Apple M1: Boot Windows 10 from external drive?

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Level 1

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Apple M1: Boot Windows 10 from external drive?

Hello,

Long story short, I'm hunting for solutions to run Windows 10 x64 on an M1 device (which I don't have yet as I'm waiting for the 16in). Stick with me here. VMs and Crossover are unacceptable for gaming. I've tried sticking with Mojave to run 32bit but that crashes all the time. The only reliable way for me to continue my gaming is via Boot Camp with native resources which we all know isn't possible on M1 Macs.

I've not done this before and I know it's possible to some degree but I'm wondering if it's possible to install Windows 10 x64 on an external drive (which I know is possible via Win2USB etc) and then select it as a boot device on an M1 Mac over Thunderbolt 3, similar to selecting any other external, boot-ready drive, thus booting Windows x64 (not ARM) over Thunderbolt 3.

What I'm hoping you don't say is that since boot camp doesn't work on M1s, the thoughts above won't either due to lack of drivers?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 29, 2020 7:01 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Nov 29, 2020 7:51 AM in response to Zathrak

You cannot run Intel x86 Windows on the M1, whether you boot from the internal disk and/or an external disk. If you must have Windows, buy an Intel Mac.

See bootcamp and M1 - Apple Community for reference.

Zathrak wrote:

I've not done this before and I know it's possible to some degree but I'm wondering if it's possible to install Windows 10 x64 on an external drive (which I know is possible via Win2USB etc) and then select it as a boot device on an M1 Mac over Thunderbolt 3, similar to selecting any other external, boot-ready drive, thus booting Windows x64 (not ARM) over Thunderbolt 3.

This will not work. Also, see If you need to install Rosetta on your Mac - Apple Support for reference.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Nov 29, 2020 8:17 AM in response to Zathrak

Also, see https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/11/11/parallels-confirms-apple-m1-support-amid-silence-from-other-virtualization-companies for Parallels and VMware Fusion announcements.

The ball is squarely in Microsoft's court if they want to port Windows to ARM M1, similar to what they have done for Microsoft/Qualcomm ARM SQ1/SQ2 for Surface Pro X.

See

for reference.

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Answer 3

Zathrak Author

Level 1

23 points

Nov 29, 2020 8:09 AM in response to Loner T

Well that sucks lol. Thank you Loner for the feedback. Here’s hoping someone gets creative.

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Apple M1: Boot Windows 10 from external drive?

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