This answer assumes you are installing Windows 10 to an external USB SSD. You should be able to use your M1 Mac to create the Windows 10 USB installer flash drive. However, I do not have a Apple Silicon Mac to test this.
Commands to Download Windows Support Software
Use the either the Mac running Sonoma or the Mac running Siera to download the Windows Support Software for your mid 2013 MacBook Air. The Windows drivers are included in this download. The commands were tested using an Intel Mac. I assume the commands will also work using Apple Silicon.
cd ~/Downloads
curl -o BootCampESD.pkg http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/62/58/041-98143-A_HN8B941A1T/nknv1gt3xcgylggwc11kl5e0j4296tjfo1/BootCampESD.pkg
sudo installer -pkg BootCampESD.pkg -target /
hdiutil attach /Library/Application\ Support/BootCamp/WindowsSupport.dmg
rm -rf WindowsSupport
cp -R /Volumes/Boot\ Camp/ WindowsSupport
hdiutil detach /Volumes/Boot\ Camp
rm BootCampESD.pkg
sudo rm /Library/Application\ Support/BootCamp/WindowsSupport.dmg
The Windows Support Software is now stored in the WindowsSupport folder, which is in your Downloads folder.
Getting the Current Windows 10 ISO File
The current Windows 10 ISO file can be download from the Microsoft website Download Windows 10 Disc Image (ISO File). There are the following two factors to be aware of.
- If your mid 2013 MacBook Air has not had macOS High Sierra or newer installed, then your Mac probably has not had the firmware update that allows booting from ExFAT formatted drives. Your Mac can boot from FAT32 formatted drives.
- The ISO file will probably contain and
sources/install.wim file that is greater than 4 GB. This file can be stored on ExFAT formatted drive but not FAT32 formatted drives.
This answer assumes the sources/install.wim will need to be split in smaller files in order to be stored on FAT32 formatted drive. Some of the way to accomplish this are given below.
This will use the Boot Camp ISO Converter to split the ISO. This was tested using macOS Sierra. The steps are given below.
Download and install the Boot Camp ISO Converter to the Applications folder. Select this link to download the application.
Open the Boot Camp ISO Converter application. Whenever you get the popup shown below, select the "Continue Trial" button.
Select the "Select Windows 10 ISO" button shown below.
Open the Windows 10 ISO file downloaded from Microsoft.
Select the "Save..." button shown below.
Chose to save to your Downloads folder. The conversion (splitting) will take place, as shown below.
When finished, you will get the following popup.
You can quit the Boot Camp ISO Converter application.
Note that the converted ISO file will end with .iso-split.iso.
Getting the Current WinNTSetup Folder
The GUI Windows 10 installer provided by Microsoft will not allow installing Windows 10 to a USB drive. This answer will instead use a third‑party utility call WinNTSetup, which does allow installing to a USB drive.
Download and unpack the current version of WinNTSetup. Currently, this would be version 5.3.5.2. To unpack, the current console version of 7‑Zip will need to be download and extracted. Currently, this would be version 24.07. See my answer to the question TPM 2.0 on a MacBook Pro with Windows for more information.
Note: This version of 7‑Zip does not work when executed from macOS Sierra. You probably will need to use your M1 Mac.
You can use either the link Mega or MediaFire to download WinNTSetup. You can use the link 7‑Zip to download 7‑Zip.
The following commands were used to extract the files.
cd ~/Downloads
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine 7z2407-mac.tar.xz WinNTSetup_v5352.rar
mkdir 7zip
tar -xf 7z2407-mac.tar.xz -C 7zip
7zip/7zz x WinNTSetup_v5352.rar -oWinNTSetup_v5352
The WinNTSetup files will be in the folder WinNTSetup_v5352, which will be in your Downloads folder.
Build the Windows 10 Installer USB Flash Drive
Use the Disk Utility application to erase a 16 GB or larger USB flash drive. Choose the following.
| Label |
Enter or Choose
the Following |
| Name |
WINSTALL |
| Format |
MS-DOS (FAT) |
| Scheme |
Master Boot Record |
Do the following to populate the flash drive labeled WINSTALL.
- Mount the converted Windows 10 ISO file and then use the Finder application to copy the contents to the flash drive.
- Copy contents of the
WindowsSupport folder to the flash drive. It is important that you copy the contents of the folder and not the folder itself.
- Copy the
WinNTSetup_v5352 folder to the flash drive.
Below is a snapshot of the contents of the root folder of the flash drive as shown in a Finder application window.
Start Installing Windows 10
If you have not already done so, connect the external SSD and flash to the mid 2013 MacBook Air. Boot to the Startup Manager by holding down the alt/option key while the Mac is starting up. Select to UEFI boot from the flash drive. Proceed until you reach a display similar to the one shown below. This insures any necessary drivers are loaded.
Press the shift+F10 key combination to open a Command Prompt window, as shown below.
Erase and Partition the External SSD
Note: The external USB SSD will be completely erased. All existing data will be lost.
Enter the following commands. Here I have made the following assumptions.
- The output from the
list volume command will show a number assigned to each volume. I have assumed the number of the volume labeled WININSTALL is 0. If you get a different number, then make the appropriate substitution when entering the select volume command.
- The output from the
list disk command will show a number assigned to each disk. I have assumed the number of the disk, whose size matches that of the external SSD, is 1. If you get a different number, then make the appropriate substitution when entering the select disk command.
diskpart
list volume
select volume 0
assign letter=w
list disk
select disk 1
clean
convert gpt
create partition efi size=200
format fs=fat32 label=EFI quick
assign letter=s
create partition msr size=16
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs label=BOOTCAMP quick
assign letter=c
exit
Switch to Using WinNTSetup
Enter the following command to open the WinNTSetup application.
W:\WinNTSetup_v5352\WinNTSetup_x64.exe
Below is an image of the WinNTSetup window.
Make the following changes to the above window.
| Label |
Choose the Following |
Comment |
| Select location of Windows installation files |
W:\sources\install.swm |
|
| Select location of the Boot drive |
S:\ |
|
| Select the location of the Installation drive |
C:\ |
|
| Image to Install† |
Windows 10 Pro |
You may wish to choose a different image. |
| Unattend |
W:\AutoUnattend.xml |
|
| Add Drivers |
W:\$WinPEDriver$ |
|
† Actually, this label is not shown.
The result is shown in the image below. When ready, select the "Setup" button.
When the popup shown below appears, select the "OK" button. WinNTSetup will start installing Windows 10 to the external SSD.
When the popup shown below appears, select the "Reboot" button. The Mac will reboot and finish installing Windows 10.
In the event the Mac does not reboot to the following image, then hold down the power button until the Mac turns off. Restart the Mac and hold down the alt/option key until the Mac Startup Manager icons appear. Hold down the control key and select to boot from the external USB SSD.
