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I want to install Windows 7 on an external hard drive, and boot from it when needed.

Is this possible on a Mac? I have heard from some sources that it is not possible to boot Windows from external drives, at least on the new Macs. I found this quite surprising.

Any idea if this is true?

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possible duplicate of Boot Macbook pro from external harddisk – jtbandes Apr 18 '12 at 15:32
apparently rEFIt doesnt work ... – Newton Apr 19 '12 at 9:40
Doesn't work for what? I've used it to triple-boot before... – jtbandes Apr 19 '12 at 11:25
from an external? what Mac were you using and what OS did it have installed? – Newton Apr 19 '12 at 12:38
Ah no, just internal, sorry... – jtbandes Apr 19 '12 at 12:43

6 Answers

up vote 5 down vote

It is possible, but it's not straight forward. This detailed step by step guide (which I did) contains all you need to know to install and run Windows 7 or 8 from an external drive (USB3 or thunderbolt): http://bleeptobleep.blogspot.fr/2013/02/mac-install-windows-7-or-8-on-external.html

To sum up, this guide will help you:

  • Get the Windows installation pack from a DVD or ISO file
  • Partition and format your external drive to make it bootable
  • Deploy Windows on your external drive
  • Boot on your external drive
  • Install Windows
  • Download and install the bootcamp drivers (without even using the bootcamp assistant)
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Could you please summarize the information here and not just give a link. See these meta questions and here – Mark Feb 4 at 13:51
Sorry, I added a summary now. Is it sufficient? – BleepToBleep Feb 4 at 14:26
up vote 1 down vote

Silly as I am I wanted to do the same a few weeks ago. But the Windows 7 installer told me that it can't be installed on an external (USB or Firewire) drive.

You could probably installed a Windows PE version. But since that's not the Real Deal it wasn't an option for me.

Update There's a How-To Install Windows 7 on an external drive which I gonna try in the next few days. Not sure if that's gonna work on a Mac.

Update 2 I tried to install Windows 7 on an external USB drive following the How-To in the first Update. Unfortuantely I didn't get it to work. Getting it copied to the external drive worked well but after rebooting I got an error about not finding this Windows installation.

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up vote 0 down vote

Bootcamp cannot install Windows on an external drive.

7. If I have more than one hard drive, can I install Microsoft Windows on any drive?

You can use Boot Camp to install Windows on any internal hard drive, but not on an external hard drive.

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up vote 0 down vote

How-To Install Windows 7 on an external drive . I follow this link and install windows on external. But it doesn't boot on mac. I think mac has a issue of booting windows from usb. It could be about partitioning tables. http://refit.sourceforge.net/ . And i use this rEFIt program. On startup it allows you to choose different os. But this program couldnt help neither.

If anyone knows more please share.

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up vote 0 down vote

There is always the possibility to run Windows 7 as a virtual image (e.g. VMWare, VirtualBox). Works well from an external drive and has the advantage that you can start the image from any computer that has the software installed.

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up vote 0 down vote

for straightforward-method, you can install and run a bootcamp Windows on thunderbolt drive

Bootcamp Windows does not support for usb and firewire external drive, but do support for thunderbolt drive

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