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Just because you’re a Mac user doesn’t mean that you have to purchase another computer just to use Windows-specific software. Here’s how to run Windows on a Mac with Boot Camp and virtualization.
According to Statista, Windows enjoys a market share of 77.74%, making it the dominating desktop operating system worldwide. One consequence of its popularity is the fact that some software applications are available exclusively for Windows-based computers.
That’s bad news if you’re a Mac user, but there are solutions that make running Windows on a Mac possible. To use them, you don’t need to be a computer wiz—you just need to follow the instructions provided in this article.
When it comes to running Windows on a Mac, you have two options: dual booting and virtualization. Each of these two options has certain advantages and disadvantages, and you should familiarize yourself with them to choose the one that best suits your needs.
Dual booting is the act of installing and running two different operating systems side-by-side on the same computer. Typically, this requires the installation of a custom boot loader (a piece of software responsible for loading the operating system), but users of Intel-based Macs can easily install Microsoft Windows operating systems using Boot Camp Assistant , a dual boot utility created by Apple.
The biggest advantage of dual booting is that the second operating system can perform just as well as the main one because it enjoys unrestricted access to the computer’s processing power and memory. On the other hand, dual booting doesn’t allow Windows and macOS to run at the same time, so it’s not suitable for users who need to use the two operating systems simultaneously.
Pros
Cons
Virtualization is the act of creating a virtual instance of computer hardware and using it to install and run multiple operating systems simultaneously. To create this virtual instance, you need special virtualization software, such as VMware Fusion (commercial proprietary software) or VirtualBox (open-source software). You can then install Windows from within macOS and use Windows and macOS applications at the same time.
Because virtualization software has to simulate hardware functionality and create a virtual computer system, the guest operating system (the one installed on the virtual system) usually performs noticeably worse than the host operating system (the operating system that works with the computer’s underlying hardware).
Pros
Cons
This list DOESN’T include Macs with Apple’s M1 chip because Boot Camp only works on Intel-based Macs.
You also need 64 GB or more free storage space on your Mac startup disk, a Windows 10 disk image (see the How to Get Windows for Mac chapter), and a USB flash drive with a storage capacity of 16 GB or more (unless your Mac doesn’t need a flash drive to install Windows). If you meet all these requirements, then you can simply follow the instructions below. To run Windows on a Mac via Boot Camp:In addition to installing Windows alongside macOS on your hard drive, you can also run Windows in a virtual machine directly from macOS. This way, you can easily access both operating systems at the same time and transfer files between them without restarting your Mac.
To run Windows in a virtual machine on Mac, you need to install virtualization software. The two most popular solutions at the time of writing this article are VMware Fusion and VirtualBox . The former is proprietary software that costs 199ドル for the Pro version, while the latter is open-source and available for free.
Unless you plan on using Windows in a virtual machine on a daily basis, we recommend you start with the free solutions and consider purchasing a VMware Fusion license only if VirtualBox fails to meet your expectations and requirements.
Just keep in mind that VirtualBox (just like VMware Fusion) runs only on Intel-based Macs. Apple computers with the new M1 chip are NOT supported. To virtualize Windows on M1 Macs, you need an emulator like QEMU (and a lot of time and patience).
To install Windows on a Mac using VirtualBox:
Although there are many steps to complete, the entire process (except for the actual installation of Windows 10) takes just a few minutes to complete.
To return to macOS from Windows, select the Restart option in Windows and immediately press and hold the Option key to launch the Startup Manager. You can then release the Option key and select macOS.
To remove Windows installed using Boot Camp from your Mac, open Boot Camp Assistant and then select "Remove Windows 10 or later version" option. Finally, click "Restore" or "Restore disk to a single macOS partition," depending on whether your Mac has one or more internal disks.
Yes, installing Windows on a Mac is safe—at least as long as you use trustworthy virtualization software like VirtualBox and VMware to emulate real hardware from macOS or dual boot using Boot Camp.
No, unfortunately, it’s not possible to install the x86 version of Windows on Macs powered by the Apple M1 chip, which is an ARM-based system on a chip. VMware is currently working on M1 support and expects to deliver virtual machines on Apple silicon in the near future.
Installing Windows on a Mac isn’t nearly as difficult as it may seem at first, and you can even choose between two distinct methods: dual booting and virtualization. We’ve described how to install Windows on a Mac using both methods, so you can pick the one that meets your needs the best and follow our step-by-step instructions.
