Erase Boot Camp Partition Mac
If you own Intel-based Macs, you can run OS X and Windows on one machine. In fact, it’s been possible to run Windows on a Mac for some time — with agonizing limitations. Near-extinct Mac models were loaded with Virtual PC emulation software could do Windows, too, but the program was painfully slow. Even if you find an old copy of the software, it won’t work with any current Macs.
But, OSX will be re-written as a separate partition formatted as NTFS. You can probably do this from inside Windows and format the drive from there. Alternatively, boot from recovery and clear the partition. I have boot camp on a 2011 MBP and I want to fully wipe the OSX partition to only have windows. Feb 04, 2013 Holding down Command + R at power on should cause it to do a Recovery Boot from the internet. In oder to proceed you will probably have to reformat the disk first which will wipe out the Boot Camp partition. Here are the steps to remove Windows from Mac by removing the partition of Windows boot camp: Firstly, reboot the Mac back into OS X. It is done by holding down the options key and selecting the Macintosh HD. Next, open the boot camp assistant app which you can find within the Application/utilities/folder of Mac hard drive. If you exited Boot Camp Assistant before installing Windows, open it again, choose Start the Windows Installer, and click Continue. When you’re asked to choose the Windows partition, select the partition that says BOOTCAMP. You may have to scroll down to see it. Don’t erase any partitions that you see or create a new partition here.
Boot Camp software from Apple shook up the computing public upon its apocalyptic arrival in April 2006. Boot Camp graduated from beta, or near-finished, status with the arrival of Leopard. Boot Camp Assistant software is stored in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder.
Boot Camp itself is free. You have to supply your own single-disc or downloadable full-install version of Windows; an upgrade disc won’t cut it.
It’s also important to note that you can use a 64-bit version of Windows, Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. Consult Apple support to see which Mac models are compatible with which versions of Windows. In its current incarnation, Boot Camp isn’t compatible with 32-bit versions of Windows.
Other requirements follow:
An Intel Mac with OS X version 10.6 or later
At least 2GB of RAM and 20GB of available space on the Mac’s storage drive that you want to donate to Windows
A blank CD or USB storage device that you’ll use for Windows software drivers
If you don’t run into snags, the entire installation should take about an hour.
Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 are optimized for a touchscreen environment, though you can use it with a standard mouse and keyboard. For now, Macs don’t support touchscreen computing.
To install Windows 8 via Boot Camp, you still must have a legitimate Windows 8 license from Microsoft and a Win8 installation disc, assuming that you have an optical drive. If you don’t have an optical drive, you may be able to create a Windows installer from an ISO file downloaded from Microsoft on a USB flash drive that’s 8GB or larger.
Because snags are possible, back up all your important information on the Mac’s startup disk.
Basic training
Following are the basic steps to get through Boot Camp:
Run Boot Camp Assistant (in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder) to make sure that you have the latest firmware on your computer and to install any support software from Apple that you might need.
You’ll find any updates at Apple support. If you’re using a portable computer, make sure to connect the power adapter. You will also be given the option to create a Windows 7 (or later version) install disk for which you’ll need a USB flash drive and an ISO image downloaded from Apple.
Follow the prompts in Boot Camp Assistant to create a partition for Windows.
You’re essentially carving out an area of your hard drive for the Windows operating system,. This partition must be at least 30GB and can swell to the total free disk space on hand minus 30GB. If you don’t plan on doing much in Windows, keep the partition small.
Drag the divider to set the partitions for both OS X and Windows, or click Divide Equally to make equal partitions. You can’t resize a Windows partition after creating it, though you can replace it with a larger Windows partition.
If you have a Mac Pro with more than one internal hard drive, you can select which drive to partition. If any of this makes you nervous, know that you can remove the Windows partition later and go back to a single-partition Mac.
Insert the Windows CD or a USB flash drive with the Windows ISO file and then click Start Installation.
If you exited Boot Camp Assistant before installing Windows, open it again, choose Start the Windows Installer, and click Continue.
