutorial, direct, concise and easy to follow.

[@TheiTE]

Thanks A lot for listening to my suggestion 😄 I had told you that day on the FCPX Video, really needed this video a lot, along with many other people... thanks 🙏🏻

[@christinatran105]

This tutorial was perfect! I have a 2017 MacBook Air, and I needed a Windows version of an app. I used Parallels - I’m more familiar with it - instead of VMware, and it worked just fine!

[@keduardsmusic]

Do you open Windows through your external drive using parallels and not having to restart?

[@SteveW928]

Good to hear, I'm about to jump into this and already have Parallels running with a Windows 10 VM. I figured it looks like it is just being used to run that utility and get data onto the SSD, so probably any Windows VM *should* work. Thanks for the confirmation, as that means I have no need to install another app (ie. VMWare).

[@remorema]

Hey bro I also have a MacBook air 2017 and set it up with paralels. Wintoisb boots fine the first time but when I install boot camp drivers it doesn't boot any more. Can you tell me how you got it working ?

[@bradleymay5983]

@@keduardsmusic No, parallels is only to run WintoUSB and install the windows to the SSD. After that the WHOLE computer is used to run windows, unlike parallels that splits the computer's resources. @9to5Mac I think that this is the only unclear part of the tutorial. It might be important in the comments to note why this is a more powerful option than just using VMWare or Parallels.

[@AJ-le5lx]

@@bradleymay5983 Hey There. On 7:11 he talks about customizing the memory settings to fit memory we have available. I only have less than 30GB internal memory on my MAC. I though using this method I would not need to lose any more internal memory in order to run windows. Do you think after installing VMware and using it can I uninstall it to retain the memory initially provided when following the video procedure?

[@arielBC]

Thanks a lot Jeff @9to5! Here is my contribution: For those with a T1 security chip (MacBooks Pro bought before 2018) you wont’t have the secure boot menu in the recovery mode [CMD+R]. Easy: just reboot with the [ALT] key pressed and the choose the ssd. Each time you’ll want to (or have to) reboot you’ll have to go through this. If you forget to press the [ALT] key you’ll be logged to your Apple internal drive. No problem, just reboot and pres [ALT]. Hope that helped some of you guys!

[@didrik.fageras]

It helped a lot!!! Thank you so much!!

[@arielBC]

✨

[@lowkey7671]

Dude. Thank you so much. I was so lost OMG THANK YOU

[@leicaman]

Holy smokes, the lame responses to this. This is brilliant! I wish I had seen this before I bought software to transfer my Bootcamp to an external drive - that never worked.

[@PlatnmBeatz]

Was it WinClone?

[@tocayotuerto5728]

same

[@daniel.m3257]

@@tocayotuerto5728 does it work?

[@MobilediscowirralCoUk]

Is it fast

[@daniel.m3257]

@@MobilediscowirralCoUk prob not

[@arturoarturo2570]

I love the passion with which you feel the tutorial and how you get excited, and how well detailed it is great

[@juanvalencia2289]

Thank you so much! I was battling with installing windows to an external drive and this video was perfect and didn’t miss any steps! I was able to use my old WD Elemental External Drive and it works perfectly fine!

[@jreverie7018]

Honestly wouldn't recommend doing this tutorial. I genuinely did everything I could, I've spent at least 20 combined hours trying to get this to work. I've downloaded old versions of programs to be the exact same, I've even tried manually installing every file needed one by one. My sound didn't work, then did for a brief period - plugged in a keyboard then bam, randomly gone again lol I don't blame the teacher, just stuff has changed. This dudes a legend but a new modern guide is needed

[@Christian63]

Thank you for this superb video, very useful for old people like me (76 years old) who do not dominate all the subtleties of computer science (LOL). I have a question: once windows is installed with VMware Fusion on the external SSD does it use all the cores and memory of the Mac or only what was initially defined for the virtual machine?

[@MarshnCubing]

Once you boot into windows, it will use all the processing power available on your mac. The virtual machine computing power settings is only for the virtual machine aspect.

