If you need occasional access to Windows and don’t want to install it from a DVD, a how-to guide by Sam Power may have the perfect solution. It talks you through exactly how to create a Bootcamp-compatible USB key installer for either Windows 7 or 8 compatible.
A 4GB USB key is sufficient, and the complete process can be done in 20-40 minutes.
(Update: sorry for the confusion. You can’t install Bootcamp onto a USB Key yet. You’ll need Paralllels or VWMware for that.)
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It is a guide that lets you install Windows on OS X via USB. You have to allocate sufficient space from your precious SSD. You can not install Windows on USB.
The guide doesn’t show you how to install windows on a usb key, but from a usb key… so you still sacrifice precious SSD space.
Sweet! I’ve been wondering how I could do Bootcamp from an external drive without taking up space on my main drive. I’ve got a 64 GB flash drive that has read/write speeds of 200 MB/s, this might be really really useful.
That’s All Well & Good, But I Can Tell You Boot Camp 5.1 Creates The Wrong Partition Type On My Haswell Core i7 Late 2013 iMac, It Makes A Guid When It Should Be A MBR , So The Install Fails, Every Time.
try this guide http://huguesval.com/blog/2012/02/installing-windows-7-on-a-mac-without-superdrive-with-virtualbox/
Why would you type like that? It’s incredibly annoying.
+1
if That’s All You Can Contribute I Feel Sorry For You
As far as I can see, the linked guide only describes how to install FROM a USB drive to the internal HD, not ONTO a USB drive.
The linked how-to guide shows how to modify OS X to allow creation of a bootable USB installer not a bootable, external USB installation. Normally Macs with built-in optical drive must use an install DVD. The process still requires you to install Windows on an internal drive partition. I think the title should be clarified to “install it from a USB key”.
I’ve clarified the wording – the benefit to my mind is you can more easily install it for the rare occasions you need it, so don’t have to retain it permanently.
I can’t seem to find a clarification here. Still says “… install it on a USB key” and the article still speaks about not sacrificing space on your SSD.
Maybe rare occasions if you are in the art industry. Try setting up a scientific laboratory or any sort of industrial plant using OS X and then come back. I use OS X very, very rarely on my Air. I’m in Windows 8.1 around 98% of the time, and have allocated the drive space accordingly.
Interesting that you see it worth having OS X for the other 2 percent – is that for things you can’t do in Windows, or do you simply prefer OS X?
A mix of both actually. I enjoy both operating systems, I tend to stay in Windows mostly, however.
The instructions don’t actually install Window on the USB key, these just create a USB Windows Installer on a Mac.
Following his instructions will still install Windows directly on the Mac after partitioning the drive.
Editing the info.plist might render your BootCamp App useless as Apple seems to have signed the file.
This link describes how you can codesign your Bootcamp App to make it work again:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/23692698#23692698
This did the trick for me.
Thanks for that
Any one know how to get Windows 7 installed on a mid 2013 haswell macbook air?
Seems almost impossible has I’ve tried everything. Including changing the boot.wim file to load the USB 3 drivers but still a no go. :(
Last time I installed Windows 7 I went this way:
http://huguesval.com/blog/2012/02/installing-windows-7-on-a-mac-without-superdrive-with-virtualbox/
Worked like a charm. But beware: you need non-free WinClone to make it work.
Having the $WinPEDriver$ folder on the root of the Windows setup volume is the key. Setup.exe will load these drivers when it starts and make the keyboard and mouse work. I also used a USB2 key to avoid any issues with USB3 drivers not being loaded properly.
…lost 2 hours for nothing. Now I see the changes of your first text-version :-(
Hey Ben, why don’t you also throw an Apple Feedback link in there [http://www.apple.com/feedback/], since this whole thing is a huge dick move by Apple to begin with? There is no reason why they FORCE customers with DVD drives to use actual DVDs, other than they want to make this process as painful as possible. Which is kinda contrary to their marketing bullshit…
It would be nice if you could in fact install windows on to a usb key. I rarely use windows and if I do its only to reprogram my amateur radio or use firefox when safari fails to work with a site. I do not want to waste 20 gigs of my space to install windows and my software which I’ll only use every 3 or so months or so.
Take care and be blessed.