Macbook Tip: How to Install and Run Windows on an external USB Drive - Windows To Go
Вставка
- Опубліковано 3 сер 2024
- WARNING for Touch Bar Macbooks - make sure audio driver is up to date: lon.tv/9q43x - Buy the PNY drive here: lon.tv/lvcxp (affiliate link). Buy a mac here: lon.tv/tnc98 (affiliate link) - Macbook and iMac owners can install Windows on an external USB drive and boot natively to Windows with these steps. This is ideal for gamers, other apps easier run in a virtual machine alongside OS X.
Prerequisites:
- Windows PC (virtualized PC might work too)
- Windows 10 ISO - lon.tv/winiso (download on a non-Windows PC)
- Rufus for Windows - lon.tv/rufus
- USB Flash drive & adapters if needed
- USB Keyboard and mouse (this is a cheaper alternative to what I showed in the video - lon.tv/ircav (affiliate link)
Other drives that are known to work in my testing:
Samsung T3 - lon.tv/upmxz (affiliate link)
Sandisk Extreme SSD - lon.tv/w6i4z (affiliate link)
See how it performs vs. a Windows laptop:
• Windows 10 on MacBook ...
What happens if you unplug the SSD? See here:
• Lon.TV Snippet: Unplug...
VIDEO INDEX:
00:02 - Introduction
00:53 - Alternative to this method (Bootcamp / Virtualization)
02:24 - Prerequisites
04:41 - Windows 10 ISO download instructions
06:01 - Downloading Mac drivers for Windows from Apple
07:46 - Using Rufus to create the Windows To Go installation
10:42 - Copying Windows drivers to the SSD
11:26 - Prepping the Mac to boot Windows
12:09 - How to direct the Mac to boot from external drive
13:37 - Finishing the Windows installation on the Mac
14:10 - Licensing and activation
14:51 - Installing Windows drivers
17:24 - Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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man I'm pretty addicted with this channel I've been watching the videos for an hour now
Giotronics s did you managed to do it? I've been watching for a week now
After a week of several different trials this worked thank you so much!!!
Catalina users or for people running a newer MBP with the Apple T2 Security Chip you will need to go into the Startup Utility in order to allow booting from an external drive.
1. Hold down Command-R
2. Click on your Account, you will then be prompted for your password.
3. On the top bar you will are Utilities select Startup Security Utility
4. Select No Security & Allow booting from external media
Hope it helps mitigate some frustration!!
Great video, easy to follow and works to perfection.
this is 2021, yes I survived 2020, and this video answered so much more than what I searched on google and blogs and what not. Superbly put together. Thank you.
Dang this video is well put together. This is EXACTLY what i was looking for! Thanks man!
“I only have 500+ GB on my Mac...” well I’ll go with my powerful 128 GB 😬
This needs to get bumped to the top of the results when searching for this. I tried 2 other processes, both failures. This worked perfectly. Thank God for Rufus.
This method still works perfectly in Sept of 2020... Worked on a 500gb 2.5 hard drive using a SATA USB cable and also using a USB external SSD.... Excellent Video!!!
I have tried this on Sandisk USB 128GB USB 3.0 to Macbook Air, and it works well. There are some warnings while running on rufus that the windows may freeze or something, but i jusk click ok to all. Till now there's no windows freeze and no error at all even installing big softwares. Thank You !
hey Shelli Yanti Arini....even I have did the same thing on san disk usb(the ultra fit version) 3.0 128 gb to MacBook Air. in the first two days I installed games upto 80 gb on the usb and the first two days it worked perfectly well and so smooth with awesome graphics. but from the 3rd day the windows started to become so laggy and choppy that I after I click on the start button it responds to me after 5 to 10 secs later. I played pubg mobile using Tencent gaming buddy and I got 60 fps on the the first 2 days but became so glitchy and choppy and full of lags later on. can u please help me figure it out me?and also tell your experience with it and how it worked for you well or went on being laggy as mine?thanking you,
Mani Anurag.
I just wanted to comment that I like how Google auto-generated subtitles have almost not rouble with understanding what you say. makes it easier for me to watch your videos when I forget my headphones in a library:p
Thanks so much for the video! It was super helpful. I was able to install on a low profile stay in flash drive which has been awesome
This worked brilliantly, thank you. Rufus has changed slightly with v3, but easy enough to work out.
This worked perfectly! Thank you so much!
I used a USB 2.0 drive @ 9 MBPS
I regret life..
