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BootCamp Error: Unable to read the Windows partition

I removed Windows 10 from my Mac months ago. Now, I'm trying to run Boot Camp to install Windows 10 again but get the error message: "Unable to read the Windows partition Boot Camp Assistant was unable to verify if the Windows partition contains a Windows installation. This may be because BitLocker is enabled on the partition. If so, disable BitLocker on the disk before removing Boot Camp." Can anyone help?

Best Answered by

iBoysoft author Jenny Zeng

Jenny Zeng

Answered on Tuesday, January 27, 2026

As the message stated, the reason why Boot Camp is unable to read the Windows partition is because BitLocker is enabled on the partition. This is likely because the previous Windows installation wasn't properly removed.

You can fix it by freeing the partition with the following steps:

  1. Open Terminal.
  2. Run the command below.diskutil list internal
  3. Note down the identifier of the "Windows Recovery" partition.
  4. Execute the command below to remove the encryption of this partition (e.g., the disk identifier is disk0s3.).diskutil eraseVolume free free disk0s3
  5. Retry Boot Camp Assistant.

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How to Remove Windows 10/Boot Camp Partition from Mac 

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