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Running Windows

K

kona0197

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 10, 2010
63
6
Forgive me for asking. Google searches are quite vague and misleading. I was curious if I could install macOS 14 to an external SSD then run BootCamp to install Windows 10 to the Mac's internal SSD. Afterwards could I then delete the macOS partition and run nothing but Windows? I would dual boot but the Mac I have only has 128GB of storage.

Sorry guys. macOS is just not enough for everything I need to do and the apps I want to run.
 
Which Mac Mini do you have? You can only boot into Windows on an Intel Mac Mini. On those, I believe there is a way to do this, but it would depend if you have the 2018 Mac Mini, which has a T2 chip. Look at this forum post for Macs with T2 chips. Otherwise, you can definitely do what you want on a mac without a T2 chip
 
Just install Parallels and run Win as a virtual machine at the same time. Or sell the Mac mini and buy a PC.
 
If you aren't going to use macOS at all, then you don't really need to use Bootcamp. Just install Windows 10 on the Mac like you normally would on a PC with a bootable USB installer. (Wipe and format the disk using Window's 10 installer.)

Before you do that though, do use Bootcamp to download the Windows support software (drivers) just in case Windows isn't able to pull them from Windows Update automatically.

support.apple.com

Download and install Windows support software on your Mac - Apple Support

After using Boot Camp Assistant to install or upgrade Microsoft Windows on your Mac, you might also need to install the latest Windows support software (drivers) from Apple.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
You can have both Mac OS and Windows installed via bootcamp. After you install all the drivers, you can use a third party software in windows and re-appropriate your windows partition to a much bigger one and reduce the Mac partition to much smaller amount like 20 gb, if you dont plan in using it. After having one dedicated windows only does have a disadvantage, especially if you're running a egpu setup and there maybe times you need the apple os with bootcamp. It doesn't use too much space anyways to have both.
 
Well I installed Windows on the internal drive using a Windows installer on a USB stick. Copied over the bootcamp drivers to the stick before I attempted to install Windows. Everything went fine. Windows works great. However I can tell this machine was designed to run macOS. Some apps are slow and some games are glitchy. So yesterday I did an internet recovery and now macOS 15.2 is installed. I haven’t set it up yet. I haven’t decided if I want to sell it and go back to a cheap Windows machine. I have no clue why I can’t get used to using macOS. Everything else I own was made by apple. And the whole point of buying the Mac was to distance myself from Microsoft and try something new. 35 years of Windows usage takes its toll.
 
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kona0197 said:
Well I installed Windows on the internal drive using a Windows installer on a USB stick. Copied over the bootcamp drivers to the stick before I attempted to install Windows. Everything went fine. Windows works great. However I can tell this machine was designed to run macOS. Some apps are slow and some games are glitchy. So yesterday I did an internet recovery and now macOS 15.2 is installed. I haven’t set it up yet. I haven’t decided if I want to sell it and go back to a cheap Windows machine. I have no clue why I can’t get used to using macOS. Everything else I own was made by apple. And the whole point of buying the Mac was to distance myself from Microsoft and try something new. 35 years of Windows usage takes its toll.
Click to expand...
The advantage of MacOS for an iOS user is its integration with the rest of the ecosystem. Obvious examples are iMessage and FaceTime but also other things like playing video content on your Mac and displaying on your Apple TV. Then there is air drop and screen sharing. Before giving up on MacOS, maybe explore some of these advantages.

If you do go back to Windows, your Mac mini is a poor choice. You should just buy a Desktop PC.
 
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I never learned how to use Airdrop and Handoff. I have both of those turned off on my iPhone and iPad.
 
kona0197 said:
I never learned how to use Airdrop and Handoff. I have both of those turned off on my iPhone and iPad.
Click to expand...
I don't use hand off but AirDrop is very useful for quickly moving files between an iPhone (or iPad) and a Mac.
 
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