Running Windows 10 on a TB3-connected NVMe SSD - any hacks to get Parallels to 'see it'?

Hi,
Parallels own forums are probably not the place to ask this - I will also ask this of the iFixit and MacRumours forums, but... I recently replaced my CPU, RAM and Fusion-Drive in my 19,1 iMac - awesome upgrade. I hated the Fusion drive so replaced the m'board blade SSD with one large enough to replace the whole virtual drive array of the Fusion Drive. I've a separate SATA SSD now on that channel for storage, and I have hacked my way using VMFusionWare to a Windows 10 bootcamp install on a TB3-connected NMVe SSD in an external enclosure.

This works perfectly - it's detected from power-on, I get the macOS or Windows10 drive-choices to boot into. I can also 'restart into' from both OSes. ie the macOS/Bootcamp environment has no issue with detecting and running either OS. TB3 is a faster interface than SATA so this is the better arrangement for a separate OS.

However, I'd like to be able to 'run-Windows within Parallels' through Bootcamp, without Windows being on my primary drive. But, Parallels does not support Bootcamp Windows installs that are not on the primary SSD - and I've just had an amusingly circular conversation with their tech support to confirm this.

I am not sure 'why'? I guess because Parallels works through Apple's Bootcamp Assistant when in macOS, to find and connect to a Windows Partition, and since Bootcamp Assistance does not support non-primary SSD installs, so Parallels does not 'see' these. I do not think it's an issue with the TB3 interface for example, although that was an issue with the inital install of Windows 10, as no-one has a virtualisation solution for the TB interface, usually only USB interface for externally-connected drives (So, I did the inital VMFusionWare install of Win 10 to the internal SATA-attacked storage SSD, and then cloned it to the external SSD).

The question is, is there any way to hack either Bootcamp or Parallels to spoof them into 'seeing' the externally-connected, bootable Windows 10 partition as bootable, such that I can connect to it within macOS, through Parallels? - or, any other software that can do this?
Many thanks!
Damian

 

Hello, Parallels Desktop only supports Boot Camp partitions created using Apple Boot Camp Assistant. Boot Camp Assistant can operate only with the primary disk where macOS is installed. If you used any other third-party software to create your Boot Camp partition or if Boot Camp partition is located not on the primary disk, it may not work with Parallels Desktop. Please follow this link to know more: https://kb.parallels.com/112941. Thanks.