Yeah you'll be waiting a bit on that :)
I have an hdd of 1tb, what if I copy over my win 8.1 computer files to it, would it run off of it?
***** My comment is not the best place to ask Lon questions..
why not? lol
do you think WD My Passport will work with this?
Well done Dude. Amazing Video and great information
Many thanks for your excellent and thorough explanation as always. Very helpful indeed. Chris
This video was strangely jagged for 1080p. Just an FYI. Great video as always.
Yeah I realized after the fact that I didn't sync the computer outputs to my Tricaster properly. I am going to be overhauling it soon with some new updates so hopefully it won't look like that again.
Thanks, I had a few troubles but figured it out. If you're doing this in 2019, you need to change the scheme from GPT to MBR. The updated Rufus automatically sets it to GUI.
You mean "GPT Partition Scheme for UEFI"??, i didnt see GUI on Rufus
@@wonxshelond If you had the latest version, then thats what i saw
I'm using Win 10 and Rufus 2.10.973 and i had to erase my San Disc Extreme 500 on my Mac before i could successfully use the GPT for UEFI with Rufus.
Bruno You’re totally right, my bad
Just ordered the MacBook as we speak, can't wait to get it in and try this. Glad to see this :) Keep up the good work once again.
Great tutorial and for those wondering you can partition the drive afterwards to exfat so you can still use the drive as storage for both Mac and Windows. I did it through Windows and works fine. Thanks Lon
How do I make it into Sandisk ultra fit 128gb instead of SSD?
Coz that will be a great thing to plug and bring around.
thatll be really really slow
at 12:30 I get the EFI Boot option but it just restarts again to Mac. Any ideas? When I start by holding option I need to unplug and reconnect my external HD to get it to recognise. Any ideas on the issue?
Same
Me too. I’d be so grateful if anyone can help. Using 500gb Samsung t5
bit late but I just figured this out myself. You may have to go into the Mac Recovery Assistant by holding down Command + R. Go to Tools and Secure Boot and disable Secure Boot and check allow boot from external device.
WORKS WITH 2TB HDD CONNECTED VIA USB 3: Writing this from my newly set up Win10 run from an old 2TB HDD connected with USB 3 w/USB C connector to my new MacBook Pro Touch Bar!!! Works perfectly and now have 2TB of Win10 at my disposal! Best way to run Windows on MacBook hands down. I am running all software including gaming ie BF3 & 4, Medal of Honor!! Thumbs up for this vid, has made life easy. Cheers
Thanks A lot! I waited for this video since the comparison you did with the mb pro and dell.
can I still partition the SSD to do this? Like 100G for windows and the rest of it as exFat Like D: on windows?
and still use it as portable SSD for mac?
I'm trying this at the moment. update soon
I can answer the question by my self I think
after some trail and error....and some research on the web
"if the partition is on the same disk as system"
I think for windows you may not format to other
I've tried many times, after finish installing Windows to Go and bootcamp driver done
I partition(still NTFS) the SSD, it still works
but if I format it to exFat, then while holding Option on booting, I can no longer see my EFIboot
SO.... I still partition my SSD
But....Leave it as NTFS, then I bought NTFS for MAC
it works fine now :)
Thanks a lot for the tutorial !
Eric Tsai i did exactly the Same :D
Hi. Is anyone able to create another partition after the installation of window to go? If yes, can you share your experience, method and software you used? Thanks.
Yes, Just like what I mentioned above,
You can make partition by using other app like partition master or something else.
But... the partition can only be NTFS,
I've tried to partition to exFat, and that end up I can't boot up windows
(there's no EFI boot partition while holding option on startup)
I've tried several time, all end up the same situation.
SO.... I still partition my SSD
But....Leave it as NTFS, then I bought NTFS for MAC
Thanks very helpful got windows 10 on my 2016 mbp with touch bar. Anyways thought I should report, the new Samsung T5 SSD well the 250 variant at least works with this method and I swear it boots faster than osx does off my internal SSD which is amusing
I'm having trouble with my Samsung T5, do you mind me asking which windows ISO you downloaded and the file size for the support files from Bootcamp Assistant? I noticed since this video has been published 3 things have changed - the version of Rufus (I still was able to select the to-go version on their latest portable release), the Windows ISO download page, and the size of the files downloaded from Bootcamp Assistant.
Im about to buy a t5 500gb for this "Hack" but im not sure if its going to work. Does anyone know if its because of the product or the software issue? Can someone tell for sure whats going to happen? Ive got a mbp 15 2017 2,9 and ill use the t5 500gb! Thanks a lot!
