Mac: Install Windows 7, 8 or 10 on an

external USB3 or Thunderbolt drive

without using bootcamp
Introduction
After I received my new iMac with a 3 TB Fusion Drive, I was disappointed when I
realized that Bootcamp was not running on this model and prevented me from installing
Windows on it. I wanted to take advantage of the powerful iMac hardware to play games
but I couldn't.
There are a few ways of working around this limitation, but I found most of them quite
complex and most of the time they required formatting the internal hard drive or
repartitioning it and go for a brand new installation of Mac OS X. I was not comfortable
with that.
But there is another way, and that is to install Windows on an external hard drive, using
either USB or Thunderbolt. Personally I used a Lacie Rugged 1 TB drive that has both
USB3 and Thunderbolt connectors. Both work very well.
Here is some buying advice:

This guide may interest you if:

 You have an internal hard drive of more than 2TB and you can't run bootcamp at
all (like late 2012 iMacs with a 3TB drive)
 You have limited space or you don't want to dedicate disk space on your internal
hard disk drive to a Windows installation

What this guide will make you do:

 It will make you erase all your data from your external
USB3/Thunderbolt hard drive
 It will make you install Windows on your external USB3/Thunderbolt
hard drive
 It will make you install bootcamp drivers

What this will not make you do:

 It will not make you modify anything on your internal Mac hard drive
 It will not make you use or install the bootcamp assistant
 It will not activate the Preference Pane for the default boot drive. You have to
boot by pressing the ALT key to manually select your boot drive each time you
want to boot Windows.

What you'll need

 An external hard drive with a USB3 and/or Thunderbolt connector. This drive will
be formatted so ensure you saved your files before going further. You can use
either an SSD drive or a classic hard drive.
  A Windows 7, 8 or 10 install DVD or ISO (check whether to install 32 or 64 bits
versions based on your Bootcamp drivers) and the corresponding Windows serial
number.
 One of the following:
o Mac OS X with a Windows 7, 8 or 10 Virtual Machine (use VMWare Fusion
or Parallels Desktop for example. Note: VMWare Fusion seems to have
some issues with Thunderbolt and USB3. Plug your drive to a USB2
enclosure or hub to work around this -it worked for me-, or use another
VM software) → Read the important note below
o A PC running Windows 7, 8 or 10 → Read the important note below
 Windows AIK (free) running on your Virtual Machine or on your PC, or just the
imagex.exe file (the rest of the Windows AIK package is not needed)
o Download imagex.exe
o Download Windows AIK (this download and installation is not required if
you have already downloaded imagex.exe)
 Bootcamp drivers for your Mac. You can get these either by running bootcamp
from your Mac (Applications > Utilities > Bootcamp) or, if like me you have a 3TB
drive and can't run bootcamp at all, use the direct download links here.
 A USB stick to store your bootcamp drivers

IMPORTANT: If your Mac has a 64 bits processor, your Windows Virtual Machine on
OSX, your Windows installation on your PC and your Windows DVD/ISO must also be in
64 bits!

Step by Step guide

Step 1: Get the install.wim file
 If you have a Windows ISO file:
1. Mount the ISO
 If you're on OS X: double click on the ISO file
 If you're on on Windows 7: Use a software like Virtual Clone
Drive (free)
 If you're on Windows 8 or 10: double click on the ISO file
2. Open the mounted drive, then go to the "sources" folder and locate the
"install.wim" file. Save this file to C:\wim\ on your Windows installation or
virtual machine.
 If you have a Windows DVD: open the "sources" folder on the DVD and locate the
"install.wim" file. Save this file to C:\wim\ on your Windows installation or virtual
machine.

IMPORTANT: If instead of a "install.wim" file, you have "install.esd", you should first
convert it to a WIM file before continuing this step by step guide. Google that to find the
right tool.

Step 2: Clean, partition and format your external hard

drive

1. On your Windows installation or virtual machine, plug in your external hard drive
(can be plugged using USB2, USB3 or Thunderbolt at this stage)
2. Open the command prompt in administrator mode (cmd.exe). To run it in
administrator mode, right click on cmd.exe > Run as admin.
3. Type the following and hit enter to open the disk partitioner utility:
 diskpart

4. Type the following and hit enter to list your drives:

list disk
This will display a list of disks mounted on your computer or virtual machine.
Make sure your drive is listed here before you continue.

