Updated: June 10, 2021 Home » Freeware and Software Reviews

I have a MacBook with Boot Camp Windows 10. I paired AirPods in Windows, and use it well after a tweak. However, if I have used AirPods in macOS, AirPods will no longer connect in Windows without re-pairing. If I have not used AirPods in macOS, AirPods works well in Windows, no matter how many times I switch back-and-forth from macOS / Windows. Dual Boot Windows With Mac Os Sierra Without Boot Camp Download. From the notification area on the right side of the Windows taskbar, click to show hidden icons. Click the Boot Camp icon. From the menu shown, choose Restart in macOS.

How to dual-boot Linux and Windows on the same hard disk? Typically a computer will have a single operating system installed on them, for those that want to dual-boot multiple OS such as a combination of Windows and Linux, you will need to make some changes and enable the option to choose which OS to boot from during startup.

😭 😍 😂 3 Free Boot Camp Alternatives – Run Windows Applications And Games On macOS

You can install 2 operating systems provided that you partition your SSD or Hard Disk into 2 drives. When you install a Linux distribution, it typically installs the Grub boot loader. Grub loads instead of the Windows boot loader at boot time if Windows was already installed, allowing you to choose the operating system you want to boot by modifying the Boot Configuration Data.

↓ 01 – Grub2Win | Free

Grub2Win supports 64 and 32 bit EFI and BIOS on Windows 10, 8, 7 and XP. Safely dual boot Windows and Linux from GPT or MBR disks. Grub2Win boots native GNU Grub version 2 code. Everything is contained in a single 20 MB directory on your Windows C: drive. On EFI systems a few small modules are installed to your EFI partition.

Using the simple Windows GUI and instructions you can install Grub2Win quickly and safely. Select from many OS choices. Supports Antergos, Android, Ubuntu, Debian, Suse, Fedora, Mint, Clover and Windows. Also boots ISO files. You can enter your own custom commands for each menu entry.

• Supports 64 and 32 bit EFI as well as BIOS firmware.
• Installs to Windows 10, 8, 7 and XP.
• Requires just one directory on the Windows C: drive, about 20 MB disk space.
• Simple Windows GUI easily sets up Grub2Win in seconds.
• Lets you set your EFI firmware boot order from within Windows.
• Preview and customize the 9 included graphic background themes.
• Works with all filesystems including Mac hfs and Btrfs.
• Can search for and boot a partition by it’s label. Supports advanced scripting.
• Works with both GPT and MBR disks – up to 128 primary partitions per drive.
• Supports extremely large (over 40 TB) disks and partitions.
• Safely multiboot Windows, Antergos, Android, Ubuntu, Debian, Suse, Fedora, Mint, Clover and more.
• Grub customization is done from Windows – Configuration in Linux is not required.

↓ 02 – EasyBCD | Free Personal

Take control of your boot loader, EasyBCD supercharges your Windows PC, allowing you to dual-boot to your heart’s content. Also boot into legacy systems Microsoft doesn’t support: MS-DOS, Windows 9x, Windows ME, and Windows 2000!

EasyBCD is geared for users of all kinds. Whether you just want to add an entry to your old XP partition or want to create a duplicate for testing purposes; if you’re interested in debugging the Windows Kernel or septuple-booting your seven test operating systems, EasyBCD is the key.

• Boot anything – Windows, Linux, macOS, & BSD! Boot both from and into USB drives, ISO images, virtual disks, and more.
• Boot anywhere – Create bootable USB sticks with repair utilities that you can take with you anywhere.
• Protect against disaster – Create entries to boot into recovery utilities or safe mode to prepare for a rainy day.
• Painless editing – Add, rename, remove, configure, and reorder entries at whim.
• Solve difficult problems – Use EasyBCD to troubleshoot Windows, back up and repair the bootloader, and more.
• Powerful scripting with NeoGrub – You’ll have the power to hide partitions, change active flags, and create complex boot scenarios.

↓ 03 – rEFInd Boot Manager | Free

rEFInd is a fork of the Small rEFIt boot manager for computers based on the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and Unified EFI (UEFI). Like rEFIt, rEFInd is a boot manager, meaning that it presents a menu of options to the user when the computer first starts up, as shown below. rEFInd is not a boot loader, which is a program that loads an OS kernel and hands off control to it.