Did it work with the T5 500gb? I'm about to buy it for this to.
Interesting. I have The touchbar MBPro and The T5 (500GB), but I’m stuck at the windows logo with the spinning dots for hours....
Does it matter that I made the to go installation from a virtual machine?
@@ChristianWestmark hey im having the same issue with the t5.. did you happen to find a solution?
You sir are a gentleman! First video in 3 days that actually worked. Used a Samsung 64G thumb drive and it runs smooth. My MacBook Air did NOT lose keyboard and trackpad functionality during install.
Great video! I used samsung T3 and it runs very smooth! Thank you so much for this tutorial, it works perfect for me, i'm super happy!
the windows to go option is not showing up, did everything the same as on this video, any idea what to check?
and you download win10 iso on Mac computer?
Any luck with this issue?
Same here - Were you able to fix it?
Make sure you have Rufus 2.11 or later
What Windows verdien are you on?
I have a PNY 128gb USB 3.0 flash drive, can this work with a flash drive and not an actual SSD or HDD
Same here. Anyone tried?
I hope this is not too late and hope this helps. I just installed windows with all the same steps as this video on an sd card 128gb got windows to boot and setup initial install. After running the boot camp updates as mentioned on video it asked for a restart. That's where I get an error and gets stuck on Windows auto repair mode no loading or sign of it doing something in the background... reformatting drive to do a second attempt right now and this time I will install the drivers manually see if that turns out with a different result after the first restart.
Hector Chavez what is the result ?
how did you get the two options (standard windows installation & windows to go) to pop up? I downloaded the iso using my mac
what's read speed of that PNY flash drive? Would samsung 128GB usb flash with max read speed 130 MBps work same way?
Great video, Lon! Thanks for posting this. I'll be trying it.
Thanks so much for this really great, clearly presented information. I installed Win 10 Pro on a Samsung T5 250Gb SSD for use with my late 2011 iMac, using windows bootcamp that was already installed on the iMac hard drive for the Windows PC part. All went quickly and without any hitches. The new Win 10 install on the SSD automatically activated. I can’t remember ever doing a Windows install that went as smoothly. Needless to say I now subscribe to your channel.
It doesnt work with my T5 500 Gb :(
I can't get the "to go" option in rufus, tried newest version and also an old one (2.2), any ideas what to do?
Dont use rufus its trash , im not sure why this guy is doing the installation this way.....
@@gomezg6245 What do you suggest I use then :)
If you look at the top of the Rufus window you'll see that he has written Rufus 2.11.995, that's the version. All you have to do is go on the 'other versions' link and download rufus-2.11.exe .
if this works, i'll give you a cookie!
here, have a cookie! I also added weed in it! Enjoy your edibles ;)
It works but eventually you'll have to go through this installation process again because certain components in Windows updates fail to complete on portable drives. Eventually the nag screen to update just becomes too annoying.
lol
@@stevew3978 Good headsup. I would switch off the update service
I’ve tried different recently posted ways of going about running windows on a Mac on an external drive but this is the method that has worked. Granted I had to try a different external drive (as suggested in the video) because the first one I had (SATA drive in an enclosure) didn’t work. Thank you for sharing this 🙏🏼
I used a Kingston 240GB SSD.My System : Mac Mini 2018 / i5 . I followed your instructions and it works perfect. Thank you so much Dude ! Greetings from Germany.
As far I can see you have installed win 10 on external SSD that's fine, but that's not what "Windows To Go" stands for.
There is already a lot of confusing about "Windows To Go". This video dos not really help
Microsoft should really change there license policies, and make WinToGo available for consumers
This is a Windows To Go installation. The drive will work on other PCs too but it will fall into licensing issues.
That's what I'm wondering. Is it just a license issue?
Could you do a test for me: Remove the SSD while running Win10. A true WinToGo installation should halt Itself and resume after reinserted without any problems.
There are also other specific features like no acces to local HDD, no acces windows store (by default),etc.
Those are the visible ones. Not sure what's different under the hood.
Maybe I'm wrong but my gut feeling tells that you need a true Enterprise License + maybe Enterprise ISO.
"Could you do a test for me: Remove the SSD while running Win10. A true WinToGo installation should halt Itself and resume after reinserted without any problems."
Where did you see that? Also, what would a use case or need for that be?
Perfect tutorial, just apply The instructions step by step and obtain the same result without any trouble. Thanks for the video!
well put
well put together
i loved the video everything was simple and understood
job well done
and thank u for the content
worked perfectly. At first I was skeptic about the process. 10000 likes for this guy and his video.
