Boot Camp Assistant is a multi boot

utility In economics, utility is a measure of a certain person's satisfaction from a certain state of the world. Over time, the term has been used with at least two meanings. * In a normative context, utility refers to a goal or objective that we wish ...

included with

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

(previously ) that assists users in installing

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

s on Intel-based Macintosh computers. The utility guides users through non-destructive

disk partitioning Disk partitioning or disk slicing is the creation of one or more regions on secondary storage, so that each region can be managed separately. These regions are called partitions. It is typically the first step of preparing a newly installed disk ...

(including resizing of an existing HFS+ or APFS partition, if necessary) of their

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

solid-state drive A solid-state drive (SSD) is a type of solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuits to store data persistently. It is sometimes called semiconductor storage device, solid-state device, or solid-state disk. SSDs rely on non- ...

and installation of Windows

device driver In the context of an operating system, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabli ...

s for the Apple hardware. The utility also installs a Windows Control Panel

applet In computing, an applet is any small application that performs one specific task that runs within the scope of a dedicated widget engine or a larger program, often as a plug-in. The term is frequently used to refer to a Java applet, a program ...

for selecting the default boot operating system. Initially introduced as an unsupported beta for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the utility was first introduced with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and has been included in subsequent versions of the operating system ever since. Previous versions of Boot Camp supported

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

and

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...

. Boot Camp 4.0 for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard version 10.6.6 up to Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion version 10.8.2 only supported Windows 7. However, with the release of Boot Camp 5.0 for Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion in version 10.8.3, only

64-bit In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit central processing units (CPU) and arithmetic logic units (ALU) are those that are based on processor registers, a ...

versions of

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

and

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, made available for download via Microsoft ...

are officially supported. Boot Camp 6.0 added support for 64-bit versions of

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was Software release cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 2 ...

. Boot Camp 6.1, available on macOS 10.12 Sierra and later, will only accept new installations of Windows 7 and later; this requirement was upgraded to requiring Windows 10 for macOS 10.14 Mojave. Boot Camp is currently not available on

Apple silicon Apple silicon is a series of system on a chip (SoC) and system in a package (SiP) processors designed by Apple Inc., mainly using the ARM architecture family, ARM architecture. They are used in nearly all of the company's devices including Mac ...

Macs. Via

virtualization In computing, virtualization (abbreviated v12n) is a series of technologies that allows dividing of physical computing resources into a series of virtual machines, operating systems, processes or containers. Virtualization began in the 1960s wit ...

, it is possible to run ARM-based Windows 10 (only Windows Insider builds, as they are the only publicly available ARM builds of Windows 10) and Windows 11 through the

QEMU The Quick Emulator (QEMU) is a free and open-source emulator that uses dynamic binary translation to emulate a computer's processor; that is, it translates the emulated binary codes to an equivalent binary format which is executed by the mach ...

emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...

VMWare Fusion VMware Fusion is a software hypervisor developed by VMware for macOS systems. It allows Macs with Intel or Apple M series CPUs to run virtual machines with guest operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, or macOS, within the host m ...

, and Parallels Desktop

software, which also allows

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

. Prior to Boot Camp, Apple offered

compatibility cards Compatibility may refer to: Computing * Backward compatibility, in which newer systems can understand data generated by older ones * Compatibility card, an expansion card for hardware emulation of another device * Compatibility layer, componen ...

that added necessary PC components, such as an

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel, based on the 8086 microprocessor and its 8-bit-external-bus variant, the 8088. Th ...

CPU, to various Mac models to allow MS-DOS and early Windows versions to boot.

Overview

Installation

Setting up

on a Mac requires an ISO image of Windows 10 provided by Microsoft. Boot Camp combines Windows 10 with install scripts to load hardware drivers for the targeted Mac computer. Boot Camp currently supports Windows 10 on a range of Macs dated mid-2012 or newer.

Apple Silicon Apple silicon is a series of system on a chip (SoC) and system in a package (SiP) processors designed by Apple Inc., mainly using the ARM architecture family, ARM architecture. They are used in nearly all of the company's devices including Mac ...

is not supported due to being ARM-based. Although

Windows 11 Windows 11 is a version of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, released on October 5, 2021, as the successor to Windows 10 (2015). It is available as a free upgrade for devices running Windows 10 that meet the #System requirements, Windo ...

supports ARM64, the ARM64 version is only licensed to OEMs, and there are no drivers for the Apple silicon

SoCs SOCS (suppressor of cytokine signaling proteins) refers to a family of genes involved in inhibiting the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Genes * CISH (gene), CISH * SOCS1 * SOCS2 * SOCS3 * SOCS4 * SOCS5 * SOCS6 * SOCS7 Structure All SOCS have certai ...

, so it cannot run on Apple Silicon Macs natively.

Start-up Disk

By default, Mac will always boot from the last-used start-up disk. Holding down the

option key The Option key, , is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. It is located between the Control key and the Command key on a typical Mac keyboard. There are two Option keys on modern (as of 2020) Mac desktop and notebook keyboards, one on each ...

(⌥) at startup brings up the boot manager, which allows the user to choose which operating system to start the device in. When using a non-Apple keyboard, the

alt key The Alt key (pronounced or ) on a computer keyboard is used to change (alternate) the function of other pressed keys. Thus, the Alt key is a modifier key, used in a similar fashion to the Shift key. For example, simply pressing ''A'' will ty ...

usually performs the same action. The boot manager can also be launched by holding down the "menu" button on the Apple Remote at startup. On older Macs, its functionality relies on

BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is a type of firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization d ...

emulation through EFI and a partition table information synchronization mechanism between GPT and MBR combined. On newer Macs, Boot Camp keeps the hard disk as a GPT so that Windows is installed and booted in

UEFI Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI, as an acronym) is a Specification (technical standard), specification for the firmware Software architecture, architecture of a computing platform. When a computer booting, is powered on, the UEFI ...

mode.