[@vlad1110]

@@MarshnCubing what side effects will occur when you BootCamp your MacBook for example it will take half of your mac storage or mac system will be slow etc? bcs I'm using new model 2022 MacBook and im scared anything will happen to my macbook.

[@MarshnCubing]

This video is to set it up on an external drive, so it wont be using your onboard mac storage whatsoever. If you're not doing it on an external drive, then yes, it will take up space, but the amount depends on how many files you have on the windows side. There won't be a noticeable speed difference in your mac, especially not with the m1 chips.

[@JorgePerez-zh8io]

@@vlad1110 unfortunately, if you have one of the newer models (November 2020 and newer) then bootcamp will not work due to the different chip architectures

[@flashscanhd]

Jeff, this was really good in explaining the installation, perfect, 5 stars of 5

[@andredeniz8658]

How can I say thank you enough for such a great tutorial I could follow so flawlessly?

[@gjh4043]

Your video tutorial is by far the best one for making this work. I successfully installed the latest version of Windows 10 on a 1TB Samsung T7, and am grateful. I did run into a problem trying to install it on Plugable's 2TB NVMe drive...the VMWare virtual machine will not recognize the drive (regardless of formatting...tried, NTFS, FAT32, etc.). If you've got a solution for installing Windows 10 on that device...I'm all ears! Thanks again for the best described, most succinct video ever for installing Windows 10 onto an external drive; you did not miss a single thing!

[@joshuarosen6242]

This tutorial was clear and easy to follow - thank you very much. I did experience two issues (neither of which was a fault of the tutorial). When I was installing the Boot Camp drivers the installation hung at the point where it said "Apple null drivers" (or something like that). Cancelling, restarting and trying again sorted that out. The other issue is that the free version of WintoUSB doesn't support Windows 10 Pro. I installed Windows 10 Home but my licence key is for Pro and that didn't work. I tried to upgrade but that failed, possibly because it's an OEM key. It looks like I may need to buy the full WintoUSB version for £30 which is a shame but not the end of the world. Once again, thank you for this excellent tutorial. [Edit] I did end up having to pay for the full version of WinToUSB so I could install W10 Pro. Once I had done that I was able to activate Windows properly using the digital licence associated with my Microsoft account and now everything is working perfectly. I had a spare 1TB SanDisk Extreme portable SSD (it was my last Time Machine disk but it was too small so I bought a bigger one) and this is the perfect use for it.

[@mathewcherrie8042]

Hey Jeff, great video worked perfectly for me. Love my mac but at University use some software which works a lot better on windows so this is so good to be able to not use my internal storage for features I rarely would use. Anyway I issue i came around was the new WINtoUSB 7.1. The link you provided has updated WINtoUSB and it's a lot different to use and I could not figure it out so i just search up 5.5 WINtoUSB and downloaded that which worked perfectly (if anyone has the same issue just do that, makes it a lot easier). Thanks again.

[@dbruin85]

Saw this after buying WintoHDD. Thank you.

[@maartenmeekers3102]

Thank you for sharing this!

[@czxr_8]

Thank you for this clear and concise tutorial. Much easier than and more straightforward then having to use terminal and another flash drive

[@abdulrazaknuhu797]

This is the best and easiest step by step method I’ve seen. Worked like a magic smoothly. Thank you a lot just installed Windows 10 on my SSD using a MacBook Pro 13” Late 2013 version and still works like a charm. Thanks a lot.