Awesome! Posting from Windows 10 on my late 2015 15" MBP Retina now! Used a Monster Overdrive USB 3.0 I had laying around. This method worked perfectly. Interestingly, I had no issue at all using the trackpad and keyboard even before installing bootcamp drivers.
Really work on Macbook Pro 2015. thankyou sir!
excellent tutorial. worked like a charm. no need for drivers for keyboard or trackpad (MB Pro 2012).
After months, finally a tutorial that actually works!
PS: THANK YOU!
Thanks for this video! It worked perfectly for my Seagate Ultra Slim 1TB hard disk. The booting time was about a minute. But for the gestures and tap on touch I had to install 'trackpad++'.
Thank you so much! saved a lot of time and energy. Make sure to have your usb in NTFS format!
Thank you so much! Tried a variety of method, yours was the only one that worked. Like someone else, I used bootcamp instead of another windows PC as my SSD used thunderbolt and my laptop doesn't have those ports
Great video, followed step by step and everything went as planned except for bootcamp install. Had to run apple software update within windows and rerun bootcamp after that mouse,keyboard and touchbar all worked great. I have a macbook pro 13in 2018 and samsung ssd t5 500gb
Thx man after a day of working on my late 2012 imac only your way worked thank you
That you so much! I followed the tutorial and it works great!!!
Hi Lon , followed steps in the video, works fine with Samsung t5 ssd. Thanks.
I tried Samsung T5 512 GB SSD not working, could you lease guide?
Thank you for this video. It works like a charm for my Macbook pro mid2014
Excellent just what I needed. Thanks for this!
Excellent tutorial, Sir!
Worked great.
Great tutorial !!! Thanks a lot!! It's sooooooo helpful and great making video, very high quality
Great video. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for putting it together.
Happy to be of assistance!
Worked flawlessly, thank you, Sir!
THANK YOU FOR THIS. I've been trying to install a bootable Windows on my SSD all night.
Great video, took me 3 days to finally get bootcamp going after GPT MBR error on my new ssd upgrade.
I tried this way on my 2.5" drive that I took out of my mac mini, and it was smooth sailing with zero hiccups.
Thnx for sharing!!
Glad it helped!
@@LonSeidman GREAT video I have a 2011 macbook pro can you please give me a link for drivers ?
Have to say mate you couldnt have done this video better very detailed in the ways that it required even tho i am a system engineer sometimes its easier to watch videos when your trying something unique like dual booting windows on your mac completely without using bootcamp to modify the mac partitions. But i think the viewers get so much more from your videos its so easy to understand that anyone will get it. i usualy just watch the start to see the direction/tools they use and work it out from there but i stayed for your whole video as i was interested in your thoughts. Kudos
Thank you Matt! Glad you found it helpful.
Awesome video. Thanks Lon!
You, sir, are a genius. Thanks for the great video!
GREAT TUTORIAL!!!! I have done this before by creating boot camp then buying winclone to copy bootcamp onto external drive and there were a few workarounds and issues to make it work. I was sucessful once but recently wasnt able to make it work. This worked great for me.. I want to add a couple things.. My computer is a 2016 MBP non touchbar base model, I used a 120gb sandisk ssd in a cheap sabrent usb3 enclosure running through a aukey usb3 to usbc adapter... Worked flawless. Also a usb keyboard isnt necessary as I used to on screen keyboard to setup windows in ease of access in bottom left when typing is required. Thanks again!
Awesome glad it worked!
what's your enclosure? can you send me a link? I also have a 2016 MacBook Pro 2016 without Touch Bar. I will do it with the Kingston A400 120Gb ssd.
Thank you for guide. I did this and this is work no problem. Again thank you so much
Absolutely brilliant walk through. Taken 8 hours in time and worked exactly how you guided me. Thank You so much. Wanted to do this for some time as I didn't want to partition my iMac Retina Desktop 2015 model. For info I used a Seagate 2TB USB 3 External Drive that I had spare. With Windows Enterprise Edition ISO File. When I just booted up it has asked me if I want the Windows Creator upgrade. I think I will try this out properly before upgrading. Good Luck to anyone trying this.
nigel
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the tutorial. I followed the setup step by step and it worked like a dream. I was also able to get a free Windows product key from my university so I'm feeling pretty good right about now. Thanks!
Extremely helpful!! Thanks so much!
