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Mac users have a couple of options when it comes to installing and running Windows 10 on Mac. One can install Windows on Mac with the help of the built-in Boot Camp Assistant software offered in macOS, use virtualization software like VirtualBox to install Windows inside Mac, or manually create a new partition and then install Windows without the help of Boot Camp.
In one of our previous articles, we discussed installing Windows 10 on Mac with the help of Apple's Boot Camp software. In this guide, we're going to show you how to install Windows 10 on Mac without the Boot Camp Assistant software. This method involves creating a new partition for Windows, preparing a bootable Windows 10 USB, and of course, installing Windows 10 on your Mac.
Complete the given below instructions to successfully install Windows 10 on your Mac without Boot Camp software. Note that this method can also be used to install Windows 8.1 on Mac.
Install Windows 10 on Mac without Boot Camp Assistant
Step 1: Turn on your Mac machine and boot into macOS. Open Launchpad, click Other and then click Disk Utility to open the same.
Step 2: Once Disk Utility is launched, select the drive (your SSD or HDD) in the left side, and then switch to the Partition tab. Disk Utility will now show you the partition layout.
Step 3: Next, click on the small “+” sign to create a new partition.
Step 4: Select the newly created partition, enter a name for your new partition (remember the name as you can easily select the newly created partition later while installing Windows), select the size (at least 30 GB), and then select the format as DOS (FAT) or ExFAT. You can choose either DOS or ExFat here, as you can format the partition to NTFS while installing Windows 10.
Click Apply button to create a new partition to install Windows. Click on the Partition button when you see the warning message. Once the new partition is ready, close Disk Utility.
Step 5: Next, you need to prepare bootable Windows 10 installation media. Download and run UNetbootin (free) and prepare the bootable USB of Windows 10.
And if you already have the bootable media, you can proceed to the next step.
Step 6: Once you have the bootable media, restart your Mac, hold down the Alt (Option) key while restarting the Mac, choose the option titled Windows (don't select EFI unless you are very sure) to begin installing Windows on your Mac.
Step 7: Follow the simple on-screen instructions, and when you see the partition selection screen, select the newly created partition (be sure to select the right partition), click Format to format the partition with NTFS, select the formatted partition, and then click Install button to continue installing Windows on your Mac.
Note that during the installation, your system will be rebooted a couple of times. Every time your system reboots, hold down the Alt (Option) key, and then select Windows to continue the installation.
Step 8: From here on, you need to follow the normal Windows 10 installation procedure.
Step 9: Once Windows is installed on your Mac, check if everything works fine.
If keyboard, trackpad or any other hardware doesn't work, you might need to download device drivers (Boot Camp drivers) from Apple using our how to download Boot Camp drivers on Windows 10 without Boot Camp Assistant software guide for directions.
If you plan to use Windows as your default operating system, we suggest you set Windows as default OS in boot selection screen to avoid pressing the Alt key every time you turn on your Mac. How to quickly reboot into Mac from Windows guide might also interest you.