[@lochtlmao]

i clicked this video angry because ive been trying to do this for hours. thank you so much i feel so much better

[@brucereynolds31594]

At 13:50, after you adjust the Startup Security settings, reboot holding option to select the file

[@dafdmcgrut6488]

This helped me get past this part! Updated to the new OS Monterey and the option to exit out of that part wasn’t there

[@mcspunckle]

I had already used up my VMware trial, but I used this video to go through it a slightly different way! I freed up enough space to install windows temporarily through Bootcamp. The only real change from this video is having to move the Windows Support, WintoUSB and Windows ISO to external storage. After the fact I realized the Windows iso and wintousb could just be downloaded on Windows, which would also be true in the VM. Doing it through Bootcamp worked just fine. Just use the Bootcamp assistant afterwards to reallocate the space back to MacOS. Honestly, if you can get access to a Windows PC, just use that to make the boot drive. A couple of notes not related to using Bootcamp: The wintousb disk didn’t show up when I was done with recovery mode, but simply holding the option key during restart worked fine. The mouse doesn’t necessarily need to be a USB C wired mouse. A Logitech unifying receiver in a usb c hub worked fine for me. And I had a couple of blue screens initially that I still can’t explain, but after restarts everything is running fine.

[@ToastyBread-cm6ie]

hi i know ur from 3 years but if i use up the free trial on the vmware will my bootcamp not work anymore???? i dont wanna pay every month and the price is too much for me

[@camograzer2252]

@@ToastyBread-cm6ie yeah it still works you just need it for the first part

[@daniiardiushebaev]

Guys, if the CMD + R doesn’t work. Try the ALT key it’s the key between control and command. Press ALT when you restart your MAC and you should be good !

[@HansOnProduction1984]

Jeff, thanks for this fantastic explanation. This is exactly what I needed to know for my wife's MBAir. Excellent job as always.

[@uyauabing]

Thanks for this helpful video. For those using old macbook pros (e.g. before the 2012 retina version), the device formatting (when prompted by WintoUSB inside VMWare Fusion) selected should be MBR for BIOS (instead of GPT for UEFI). During the first setup boot into Windows from the SSD, the mid-2012 macbook pro 's keyboard and trackpad worked fine for the setup without needing an external mouse or keyboard (in my case at least).

[@StephenMah360]

This "HowTo" is still relevant today. thank you! All the instructions worked with a few minor hicups.

[@andrupka8749]

What were the hiccups?

[@malikgenius4u]

Awesome solution, you saved me a laptop. i needed windows for my project but had no space in internal HDD, now my windows 10 is working great on external 1TB SSD. salute

[@AJ-le5lx]

hey there Malik. How much space did you allocate for VMware on 7:11 since he says we need to allocate some memory to VMware. My current mac is limited with only 30GB available. I was wondering if the amount of your internal storage that was remaining was similar to mine. I am intending to run ASPEN on windows.

[@IsaacFromHK]

**** Update for OSX Monterey **** Just want to let you guys know that I have followed this tutorial and it works for OSX Monterey 12.1 - after (around 12:09 from this video), what you need to do, is go to System Preference, Startup Disk, and select the new USB External drive and click restart. (You might need to wait for a minute before the USB drive shows up so you can select) - You need to do this step because somehow, in Monterey Recovery mode, it doesn't show the option to select the startup disk To select OS (Mac or the Windows from External USB), when you start your mac, just press button, and then you can select which OS to boot. it works for me and now I can boot into windows from the USB External drive without problem. I am using Macbook Pro 2017 15", with Radeon 560 .

[@_whitewolf9]

Thx a lot dude.. you solved one of my problems.. but I still can’t make the drivers work 🥲

[@xbox_lol5705]

@@_whitewolf9 I cant drop in the files to the virtual machine

[@kilian876]

Omg thank you man ... you literally saved my life hahahah i was about to give up 💀

[@xbox_lol5705]

@@kilian876 Yeah it helped alot and to switch back hold power buttong for 10 seconds and when turning back on hold alt

[@PeteMcMullen]

Thank you, solved my problem!

[@ThinhPhamNumber1]

Jeff, I think you should mention that the free version of WinToUSB software doesn’t work with Windows 10 pro, only the home version. Good video anyway. 👍

[@lalo6667]

Can we use MBR for BIOS and UEFI instead of GPT for UEFI? Because my mbp 2012 have audio issue if using GPT fot UEFI 🙃

[@9to5Mac]

@@lalo6667 I explain how to fix the audio issue at 18:27

[@danielalimohd]

Rufus works with Windows 10 Pro! And it’s free

[@ThinhPhamNumber1]

Daniel Alimohd AFAIK, Rufus doesn’t create Windows To Go disk anymore.

