Boot Camp is a great tool for running Windows on an Intel-based Mac. However, a Boot Camp partition can take up a great deal of space on your Mac. So if you’ve stopped using it, you may want to delete it to save some space. In this article, we’ll show you how to remove a Boot Camp partition from your Mac.
What is Boot Camp?
- In this article we will show you how to erase and then delete a partition on your Mac. Note: this should erase all the data stored on the partition, so please back up all your important files before proceeding. Erasing a Partition on a Mac. The built-in Disk Utility will help you with this. Launch the Disk Utility app on your Mac.
- Check only the Install or remove Windows 7 option and click Continue. Step Four Choose Restore disk to a single Mac OS partition and click Continue. Step Five Click the Restore button to begin.
- I installed windows 10 via bootcamp last night for the second time. The first time I installed, I deleted the OSXRESERVED partition (not sure how though, as it wont allow me now) and windows was destroyed in the process. I would like to get rid of it because when I go to choose what to boot into I have a Mac HD and two Windows options.
The disk’s partitions are shown in a pie-chart, going clockwise in terms of physical position on the disk (my first partition is TM, the second is Storage). 5) To remove a partition, first select it by clicking on it in the pie, then click the minus symbol (-) button beneath the pie.
Boot Camp has its origins in the transition from PowerPC to Intel Macs. One of the benefits of moving to Intel’s architecture was that it was much easier for Macs to run Windows. There was no longer any need for emulation software. Apple took advantage of this by building a tool, now known as Boot Camp, into macOS that allows you to partition your boot drive and install Windows directly onto one partition. You can then boot directly into Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp.
There are a couple of downsides to using Boot Camp. One is that Windows and its associated files and applications take up quite a bit of space on your Mac. The other is that you need to reboot your Mac every time you switch between Mac and Windows.
Boot Camp Assistant is the tool that’s used to create and manage partitions. You can download a Windows ISO from within Boot Camp Assistant and install it on the partition. You will need a license code for the version of Windows you want to install to use it.
If you need to uninstall Mac apps, don’t just drag them to the Trash. This won’t get rid of all the files the app places on your startup disk. Instead, you should use the app’s own uninstaller or a dedicated all-round uninstaller like CleanMyMac X, which can completely remove multiple apps with a few clicks.
How to delete a Boot Camp partition
Removing a Boot Camp partition is very straightforward: you can use the same tool, Boot Camp Assistant, as you used to create it in the first place. First, however, you should back up the Windows partition if you have any files or other data that you still need. You can do that manually from within Windows, by dragging files onto an external drive, by using a Windows backup tool, or from the macOS partition by using software that’s designed to clone a Boot Camp partition.
You should also back up your Mac using Time Machine or another backup tool before you start.
- Navigate to Applications > Utilities and launch Boot Camp Assistant.
- Click Continue.
- Press Restore.
- Type in your admin username and password and press OK.
Boot Camp Assistant will now begin erasing the Boot Camp partition and restoring your boot disk as a single partition. Once it has finished, your Mac will return to its pre-Bootcamp state.
Does Boot Camp run on M1-based Macs?
In November 2020, Apple launched the first three Macs to feature its own system architecture, M1, in place of Intel CPUs and other components. It seems clear from early testing that these Macs are much faster and more powerful than their Intel predecessors.
However, one of the casualties of the transition to Apple silicon is Boot Camp. It requires Intel architecture to work and so won’t run on M1 Macs. And with all Macs eventually migrating to Apple silicon, Boot Camp will be consigned to history. That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to run Windows on future Macs, though. Virtualization tools (see below) don’t rely on Intel chips, and their developers are already updating their tools to work in Big Sur on M1 Macs.
Remove Microsoft Reserved Partition Mac Os
Alternatives to Boot Camp
If you chose to remove Boot Camp because you didn’t like having to reboot your Mac every time you want to switch to Windows, there are other options. There are several virtualization tools that allow you to install Windows inside an app and then launch Windows as an app, or even launch Windows apps without booting Windows itself. If you choose to boot Windows, you can run it in a window or in full-screen.
In short, if you want a fully-featured virtualization tool that’s easy to set up and use and has lots of support, Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion are good choices. If you only need to occasionally run Windows apps and don’t need lots of support, Virtual Box or Wine will do the job.
Whichever Windows virtualization tool you choose, you probably need to clear some space on your Mac and tune it up, so it runs smoothly. Here again, CleanMyMac X can help. It can remove junk files and optimize your Mac in just a few minutes.
1. Download, install, and launch CleanMyMac X.
2. Choose Smart Scan and press Scan.
3. When the scan is finished, press Run to clean up your Mac.
The final alternative to creating a Boot Camp partition on your startup disk is to install Windows on an external disk and boot from that, just as you would boot from a Boot Camp partition. Set up is much longer and more complicated than it is when you partition your startup disk. And it requires additional software. But once it’s done, you’ll be able to boot your Mac into Windows without losing any space on your startup disk.
As you can see, it’s easy to uninstall a Boot Camp partition on your Mac using Boot Camp Assistant. If you want to uninstall other apps or reclaim space on your disk, however, it’s a good idea to use a specialist uninstaller like CleanMyMac X.
Boot Camp Assistant User Guide
You must use Boot Camp Assistant to remove Windows, or a partition that was created with Boot Camp Assistant, from your Intel-based Mac.
WARNING: Do not use any other utilities to remove Windows or a partition that was created with Boot Camp.
Start up your Mac in macOS.
Back up all important data stored on your Windows partition before you remove Windows.
WARNING: When Windows is removed, the Windows partition—as well as all data stored in the partition—will be erased permanently.
Quit all open apps and log out any other users.
Open Boot Camp Assistant , then click Continue.
If the Select Tasks step appears, select “Remove Windows 10 or later version,” then click Continue.
Do one of the following:
If your Mac has a single internal disk, click Restore.
If your Mac has multiple internal disks, select the Windows disk, select “Restore disk to a single macOS partition,” then click Continue.