If you own Intel-based Macs, you can run OS X and Windows on one machine. In fact, it’s been possible to run Windows on a Mac for some time — with agonizing limitations. Near-extinct Mac models were loaded with Virtual PC emulation software could do Windows, too, but the program was painfully slow. Even if you find an old copy of the software, it won’t work with any current Macs.
Feb 01, 2019 Most Mac computers can run Windows 10 in a dual boot environment with the help of a utility called Boot Camp. This means that when the Mac starts up or reboots, you can choose between booting into Mac OS or booting into Windows on the same computer. Quick tip for better CPU Temps in Bootcamp Figured I would make a thread to help anyone who games using Bootcamp/Windows. Download boot camp mac windows 10. If you set your Min/Max Processor state in your power settings to 99% or 98% it'll disable turbo boost and you'll get much lower CPU temps.
Start up your Mac in Windows or macOS with Boot Camp. You can set the default operating system to either macOS or Windows. The default operating system is the.
Boot Camp software from Apple shook up the computing public upon its apocalyptic arrival in April 2006. Boot Camp graduated from beta, or near-finished, status with the arrival of Leopard. Boot Camp Assistant software is stored in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder.
Boot Camp itself is free. You have to supply your own single-disc or downloadable full-install version of Windows; an upgrade disc won’t cut it.
It’s also important to note that you can use a 64-bit version of Windows, Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. Consult Apple support to see which Mac models are compatible with which versions of Windows. In its current incarnation, Boot Camp isn’t compatible with 32-bit versions of Windows.
Other requirements follow:
An Intel Mac with OS X version 10.6 or later
At least 2GB of RAM and 20GB of available space on the Mac’s storage drive that you want to donate to Windows
A blank CD or USB storage device that you’ll use for Windows software drivers
If you don’t run into snags, the entire installation should take about an hour.
Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 are optimized for a touchscreen environment, though you can use it with a standard mouse and keyboard. For now, Macs don’t support touchscreen computing.
To install Windows 8 via Boot Camp, you still must have a legitimate Windows 8 license from Microsoft and a Win8 installation disc, assuming that you have an optical drive. If you don’t have an optical drive, you may be able to create a Windows installer from an ISO file downloaded from Microsoft on a USB flash drive that’s 8GB or larger.
Because snags are possible, back up all your important information on the Mac’s startup disk.
Basic training
Following are the basic steps to get through Boot Camp:
Run Boot Camp Assistant (in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder) to make sure that you have the latest firmware on your computer and to install any support software from Apple that you might need.
You’ll find any updates at Apple support. If you’re using a portable computer, make sure to connect the power adapter. You will also be given the option to create a Windows 7 (or later version) install disk for which you’ll need a USB flash drive and an ISO image downloaded from Apple.
Follow the prompts in Boot Camp Assistant to create a partition for Windows.
You’re essentially carving out an area of your hard drive for the Windows operating system,. This partition must be at least 30GB and can swell to the total free disk space on hand minus 30GB. If you don’t plan on doing much in Windows, keep the partition small.
Drag the divider to set the partitions for both OS X and Windows, or click Divide Equally to make equal partitions. You can’t resize a Windows partition after creating it, though you can replace it with a larger Windows partition.
If you have a Mac Pro with more than one internal hard drive, you can select which drive to partition. If any of this makes you nervous, know that you can remove the Windows partition later and go back to a single-partition Mac.
Insert the Windows CD or a USB flash drive with the Windows ISO file and then click Start Installation.
If you exited Boot Camp Assistant before installing Windows, open it again, choose Start the Windows Installer, and click Continue.
When you’re asked to choose the Windows partition, select the partition that says BOOTCAMP.
You may have to scroll down to see it.
Don’t erase any partitions that you see or create a new partition here. Failure to heed this warning could wipe out your entire Mac OS X startup disk.
(Optional) If you see a listing for Drive Options, click it; otherwise, proceed to Step 6.
Reformat the partition by using the Windows installer: Click Format.
You’re using the reliable and secure NTFS file system, but you won’t be able to save files to Windows from Mac OS X, at least not without a techie workaround.
Follow the onscreen instructions to finish installing Windows.
Boot Camp 5.1 includes several Mac drivers so that Windows will recognize your trackpad, Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, the iSight (or FaceTime) camera, the Eject key on the Mac keyboard, networking, audio, graphics, and so on.
A Boot Camp Control Panel for Windows and an Apple Boot Camp system-tray item will be added.
As with any new Windows computer, Microsoft requires that you activate your Windows software within 30 days.
Switching operating systems
You can go back and forth between OS X and Windows on your Mac, but you can’t run both operating systems simultaneously under Boot Camp. Instead, you have to boot one operating system or the other — thus, the name Boot Camp.
Restart your Mac, and hold down the Option key until icons for each operating system appear onscreen. Highlight Windows or Macintosh HD, and click the arrow to launch the operating system of choice for this session.
