Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Bootcamp Windows 7 externally using thunderbolt drive?

Frozone9 said:
This worked perfect on my retina iMac with an Lacie Rugged Thunderbolt.
Did not need any extra Program like winclone, as I installed win7 directly to external SSD.
Click to expand...

Frozone9 said:
I think you just created a Win Install Drive on Your external SSD, and did not install Windows there. Bootcamp does not install Windows for you. It only partitions your drive and creates a install USB.
Click to expand...

Well I went through the bootcamp assistant, and checked all the boxes to create a USB win installation using an iso that I created and to install windows. Then it rebooted and went to my Win 8.1 dvd to start installing. I formatted the lacie tb drive using win 8.1 dvd and installed the windows files there after I entered in the serial key. It rebooted a couple times and finished the installation. I then went to reboot it to go to the OSX side so I can get bootcamp drivers to install on the windows side and now unable to get back. I restarted and held down option and see the lacie drive, but when starting it up, it wants to reinstall windows. It doesn't detect on the OSX side either. I'm stumped and will try again, but considering using winclone instead. I want to attempt going through the bootcamp route first.

I am using iMac 2013 and OSX Mavericks.
 
Last edited:
I'm running Windows 8.1 without bootcamp on an nMP, using a TB/USB3 Lacie Rugged SSD drive, without any problems. And it's FAST.

You can follow this guide.

Of course, you're going to need a usb stick with the bootcamp drivers downloaded from Apple for your specific machine.
 
antonis said:
I'm running Windows 8.1 without bootcamp on an nMP, using a TB/USB3 Lacie Rugged SSD drive, without any problems. And it's FAST.

You can follow this guide.

Of course, you're going to need a usb stick with the bootcamp drivers downloaded from Apple for your specific machine.
Click to expand...

I do have a USB stick with the bootcamp drivers on them. I don't have any VM software. Winclone might be a cheaper route? I had parallels but I gave it to my Dad to use since I was using bootcamp with my fusion drive.

I am going to tinker around and try to get it to install again (even though I have been getting errors, however I was successful once lol). This time I will have the bootcamp drivers ready. :)
 
espnfanco said:
I do have a USB stick with the bootcamp drivers on them. I don't have any VM software. Winclone might be a cheaper route? I had parallels but I gave it to my Dad to use since I was using bootcamp with my fusion drive.

I am going to tinker around and try to get it to install again (even though I have been getting errors, however I was successful once lol). This time I will have the bootcamp drivers ready. :)
Click to expand...

You can use a trial of VMware Fusion, it will fully work.
 
espnfanco said:
I do have a USB stick with the bootcamp drivers on them. I don't have any VM software. Winclone might be a cheaper route? I had parallels but I gave it to my Dad to use since I was using bootcamp with my fusion drive.

I am going to tinker around and try to get it to install again (even though I have been getting errors, however I was successful once lol). This time I will have the bootcamp drivers ready. :)
Click to expand...

yjchua95 said:
You can use a trial of VMware Fusion, it will fully work.
Click to expand...

Indeed, this is a good suggestion. A trial of VMware or Parallels, or even VirtualBox that is totally free, or another PC, or even a temporary bootcamp partition. All you need is a working Windows installation anywhere for a few minutes, in order to run a few commands to prepare the external drive.
 
Frozone9 said:
Why do You install from a DVD when You create a USB for installation?
Click to expand...

I am a novice when it comes to Mac knowledge. I just used the bootcamp assistant and it created a USB for me and when it rebooted it also read my dvd to install windows 8.1. I'm used to the PC where I can just reboot and assign the dvd as my primary boot drive and install windows that way. I checked the lacie tb drive and it has windows folders and files there so I know I installed it, plus I went to the desktop before going to OSX to get bootcamp drivers. My problem is the iMac can see the drive while hitting the option button, however it won't load up windows, even though it's there... just wants to reinstall windows. So strange...