[@danielalimohd]

@@ThinhPhamNumber1 I flashed a hard drive yesterday with Windows To Go W10 version 2004 on the latest version of Rufus (3.1.1). It's available in the "Image option" dropdown after you select the iso file.

[@saitama8287]

Amazing guide. It worked very smoothly, he did a very great job going through the instructions step by step at a reasonable pace. I completed windows installation of my 2013 macbook air. Thank you!! 😃

[@Strategistlieu]

I've followed a lot of tutorials on the internet. This is THE ONLY one that works for me. Thank you so much!! 👍🏼

[@con7121]

at 12:19 for new versions of the Mac OS when you restart hold down option!! it’ll let you select the external drive that way :)) the reboot way doesn’t work anymore on Monterrey

[@ibrahimma5268]

Thank you! I was stuck there and your comment helped me to boot my external drive windows.

[@adamw2509]

Legend🥹

[@AndriaSilvaful]

Thank you so much! Such a clear and easy tutorial to follow! I couldn’t figure it out from others! Perfect to run windows to game!

[@hakalamax]

Why do we have to select GPT for UEFI when installing windows on the drive? I followed all the steps but my windows installation doesn't have audio, and it seems to be due to the drivers having a conflict with UEFI. Has anyone faced this problem? UPDATE: I made the installation again but selecting MBR for BIOS and its working perfectly now. Thanks for this great guide!!

[@selonline111]

im going to use this tutorial too, would you recommend MBR for BIOS?

[@mehmetmuratbozdag8035]

I just tried this method to create a Windows in my 1tb Toshiba hard drive and it works! Thank you for this helpful, cool video man, I really appreciate it 🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@DownShiftRecords]

100% the best tutorial I’ve followed along with! Thank you for making that whole process so easy

[@blackbanther4493]

YOU'RE A LIFE SAFER, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING A SIMPLE, CLEAR VIDEO ON A DIFFICULT PROCESS!!!

[@shahancontractor9557]

This is amazing it helped so much thank you! I loved the fact that you also made a written tutorial it really was useful. Also just FYI, 2 things that were different for me while going thru the process was Firstly during the disable secure boot, I didn't do it exactly how you instructed cause my system was different I was running the lastest version of Catalina. Second all my drivers just seemed to work at the get go :-). Once again thanks for this much appreciated.

[@_selenske_5787]

If you're on MacOS Monterey and you just get a option for firmware password inrecovery mode, make sure that is off and then click the apple logo from that main screen and select start up disk.

[@Jhervel]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! Every step was accurate (apart from a few things that were a tad different as I upgraded to Big Sur) but works perfectly, exactly what I wanted.

[@kieranmullin2793]

How did you close the recovery window? I’m doing it on big sur also but cannot select a drive too boot from?

[@Jhervel]

@@kieranmullin2793 I Had this issue too, all I did was click around on the menu bar (top left) until i found the 'Choose Startup Disk'. Hope this helps.

[@toddhoward9890]

Yes that was it. In the file menu.

[@xbox_lol5705]

@@Jhervel I need help dropping in the files to windows

[@justinguy73]

I have absolutely no intention of doing this on my MacBook but I just sat and watched this entire video. I think there’s something wrong with me... 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@henrike16254]

Justin Guy same here though...

[@woolfy02]

Yes!

[@TiHui]

Parallel desktop is much easier

[@sanoopsathish5048]

I don’t even have a Mac and I watched the whole video.

[@rebeccab910]

Me too

[@clementlefebure2950]

Very helpful! Will the drivers need future ‘manual’ updates (sound, thunderbolt, apple ssd in particular) or was that only necessary for the setup? Are the updates taken care off automatically after the initial setup? Thanks

[@vetrivetrichelvan]

Thank you so much... small clarification we can install windows 11 with this same steps... for 3.1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 base MacBook Pro

[@ArchangelHornet]

If you have a windows pc around and capable of connecting your external drive, you can skip the vmware fusion part and just do the same steps with your windows pc. 👌👍

[@MalayaPompers]

Thanks. That’s what i was wondering.

