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I know there are a dozen other threads on this, and I've read through quite a few of them, but none of the methods outlined in the answers seem to work for me.

I've got Parallels Desktop installed with a working Windows 10 installation running in it on my High Sierra boot drive, but I want to install a native Windows 10 partition under Boot Camp for various reasons. However my main hard-drive is a RAID 0 (Fusion Drive) configuration, and Boot Camp says that's a no-no.

I've got this external Thunderbolt SSD that's 128GB that's just sitting there, waiting. But Parallels only sees it as a Network drive, and won't connect it "directly" to the Windows 10 virtual machine, so I can't do anything with it within Parallels. I have the Windows 10 install ISO, and I've written it to a 16GB Flash Drive. I think I can get it to boot, but Windows won't install when I have multiple thunderbolt devices connected, or even to an external drive at all, due to the way Windows installation works.

I should add that I first tried to install Windows to a partition on my boot drive, but that didn't work. The partition I tried to create created for Windows to reside on was on the Fusion Drive; that is, that's where Disk Utility created it; it's residing on one of the external Thunderbolt drives I have connected to the Mac. (The Fusion Drive consists of the internal flash drive, plus three external Thunderbolt drives.) This did not work out.

So now I'm trying to install Windows to the 128GB external Thunderbolt SSD drive. Please help!

Here are the outputs of my diskutil list and diskutil cs list commands:

Nemesis:~ andyhainline$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE           IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB            disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB       disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage WarpDrive               250.7 GB       disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB       disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE           IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *6.0 TB         disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB       disk1s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage WarpDrive               5.7 TB         disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB       disk1s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                349.2 GB       disk1s4

/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE           IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *128.0 GB       disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB       disk2s1
   2:       Microsoft Basic Data WIN10                   127.8 GB       disk2s2

/dev/disk5 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE           IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *6.0 TB         disk5
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB       disk5s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage WarpDrive               6.0 TB         disk5s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB       disk5s3

/dev/disk6 (internal, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE           IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS WarpCore               +11.9 TB        disk6
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2,     ...
                                 620C2285-D41E-4BD8-AC5C-3595C0AAD38D
                                 Unencrypted Fusion Drive

/dev/disk7 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE           IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *6.0 TB         disk7
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB       disk7s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Time Vortex             6.0 TB         disk7s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB       disk7s3

/dev/disk8 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE            IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *6.0 TB          disk8
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB       disk8s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Time Vortex             6.0 TB         disk8s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB       disk8s3

/dev/disk9 (external, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE           IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS TARDIS                 +12.0 TB        disk9
                                 Logical Volume on disk7s2, disk8s2
                                 79DE94A8-6383-424A-865A-9440F80E98CA
                                 Unencrypted Fusion Drive 

Nemesis:~ andyhainline$ diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (2 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group A0F4991A-7A24-4272-A68D-4BC1CE117291
|   =========================================================
|   Name:         WarpDrive
|   Status:       Online
|   Size:         11902295756800 B (11.9 TB)
|   Free Space:   4795342848 B (4.8 GB)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 2D93A2FE-B2E0-4AED-B5C2-86287B67C32F
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    0
|   |   Disk:     disk0s2
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     250656219136 B (250.7 GB)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 8FD2F9AB-204A-4C8A-BE2B-4848807F4862
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    1
|   |   Disk:     disk1s2
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     5650808385536 B (5.7 TB)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 4331EE1B-1D59-4624-8144-3887D8B01856
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    2
|   |   Disk:     disk5s2
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     6000831152128 B (6.0 TB)
|   |
|   +-> Logical Volume Family EE16150A-6D66-44BB-876B-44757D900CEA
|       ----------------------------------------------------------
|       Encryption Type:         None
|       |
|       +-> Logical Volume 620C2285-D41E-4BD8-AC5C-3595C0AAD38D
|           ---------------------------------------------------
|           Disk:                  disk6
|           Status:                Online
|           Size (Total):          11890649989120 B (11.9 TB)
|           Revertible:            No
|           LV Name:               WarpCore
|           Volume Name:           WarpCore
|           Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
|           LVG Type:              Fusion, Sparse
|
+-- Logical Volume Group A7181B2E-5674-4FB2-B4C4-8676596EB289
=========================================================
Name:         Time Vortex
Status:       Online
Size:         12001656365056 B (12.0 TB)
Free Space:   114688 B (114.7 KB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 8E73C91A-F16E-4A59-834D-59DFB02DB26F
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk7s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     6000831152128 B (6.0 TB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 22E5BDCB-D500-4392-8CFE-4046D2C814D7
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    1
    |   Disk:     disk8s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     6000825212928 B (6.0 TB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 6552D170-0CE0-49F3-8ECD-CD0A8154F918
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Encryption Type:         None
        |
        +-> Logical Volume 79DE94A8-6383-424A-865A-9440F80E98CA
        ---------------------------------------------------
        Disk:                  disk9
        Status:                Online
        Size (Total):          11963613708288 B (12.0 TB)
        Revertible:            No
        LV Name:               TARDIS
        Volume Name:           TARDIS
        Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
        LVG Type:              Fusion, Sparse
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  • I believe a RAID 0 set of drives is different from a Fusion drive. So my first question is "Which is it?". Next, which type of windows installation do you prefer: Internal or External? I believe both ways are possible, but I only have experience with internal drives. I also need to know what is the model/year of your computer. Once you have updated your question, I will be able to better help you. Also, could you post the output from the Terminal application commands diskutil list and diskutil cs list. Commented Nov 28, 2017 at 18:58
  • FYI, if you want to insure I receive notification of a comment you post, it is a good idea to include a @David somewhere in your comment. Commented Nov 28, 2017 at 22:34
  • Sure, no problem. I'm running a late 2013 Mac Pro, quad-core 3.7GHz Xeon processor, with 32GB of aftermarket RAM memory installed, 256B internal SSD, dual 2GB AMD FIrePro D300 graphics cards, with four external hard-drives attached: Two LaCie BigDisk 6TB and a G-STUDIO 6TB, all three connected through Thunderbolt 2, and Western Digital BigBook 6TB connected over FireWire 800 through a Thunderbolt 2 converter. The "FusionDrive" consists of the internal 256GB SSD, the G-STUDIO 6TB, and one of the Lacie BigDisk 6TB drives as a single CoreStorage Logical Volume. Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 21:09
  • @David, I have edited my original post with my dIskutil and diskutil cs info, if that helps, and have included my computer info in the above comment. Also have asked some clarifying questions in the comment below on your Answer. Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 21:25

2 Answers 2

2

I have moved the instructions to the question: Is it possible to use Boot Camp with Windows 10 from an external HDD?

If these instructions fail to work, you can either pursue a third party tool or I can modify the instructions to install Windows to your internal drive.

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  • When you say "The UUID's for 8 GB the 600 MB partitions should be EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 and DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC, respectively," first of all, I think the grammar in that sentence came out a bit garbled. How did you in fact mean for that to read originally? And two — how do I set the UUIDs manually? Also, how do I "open a windows command prompt" once I've booted to the drive where the installation files are? Won't that just start the installation? Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 20:55
  • OH, I GET IT. You meant the 8GB AND the 600MB partitions. Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 21:51
  • Thank you for the detailed instructions!!! I will try this tonight! Commented Dec 1, 2017 at 10:25
  • @William: FYI, I have actually tested these instructions using a USB 3 HDD. Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 0:37
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I wrote a blog post a while back, that might help LINK

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  • 2
    If possible, could you summarise the key points of your blog post? This helps ensure your answer is still helpful in future in the event the link breaks.
    – Monomeeth
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 22:42

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