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Dec 13, 2017
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Motherboard
GIGABYTE z370xp SLI
CPU
i7 8700k
Graphics
GTX 1050 ti
Mac
  1. iMac
Hello all,
I just finished building my first hackintosh and the only thing left that I have to do is install my thunderbolt card driver. I have a gigabyte z370xp SLI mobo, i7 8700k, one samsung ssd, and the gc alpine ridge thunderbolt 3 card. I need to install the driver for the thunderbolt card, but the driver is only available in windows format so I will need to install windows to download and install the driver. I have many questions about this,
1. I do not plan on ever using windows again after installing the thunderbolt drivers
2. If I install the drivers and delete Windows, theoretically will the thunderbolt card still work in mac os? (basically, where does the driver install to? does it stay in the windows files or is it installed to the chip on the motherboard, so it is regardless of what operating system is in use, it should still work?)
3. Will I need to keep windows installed to access the drivers installed to make the thunderbolt card work? (hoping that after installing the driver in windows that it will then work in mac os?)
4. Since I only have one ssd, should I install windows on the same drive that I installed mac os?
5. I only plan on using windows just for installation, so could I run it off of an external hdd or thumb drive and not install it to the ssd?
6. How do I go about installing windows as I have seen many methods including using rufus, bootcamp installer, parallel applications, etc.

Thank You so much for your help, I apologize in advance that I am not very computer savvy and these questions may seem very basic, but the reason i built a hackintosh was to run Logic Pro X on an elite system. The thunderbolt card is only to connect a audio interface that I use. If there are any threads that have a dummied down version of my questions please direct me to them!!
 
Are the drivers themselves you want to download for Mac or for Windows? Never mind the file format. If the drivers are for Mac then I would think the file format would also be Mac compatible.
the drivers are only for windows
 
I don't think it will work. As far as I know, Windows drivers will only work on Windows-based computers and Mac drivers will only work in the Mac OS. An operating system will not recognize drivers written for another entirely different operating system.
Other people have gotten this thunderbolt card to work after they installed the drivers in windows but their threads are all really confusing and I just want to know really if there is a way to run windows, download install drivers, and then get rid of windows and if theoretically the drivers would still be present on the system.
 
@RyanKluff I think that you'll need drivers/kext also for macOS.

I have your same MB and CPU, and I use one 240GB SSD for macOS (and Clover bootloader) and another 120GB SSD for Windows. I also have a 2TB HDD (which I partitioned: 500GB for macOS data - 1500GB for Windows games/other).
You can also partition your SSD to install macOS and Windows on the same drive, but it's a bit risky.

You must install Windows like a regular PC: create a bootable USB drive, put in a USB port on your Hackintosh, boot and hit F12 in order to select it.

Which guide did you follow in order to install macOS? I still have some problems with sleep/wake
 
I have been able to install windows and macOS perfectly now (took a while though), I followed the installation guide on here and I never had a problem with it. Once i got mac os installed, i loaded clover configurator and checked fixshuttodwn004 and that helped with some of the shutting down problems and waking back up, I dont know if thats what you are having problems with or not. Do you use a thunderbolt 3 AIC @Michelinu on your motherboard? thats the last thing that I need to figure out how to use in mac os.
 
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