If you want OS X or Windows to boot every time, choose app → System Preferences, click Startup Disk, and choose the OS you want to launch by default.
You can perform the same function in Windows by clicking the Boot Camp system-tray icon and selecting the Boot Camp Control Panel. Click either the Macintosh HD or Windows icon, depending on your startup preference.
As Mac users, it’s easy to turn our noses up at running Windows, but the truth is that it sometimes can’t be avoided. Be it for work or for playing video games, running Microsoft’s operating system on Apple hardware isn’t nearly as hard as it seems like it would be.
There are two main ways to go about this: virtualization and Boot Camp. The former involves running a macOS application that allows you to run Windows within, while the latter equips you to reboot your Mac fully into Windows.
There are several factors involved in picking the correct path, including price, ease of use, and flexibility. It’s also important to consider what sorts of tasks you need to achieve with your Windows installation, as that may make the right decision more clear.
If you need access to a couple of Windows apps while you’re running macOS, it’s best to virtualize. Running Windows in a virtual machine (dubbed a “VM”) also allows you to store it all on something like an external SSD, as Boot Camp requires a chunk of your boot drive.
For that trade, Boot Camp offers direct, native access to your Mac’s hardware. If you want to game in Windows on your Mac, it’s the way to go.
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The Complete Guide to Managing Tasks in Things (Video)
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We put together a video that shows you everything you need to know about a task in Things:
- The difference between start dates and due dates and how to use them effectively.
- How to set up reminders so you never forget an important task again.
- How to use checklists for tasks that require more than one step.
- How to configure daily, weekly, monthly, or even annual repeating tasks.
- And more…
You don’t have to use any of these things in your tasks if you don’t want to. But knowing what they are and how they all work will help you be more organized, save time, and ensure you are using Things in the way that suits you best.
This video is something we have made available for free to our email subscriber community. You can get it right now. By joining the Sweet Setup community you’ll also get access to other guides, early previews to big new reviews and workflow articles we are working on, weekly roundups of our best content, and more.
Virtualization Apps
There are three virtualization apps worth considering.
Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion are very similar options. Neither are free, but they come with great customer support if you need help:
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- Parallels runs anywhere from $79.99/yr to $99.99/yr, depending on your needs. That subscription means your software is always up to date, ready for new versions of both macOS and Windows.
- Fusion follows a more traditional model. The current version is $79.99 for a new license, while an upgrade license will set you back just $49.99.
The third option is VirtualBox, an open-source (and free) option. While there is a vibrant online community around this application, if you are virtualizing Windows for work, I think it’s more than worth the price of admission to pick up Parallels or Fusion.
Parallels
Parallels Desktop is the best way to run Windows on your Mac. It offers lots of flexibility when it comes to which operating systems it can run and it offers a customizable experience to make it your own.
Set-up & Settings
Installing Windows 10 from an .iso downloaded directly from Microsoft’s store took just a few minutes. While most people will probably be installing Windows, Parallels can host all sorts of operating systems:
You can install Windows from an ISO, as I did, or even download a trial of Windows from Microsoft within the application. Additionally, Parallels can download a bunch of Linux distros and even download Modern.IE virtual machines, which are helpful when you need to test websites in old versions of Internet Explorer.
Parallels can transfer information from an existing PC, including that computer’s operating system. You can boot your Boot Camp partition as if it were a VM.
For my purposes, I installed the 64-bit version of Windows 10. After installation, I was prompted to create a Parallels account. This ties the app to Parallels’ website, keeping your license keys and subscriptions updated. After logging in, I was greeted with my Windows 10 VM:
There are a whole bunch of settings that can be tweaked. Things like how much RAM is allocated to the VM and what sort of network access it has can be adjusted. You can grant access to hardware like your Mac’s SD card slot, USB ports, and more as needed.
Parallels comes with a bunch of creature comforts too, though.
It can automatically share the contents of your Mac with the VM and vice versa. This means if you create a text file and save it to your Desktop, it will appear on the desktop of your macOS virtual machine:
It can open Mail.app on your Mac if you click an email link within the VM itself, and even automatically pause the VM when you aren’t using it, giving macOS more resources when possible. Parallels can even sync your clipboard across your Mac and its VMs and add your printer to your VM’s operating system automatically.
For those of us with macOS shortcuts engrained into our hands and brains, Parallels can pass those to your VM so you don’t have to hit Ctrl + C to copy when you are used to Cmd + C.
If you want your VM to be completely isolated from its host Mac, you can enable that, too.
Coherence Mode
The integration between host is even visual with Parallels. Running Windows apps can appear in your macOS dock, for example:
By default, Parallels VMs are in their own windows, but in Coherence mode, the lines are blurred. Here’s Finder and File Explorer, side by side, for example:
There’s no Windows background anymore. My Windows apps still look like Windows, but they operate like macOS apps. They appear in the Dock and even the Cmd + Tab switcher. Task bar items are even added to the Mac’s menu bar:
The clever features don’t end there. The Windows start menu can be opened via the VM’s Dock icon or the Parallels menu bar item when in Coherence mode.