[@makasete30]

About the Sponsor: Logitech max master 3 has stuttering blue tooth problems on Mac with external monitors. They’ve had these problems for years and still haven’t sorted it out.

[@DeadheadDaisies]

Actually this latest refresh is supposed to bring 100% compatibility for Macs. They are in many ways the same as previous models, but have been refreshed for Mac/iOS compatibility this month specifically.

[@MichaelGGarry]

My MX master 2 has never had a single problem on my Mac....

[@TheConwenk]

My bootcamp support files seem to be stuck on enumerating pre install package :( I know you sped it up but it seemed like you at least saw a pinwheel every so often.

[@aaaaea9268]

Me: Ok it’s time to sleep The iDownload guy: *uploads video* Nope. It’s time to install windows on a external drive

[@StefphJ]

I didn’t want to use all the space on my ssd for the bootcamp Windows and as it’s formatted in ntfs it’s not really usable on the Mac side, so after running the wintousb I simply partitioned the drive and it works perfect

[@sapancool1993]

You partitioned the drive in windows to ntfs?

[@michellesudjito]

Stephanie Joubert how did you do this?

[@DrNowsSugarBaby]

@@michellesudjito I'd also like to know

[@celeryystick]

How did you do it

[@renkecools1091]

I have the same problem! Still want to use some space on my SSD as extra storage on the Mac side, how did you make this work exactly?

[@Richard-fy3ue]

Thank you so much! This was extreamly helpful and got windows running with no issues. Did this just because I really wanted to play Skyrim :D

[@toshiomori8352]

Just wanted to follow up with you to see how your Skyrim experience is with this. Looking to do the same thing, thanks!

[@hankkim0529]

Thank you!! I didn't have enough storage on my mac and I needed a tutorial to actually select the download on the hard drive. Thank you!!

[@jaymes1992]

“your device ran into a problem and needs to restart. We’re just collecting some error info, and then you can restart.” Tried 3x already and this is what always happen. I’m already in the process of installing windows support. How to fix this?

[@moldybread13]

Same!! any solution?

[@jaymes1992]

@Jan Tampos No. I gave up.

[@psyduck9475]

Hey guys for those having a hard time not being able to connect to the internet AFTER installing WindowsSupport Bootcamp setup, I saw this comment from Reddit user madmattnz. Worked for me; hope it does to you all as well: “1. ⁠Installed WindowsSupport drivers using the setup.exe 2. ⁠This is where it didn't seem to work again i.e. no trackpad, keyboard or wifi. 3. ⁠So I went to device manager and individually on each item with the yellow warning symbols right clicked to ‘update driver’ > ‘Browse my computer for drivers’ > Selected the ‘$WinPEDriver$’ (tick inside subfolders). $WinPEDriver$ is inside WindowsSupport folder. 4. ⁠One by one I repeated this until all were gone and all the drivers were loaded.” These are all mentioned in the video too at around 18:33 but for Audio and other issues only. So if you’re stuck with no WiFi, Trackpad, or Keyboard, try going to Device Manager first, install the drivers manually then restart. Good luck! Cheers.

[@aaronyecegarcia9282]

Thank you so much, that fixed my problem. I’ve been trying to fix these drivers for days now

[@fleetingsound]

This is exactly what I needed for my issues! Thank you so much for the heads up!

[@aryanharde6995]

I am not getting an option of download now in VMware fusion player. It is saying to register. What should i do?

[@fleetingsound]

@@aryanharde6995 select to download the pro and it'll let you install no problem. Their website is weird and you can select the trial when you run vmware

[@psyduck9475]

Glad this helped guys!

[@nicola3764]

I cannot see the WinToUsb option when restarting in recovery mode. Only the MAcintosh one. What is wrong?

