How to Use Boot Camp on Mac Without USB

Are you looking for a way to use Boot Camp on your Mac without relying on a USB flash drive? If so, this guide is here to help. In this article, we'll walk you through the process of modifying Boot Camp to allow creation of a bootable USB or optical disk.

Before we begin, make sure you have the necessary requirements: 50GB free disk space, 100GB recommended; an ISO containing Windows 10 (I used Windows 10 Enterprise); and a mid-2011 iMac or similar running OS X El Capitan. It's also important to note that if you're using an earlier iMac, it is possible to install Windows 10 on it, and it seems to run quite well.

Step 1: Disable System Integrity Protection (SIP)

To modify the Boot Camp Utility, you'll need to disable SIP. To do this, open Terminal and type exactly the following command and then press Return: csrutil disable. This will reduce the attack surface for malware that relies on modifying system files by preventing any user from modifying a number of operating system directories and files.

Step 2: Modify Boot Camp

Once you've disabled SIP, navigate to `/Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app/Contents` in Terminal. Open the `ist` file using your favorite text editor (I'll be using nano for simplicity). Delete the word 'Pre' from `UEFIModels` and add your Model Identifier. Add your Boot ROM Version to `DARequiredROMVersions`.

If you get an error saying 'cp: : Operation not permitted,' SIP is still enabled, so refer back to Step 1.

Make a backup of this file by running `sudo cp ist`. Then, change directory to `/Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app/Contents` and open Terminal.

My mid-2011 iMac's Model Identifier was 'iMac12,2' and the Boot ROM Version was '23'. To find out your Mac's Model Identifier and Boot ROM Version, open Terminal and run `system_profiler SPHardwareDataType`.

Step 3: Create a Bootable USB or Optical Disk

Now that you've modified Boot Camp, you'll need to create a bootable USB or optical disk. Open Terminal and type the following command: `sudo cp ist`. This will copy the modified file to your Mac's hard drive.

Once you've created the bootable media, you can use it to install Windows 10 on your Mac. Just insert the media into your Mac's optical drive (or USB port), restart your Mac, and hold down the 'Option' key while booting up.

After installing Windows 10, don't forget to enable SIP again by following the same steps as before but running `csrutil enable` instead of `csrutil disable`.

By following these steps, you should be able to use Boot Camp on your Mac without relying on a USB flash drive. Just remember to be super careful when modifying system files and making changes to your Mac's hard drives.

Important

I hope this guide has been helpful in showing you how to use Boot Camp on your Mac without a USB flash drive. With these steps, you should be able to install Windows 10 on your mid-2011 iMac or similar running OS X El Capitan.

How to use bootcamp on mac without usb