Is It Better To Boot Camp A Mac Drive
In this mode, Parallels truly blends the VM into the macOS experience. If you need access to a single Windows app and don’t want the visual clutter of actually seeing Windows, this mode is for you.
Personally, I like to think about VMs as being contained islands. I don’t mind some limited sharing, but I want there to be a clear separation.
Performance & Utility
It’s hard to measure the speed of virtual machines. Your mileage will vary based on what computer you have, how much RAM it is equipped with, and more.
In measurable aspects, like VM boot time, Parallels was faster than VMware Fusion across the board on my iMac Pro.
Parallels comes with a bunch of virtual machine management tools. You can create snapshots of your VM to restore to at a later time if a software update goes poorly.
The application comes with Parallels Toolbox, a collection of utilities. I’m not sold on the value of these tools, but they come with a subscription to Parallels.
VMware Fusion
Fusion is the big competitor to Parallels, and while it does not require an annual subscription, it lacks some of the polish of its rival. That said, comparing the two applications side by side, there is very little difference in terms of features.
For some users, it may come down to price. Some users simply don’t want an annual subscription. I understand that, but I have more faith in Parallels’ future. VMware is a huge company, owned by Dell. Fusion is just one product in their catalogue, and a few years ago, it was rumored that Fusion may not be long for this world. VMware denied the report, but I can’t shake the feeling that Parallels is a better long-term bet.
Fusion includes a feature named Unity, which is very much like Parallels’ Coherence mode. The Windows backdrop goes away, and Windows apps show up directly in the macOS interface, including the Dock and App Switcher. However, not all of the resources used are Retina quality, leading to blurry icons in places. Worse, the entire system feels slower than Parallels. Even on an iMac Pro, Unity mode will stutter and have to redraw windows instead of smoothly animating them.
Boot Camp
As virtualization — running Windows inside a macOS app — lets you use both macOS and Windows at the same time, it’s probably the best option for most people. The convenience of having your one or two must-have Windows apps right next to the data and apps on your Mac is hard to beat.
However, virtualization comes with a price: computational overhead. You’ll be sharing your Mac’s CPU, GPU, and RAM across what is effectively two computers. Most modern Macs have more than enough horsepower for this, but if you want to run Windows on your Mac for gaming, Boot Camp is your best bet.
Boot Camp is built into macOS, and supports Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7, depending on the age of the host Mac. If you’re running a Mac built in 2012 or later, you should be set for Windows 10.
Be sure to visit Apple’s support pages to verify which version of Windows your machine will support via Boot Camp before you run out and buy something. There’s a lot of fine print here.
Mac Boot Camp Windows 10
Installing Windows via Boot Camp is pretty straight forward. There’s an app in your Mac’s Utilities folder named Boot Camp Assistant. You’ll need it, as well as a disk image file (.iso) of the Windows installer. If you purchase Windows online from Microsoft, you can download an ISO directly from the company’s store.
Boot Camp Assistant will walk you through selecting how much disk space you want to allocate to Windows. This will become a new partition on your Mac’s SSD; the space will be removed from the free space you can access in macOS.
Once the partition is created, you may be prompted to insert a USB drive for Boot Camp Assistant to download the necessary Windows drivers and the OS will install.
Once everything is complete, you can select which OS you’d like to boot into via the Startup Disk preference pane in macOS or the Boot Camp system tray item in Windows.
Boot Camp gives Windows direct access to your Mac’s hardware, meaning it’s a great option for things like gaming or heavy rendering, but for most users who may need access to one or two Windows-only apps, it’s simply too much trouble to reboot between operating systems.
Bonus! One more thing…
The Complete Guide to Managing Tasks in Things (Video)
If you struggle to keep up with all your tasks, we can show you some organization tips that may help you.
We put together a video that shows you everything you need to know about a task in Things:
- The difference between start dates and due dates and how to use them effectively.
- How to set up reminders so you never forget an important task again.
- How to use checklists for tasks that require more than one step.
- How to configure daily, weekly, monthly, or even annual repeating tasks.
- And more…
You don’t have to use any of these things in your tasks if you don’t want to. But knowing what they are and how they all work will help you be more organized, save time, and ensure you are using Things in the way that suits you best.
This video is something we have made available for free to our email subscriber community. You can get it right now. By joining the Sweet Setup community you’ll also get access to other guides, early previews to big new reviews and workflow articles we are working on, weekly roundups of our best content, and more.
In Closing
To wrap this up, Boot Camp is great if you need the full hardware capabilities of your Mac to be funneled into your virtual machine. If not, Parallels is an excellent choice. It’s fast, easy to use, and comes with a lot of features that make living in two operating systems easier than ever.