[@rogerbutler8555]

Never could have done this without your vid. Just followed your steps one by one and got everything up and running. Thanks so much!

[@AJ-le5lx]

Hey There Roger. Did you delete VMware after you completed this whole process? As I am conflicted with part 7:11 when he talks about customizing the memory for VMware. As I was expecting not to use any of my internal memory as I only have around 30 GB max left. ANd he says we need to provide some memory for VMware despite only needing to install windows from the looks of it. Did you delete VMware after you installed windows as there might be no use for it?

[@renragged]

Wow, I thought that 1TB external SSD was going to be expensive, but it's only $170. NICE!

[@neverletmego6414]

A couple of years ago when I bought my 500gb Samsung external SSD it was around $160 yikes

[@Aim4sixmeals]

Or be smart buy an internal SSD for 100 bucks and buy an usb enclosure with SATA connector for 9 bucks and you have an external ssd and saves 60 bucks!

[@GarrettBroadnax]

Don't spend $170 for 1 TB. Seagate and WD both have 5TB options for under 150.

[@slash.9882]

Garrett Broadnax That's for an HDD, not SSD

[@GarrettBroadnax]

@@slash.9882 Ah excuse me, read too fast.

[@leeault1725]

GREAT VIDEO! thanks. I really got excited about this but my install is stuck on 0% :0( Any idea what is going wrong? I have used a partition on an external drive - that is the only thing I did different to the instructions! Thank you for your time!

[@thomascommons5311]

Stuck here too. Any solutions?

[@narekgermirlian1994]

This is so good. What if we want to remove the windows 10 startup? How would we go about that?

[@abhimanyouknow]

hey which VMware product did you download?

[@narekgermirlian1994]

Abhimanyu Verma i downloaded the pro fusion. when i opened the app it asked me if i wanted to do the trial.

[@mikespammer7663]

So couple of things! Took me a few hours to get all the problems sorted but I’ll try and explain in case it helps someone else 1. File sharing, took me a while to realise, once you have got VMware, you need to install the VMware tools, which mounts like a cd, so you then need to run the file from computer then select the disc, otherwise sharing will not work. 2. Problems with win to usb. So I managed to used the latest form of the app, but it kept crashing when formatting stage. Solution: format the hard drive yourself to NTFS through windows in VMware, this then skips the step and prevents the hard drive from being “lost” in the formatting stage (Also note when picking an option chose the one which is NOT the create usb install stick NOR the mount from ISO, you have to use the one which creates it from the disc that is mounted in vmware) 3. I had issues with getting the windows support file linked to the hard drive, as it wasn’t detectable after the WintoUSB finished. Solution: use another usb key/hard drive formatted in MS dos fat or Exfat, this can then be readable when plugged in to the computer 4. Drivers… god this took a while, had no internet for an hour playing around trying to work it out…. Answer was in device manager and finding the wifi driver, using the same process in the video updating the drivers manually, after a restart and installing all the other drivers as per the video everything worked! Obviously the apple updates were the most important followed by all my windows ones, but in the end everything was working fine All in all extremely grateful for this video as allows me to have 500Gb ssd for mac and 1 TB for windows!

[@abdullazizaljaber641]

I've installed the windows in my SSD and everything worked fine until I wanted to install the windows support drivers It says it's successfully installed but the keyboard and trackpad still not working and also the wifi so I can't use apple software update to try to install the drivers again What should I do? My device is a Macbook pro 13” 2020 base model Intel i5

[@ElmalditoGeorge]

Same problem. I also have the base model MBP 13 2020.

[@bazic2002WoT]

Have you fixed it?

[@sakitperut123]

let me know if problem settled

[@charlessimmons135]

Same problem...

