How to Dual Boot Windows and Hackintosh With Clover

Okay! back to posting about hackintosh again Gentlemen. Actually, I don’t want to post this topic here because so many website /blog has already covering this topic. But when I notice that so many people visiting pages about hackintosh on this blog. And I think again, why not?

So here I share my experience once again, how to dual boot Windows and macOS on hackintosh PC using Clover bootloader. And like usual, here we try to make it simple. I’ve tried it a couple of times, dual boot my hackintosh PC with the different version of Windows. In my case was Windows 7, 8, 81 and Windows 10. And all works just fine.

It’s all about how you setting the Clover bootloader. And I remind you to always back-up your important data /files before messing around with your PC. I don’t want to get blamed if you lose your data. I have lost my data in the past when experimenting with hackintosh.

Anyway! before you start you may have a few question related hackintosh dual boot like; is it okay to install Windows in GPT partition? etc. So let’s start with the FAQ first.

[Note! This guid is for ‘Vanilla‘ hackintosh installation in GPT disk only]

If you haven’t install macOS on your computer yet! you can found here post about how to make bootable USB drive for hackintosh. Below are the useful link that you can check;

How to Make Hackintosh Bootable USB Drive From Windows

How to Make Mac OS Sierra Bootable Usb Drive With Disk Utility

BIOS Setting and Post installation Setup [Hackintosh]

Hackintosh dual boot FAQ

#1 Can I install Windows in disk with Guid Partition Table (GPT) scheme?

Yes! you can! and in my experiment, it makes Windows in some tasks works better and faster.

#2 Why must install Mac OS on GPT and not using MBR patch?

Because macOS is designed for running in Guid Partition Scheme, and its run better and amazingly stable even on hackintosh PC.

You may insist for using patch method using MBR patch app but in the end, you will find that Mac OS is way more stable installed on GPT disk.

But its all up to you 🙂

#3 Install macOS first or Windows first?

You can install Windows first or Mac first. But make sure you have other disk or partition to install the other one.

For example, if you already running Windows and it’s installed on MBR disk then you have to install Mac on the other disk that you dedicated to formatted in GPT for installing macOS. And so the opposite.

If your Machine only has one single hard disk, then the only option is to reinstall it again from the scratch and divide partition into two using Disk Utility. One for macOS and one for Windows. [Important! Make sure you install macOS on first partition and windows on the second partition.]

#4 It’s okay to install Windows in different disk that formatted in MBR?

Yes! It can! but if you already have Windows system installed on your machine, make sure you unplug the disk first before installing macOS on your PC just preventing for Windows Boot Configuration Data ( BCD) accidentally erased.

If you have other question please ask in the comment section. I’ll try to reply as soon as possible.

Below is how to setting clover if you already have macOS running on your machine.

Clover bootloader settings for dual boot

Okay, this is how I settings the clover bootloader for my hackintosh that dual boot with Windows 10.

When you installing Clover, on ‘Installation Type’ Instead click on ‘Install’ choose to click ‘Customize’ see screenshot below.

Inside ‘Custom Install‘ Check for ‘Install Clover in ESP‘

In ‘Bootloader section‘ check for’ Install boot0ss in MBR this option will be used for BIOS booting on BIOS motherboards.

[ boot0ss (boot0 Signature Scanning) bootloader tries to boot the first EFI/FAT32/HFS partition (defined in the MBR and then the GPT) with a valid PBR signature. If no partition is found it will try to boot the active partition defined in MBR.

This bootloader is a good choice when you have Windows installed on the same disk because Windows wants to have its partition active.

This choice will NOT set the partition status byte to active in the MBR. Source: Clover installer]

Continue with click on ‘CloverEFI‘ menu dropdown and select ‘CloverEFI 64-bits SATA‘

You can see screenshot below for detail

Check also ‘Install RC script on target volume‘

And click Install.

When installing clover finished, it will automatically mount the EFI partition. You can open it in Finder. Now you need to put additional driver called NTFS X64 driver on the EFI partition. You can download ‘NTFS X64 driver’ here https://github.com/JrCs/CloverGrowerPro/blob/master/Files/NTFS/x64/NTFS.efi

To install the driver follow this path; EFI > CLOVER > drivers64.

That’s it!

It’s all about how you setting the bootloader. In this case, is Clover.

If you see I am wrong in some point (writing error, typos) please correct me in the comment section.

Thanks!