When you’re asked to choose the Windows partition, select the partition that says BOOTCAMP.
You may have to scroll down to see it.
Don’t erase any partitions that you see or create a new partition here. Failure to heed this warning could wipe out your entire Mac OS X startup disk.
(Optional) If you see a listing for Drive Options, click it; otherwise, proceed to Step 6.
Reformat the partition by using the Windows installer: Click Format.
You’re using the reliable and secure NTFS file system, but you won’t be able to save files to Windows from Mac OS X, at least not without a techie workaround.
Follow the onscreen instructions to finish installing Windows.
Boot Camp 5.1 includes several Mac drivers so that Windows will recognize your trackpad, Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, the iSight (or FaceTime) camera, the Eject key on the Mac keyboard, networking, audio, graphics, and so on.
A Boot Camp Control Panel for Windows and an Apple Boot Camp system-tray item will be added.
As with any new Windows computer, Microsoft requires that you activate your Windows software within 30 days.
Switching operating systems
You can go back and forth between OS X and Windows on your Mac, but you can’t run both operating systems simultaneously under Boot Camp. Instead, you have to boot one operating system or the other — thus, the name Boot Camp.
Restart your Mac, and hold down the Option key until icons for each operating system appear onscreen. Highlight Windows or Macintosh HD, and click the arrow to launch the operating system of choice for this session.
If you want OS X or Windows to boot every time, choose app → System Preferences, click Startup Disk, and choose the OS you want to launch by default.
You can perform the same function in Windows by clicking the Boot Camp system-tray icon and selecting the Boot Camp Control Panel. Click either the Macintosh HD or Windows icon, depending on your startup preference.
Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep.
How to erase a disk
Proceed based on whether you’re erasing your startup disk or some other disk. Your startup disk is the disk (volume) that your Mac started up from. By default, it’s the disk built into your Mac, named Macintosh HD. If you’re selling, giving away or trading in your Mac, you should erase your startup disk.
Erase a startup disk
- Start up from macOS Recovery.
- Select Disk Utility from the Utilities window in macOS Recovery. Then click Continue.
- Make sure that the sidebar in Disk Utility shows the name of your startup disk. The volume representing your startup disk is Macintosh HD, unless you’ve renamed it. Don’t see it?
- Look for a “Data” volume with the same name, such as “Macintosh HD - Data”. If you have such a volume, select it. Then choose Edit > Delete APFS Volume from the menu bar, or click the delete volume button (–) in the Disk Utility toolbar.
When you’re asked to confirm, click the Delete button. Do not click Delete Volume Group. Do the same to delete other volumes that you might have on your startup disk — except the volume named Macintosh HD. - After deleting any Data volumes, select Macintosh HD in the sidebar.
- Click the Erase button or tab, then complete these items:
- Name: Enter a name that you want the volume to have after you’ve erased it, such as Macintosh HD.
- Format: Choose either APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to format as a Mac volume. Disk Utility shows the recommended Mac format by default.
- Click Erase to begin erasing. You might be prompted to enter your Apple ID.
- When finished, quit Disk Utility to return to the Utilities window.
- If you want your Mac to be able to start up from this volume again, choose Reinstall macOS from the Utilities window, then follow the on-screen instructions to reinstall macOS on the volume. If you don’t reinstall macOS, your Mac might start up to a flashing question mark (?).
Erase some other disk
The steps above also work when erasing a storage device that you aren’t using as a startup disk. However, in that case, it isn’t necessary to open Disk Utility from macOS Recovery — you can instead open it from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. And you don’t need to delete Data volumes first — just select your disk in Disk Utility, then click Erase.
How to change the partition map (scheme) of a disk
In some circumstances, you might need to change the partition map (scheme) while erasing. If you’re following instructions that require choosing a scheme, the steps in Disk Utility differ from the steps above.
- After opening Disk Utility, choose View > Show All Devices from the menu bar.