[@gracefulghost1312]

I have the similar base model for 2020 and with some researching on reddit I was able to successfully install all of the device drivers necessary for windows 10. You're going have to install manually instead of through the automatic setup method 17:10 When your in Windows, all you have to do is type device manager and then you should see some of or all of the icons with a yellow exclamation point (!) next to them. Then you would need to click and update the device driver. You are going to have to manually set the path through Windows Support since you have no internet or any other drivers working like I did as well. The path for windows to update the driver should be Windows Support/ $WinPEDriver$. Once I did this windows 10 was able to install the driver with the (!). You're going have to do the same process with the rest of the icons that have the (!). I'm not sure if the builtin keyboard and trackpad started working before but after the restart everything was working which is great. After that it was just a lot of restarts to install additional drivers using apple software updates as found during this part 18:06. Just a little note with apple software updates. Just remember to check it again until there's no more updates. I had to restart twice to get my touchpad working with precision and gestures instead of only moving and having one button. I'm sure you're going experience just how different the trackpad is once you get precision controls. Hopes this helps anybody else and me later down on the road if I decide to buy a used intel iMac lol. Kind of wish I waited for the m1 but just having both operating systems available is kind of great.

[@MusaonYT]

Very thorough explanation and a well-made video. I was wondering, since Windows is being booted from an external source, does it use all the processor, RAM and other hardware resources? Or is it limited to what you have selected in the beginning (4 CPU cores and 8 GB RAM)?

[@TimothyCho]

The settings you selected earlier were only for running the VM (to virtually run windows while still in MacOS), so that you could use WinToUSB program. Afterwards, you actually install windows onto the external drive and the VM settings will have nothing to do with it.

[@MusaonYT]

@@TimothyCho Thanks

[@AJ-le5lx]

@@TimothyCho Hey There, I only have less than 30GB on my Mac. When selecting the memory allocation on the VMware will that amount of memory be eaten up i.e. I will give it away to VMware despite not using VMware after I finish the installation? Do you recommend uninstalling VMware after completing this installation to recover that memory?

[@dasYTProjekt]

If your Mac doesnt show the option on the Utility Security step, just switch the USBC to USBC to a USBC to USB adapter and restart the computer. Make sure to not press CMD+R, instead of that press ALT key and wait for the boot possibilities. It will show now your external SSD 👍

[@jacksonreynolds449]

You just saved my life

[@tomayliffe9707]

Thanks for this. Had that exact problem

[@oziermuhammad2488]

Hello there @ 9to5Mac: thank you for this awesome tutorial on installing a BootCamp WIN OS on an external drive. I've got it up and running and I am psyched. I thought I'd share with you and your subscribers 3 things that they may encounter, as I did when attempting this external install. It's very IMPORTANT, when going to download VM Ware Fusion, make sure the version of VMW is compatible to your MacOS. It won't work if it isn't. While one is getting the compatible version of FUSION, make sure to also download VM Ware TOOLS. All versions are good. It doesn't automatically come with FUSION. TOOLS can be install directly into virtual Windows. The last thing I had a problem with is, although I put Windows Support in the ROOT folder of virtual Windows, following 9to5 steps to the letter, the drivers were not available when I initially booted into Windows. I held the option key, and booted into Windows, and found the Windows Support folder, which was still on the Windows desktop, double clicked on it, and went to the .exe folder where all the drivers were and double clicked on it to install the drivers. After doing that all drivers were installed, and everything in Window was functioning. To be sure there weren't any problems, I went to the device manager, and there were not any yellow exclamation triangles, or other disclaimers of a problem with devices. Perhaps you wonderful folks @ 9to5Mac can expand the tutorial with some footage stating these 3 workarounds that I had to do; otherwise one can burn a lot of time and brain cells trying to figure out why the external OS didn't happen or was unstable. Cheers, and thanks.

[@Moroccanking10]

I have an Mac book pro 2018 what type of VMware fusion will I need? Because when I dean the windows iso to the VMware fusion thing is just keeps loading. Any thoughts?

[@olivia-br9cq]

this video has saved my life. thank you!!!

[@happierthoughts]

This was insanely helpful and super easy to follow! Thank you so much!

[@AJ-le5lx]

Hey There, when customizing the virtual machine at 7:11 did you allocate the 8GB RAM as he did? And if you don't mind me asking how much internal memory did you have in your Mac? I only have less than 30GB and that option seems like it could hinder my functionality due to being limited in storage/memory on my mac.

