Installing Windows on Separate SSD

[guitartth]

I have a hackintosh with Sierra on it right now. I want to add a separate SSD with Windows on it. I don't want a dual boot system that checks for OS at startup. I have had that previously and didn't like it. I only need Windows on rare occasions. What I'm looking to do is put Windows on the new SSD and then just change my bootup location to that drive when I want to boot windows, otherwise, it will boot in to Sierra. I'm just checking if anyone sees any issues I might have with doing this?

 

[ghorwith]

I have a hackintosh with Sierra on it right now. I want to add a separate SSD with Windows on it. I don't want a dual boot system that checks for OS at startup. I have had that previously and didn't like it. I only need Windows on rare occasions. What I'm looking to do is put Windows on the new SSD and then just change my bootup location to that drive when I want to boot windows, otherwise, it will boot in to Sierra. I'm just checking if anyone sees any issues I might have with doing this?

That method works fine. In the BIOS, list the windows drive second or greater.

 

[vulgo]

I have a hackintosh with Sierra on it right now. I want to add a separate SSD with Windows on it. I don't want a dual boot system that checks for OS at startup. I have had that previously and didn't like it. I only need Windows on rare occasions. What I'm looking to do is put Windows on the new SSD and then just change my bootup location to that drive when I want to boot windows, otherwise, it will boot in to Sierra. I'm just checking if anyone sees any issues I might have with doing this?

Unfortunately clover will still be able to see the windows drive. You can make changes in your config plist to either not scan or hide the entry. Also turn off the SATA port connected to the drive that contains your macOS efi partition when you run the windows installer, avoiding the possibility of Windows installing its bootloader to the wrong drive.

 

[ghorwith]

Correct. I thought that guitartth was trying to avoid the selection process at the boot screen, which is, as you write, easy to set the OSX drive as the default boot drive in config.plist, and hide the windows drive from the menu. When one wants to boot to windows, use the F12 key to select the windows boot drive.

 

[vulgo]

Correct. I thought that guitartth was trying to avoid the selection process at the boot screen, which is, as you write, easy to set the OSX drive as the default boot drive in config.plist, and hide the windows drive from the menu. When one wants to boot to windows, use the F12 key to select the windows boot drive.

Or just press F3 in Clover to show hidden entries... Doesn't really matter where the loaders are installed as long as the firmware can read them, just more BIOS-like to have them apart if that is what OP would prefer.

 

[guitartth]

Unfortunately clover will still be able to see the windows drive. You can make changes in your config plist to either not scan or hide the entry. Also turn off the SATA port connected to the drive that contains your macOS efi partition when you run the windows installer, avoiding the possibility of Windows installing its bootloader to the wrong drive.

I didn't consider it being installed in the wrong place, that is a very helpful tip. Just to clarify, if I don't change any settings at all, but just have another ssd connected to the mobo with windows 10 on it, what will the normal boot process do?

 

[vulgo]

I didn't consider it being installed in the wrong place, that is a very helpful tip. Just to clarify, if I don't change any settings at all, but just have another ssd connected to the mobo with windows 10 on it, what will the normal boot process do?

Firmware will go through its boot menu entries in the boot order specified and boot from the first path it finds, unless you override it (e.g. pressing F12 for menu). When you have installed windows you might install EasyUEFI to setup your firmware's boot options properly, as there is no equivalent tool for macOS, as far as i know.

If the firmware loads a clover entry, clover.efi will scan your disks for bootable paths. The windows EFI bootloader is installed to a (firmware-readable) FAT partition so Clover will be able to 'see it', and will add a menu entry (e.g. 'boot Windows bootloader from EFI') unless you specify otherwise in your config plist.

If the firmware loads a windows entry, the windows EFI bootloader (bootmgfw.efi) will retrieve additional windows related information from the /efi/microsoft folder and start windows.