Requirements

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

Apple's Boot Camp system requirements lists the following requirements for Mac OS X Lion and

OS X Mountain Lion OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8) is the ninth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mountain Lion was released on July 25, 2012, for purchase and download through the Mac App S ...

: * 8 GB USB storage device, or external drive formatted as

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

(

FAT In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

) for installation of Windows drivers for Mac hardware * 20 GB free hard disk space for a first-time installation or 40 GB for an upgrade from a previous version of Windows * A full version of one of the following operating systems: ** Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate (64-bit editions only) ** Windows 8 and Windows 8 Professional (64-bit editions only) ** Windows 10 Home, Pro, Pro for Workstation, Education or Enterprise (64-bit editions only)

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Apple lists the following requirements for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: * An Intel-based Macintosh computer with the latest

firmware In computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...

(Early Intel-based Macintosh computers require an EFI firmware update for BIOS compatibility). * A Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard installation disc or Mac OS X Disc 1 included with Macs that have Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard preinstalled; this disc is needed for installation of Windows drivers for Mac hardware * 10 GB free hard disk space (16 GB is recommended for Windows 7) * A full version of one of the following operating systems: ** Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional Edition with Service Pack 2 or higher (32-bit editions only) ** Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit editions) ** Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit editions)

Supported Macintosh computers with Windows 8

Officially, the earliest Macintosh models that support Windows 8 are the mid-2011

MacBook Air The MacBook Air is a line of Mac (computer), Mac laptop computers developed and manufactured by Apple Inc., Apple since 2008. It features a thin, light structure in a machining, machined aluminum case and currently either a 13-inch or 15-inch ...

, 13-inch-mid-2011 or 15 and 17-inch-mid-2010

MacBook Pro The MacBook Pro is a line of Mac laptop computers developed and manufactured by Apple. Introduced in 2006, it is the high-end sibling of the MacBook family, sitting above the ultra-portable MacBook Air and previously the low-end MacBook li ...

(except 13" mid-2010), mid-2011

Mac Mini Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor (desktop and motherboard), small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is one of the company's four current Mac (computer), Mac desktop computers, positioned ...

, 21-inch-mid-2011 or 27-inch-mid-2010

iMac The iMac is a series of all-in-one computers from Apple Inc., sold as part of the company's Mac (computer), Mac family of computers. First introduced in 1998, it has remained a primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since and evol ...

(except the 21.5" mid-2010), and early 2009

Mac Pro Mac Pro is a series of workstations and servers for professionals made by Apple Inc. since 2006. The Mac Pro, by some performance benchmarks, is the most powerful computer that Apple offers. It is one of four desktop computers in the current ...

. By running the Boot Camp assistant with a compatible version of Microsoft Windows setup disc in the drive and switching to a Windows 8 disc when Mac OS X reboots the machine to begin installing Windows, Windows 8 can be installed on older unsupported hardware. This can also work with Windows 10. Pre-2011 Intel Macs would unofficially run later versions of Windows (Windows 8 through Windows 10).

Limitations

* Boot Camp will only help the user partition their disk if they currently have only a primary

HFS HFS may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Croatian Film Association () * Hellenic Fire Service, Greece * Hospitality Franchise Systems, US Computing * Hierarchical file system, a system for organizing directories and files * Hierarchica ...

partition, an EFI System Partition, and a Mac OS X Recovery Partition. Thus, for example, it is not possible to maintain an additional storage partition. A workaround has been discovered that involves interrupting the standard procedure after creating the Boot Camp partition, resizing the primary Mac OS X partition and creating a third partition in the now available space, then continuing with the Windows install. Changes to the partition table after Windows is installed are officially unsupported, but can be achieved with the help of third-party software. * Boot Camp does not help users install Linux, and does not provide drivers for it. Most methods for dual-booting with Linux on Mac rely on manual disk partitioning, and the use of an EFI boot manager such as

rEFInd rEFInd is a boot manager for UEFI and EFI-based machines. It can be used to boot multiple operating systems that are installed on a single non-volatile device. It also provides a way to launch UEFI applications. It was forked from discontinued ...

. * Despite Macs transitioning to Thunderbolt 3 in 2016, Boot Camp does not currently support running Windows with a Thunderbolt 3-powered External GPU (eGPU) unit under macOS High Sierra,

macOS Mojave macOS Mojave ( ; version 10.14) is the fifteenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. Mojave was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 4, 2018, and was released to the ...

macOS Catalina macOS Catalina (version 10.15) is the sixteenth software versioning, major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. It is the successor to macOS Mojave and was announced at WWDC 2019 on June 3, 2019 and ...

. Apple has not publicly commented on why this limitation is in place.

Boot Camp version history

Boot Camp support software (for Windows) version history

References

External links

Boot Camp support page and installation instructions
* ttps://cgelves.com/solution-for-internet-connection-issue-windows-bootcamp-no-wifi-on-apple-mac/ Troubleshooting Internet Connectivity Issues on Boot Camp with Windows 8 {{DEFAULTSORT:Boot Camp (Software) 2006 software Apple Inc. file systems Apple Inc. software Boot loaders