When you try to install an operating system such as Windows 10 on a Mac through boot camp, you might have encountered an issue called boot camp assistant not enough space. You might also wonder why this issue happens since you still have the required hard drive space. Facing the said error might be frustrating. Fret not, as there are a couple of tested methods to fix the issue. We will be going through those fixes one by one to solve your bootable USB drive could not be created issue. So, Let’s get started.
How to Fix Boot Camp Assistant Not Enough Space Error
Before going through the troubleshooting methods, you must know the reasons that may be causing this not enough disk space on Mac issue as listed below.
- Errors with Timemachine.
- Error with Purgeable files.
- Error with Spotlight.
- Not enough storage in USB or disk drive.
- Outdated macOS version.
Here are the solutions to solve your bootable USB drive could not be created problem.
Method 1: Ensure Enough USB Drive Storage Capacity
Before installing Windows, you need to check your Mac system and make sure that your system has 4 GB of RAM and a minimum of 30 GB of hard disk space before installing the Windows. If your Mac does not have space, you can try deleting the unwanted files and try installing Windows again.
Method 2: Update macOS
If your macOS is not updated recently or is outdated, issues like boot camp assistant not enough space can occur. By updating the macOS to the latest version, you can easily fix the error since the update can fix the disk management feature, to update your macOS, follow the below steps.
1. Click on the Apple icon and select System Preferences… option.
2. Now, click on the Software Update.
3. Finally, click on Update Now to start downloading for updates.
Method 3: Unmount Windows 10 ISO File
Boot camp assistant not enough space can often occur due to the ISO being mounted on the system already, due to this mounting, the boot camp assistant cannot perform its tasks. For this, you need to unmount the ISO file to be able to solve the problem.
Right-click on the disk drive that you have mounted the Windows 10 on and click on the Eject option, after this is done you can now access the boot camp assistant and set the bootable USB drive, this will fix not enough space errors.
Method 4: Install recent version of Windows 10
Boot camp assistant not enough space error can occur if you use an outdated version of Windows 10 for installation on macOS, for this you might need to download the latest version of Windows 10.
1. Download the latest version of Windows 10 from the official Microsoft Website.
Note: After downloading, you can use it to try and install Windows 10 on Mac.
2. Open the Boot Camp Assistant and click on Continue.
3. Select, the downloaded Windows ISO file and click on the Continue button. Proceed to see if the error still exists.
Also Read: Fix Not Enough Storage is Available to Process this Command
Method 5: Reset Spotlight
The Spotlight can be used to easily find things on your Macbook. This tool works just like the search function on Windows and sometimes when the files on your Mac are not indexed properly, solve your bootable USB drive could not be created error can occur. Follow the steps below to reindex the files.
1. Go to the System Preferences.
2. Select Spotlight.
3. Now, click on the Privacy tab.
4. In this tab, you will see the + button.
5. Now, select Macintosh HD present under the Locations heading in the left side pane.
6. Press on + button and select the Macintosh HD and again press on – button.
This will re-index the files on your Mac.
Method 6: Remove Purgeable Files
Purgeable space is a type of storage in which the Mac refers to certain files and documents that can be removed if more space is needed by the operating system. It is a feature that Mac uses to clean up the system space when required. You can remove these purgeable files to see if it solve not enough disk space mac.
1. Open the Terminal and type the below-given command and hit Enter key.
dd if=/dev/zero of=~/stupidfile.crap
2. Wait for the command to be completed and then type and execute the below command
rm ~/stupidfile.crap
Now, try again if the issue is resolved.
Method 7: Disable Time Machine
TimeMachine is an in-built backup feature of Mac to back up your data, so disabling the TimeMachine can prove to be a potential fix to solve boot camp assistant not enough space.
1. Go to the System Preferences.
2. Click and open the Time Machine.
3. Untick the Backup automatically to disable the backup and close the dialog box,
4. Now, open the terminal then, type and execute the command.
sudo tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 999999999999
5. After executing the command, restart the computer.
Also Read: Fix macOS Big Sur Problems
Method 8: Build Windows 10 Installer on USB for BootCamp
You can try building an installable Windows 10 specifically for BootCamp, follow the below steps to do so.
1. Insert a USB drive that has more than 8GB of space.
2. Format the USB drive to FAT32 or MBR format.
3. Go to the Official Apple website and download the BootCamp drivers to the USB drive.
4. Now, transfer all the Windows ISO files to the USB drive
Note: You need to transfer the files which present inside the ISO, for this you need to mount the ISO. If you do not know how to mount an ISO file on Windows 10, follow our method on 3 Ways to Mount or Unmount ISO File on Windows 10
5. Use the Disk Utility and make a FAT32 partition.
6. Boot your system from this USB drive and choose FAT32 as the destination to install Windows
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. How can I clean the Boot camp space on macOS?
Ans. Before removing, save the backup data of the partition. Open Disk Utility on your macOS, select Windows Partition. Now, choose to erase and then format them as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and then delete the partition.
Q2. How much space is a pre-requisite for installing Boot camp on my Mac?
Ans. The minimum amount of storage required to install Bootcamp is 64 GB.
Q3. Does boot camp slow down the Mac computer?
Ans. No, it does not necessarily slow down the Mac computer, it only makes it possible to run Windows natively on your Mac.
Q4. Is Bootcamp still supported by Apple?
Ans. No, Boot camp is not supported by the latest Apple silicon, so it does not come pre-installed on the newest macOS.
Q5. Which Mac does not support Bootcamp?
Ans. M1 Macs does not support running Bootcamp and there are very limited options to run Windows.
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We hope the above article on the ways to fix Boot Camp Assistant not enough space error have helped you to fix the problem you were encountering. Please let us know in the comment section about the method which have helped you to fix the issue, don’t forget to comment about the article, Thanks!