[@adamalvarez4528]

Hi is their a updated version of this video?

[@romerozarragossa]

Jeff is a great sample how a presentation should look like. Very clear and to the point. Excellent thank you Jeff.

[@avalonquintett]

Hey there. Great Tutorial.I just tried this on my brandnew Macbook Air . Everything worked fine until the step that is described at 17:16 When installing the drivers through bootcamp, the installing process stops followed by a bluescreen. The windows support folder I used for this step is the latest downloaded by the Bootcamp assistant. It stops right at the moment when it tries to install the USB Host Controller. Any ideas ?

[@aryanharde6995]

I am not getting an option of download now in VMware fusion player. It is saying to register. What should i do?

[@briesatoru]

I have the same question.

[@JackPronto]

I got this issue also. Retried a 2nd time and it worked!

[@khaledb8618]

same issue

[@tyrellthabit5348]

@@JackPronto how did you retry it because it won’t let me cancel the installation. Did you hit the power button ?

[@ayanpaul1772]

Hi. Great tutorial. Please do one more on multi-boot: windows, mac and linux - 3 OS running on the same SSD.

[@shimoorek]

If I use a 1 TB drive and partition to drive with enough space like you suggested 250/650 GB at minimum, can I install windows 10 I purchased on the 250 GB that I partition if it’s formatted MS-DOS (FAT)?

[@RuhrRedArmy]

I personally recommend booting from a memory stick (for instance, SanDisk 256GB) as it’s much less likely to disconnect and is super convenient (small) to take with you everywhere.

[@AJ-le5lx]

What about the speed? Because I know using an SSD doesn't slow down like when using an HDD for example interested to know how your experience with a memory stick works in terms of speed

[@novrisalprasetya3589]

Really appreciate your legit tutorial video ! But, in my case, the windows driver (i.e keyboard, trackpad, and wifi) is not working before and after rebooting the external ssd drive for the first time as you explained in the video (17:33). Any thoughts?

[@novrisalprasetya3589]

I have updated my OS from catalina to big sur, but nothing is worked. The windows driver still not working

[@paoxin4139]

hey i had the same issue n found a solution from reddit! www.reddit.com/r/bootcamp/comments/i582v6/drivers_not_working_help_plz/? scroll down the comment by danepowerr helped me!!

[@novrisalprasetya3589]

Kudos for you! Sounds great and worth to try, thanks a lot!

[@red_shining]

@@paoxin4139 Thank you so much! :) I had to install each file manually as described in the link and now it works!

[@nazranyusri8212]

When im installing the boot camp setup.exe, at 17:19, suddenly blue screen comes out, and say there’s an error... anyone have a solution? Thx.

[@briantam6641]

Hi, I follow all the steps, but I don’t know why after I boot up the boot camp drive(to use keyboard and mouse), it doesn’t work, I have tried three times to start over again but still can not solve it, hope can get some help from here🙏🏻

[@saschawagner4525]

Me too

[@abhimanyouknow]

which VMware product did you download?

[@priority2]

Outstanding tutorial Jeff! Thanks 👍😊

[@9to5Mac]

Thanks for watching!

[@redcabinacoustic-official]

I had put win 10 on an iMac some time ago, wanted to try the same with a mac mini. I use both every day, so I wanted to give this a try. It took some hunting to find the vmware that was compatible with my old mac os. It looked a bit different, but got it all to work. Thanks

[@teddypr]

I cannot get the drivers to install properly after setting up boot camp on the windows side. Any help??

[@stevezep6750]

Same here man ilyk when i find a fix

[@mitch.sorenstein]

Same

[@Adeyum64]

Same here, it‘s so irritating

[@Scottydont1978]

Yup, doesn’t install

[@Adeyum64]

Found a solution to it. Some drivers on device manager don‘t seem to install with this method, but it‘s fine. Just try to install the rest. After that, for some weird reason you can install the other drivers too then with no problem.