- The sidebar now shows not just volumes, but also the disks (devices) that contain those volumes. In the following example, APPLE SSD is the disk, Container disk1 is a container on that disk and Macintosh HD is a volume in that container. (Only APFS-formatted disks have containers.)
- Select the disk that you want to erase, such as Apple SSD.
- Check the information shown on the right-hand side of the window to find out which partition map is currently in use:
- GUID Partition Map is appropriate for Mac disks.
- Master Boot Record is appropriate for external drives used with a PC or Boot Camp.
- If the partition map is not appropriate for the disk’s intended use, click the Erase button or tab, then complete these items:
- Name: Enter a name that you want the disk to have after you’ve erased it, such as Apple SSD.
- Format: To format as a Mac disk, choose either APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
- Scheme: Choose the appropriate partition map scheme.
- Click Erase to begin erasing. If you’re erasing your startup disk, you might be prompted to enter your Apple ID.
- Quit Disk Utility when finished.
- If you want your Mac to be able to start up from this disk, choose Reinstall macOS from the Utilities window, then follow the on-screen instructions to reinstall macOS on the disk.
Why erase a disk?
You can erase a disk or volume at any time, including in circumstances such as these:
- You want to quickly and permanently erase all content from your Mac and restore it to factory settings, such as when you’re selling, giving away or trading in your Mac.
- You’re changing the format of a disk, such as from a PC format (FAT, ExFAT or NTFS) to a Mac format (APFS or Mac OS Extended).
- You’ve received a message that your disk isn’t readable by this computer.
- You’re trying to resolve a disk issue that Disk Utility can’t repair.
- The macOS installer doesn’t see your disk or can’t install on it. For example, the installer might say that your disk isn’t formatted correctly, isn’t using a GUID partition scheme, contains a newer version of the operating system or can’t be used to start up your computer.
- The macOS installer says that you may not install to this volume because it is part of an Apple RAID.
About APFS and Mac OS Extended
Remove Boot Camp Partition Mac
Disk Utility in macOS High Sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for Mac using either the newer APFS (Apple File System) format or the older Mac OS Extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
Identify the current format
If you want to know which format is currently in use, use any of these methods:
- Select the volume in the Disk Utility sidebar, then check the information on the right. For more detail, choose File > Get Info from the Disk Utility menu bar.
- Open System Information and select Storage in the sidebar. The File System column on the right shows the format of each volume.
- Select the volume in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info from the menu bar. The Get Info window shows the Format of that volume.
Choose between APFS and Mac OS Extended
If you want to change the format, answer these questions:
Are you formatting the disk that came built into your Mac?
If the built-in disk came APFS-formatted, don’t change it to Mac OS Extended.
Are you about to install macOS High Sierra or later on the disk?
If you need to erase your disk before installing High Sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). During installation, the macOS installer decides whether to automatically convert to APFS — without erasing your files.
Erase Boot Camp Partition Mac And Cheese
Are you preparing a Time Machine backup disk or bootable installer?
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use with Time Machine or as a bootable installer.
Will you be using the disk with another Mac?
If the other Mac isn’t using High Sierra or later, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Earlier versions of macOS don’t mount APFS-formatted volumes.
Disk Utility tries to detect the type of storage and show the appropriate format in the Format menu. If it can’t, it chooses Mac OS Extended, which works with all versions of macOS.
If your disk doesn’t appear in Disk Utility
If Disk Utility doesn’t show a sidebar, choose View > Show Sidebar from the menu bar.
Erase Partition Usb
If Disk Utility shows the sidebar, but your disk doesn’t appear within it, disconnect all non-essential devices from your Mac. If the disk is external, leave it connected, but make sure that it’s turned on and connected directly to your Mac using a good cable. Then restart your Mac and try again. If your disk still doesn’t appear, your disk or Mac might need service. Learn how to get your Mac ready for service.
Learn more
- If you can’t start up from macOS Recovery, you can instead use a different startup disk, if you have one.