Boot Camp Remove Windows From Your Mac

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In a previous tutorial we showed you how to create a macOS Boot Camp partition for installing Windows 10 on a MacBook Pro. The process, while not difficult, can be slightly time consuming, especially if you have a slow Internet connection for downloading Windows 10.

How To Remove A Windows Boot Camp Partition From Your Mac

Dec 15, 2019 Boot Camp allows you to dual boot between Mac OS X and a Windows partition on your Mac. This capability is extremely useful, allowing you to accomplish various tasks on your system. However, if you only needed the dual boot feature for a brief time, you may now want to remove the Windows Boot Camp partition. Oct 01, 2012  How to remove your windows bootcamp partition (PROPERLY) from your MacBook Pro. Remove Windows Boot Camp Partition with Grey Minus. Install Windows 7 on a Mac Using Boot Camp Assistant (Mac.

Outside of the time it takes, another downside associated with creating a Boot Camp partition is that it can take up a significant amount of space on your primary drive. Since some Macs are fairly limited when it comes to internal storage space, having a large Boot Camp partition can make it tricky to manage storage space in macOS.

In this follow-up tutorial, we show you how to remove the Boot Camp partition from your Mac, which allows your primary macOS partition to reclaim its space. Unlike the Boot Camp creation + Windows 10 installation process, removing a Boot Camp partition couldn’t be easier. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for the details.

Step 1: Back up any needed data stored on the Windows 10 partition.

Step 2: Launch Boot Camp Assistant, which is found in the Other folder when opening Launchpad or the Utilities folder under Applications in Finder.

Bootcamp How To Boot To Windows

Step 3: Click Continue.

Step 4: Click Restore to remove the Windows partition and restore the disk to a single-partition volume for macOS. The restore process, depending on the size of the partition and drive, may take a few minutes.

Step 5: Click Quit once the restore process is complete. You can now confirm via Disk Utility that the Boot Camp partition has been removed.

Video walkthrough

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As initially mentioned, one of the reasons you may wish to remove a Windows partition on your Mac is to recover the space associated with that partition. When initially creating the partition, you’re asked to allocate space from your main drive to the Boot Camp partition. This reduces the amount of free space available for macOS, which can cause inconveniences when operating Boot Camp on a system with limited storage.

If you’d like to learn how to install Windows 10 on your Mac, be sure to watch our hands-on video that shows how to properly wield Boot Camp Assistant. It’s also a good idea to learn how to backup your Boot Camp installation, which can easily be accomplished by following our hands-on Winclone tutorial.

Do you run Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp? I do so, particularly because Windows 10 is a much better gaming platform than macOS. If you use Windows on your Mac, please share your reasons for doing so in the comments below.

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What you need to install Windows 10 on Mac

Boot camp remove windows from your mac pro
  • MacBook introduced in 2015 or later
  • MacBook Air introduced in 2012 or later
  • MacBook Pro introduced in 2012 or later
  • Mac mini introduced in 2012 or later
  • iMac introduced in 2012 or later1
  • iMac Pro (all models)
  • Mac Pro introduced in 2013 or later

The latest macOS updates, which can include updates to Boot Camp Assistant. You will use Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows 10.

64GB or more free storage space on your Mac startup disk:

  • Your Mac can have as little as 64GB of free storage space, but at least 128GB of free storage space provides the best experience. Automatic Windows updates require that much space or more.
  • If you have an iMac Pro or Mac Pro with 128GB of memory (RAM) or more, your startup disk needs at least as much free storage space as your Mac has memory.2

An external USB flash drive with a storage capacity of 16GB or more, unless you're using a Mac that doesn't need a flash drive to install Windows.

A 64-bit version of Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro on a disk image (ISO) or other installation media. If installing Windows on your Mac for the first time, this must be a full version of Windows, not an upgrade.

  • If your copy of Windows came on a USB flash drive, or you have a Windows product key and no installation disc, download a Windows 10 disk image from Microsoft.
  • If your copy of Windows came on a DVD, you might need to create a disk image of that DVD.

How to install Windows 10 on Mac

To install Windows, use Boot Camp Assistant, which is included with your Mac.

1. Use Boot Camp Assistant to create a Windows partition

Open Boot Camp Assistant, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. Then follow the onscreen instructions.

Boot Camp Remove Windows From Your Mac Download

  • If you're asked to insert a USB drive, plug your USB flash drive into your Mac. Boot Camp Assistant will use it to create a bootable USB drive for Windows installation.
  • When Boot Camp Assistant asks you to set the size of the Windows partition, remember the minimum storage-space requirements in the previous section. Set a partition size that meets your needs, because you can't change its size later.

2. Format the Windows (BOOTCAMP) partition

When Boot Camp Assistant finishes, your Mac restarts to the Windows installer. If the installer asks where to install Windows, select the BOOTCAMP partition and click Format. In most cases, the installer selects and formats the BOOTCAMP partition automatically.

3. Install Windows

Boot Camp Remove Windows From Your Mac

Unplug any external devices that aren't necessary during installation. Then click Next and follow the onscreen instructions to begin installing Windows.

4. Use the Boot Camp installer in Windows

After Windows installation completes, your Mac starts up in Windows and opens a ”Welcome to the Boot Camp installer” window. Follow the onscreen instructions to install Boot Camp and Windows support software (drivers). You will be asked to restart when done.

  • If the Boot Camp installer never opens, open the Boot Camp installer manually and use it to complete Boot Camp installation.
  • If you have an external display connected to a Thunderbolt 3 port on your Mac, the display will be blank (black, gray, or blue) for up to 2 minutes during installation.

How to switch between Windows and macOS

Restart, then press and hold the Option (or Alt) ⌥ key during startup to switch between Windows and macOS.

Learn more

If you have one of these Mac models using OS X El Capitan 10.11 or later, you don't need a USB flash drive to install Windows:

  • MacBook introduced in 2015 or later
  • MacBook Air introduced in 2015 or later3
  • MacBook Pro introduced in 2015 or later3
  • iMac introduced in 2015 or later
  • iMac Pro (all models)
  • Mac Pro introduced in late 2013

Boot Camp Remove Windows From Your Mac Free

To remove Windows from your Mac, use Boot Camp Assistant, not any other utility.

For more information about using Windows on your Mac, open Boot Camp Assistant and click the Open Boot Camp Help button.

Boot Camp Remove Windows From Your Mac Free

1. If you're using an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) or iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) or iMac (27-inch, Late 2012) with a 3TB hard drive and macOS Mojave or later, learn about an alert you might see during installation.

2. For example, if your Mac has 128GB of memory, its startup disk must have at least 128GB of storage space available for Windows. To see how much memory your Mac has, choose Apple menu  > About This Mac. To see how much storage space is available, click the Storage tab in the same window.

3. These Mac models were offered with 128GB hard drives as an option. Apple recommends 256GB or larger hard drives so that you can create a Boot Camp partition of at least 128GB.