----------
antonis said:
Indeed, this is a good suggestion. A trial of VMware or Parallels, or even VirtualBox that is totally free, or another PC, or even a temporary bootcamp partition. All you need is a working Windows installation anywhere for a few minutes, in order to run a few commands to prepare the external drive.
Click to expand...

I will go this route if I can't get bootcamp assistant to work installing to an external drive. Appreciate y'all time and I know I'll get this working eventually lol. I have been using Mavericks and decided to do a clean boot of Yosemite, so downloading that right now. When that is finished going to attempt via the bootcamp one more time.
 
I'm running BootCamp off a Thunderbolt SSD. I've always found Winclone to be so much easier than all these hacks. The image files it creates also allow for easy BootCamp backup in addition to simple redeployment. It's been worth every cent I paid for it and then some.
 
Frozone9 said:
Why do You install from a DVD when You create a USB for installation?
Click to expand...

I was thinking more about this and decided what if it was pointing to the USB drive instead of the external SSD when I tried to access windows 8? That probably was my problem lol. Anyways, since Yosemite had been out for a while, I wanted to upgrade and did a clean install and that worked well. I then formatted my USB stick and lacie TB external SSD drive. I started up bootcamp from Yosemite and only checked the second and third sections where it just installs the latest bootcamp drivers to USB. After all of that set up, the iMac rebooted and it recognized the Windows 8 DVD disk and started the advanced setup. It found the lacie drive and I formatted it first then installed windows on that external drive. It then proceeded on its own installing bootcamp drivers after windows was finished installing. I rebooted back to Yosemite and it now recognizes my windows drive there. So now I can go back and forth from OSX to Windows using the external SSD drive! Even better, WoW is getting 65-90 fps on ultra settings vs 25-55 fps using windows 7 and the internal drive. I am a little nervous to delete the 20 gb space I allocated because I wonder if Yosemite needs that to recognize I have windows installed to boot to it. I could try that and use the options button but that didn't work previously and I don't mind sacrificing 20gb of space for it to work.

I didn't need WinClone or VMWare for this to work. Maybe they updated bootcamp in Yosemite so it can now recognize external drives that use a OS?
 
espnfanco said:
I was thinking more about this and decided what if it was pointing to the USB drive instead of the external SSD when I tried to access windows 8? That probably was my problem lol. Anyways, since Yosemite had been out for a while, I wanted to upgrade and did a clean install and that worked well. I then formatted my USB stick and lacie TB external SSD drive. I started up bootcamp from Yosemite and only checked the second and third sections where it just installs the latest bootcamp drivers to USB. After all of that set up, the iMac rebooted and it recognized the Windows 8 DVD disk and started the advanced setup. It found the lacie drive and I formatted it first then installed windows on that external drive. It then proceeded on its own installing bootcamp drivers after windows was finished installing. I rebooted back to Yosemite and it now recognizes my windows drive there. So now I can go back and forth from OSX to Windows using the external SSD drive! Even better, WoW is getting 65-90 fps on ultra settings vs 25-55 fps using windows 7 and the internal drive. I am a little nervous to delete the 20 gb space I allocated because I wonder if Yosemite needs that to recognize I have windows installed to boot to it. I could try that and use the options button but that didn't work previously and I don't mind sacrificing 20gb of space for it to work.

I didn't need WinClone or VMWare for this to work. Maybe they updated bootcamp in Yosemite so it can now recognize external drives that use a OS?
Click to expand...

The LaCie drive is a Thunderbolt drive, and Thunderbolt itself is basically a PCIe connection. So Windows would see it as an internal bus and not an external one.

If it was USB, then Windows would have a problem. Hence, I posted my method of a UEFI Windows 8 installation, by using dism.exe and the install.wim file to make it bootable via USB in a UEFI environment.
 
yjchua95 said:
The LaCie drive is a Thunderbolt drive, and Thunderbolt itself is basically a PCIe connection. So Windows would see it as an internal bus and not an external one.