5. Identify the disk ID of your external hard drive. Replace # by your real external
disk ID in the command below:

select disk #

6. Clean all partitions by typing the following (warning: this will erase all data from
your external drive!):

clean

7. Type the following to use MBR as partitioning format:

convert mbr

8. Create the boot partition by typing the following followed by the enter key:

create partition primary size=350

This will create a 350MB partition on your external drive

9. Format the partition in FAT32 by typing the following:

format fs=fat32 quick

10. Set this partition to active by typing:

active

11. Assign a letter to mount this partition. We will use letter B in our example. If B is
already used on your PC, replace B by any other available letter:

assign letter=b
Windows will detect a new drive and probably display a pop-up. Ignore that.

12. Create the Windows installation partition using all the remaining space available
on the external drive by typing the following:

create partition primary

13. Format the new partition in NTFS:

format fs=ntfs quick

14. Assign a letter to mount this partition. We will use letter O in our example. If O is
already used on your PC, replace O by any other available letter:
 assign letter=o
Windows will detect a new drive and probably display a pop-up. Ignore that.

15. Exit the disk partitioner utility by typing:

exit

Step 3: Deploy the Windows installation image

1. Still using the command prompt in admin mode (you didn't close it, did you? ;) ),
locate the imagex.exe file mentioned in the "What you'll need" section and access
its folder. In our example, we have put this file in C:\imagex\imagex.exe
2. Your Windows installation ISO has probably several installation options in it. So in
order to identify the right one, type in the following:

imagex.exe /info C:\wim\install.wim

3. Now identify the INDEX number of the installation that you wish to deploy. You
will use it in the next step.
4. Type the following and hit enter. Replace 1 with the INDEX you identified in the
previous step. Also remember to replace o: with the letter you have chosen in the
previous step:

imagex.exe /apply C:\wim\install.wim 1 o:

This will take some time. The Windows installation image is being deployed to
your external drive

5. Once done, type the following to create the boot section (remember to replace o:
and b: with the letters you've chosen in the previous step):

o:\windows\system32\bcdboot o:\windows /f ALL /s b:

o If you get an error message saying that you can't run this program on
your PC, then most probably you are running on a 32 bits installation of
windows and you're trying to deploy a 64 bits install. This means you did
not read the important notes in the beginning of this guide ;)
o If you get an error message on the options that can be used with the
BCDBOOT command, then it's because you're installing Windows 7, and
the /f option is not supported. If that is the case, remove /f ALL from the
command and retry.

Step 4: Boot from your external drive and install Windows

1. Plug in your external drive:
o If you've done all the previous steps from a Windows PC, unplug your
external drive from your PC and plug it to your Mac, either on a USB3 or a
Thunderbolt port.
o If you've done all the previous steps from your Mac using a Virtual
Machine, ensure the external drive is plugged in to a USB3 or Thunderbolt
port. Using USB2 should also work but you'll get very poor performance so
I don't recommend doing that.
 2. Reboot your Mac and once the bootup sound is over, immediately press the ALT
(option) key and release it only when the boot drives selection screen appears. If
you did not get the boot drives selection screen, reboot and try again. The timing
to press the ALT (option) key is quite short. It must not be too early or too late.
3. On the boot selection screen, choose "Windows" using the arrow keys on your
keyboard, then press enter.
4. The Windows installation starts. Follow the on-screen instructions as normal. The
installation program will restart your computer one or 2 times. Don't forget to
press ALT (option) right after the bootup sound, and boot on Windows again each
time to continue the installation.

Step 5: Install bootcamp drivers

1. Once the Windows installation is complete, plug in the USB stick where you
stored the bootcamp drivers (see "what you'll need" section), open it and right
click on "setup.exe" and select "Run as admin". Follow the on-screen instructions.
o If you have an error saying that you can't run this program on this PC,
obviously you have installed a 32 bits version of Windows and the
bootcamp drivers for your Mac are made for a 64 bits version. You have to
restart the whole guide and make sure to get a 64 bits version of Windows
this time!
2. Once the bootcamp drivers are all installed, reboot and press ALT (option) after
the bootup sound to boot on Windows again. And Voilà, you have Windows
installed on your USB3/Thunderbolt drive running on your Mac.
3. Now each time you want to boot on Windows, press and hold the ALT (option)
key after the startup sound and select "Windows", then press Enter. You can now
play your favortie PC games :)

Credits, sources and big thank you to:

 tweaks.com where I got the info on how to install Windows to go on a USB

external drive
 Chris F Caroll where I finally found where to download the bootcamp drivers
without running bootcamp
 Macrumors forums for the very helpful forum members