How big of a thumb drive do I need to install Windows on my Macbook using BootCamp?

How big of a thumb drive do I need to install Windows on my Macbook using BootCamp? I keep getting an error stating drive is not big enough. I am using a 128GB thumb drive

MacBook Pro Apple Silicon

Posted on Nov 20, 2022 6:47 PM

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Posted on Nov 25, 2022 8:30 AM

Neither Boot Camp nor Microsoft support installing Windows on an external drive. You must create the needed space on your boot drive by moving data/apps to an external drive. How large an external drive you need depends on how much data you will be moving to it.

And, 42 GB is not nearly enough space for a Windows partition if you want to do anything with Windows. I would recommend a Windows partition be at least 256GB in size.

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Nov 25, 2022 8:30 AM in response to RickT49

Neither Boot Camp nor Microsoft support installing Windows on an external drive. You must create the needed space on your boot drive by moving data/apps to an external drive. How large an external drive you need depends on how much data you will be moving to it.

And, 42 GB is not nearly enough space for a Windows partition if you want to do anything with Windows. I would recommend a Windows partition be at least 256GB in size.

Nov 24, 2022 11:04 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

I have a dual core i5 Intel based machine. I get an error that says disk does not have enough space to partition. Your disk can only create a 2gb partition. Bootcamp requires at least 42 gb. My machine is mid 2014. I am using a 125gb thumb drive. How can I make my bootcamp partition bigger. I've read & reread the provided documentation on using Bootcamp on an older machine. But can't quite get there. The documentation make it sound relatively simple.

Nov 25, 2022 8:48 AM in response to RickT49

Hi Bob,

Thanks for replying! I think I know what I am doing wrong. It looks to me like Bootcamp is attempting to install the boot drive on my thump drive. When I get to the partition size request from Bootcamp I move the slider to the middle giving me around 250 for each operating system. When I hit continue that is when I get the error.

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How big of a thumb drive do I need to install Windows on my Macbook using BootCamp?

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