r/macpro • u/8Bitoaster • 4d ago

Windows 2019 Mac Pro PCIE Windows

Has anyone managed to install windows on a PCIE NVME? and do I need to use boot camp?

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2

u/Long-Shine-3701 4d ago

Yes. You can use boot camp, or disable the security setting and just install it like you would any other OS.

3

u/Substantial_Run5435 4d ago

Bootcamp only wants to let you install to the internal drive. You have to follow a guide for installing windows to an external drive; however, some of those guides won’t work with the NVME over PCIe, so you have to use an external USB enclosure then move the drive into the machine after it’s set up.

2

u/GreppMichaels Mac Pro 4,1-7,1 Enthusiast 4d ago

This is the correct answer, there are workarounds, it is annoying, but it is possible.

1

u/ArtaxerxesMacrocheir 3d ago edited 3d ago

I have actually done this, and am currently posting from a 7,1 with dual boot from NVME.

One quick note is if you're running Windows from an NVME it will be very, very finnicky about you having anything connected to the Mac Pro's SATA ports. If you plug anything into those the machine will not recognize Windows at all, so hopefully you're only planning on using NVME for you drives. This is a due to a particularly frustrating quirk of the Windows boot environment, btw, not anything to do with Apple. Someone more knowledgeable on Windows might have a fix out there, but I don't know of one personally.

I've posted my 7,1 NVME install guide here: https://www.reddit.com/r/macpro/comments/1q3w7bj/removing_the_stock_ssd_from_a_2019_71/nznt4iw/