If it was USB, then Windows would have a problem. Hence, I posted my method of a UEFI Windows 8 installation, by using dism.exe and the install.wim file to make it bootable via USB in a UEFI environment.
Click to expand...

I have a Lacie D2 Thunderbolt 2 with SSD upgrade. Windows 8.1 recognised it as an external drive and wouldn't install.

Your mileage may vary.
 
steve23094 said:
I have a Lacie D2 Thunderbolt 2 with SSD upgrade. Windows 8.1 recognised it as an external drive and wouldn't install.

Your mileage may vary.
Click to expand...

In that case, you'll have better luck with this way:

Connect external drive to Windows VM. You must have a Windows VM in VMware/Parallels.

What you need:
install.wim file (obtain this from your Windows ISO)

Open elevated cmd.exe

Note: All commands aren't case sensitive, including pathway to files.

Type diskpart
Type list disk
Take note of the disk you want to select
Type select disk 1 (if your disk is Disk 1)
Type clean
Type convert gpt
Type create partition EFI size=100
Type format quick fs=fat32 label=EFI
Type assign letter=S
Type create partition primary
Type format fs=ntfs quick label=W2G (or any other name you wish for label)
Type assign letter=E
Type exit

Open up File Explorer. In your C drive, create a new folder named WIN2GO.
Put the install.wim file in this folder

Back in cmd.exe:
Type dism /apply-image /imagefile:C:\WIN2GO\install.wim /index:1 /applydir:E:\ (this process will take quite a while)
Type E:\Windows\System32\bcdboot E:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

Restart your entire Mac. After the chime, hold down Option and when prompted to select your boot drive, select EFI Boot.

Proceed installation normally.

After installation, install Boot Camp drivers.
 
yjchua95 said:
In that case, you'll have better luck with this way:

Connect external drive to Windows VM. You must have a Windows VM in VMware/Parallels.

What you need:
install.wim file (obtain this from your Windows ISO)

Open elevated cmd.exe

Note: All commands aren't case sensitive, including pathway to files.

Type diskpart
Type list disk
Take note of the disk you want to select
Type select disk 1 (if your disk is Disk 1)
Type clean
Type convert gpt
Type create partition EFI size=100
Type format quick fs=fat32 label=EFI
Type assign letter=S
Type create partition primary
Type format fs=ntfs quick label=W2G (or any other name you wish for label)
Type assign letter=E
Type exit

Open up File Explorer. In your C drive, create a new folder named WIN2GO.
Put the install.wim file in this folder

Back in cmd.exe:
Type dism /apply-image /imagefile:C:\WIN2GO\install.wim /index:1 /applydir:E:\ (this process will take quite a while)
Type E:\Windows\System32\bcdboot E:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

Restart your entire Mac. After the chime, hold down Option and when prompted to select your boot drive, select EFI Boot.

Proceed installation normally.

After installation, install Boot Camp drivers.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Sorry, I don't need instructions. I gave up on trying to install onto an external drive after trying ten different methods.

But since you mentioned it there are two problems with the steps you have outlined (there may be others, this is just what I noticed at a glance). Windows no longer includes a install.wim file, it is an encrypted version called install.esd which I don't think works with the method you describe. Windows 2 Go is only available on the Enterprise edition of Windows, I suspect not many home users would have that version unless it's pirated.
 
steve23094 said:
Hi,

Sorry, I don't need instructions. I gave up on trying to install onto an external drive after trying ten different methods.

But since you mentioned it there are two problems with the steps you have outlined (there may be others, this is just what I noticed at a glance). Windows no longer includes a install.wim file, it is an encrypted version called install.esd which I don't think works with the method you describe. Windows 2 Go is only available on the Enterprise edition of Windows, I suspect not many home users would have that version unless it's pirated.
Click to expand...

That's why I said it's an unofficial Win2Go drive. It was created using unofficial methods.

It was done using a regular copy of Windows 8.1 Pro for consumers.