↓ 04 – Clover EFI bootloader | Free

This is an EFI-based bootloader for BIOS-based computers created as a replacement to the EDK2/Duet bootloader. Clover is an operating system boot loader for computers already equipped with an UEFI firmware and for those equipped with legacy BIOS firmware. An operating system (OS) may support (U)EFI (macOS, Windows 7, 8, or 10, Linux) or not (Windows XP). Legacy boot is used for the last one, that is, the old BIOS system is used to handle boot sectors.

• Boot macOS, Windows, and Linux in UEFI or legacy mode on Mac or PC with UEFI or BIOS firmware
• Boot using UEFI firmware directly or CloverEFI UEFI firmware emulation
• Customizable GUI including themes, icons, fonts, background images, animations, and mouse pointers.
• Ability to boot previously selected boot entry after default timeout
• Boot entries menu scrolls if screen resolution is too low for menu
• Create custom boot entries for personalizing boot entries and add support for other operating systems
• Create Clover boot entry in NVRAM with tool from GUI

Bootcamp (Boot Camp Assistant) is essentially Apple's way of welcoming Microsoft into its walled garden in a roundabout way. In other words, it allows you to install Windows on a Mac computer by partitioning the disk and letting you dual-boot a laptop or desktop. You will need to specify the amount of disk space for Windows installation, as well as get all the drivers required to run Windows on your Mac OS X or macOS computer. Once installed, it will be exactly the same as working in Windows. A lot of users prefer this over switching between Mac and PC, so you can imagine why Boot Camp Assistant has been so popular for so many years.

Part 1: Problems with Bootcamp Assistant on Mac

That being said, there are a lot of problems in using Bootcamp Assistant on latest macOS such as Mojave or High Serria. One of the errors is the 'Boot Camp installation failed' error. Apple suggests that you move to macOS Mojave and try installing Windows 10 again, but the issue doesn't always go away. Another common error is when trying to copy the Windows installation files. In still other cases, you'll notice that several Mac features don't work when running Windows, such as Apple Software Update stopping, no audio from built-in speakers, mic or webcam not recognized by Windows and so on.

To avoid such errors and issues, which can often take quite a lot of your time to figure out and fix, you can use alternative solutions to install Windows on a Mac from USB. Though you will still need to use Boot Camp Assistant for part of the process, but you're not likely to come across major installation errors when doing this. You can also use Terminal in Mac to help you install Windows. The next two sections describe these methods in detail.

Part 2: Make a Bootable Windows 10/8/7 USB Installer on Mac

Boot Camp Assistant is the official recommendation for creating bootable Windows USB. In case it does not work, we will suggest two alternative software in this section. Both are working fine on latest macOS and we tested three USB drives without running into any issue.

Method 1: Create Windows Bootable USB Using ISO Editor (without Bootcamp)

UUByte ISO Editor can work as a great alternative to Bootcamp for installing Windows OS on Mac. You can easily fetch all the required drivers using Bootcamp, but the installation process for putting Windows on your Mac is different from how Bootcamp does it. UUbyte is one of the most robust Windows 10 bootable USB creator for Mac that you'll ever find. It can do a lot more than just create bootable media, such as creating ISO files, editing them, copying from disc to ISO and so on. For this process, you will need to use the Burn module, which is explained below:

Step 1: Get the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft's website and install the Mac version of UUbytes ISO Editor.

Step 2: Launch Boot Camp Assistant, go to Action and click on Download Windows Support Software. When the dialog appears, click Save and specify a location for the files.

Step 3: Open the UUbytes program and click on the module that says Burn. Insert a USB flash drive and burn ISO to USB drive. Select the ISO image and click on Burn. This will create a bootable USB drive for the Windows installation.

UUByte is the best alternative to BootCamp for creating bootable Windows USB installer. It is simple to use and has less errors.

Method 2: Create Windows Bootable USB Using Terminal App (without Bootcamp)

This method uses Terminal application to create the bootable media for Windows 10. You will still need Boot Camp Assistant for the support software, but if you're comfortable with command line work, you try this approach. You will first need to download the Windows 10 ISO file. You will also need to use Boot Camp Assistant to get the support files, for which you can follow Step 3 from Method 1.

