How to Delete a Boot Camp Partition from Your Mac

Last Updated: May 31, 2022

Boot Camp is the software that was created to enable Windows to run on your Mac. You may have needed Windows in the past, for work or school, but as technology progresses, it is becoming more and more likely that you can just do everything on the Mac side, rendering Boot Camp obsolete. Deleting the Boot Camp software can free up valuable space on your hard drive, helping your computer run better and faster.

1

Back up your machine.

It is prudent to back up everything in case something goes wrong. In this case, the backup procedure will be even more extensive: Save the Windows data you wish to keep manually. (The Windows partition is not backed up automatically by Time Machine.)

2

Log out of all other users.

No other users should be logged in to the Mac before you make this change. Make sure you are logged in with only your administrator account.

3

Quit all open apps.

If the light is on next to or below an icon in your dock, that means it is still running. Quit everything except for the Finder. If it refuses to respond, you might have to wait a while; if not, you can force quit it.

4

Open Boot Camp Assistant.

Boot Camp Assistant will help you make safe changes to your Boot Camp configuration. You'll find this tool in Finder in Applications > Utilities.

5

Click "Continue" when prompted.

This takes you to a list of Boot Camp options. This is where you can do things like create a Windows install disc, download updates, and remove partitions.

6

Choose the option to remove a Windows partition.

Check the "Remove Windows 10 or later version" box and click Continue. If you don't see this option, don't worry—just skip this step.^{[1]
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7

Choose how to restore.

The option you choose depends on how many internal disks are in your Mac. If you have one internal disk, choose Restore. For multiple disks, choose Restore to a single macOS partition and click Continue.

8

Confirm your administrator password.

Type an Administrator's password in the pop up window, then click OK. Boot Camp will now update your software configuration and delete the unneeded Windows partition.

Community Q&A

Question

What is the chance of losing everything when removing it?

Community Answer

There is always a chance of erasing your data, so you should do a complete backup of your computer before you delete the boot camp partition.

Warnings

Any files that were saved onto the Windows side will be deleted permanently, and the Windows part does not back up to Time Machine. Be sure to save all files before deleting Boot Camp.

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Do not close Boot Camp while it re-partitions your Mac. There is a chance that the partitions can get corrupted if you do so.

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