Using Bootcamp on 2017 iMac

[Luis Ortega]

Can you use an external ssd with the new iMacs to create a Bootcamp Windows and be able to boot from it?
I don't want to use up space on the internal ssd to put Windows, but I am not sure if you can select an external ssd when starting the computer and choosing to boot from the ssd, a clone image or the Windows disk.
On my Mac Pro, all the drives are internal and I have Windows on a separate hard drive than the system drive.

 

[jzuena]

You can do it, but it is not s seamless as using the internal drive. I also ended up killing the Windows partition when I tried to also make it a virtual machine. I gave up and made a small 50GB partition for Boot Camp on the main disk and used the external as the D: for Windows. I talked about it in this thread.

 

[SaSaSushi]

I have Bootcamp Windows 10 running on a Samsung 840 EVO SSD in a Delock Thunderbolt enclosure and it works as seamlessly as it would internally.

If you choose to use an external USB drive then yes, it's far from seamless and a major hassle.

 

[J.Gallardo]

I have Bootcamp Windows 10 running on a Samsung 840 EVO SSD in a Delock Thunderbolt enclosure and it works as seamlessly as it would internally.

If you choose to use an external USB drive then yes, it's far from seamless and a major hassle.

Can you explain why Thunderbolt makes running Bootcamp easier from an external ssd? I’m quite interested, as I plan saving the required internal partition.
There are instructions in the web to make an external Bootcamp disk... but too many steps, and needs fiddling with Terminal and Windows VM in osX... There must be a simpler solution, I hope. I’ve been wondering about just starting mac from an external ssd with a clean osX install, and implementing a big Bootcamp partition there; I’ll waste some space... but seems the simplest approach to me.
So...?
Tnx.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Microsoft in their wisdom do not like their operating systems installed on an external drive in an attempt to overcome piracy and I am not suggesting you guys are doing that! I am sure Google will help with threads.

You will find some say this is not possible but start with this link:-


https://hackernoon.com/how-to-run-bootcamp-windows-10-on-a-usb3-86551dc3def8

 

[J.Gallardo]

Microsoft in their wisdom do not like their operating systems installed on an external drive in an attempt to overcome piracy and I am not suggesting you guys are doing that! I am sure Google will help with threads.

You will find some say this is not possible but start with this link:-


https://hackernoon.com/how-to-run-bootcamp-windows-10-on-a-usb3-86551dc3def8

Oh! I didn’t think about piracy...! (and I’m not sure why an external install would help at that...).
Somehow, your post (& link) supports my simple idea: in a mac, you can choose which disk to start from. I suppose starting from an external disk makes the system to consider it as the “internal” disk... So, just having two osX booting disks should allow to have Bootcamp in one of them...
Am I forgetting something important that makes this simple (& legal) solution impossible?
(I’m still about to get a new iMac... and living on iOS. Never tried Bootcamp on my broken older iMac).

 

[SaSaSushi]

Can you explain why Thunderbolt makes running Bootcamp easier from an external ssd? I’m quite interested, as I plan saving the required internal partition.

Because an SSD in a Thunderbolt enclosure is recognized as a PCI device and, as mentioned above, Microsoft does not allow installation to USB external drives. There are complex workarounds to get it working but with Thunderbolt-attached SSDs, it just works.

 

[J.Gallardo]

Because an SSD in a Thunderbolt enclosure is recognized as a PCI device and, as mentioned above, Microsoft does not allow installation to USB external drives. There are complex workarounds to get it working but with Thunderbolt-attached SSDs, it just works.