Step 1: Launch an instance of Terminal. Type the following command and then Enter to list out your drives:

diskutil list external

Step 2: Scroll down the name of the USB drive listed in Terminal. You will be using this in the next command. For now, let's call it disk2. The next step is to format your USB drive for Windows 10. Use the following command, then hit Enter:

diskutil eraseDisk ExFat 'WINDOWS10' MBR disk2

Step 3: You will be able to see a mounted disk called Windows 10. Mount the downloaded Windows 10 ISO file by double-clicking it in Finder. The name will be CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9. You can also run the following command:

Dual Boot Mac Without Bootcamp

cp -rp /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9/* /Volumes/WINDOWS10/

Step 4: Unfortunately, there's no progress bar to indicate that the bootable media is being created. However, after a sufficient amount of time has passed, the USB drive will contain bootable media for a Windows 10 installation.

Part 3: Create a New Partition for Windows OS on Mac

Windows OS can be only installed on a FAT/ExFAT or NTFS partition. You have to create a new partition on Mac for storing Windows OS files as the default partition on Mac is HFS+ or APFS. This can be done with the help of built-in Disk Utility app. However, this is a highly risky task. Please backup your important data to iCloud or external drive with Time Machine.

To create a new partition for Windows OS, please open Disk Utility app on your Mac. Click the internal disk name on the left sidebar. Now, click the Partition tab on top menu. From the pop-up window, type a name for this new partition and select ExFAT for Windows 10 and MS-DOS (FAT) for Windows 7 from Format drop-down menu. At the end, set a size for the new partition. Finally, click Apply button to take this into effect.

Dual Boot Without Bootcamp

Part 4: Boot Mac from Windows Installation USB

Mac will boot from internal hard drive or SSD in default. To install Windows OS on Mac without Boot Camp, you should let your Mac booting from USB drive to start the installation process. However, this is an easy task.

Make sure you disconnect all USB devices except a wired keyboard and the USB drive containing the Windows ISO files. Now restart your computer and hold down the Option (Alt) key at the same time. Wait for about 10 seconds, Apple logo shows up and you will be presented with several boot options. Pick up the drive you have set in Part 2. If you did not do that, the default name is EFI Boot.

Part 5: Start Installing Windows 10/8/7 on Mac without Bootcamp

When Mac boots from the bootable Windows 10 USB, wait about 30 seconds and Windows installation wizard appears. At this time, the window is much small because graphics driver are not installed yet. Now, you have to follow the screen prompt to choose language, region and most importantly the partition to install Windows OS files.

Part 6: Download and Install Windows Support Software (Drivers)

Dual Boot Macbook Pro Windows 10 Without Bootcamp

The Windows ISO image file only has the basic drivers for running Windows OS. Some of the hardware on Mac won't work in Windows, suchas Apple Mouse, trackpad or speaker. You have to install addition drivers to use Windows seamlessly as it is on a PC. To do this, you should download and install Windows Support Software with the help of Boot Camp Assistant.

As usual, launch Boot Camp Assistant app on your Mac and click Action tab on menu bar, where you can see an option named Download Windows Support Software. Now, choose your Windows Installer USB as the target location to store the driver files. It will take 5-10 minutes for the downloading task.

Now, boot your Mac into Windows partition. You will see a pop-up from Boot Camp installer. Just follow the prompt to install Windows Support Software. If it does not appear, then plug the USB drive and navigate to USB drive in File Explorer; then go to WindowsSupport -> BootCamp, and click setup.exe to start installing Windows drivers for this Mac.

Part 7: How to Switch Between Windows and macOS

Now, you have everything set up properly for both Windows and macOS. You may be wondering how can you switch OS between Windows and macOS? The trick is a bit different depending on which OS you are currentlt in.

If you are in macOS now and want to restart into Windows, then reboot your Mac and hold Option key untill you see the Startup Manager, where you can choose a booting device like we mentioned in Part 4, something like this:

You can also do this in Startup Disk from System Preferences. Choose th Windows partition and click Restart... button to boot Mac into Windows OS.

If you are in Windows OS and want to switch to Mac, click the Up Carat icon and select Restart in macOS. If this option does not show up, then reboot Windows as normal and press Option key to bring up Startup Manager and pick up Macintosh HD this time.

Conclusion

It is absolutely not an easy journey for installing Windows on Mac without BootCamp. Fortunately, we have put everything together to help you complete this task smoothly. The key part is how to partition the Mac internal drive and create bootable Windows USB. If you are not comfortable using Terminal, UUByte ISO Editor is the recommended way to install Windows on a Mac without Boot Camp Assistant. It's reliable, quick and doesn't require any special technical knowledge.