How to Get Rid of the Windows Error after Deleting Bootcamp on iMac

Even before I started homeschooling our kids, I always aimed to be thrifty and fix the hardware and software issues on our home computers. I haven’t needed to do this for the last few years because I switched from Windows to iMac. Everything has run smoothly, that is until I wanted to remove the Bootcamp Partition from my iMac. I followed the directions for deleting Bootcamp, deleted the partition and returned it to the main partition to reclaim the space. However, I was left with one annoying problem: Every time I restarted my iMac, I got a blue screen with windows errors. So, I shut it off and pressed the option key when the restart chime came on. This allowed me to select the drive I wanted to boot. By default, my computer was trying to boot from the EFI partition.

My time is valuable, so I decided to fix this problem. This is how I got rid of the Windows error after I deleted Bootcamp.

How to get rid of the Windows error after deleting Bootcamp

Step 1: Open Finder and search for Terminal

Step 2: To see the EFI Boot partition that tries to load Windows and gives you the error, you need to boot it. Now that you’ve found Terminal, open it and type in this command:

diskutil mount /dev/disk0s1

Keep Terminal open because we’ll use the program again in step 5.

Step 3: Go back to Finder and find the EFI Tab and expand it like this:

Step 4: Look to see if there are any Microsoft related folders and/or a Boot folder. Both of those can be deleted. Here are the paths that you might find them: EFI/Microsoft or EFI/Boot. That’s where I found my folders and deleted them last night. Right now, I wish I would have taken a screen shot of what I had, but it didn’t cross my mind that I might write about it in hopes of helping someone else. After I deleted both Microsoft and Boot folders, my iMac loaded without me in the room. I no longer needed to press the control button. One more thing, if you still have a file that looks like this: bootx64.efi, you can delete it, too. Do not delete the EFI folder. When you got your iMac, it came with the EFI folder and it was hidden. Leave it there.

Step 5: Unmount your EFI Partition. Go back to Terminal and type in this command:

diskutil unmount /dev/disk0s1

Now you’re done! You can quit Terminal. Your computer shouldn’t try to boot from the EFI partition any more. Go back to finder to make sure that you can’t see the EFI folder.

Before you go, bookmark these instructions, or add them to your reading list, in case you need to refer back to them.

Did this help you or do you have a question? Let’s start a discussion to help other people with this same predicament.

Macs are known for their quality, longevity, and maintaining their value over time. In my experience, buying used is a great option and a great way to save money. Let me tell you how I bought my used iMac. Perhaps, you can be a happy iMac owner, too.