I’ve never experimented with Bootcamp... When you say it “just works”, do you mean that Bootcamp assistant lets you choose an external ssd as the place for the partition?
By the way (and there’s a lot of people without Thunderbolt), my figured simple approach for an external usb ssd should work... Shouldn’t it? (2nd osX boot disk... and requiring a Bootcamp partition in there. Will Windows refuse to work in that way also?)
I didn’t know this about Windows, and find it quite limiting! I realize now how generous osX is... making possible things I thought were “standardized” (perhaps like “Target Disk Mode”...)
I’m interested in the Thunderbolt solution...
Just wanted a simple way to revisit Windows at home, as everything at my job is made on that thing. I left Windows at 3.11 ‘cause suffered post traumatic stress syndrome due to “Windows Register” problems...
I know Windows is kinder nowadays, but I’m not so curious to engage in complicated workarounds or cheating. I like to use a computer that just works!
[doublepost=1507990689][/doublepost]

You can do it, but it is not s seamless as using the internal drive. I also ended up killing the Windows partition when I tried to also make it a virtual machine. I gave up and made a small 50GB partition for Boot Camp on the main disk and used the external as the D: for Windows. I talked about it in this thread.

Possibly the simplest solution, I assume.

 

[SaSaSushi]

I’ve never experimented with Bootcamp... When you say it “just works”, do you mean that Bootcamp assistant lets you choose an external ssd as the place for the partition?

No, I don't believe Thunderbolt-attached drives are configurable with Boot Camp Assistant but you can easily create a Windows partition and move it to the external drive with Winclone and it will work with no further configuration, meaning, when you hold control at startup to get to the boot manager the Windows installation will be listed and choosing it will boot it up normally.

I already had a Boot Camp installation from several years that I back up and restore with Winclone. It is an indispensable tool. Winclone allows you to move a tiny Windows partition to a much bigger destination and resize it.

Alternatively, if you have a bootable Windows installer, you should be able to use it and choose the Thunderbolt SSD for the installation, unlike with USB. I have not tried this method either though.

 

[jzuena]

I like to be able to go to settings and tell it to boot Windows, so it sounds like I made the right call not getting a Thunderbolt drive. You are right that I tried USB, but since I wanted to use VMware Fusion to to run Windows as well, I needed to use a supported configuration. The Thunderbolt partition probably would have screwed up the disk just like USB did. Making a partition on the internal drive just works for Windows both native and as a VM.

 

[SaSaSushi]

I like to be able to go to settings and tell it to boot Windows, so it sounds like I made the right call not getting a Thunderbolt drive. You are right that I tried USB, but since I wanted to use VMware Fusion to to run Windows as well, I needed to use a supported configuration. The Thunderbolt partition probably would have screwed up the disk just like USB did. Making a partition on the internal drive just works for Windows both native and as a VM.

I can go into settings and tell it to boot Windows with the Thunderbolt external drive. It works perfectly and exactly the same way as BootCamp installed on the iMac's internal drive.

The only thing you can't do is directly use the BootCamp Assistant to install Windows to the external drive.

As I said above, unlike USB, because Thunderbolt-attached drives are recognized as PCI devices it just works.
[doublepost=1508033832][/doublepost]Oh, and the Thunderbolt BootCamp partition works perfectly well as a VM in Parallels 13 but I have a dedicated VM I prefer to use. BootCamp is mostly for gaming.

 

[J.Gallardo]

Thank you, SaSaSushi et others... I’m learning a lot!
And quite having fun with Windows even prior to installation! Things soon become weird in Willie Wonka-Gates wonderful operating system!
As an example (well... I do know this is a relatively slow read/write device, and perhaps not recognized as pci...):
https://www.amazon.es/Memoria-flash-doble-SanDisk-Type-C/dp/B01EZ0X55C
Legal or illegal, depending on the appendix you use, and what hole you put it into!
(Ok. I know: Thunderbolt doesn’t mean usb-c... But at the end I’m trying to expose these stupid law-backed restrictions; they lead to moral considerations: when law is anti-intuitive and irrational, and you’re not harming what it protects, you are not doing bad... I’ll install a legal Windows copy in the internal disk... but I think “pirates” who install in an external usb disk are no bad people...)