And some versions of Windows ISOs may contain install.esd, while some contain install.wim.

If you have install.esd, you're out of luck.

I made the instructions based on this: http://www.admin-magazine.com/Articles/Putting-Windows-8-on-a-USB-Drive and also made a few modifications myself to make a UEFI installation.

Officially, you need Enterprise for Win2Go. Unofficially, you don't.
 
I have failed at this and really need it to work.
Installed win7 pro on internal sad in my 2012 mbpR which only has windows on it. I boot from a usb drive into OS X where I clone the internal win7 with winclone5 standard. I plug in a ssd to seagate thunderbolt adapter and restore it to there. I wipe the internal drive and then boot out of OS X. I then try to boot the thunderbolt ssd that I restored to them nothing....

Do I have to install boot camp drivers for this to work? Or am I doing something else wrong?
 
Not sure if you have to have the bootcamp drivers installed, though its probably a good idea.

But make sure windows recognize the thunderbolt adapter and drive. I'd boot into windows the adapter and drive attached, and let it setup the drivers - might need a boot before you see the external drive. Once its working, then transfer windows over....

Since you're doing it on a macbook 2012, I assume you're not attempting EFI install. In that case I would assume the same technique I used on my 2011 iMac should work.
 
Ok so my original external SSD has a both OSX and Windows 7 boot camp on it. It's nearing capacity so I bought a Samsung Evo Pro 1tb SSD. I want to install OSX to it (since my internal hdd is slow) and have a Windows 7 boot camp partition. It's been a long time since I originally did this so I'm hoping someone can remind me how to do this.

Can I install OSX on new TB SSD, then create a boot camp partition or do I need to use my internal hdd OSX and create the BC partition, then install the copy of OSX on it?

Preferably I'd like to clone my W7 install I'm currently using to new SSD but I'm not sure if I can do that.
 
KOTULCN said:
Ok so my original external SSD has a both OSX and Windows 7 boot camp on it. It's nearing capacity so I bought a Samsung Evo Pro 1tb SSD. I want to install OSX to it (since my internal hdd is slow) and have a Windows 7 boot camp partition. It's been a long time since I originally did this so I'm hoping someone can remind me how to do this.

Can I install OSX on new TB SSD, then create a boot camp partition or do I need to use my internal hdd OSX and create the BC partition, then install the copy of OSX on it?

Preferably I'd like to clone my W7 install I'm currently using to new SSD but I'm not sure if I can do that.
Click to expand...
If it were me ... I would install OS X clean to the new SSD (to be sure it has the hidden recovery stuff correctly) and then let it migrate my full installation from the running system. I would then let BootCamp Assistant create the Windows partition on the SSD ... but I would use WinClone to move my existing Windows installation over to the new SSD (disable SID first).

You may want to boot the existing Windows with the external SSD enclosure attached first so that any necessary drivers get added to your Windows boot environment first before you clone it.
 
hfg said:
If it were me ... I would install OS X clean to the new SSD (to be sure it has the hidden recovery stuff correctly) and then let it migrate my full installation from the running system. I would then let BootCamp Assistant create the Windows partition on the SSD ... but I would use WinClone to move my existing Windows installation over to the new SSD (disable SID first).

You may want to boot the existing Windows with the external SSD enclosure attached first so that any necessary drivers get added to your Windows boot environment first before you clone it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. Hopefully Windows will transfer.
 
Last edited:
hfg said:
If it were me ... I would install OS X clean to the new SSD (to be sure it has the hidden recovery stuff correctly) and then let it migrate my full installation from the running system. I would then let BootCamp Assistant create the Windows partition on the SSD ... but I would use WinClone to move my existing Windows installation over to the new SSD (disable SID first).

You may want to boot the existing Windows with the external SSD enclosure attached first so that any necessary drivers get added to your Windows boot environment first before you clone it.
Click to expand...


What do you mean by disabling SID?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back