Delete OSX Partition, Run Windows only

[Littleluk]

Hi,

I need to install Windows 10 on my 2016 Macbook Pro for a project. Unfortunately, I can't free up enough space as I will most likely need for it and my external drives are too slow, so I made a TimeMachine backup of macOS.

There seems to be little information online to this: How can I install Windows 10 with Bootcamp and all of its drivers and then remove the OSX partition, so Windows has the entire SSD space for itself?

Also, when I'm done, can I just Boot with Command + R and re-install macOS from the web?

Thanks!

 

[DeltaMac]

If you need all the space on your internal drive for your Windows needs, then that's pretty easy.
What you should do first:
Run the Boot Camp assistant, and choose from the Action menu to download the Windows Support software
Even better, if you have a USB flash drive with your Windows installer ISO, save the Windows Support download to that flash drive. When you install Windows, the boot camp support software will install automatically, when you set up your Windows user.
Once you have that support software saved, then you can boot to your Windows installer, erase your internal storage, and use the entire drive for your Windows system. You don't need to save ANY part of the OS X system, if you don't want it. (Kind of an expensive Windows laptop, but if that's what you want... )

When you Windows "attack" is finished - yes, you can remove Windows, and reinstall OS X. You won't have the recovery partition then, but Apple provides access to download and reinstall your original system through Internet recovery, which you can get into easily at any time by rebooting with Shift-Option-Command-R
More info about that here ...

 

[Littleluk]

Thanks for your reply. I've downloaded the support software and put it on a separate USB Stick. So basically I don't need to use BootCamp Assistant to create my partition? Can I just boot using a bootable USB Stick with Windows on it and hold command while turning on my mac?

Thanks a lot sir!

 

[DeltaMac]

Boot Camp gives you the ability to make a Windows-bootable partition, making it easy to install Windows while maintaining a bootable macOS partition, too. If you want to remove macOS completely, then there's no need to use Boot Camp at all (with that big exception of the support software, which you already have!)
You can then boot to the Windows installer, choose to erase the drive completely, then install Windows on the full space - if that's what you really want.
You would hold Option/Alt (not Command) to see the boot picker screen (where you would choose the Windows installer for booting)

 

[Littleluk]

Thank you so much for the support, that's what I needed to know.

Have a great evening!

 

[Chocomonsters]

Thank you so much for the support, that's what I needed to know.

Have a great evening!

How about using USB 3.1 gen2 external drive with SSD? You get 10 Gbps connection speed (double of USB 3's 5 Gbps speed). These enclosures are cheap. Akitio Neutrino U3.1 is $50. OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini is $95 for dual drive. Use your spare SSD in and it should be fast enough to run Windows 10 from external drive.

You can install Windows 10 directly to external drive without using Bootcamp. Unlike BootCamp, you can make correct MS recommended partition layout {EFI/Microsoft reserved partition/Windows partition/Recovery tools partition}.