This probably is the best video about this around here, keep up the good work! Do you think this will work on a LaCie Porsche design external hard drive (HDD)? Would love to hear something from you!
Thank you. Took 24 hours of patience but worked in the end.
Have you managed to update Windows 10 past version 1803 once you installed it in an external drive?
@@erik9817 yes. Currently running windows 10 version 1809. Crashes apps a lot.. (GTAV)
This worked for me, thank you sir!
You are the man.... I followed all kinds of crazy instruction sets with complicated instructions. This worked so perfect. Thank you. Kings Quest and other Sierra games.. getting ready to play some of my youth. By the way. Love your history wall in back of you. Actually could name many there. Very cool den.
by the way - I used a new SSD 256 ScanDisk USBc drive - it comes USBC to USB adapter - your instructions were perfect.
This is great :D i plan to buy a ssd now for booting windows on my mac
very nice demonstration. thanks
Its work for my MBPR late 2013 and Samsung T3! Thanks!
Thanks! Boot camp wouldn't make a bootable usb! So i ended up following this tutorial. But on a trial version of parallels, in order to use windows, since i dont have multiple computers and keyboards 😂 hanging around. I installed it to my macbook, but might eventually move it to an external disk !!!! Thankkkk You!
I used samsung 850 Evo 500GB internal ssd, with usb 3.0 to sata lll adapter, i am loving it already. thanks alot.
Wow, this worked really well for me. Thanks Lon! I've always wanted to use Windows on my Macbook Pro (2017 13" with Touch Bar and 4 USB-C ports), but never wanted to sacrifice the internal hard drive space. I bought a SanDisk Extreme 500 (500gb) at Best Buy and it works perfectly. It's thin and very light weight too. I'm amazed that there is no performance drop using this external drive. Played Star Wars The Old Republic a little bit and noticed no lag.
can't believe it worked whitout issues :D thanks
I just installed it following your video , thank you so much . I installed win10 on a normal hdd in a usb2 external case . It’s a little slow but not as slow as I thought . And also the keyboard and trackpad worked on startup , I didn’t have to use usb keyboard n mouse . Also I did this on a 2015 MacBook Pro
want to talk to you regarding this can we talk on fb??
Works perfect on Macbook pro 2013 Late. I did not even need external keyboard and mouse. Good job.
Excelent, my friend. Thanks so much!
I dont have a windows to go option and used ur link and instructions really wanna figure this out to play games on my imac
Thanks a million! Worked great for me.
Thank you so much man this means a lot, left a like and a sub.
7/12/2018 ... process still works great. Just loaded Windows 10 on a Sandisk T5 500G SSD. Performs fantastic with my MacBook Pro. Using it to play Steam games. Love the speed of USB C.
did u mean samsung T5 ? just asked bcz will buy one for this :)
Great tutorial, it works, thanks a lot!
omg I love you so much atm. It worked like a charm. thank you!
Done this, works great!
Great Tutorial with great details and information.
I have a question: with your knowledge and experience, do you think I could use your instruction to run a Windows 7 instead of a Windows 10. I have an Imac 27 2017 and I don't need to do any gaming. All I need is to run just a very few application that unfortunately are not available on a Mac. Thank you very much
Orlando
awesome and simple way to accomplish what I wanted to do. thanks so much. I only have a 256gb SSD in my 2015 MBP. I had a spare 64gb SSD and a USB 3.0 enclosure so im golden.
thank you very much. It worked the first time. I have tried many other ways without success.
I've used Samsung 128gb usb 3.0 stick, samsung t5 USB c ssd, hp pavilion 360X win PC and iMac 27 2017.
I am a happy man now
once again thank you very much
why usb 3.0 does not work?
thank u very much, this worked great for me :-) I now have Windows 10 64bit running externally on my 1TB SSHD Seagate Drive in an external enclosure :-)
This worked perfectly for me with a cheap external 128gb SSD - THANKS
Best video ever for this sort of think 10 out of 10 for guidance
Like your video! Clear and fast! How is the gaming performance on the windows to go?
my respect for you , best video i have watched
Thanks! Exactly what i needed.
Thanks for this tuturial. Still works :-) Better than High Sierra and Bootcamp.
Perfect. This works 100%. Thanks a lot.
Worked for my MacBook Pro 2015 13" with samsung 850 evo 128gb ssd. Works flawlessly. Thanks bro
did you use a usb 3.0 connection?
USB 2.0 is slow as fuck. Use USB 3.0 espcially if you want to game on the Mac.