Mac devices are highly popular because of its advantages. If you are using a Mac device, it offers you the option of running either macOS or installing Windows. In case you need to run Windows-only apps and games, you can easily opt for the installation of Windows on your Mac. You can simply install Windows on your Mac and shift from one Operating System to another easily on the same computer. This practice has now become prevalent and it has been also confirmed by the users that Windows works well on Mac.
In this article, you will take a look into the process of installing Windows on Mac. You can do it easily by following any of the two approaches mentioned- either with Apple’s dual-booting Boot Camp Assistant, which is an in-built feature of the macOS Operating System or with a third party virtualization program.
Boot Camp for Mac: Its Advantages and Disadvantages
Boot Camp is an in-built option in the Operating System of all Macs. By using this option, it will create a separate partition on your hard drive and there, it will install and run Windows. You can get it if from the Applications folder. Go to Application, then choose the Utility folder. There, you will find the Boot Camp Assistant app. Once you install Windows in Boot Camp, whenever you will be turning on your Mac, you will get to select the Operating System which you want to run. Thus, if you want to switch from macOS to Windows, then you should reboot your computer.
Advantages:
- Boot Camp Assistant is very easy to use as it guides you through the installation process
- Using this option puts comparatively less strain on the memory and processing power of your Mac
- Very easy to update
- Being built into the OS, it is absolutely free
Disadvantages:
- In order to switch between the systems, you need to reboot your computer
- The transferring of the data between the operating systems is not so easy.
Virtualization Programs: Advantages And Disadvantages
The Virtualization Programs are third-party applications that allow installing a separate Operating System on one machine. They run like any other app on your Mac, and so you can see the entire Windows desktop within a window on your computer. Some of the most popular virtualization programs are VirtualBox, Parallels, and VMware. Each one of it has its peculiarities and significances. Let’s take a look at its merits and demerits.
Advantages:
- With this tool, you can run both operating systems at the same time
- There is an easy file integration between systems
Disadvantages:
- If you want the app to run smoothly, you need at least 8 GB of RAM for Mac
- The virtualization apps are a bit costlier
- The updates of the apps are not free
You can easily choose the option which works best for you, depending on your specific needs. But its often suggested using the Boot Camp option as it can run directly on your hardware. Being a free native feature of your Operating System, you can directly run it on your hardware and it is faster than the other method.
How to Prepare Your Mac for Using Boot Camp?
- Check your system requirements
At first, you need to check the system requirements of your Windows version because some require more hard drive space than the others. Thus, you need to check your system’s documentation to understand its needs. Also, ensure that your Mac is compatible with the Windows version that you want to install.
- Clean your hard drive
If you want to install Windows on a Mac, you need at least 55 GB of free disk space on your startup drive. Thus, you need to clean your hard drive for installing Windows. You can either clean Mac manually or can use a powerful utility to detect and remove all the junk files from your startup disk.
- Back Up Your Mac
It is important to always back up the data before something goes wrong. You can use any of the convenient methods to back up your important data. You can also use Time Machine for automatic backups and can even store all your individual files of the system in iCloud so that you can access them whenever you need.
Effective Steps to Install Windows on a Mac
After you have made all the preparations stated above, you can easily install Windows on your Mac through Boot Camp. Though the installation procedure is a little time consuming, yet it is not that difficult. You can check the steps in details described below for installing Windows on your Mac:
Step 1: Download a Windows disk image
At first, you need to get the Windows disk image (ISO file) from the official website of Microsoft. Here are the steps to download it:
- Go to the official website of Microsoft
- From there, go to the Select edition menu
- Then, choose the Windows 10 option and click on Confirm
- After that, you need to select the language of installation
- Then, click on the Confirm option and choose the option 64-bit Download
- Finally, click on Save.
By performing these steps, the ISO file will be downloaded to your Mac.
Step 2: Launch Boot Camp Assistant
The inbuilt option in Apple, Boot Camp Assistant will guide you through the installation of Windows on your Mac. You just need to follow the onscreen instructions. If you want to launch the Boot Camp Assistant, you need to go to Applications option. From there, choose the Utility folder. Then, click on the Continue option. By choosing this option, the Boot Camp for Mac will automatically locate the ISO file on your system.
Step 3: Create a partition for Windows
These steps should be performed if and only if you are using an optical or flash drive for installing Windows. Because in other cases, the right partition will be automatically selected and formatted.
Moving on, if you are done with the Assistant, then your Mac restarts to the Windows installer. If you are asked about where you want to install Windows, you need to select the BOOTCAMP partition and click on Format.
Step 4: Perform Windows Installation
The installation of Windows on your Mac is quite easy as here, you just need to follow the onscreen instructions. Here’s how you have to do it:
- First of all, choose your ISO file and hit on the Install button
- Then, you need to type your password and hit OK
- Doing this, you will get to see the Windows Setup screen and you should select your language
- Now, click on the “Install Now” button and type your product key, if you have any. In case you don’t have your product key, click on the “I don’t have a product key” option
- Then, choose either Windows 10 Pro or Windows Home and select the Next option
- After that, click on Drive 0 Partition X: BOOTCAMP and hit Next.
Going through these steps will install Windows 10 on your Mac. Next to that, if the Setup screen appears, you need to click on either “Use Express Settings” or “Customize Your Installation.” It is better if you choose the Customize button and disable most, if not all, of the switches. Following that, you will be asked to create an account. You can do so by typing a username and a password of your choice. Then, click on the Next option and choose whether you want to use the Cortana personal assistant or not. You will also get an option of disabling it by clicking the Not Now button.
Next, Windows will boot up and you will get the Welcome to Boot Camp Installer box. There, click on the Next option and accept the terms and conditions in the license agreement. After that, you need to proceed by clicking on the Next option. Finally, you need to reboot your machine by clicking on the Finish button.
Step 5: Restart Mac
By default, your Mac will boot into macOS. If you want to access Windows, then you have to turn off your Mac and again turn it on while holding the Option (Alt) key. Also, you have to answer from which drive you would like to boot. It is also important to note that in Windows, the Mac’s Command key functions as the Windows key and the Option key functions as the Alt key. Additionally, if you have a Touch Bar, then you will see a complete set of buttons, similar to the Control Strip in macOS.
Hope that by following the above-mentioned steps, you can easily perform Windows installation on your Mac. But if you find any difficulty at any moment, you can contact professional experts and grab immediate assistance from them to install Windows on your Mac.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Is it possible to install Windows on Mac?
Yes, it is possible to install Windows on Mac. You can do it by following either of the two options- you could run it virtually, or you can use Bootcamp to install it on a partitioned part of your hard drive. Basically, it indicates that you’ll run Windows as an app inside Mac OS X.
- Can you install Windows on a Mac without Bootcamp?
Yes, it’s possible to install Windows on the Mac Operating System, even without Bootcamp. This is because there are two main ways through which Windows can be installed on Mac OS. First, using Bootcamp and second, without Boot camp, i.e. by using virtualization programs.
- Does Bootcamp make your Mac slower?
No, not at all, BootCamp does not slow down your system. It partitions your hard-disk into a Windows part and an OS X part. Therefore, you will have the option of dividing your disk space.