The fact that you can download the ISO and install it without a product key on any PC or Mac is neat. The idea here, of course, is to get the OS into as many hands as possible. Thankfully, most of the apps I want to run on my Mac exist as native apps. However, there are a couple that slip through my fingers, like Microsoft's Visio Professional. It doesn't exist on the Mac side and I really need it for my day job as a software quality vice president. Thankfully, there's more than one way to run Windows apps on your Mac. Whether you need to run Windows programs that don’t have Mac versions, or you are making the switch from PC to Mac and need to transfer your data, Parallels Desktop has you covered. Seamless Use Windows side-by-side with macOS (no restarting required). Oct 29, 2019 Of course, another option is to run Windows on your Mac, via BootCamp or a virtual machine, which takes a little know-how and a lot of memory space on your Mac's hard drive. Read: Best way to run Windows on a Mac. How do you play your Windows games on Mac? Let us know in the comment below! Updated October 2019: Updated with the best options. CodeWeavers CrossOver Mac is a program that allows users to install and run many Windows-based programs, applications and games in Mac OS X operating system on MacIntel computers. CrossOver Mac is based on open source Wine project, which is not an emulator but uses re-implementation of Win32 API to run Windows apps natively on target OS. The first application for running Windows-based applications on your Mac that we will.
What you need to install Windows 10 on Mac
For those Mac users that are having trouble letting go, but don’t want to throw down money on a new Windows-license just to use a couple apps, CrossOver 13 for Mac will let you install and run.
- MacBook introduced in 2015 or later
- MacBook Air introduced in 2012 or later
- MacBook Pro introduced in 2012 or later
- Mac mini introduced in 2012 or later
- iMac introduced in 2012 or later1
- iMac Pro (all models)
- Mac Pro introduced in 2013 or later
The latest macOS updates, which can include updates to Boot Camp Assistant. You will use Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows 10.
64GB or more free storage space on your Mac startup disk:
- Your Mac can have as little as 64GB of free storage space, but at least 128GB of free storage space provides the best experience. Automatic Windows updates require that much space or more.
- If you have an iMac Pro or Mac Pro with 128GB of memory (RAM) or more, your startup disk needs at least as much free storage space as your Mac has memory.2
An external USB flash drive with a storage capacity of 16GB or more, unless you're using a Mac that doesn't need a flash drive to install Windows.
A 64-bit version of Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro on a disk image (ISO) or other installation media. If installing Windows on your Mac for the first time, this must be a full version of Windows, not an upgrade.
- If your copy of Windows came on a USB flash drive, or you have a Windows product key and no installation disc, download a Windows 10 disk image from Microsoft.
- If your copy of Windows came on a DVD, you might need to create a disk image of that DVD.
How to install Windows 10 on Mac
To install Windows, use Boot Camp Assistant, which is included with your Mac.
1. Use Boot Camp Assistant to create a Windows partition
Open Boot Camp Assistant, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. Then follow the onscreen instructions.
- If you're asked to insert a USB drive, plug your USB flash drive into your Mac. Boot Camp Assistant will use it to create a bootable USB drive for Windows installation.
- When Boot Camp Assistant asks you to set the size of the Windows partition, remember the minimum storage-space requirements in the previous section. Set a partition size that meets your needs, because you can't change its size later.
2. Format the Windows (BOOTCAMP) partition
When Boot Camp Assistant finishes, your Mac restarts to the Windows installer. If the installer asks where to install Windows, select the BOOTCAMP partition and click Format. In most cases, the installer selects and formats the BOOTCAMP partition automatically.
3. Install Windows
Unplug any external devices that aren't necessary during installation. Then click Next and follow the onscreen instructions to begin installing Windows.
4. Use the Boot Camp installer in Windows
After Windows installation completes, your Mac starts up in Windows and opens a ”Welcome to the Boot Camp installer” window. Follow the onscreen instructions to install Boot Camp and Windows support software (drivers). You will be asked to restart when done.
- If the Boot Camp installer never opens, open the Boot Camp installer manually and use it to complete Boot Camp installation.
- If you have an external display connected to a Thunderbolt 3 port on your Mac, the display will be blank (black, gray, or blue) for up to 2 minutes during installation.
How to switch between Windows and macOS
Restart, then press and hold the Option (or Alt) ⌥ key during startup to switch between Windows and macOS.
Learn more
If you have one of these Mac models using OS X El Capitan 10.11 or later, you don't need a USB flash drive to install Windows:
- MacBook introduced in 2015 or later
- MacBook Air introduced in 2017 or later3
- MacBook Pro introduced in 2015 or later3
- iMac introduced in 2015 or later
- iMac Pro (all models)
- Mac Pro introduced in late 2013
To remove Windows from your Mac, use Boot Camp Assistant, not any other utility.
For more information about using Windows on your Mac, open Boot Camp Assistant and click the Open Boot Camp Help button.
1. If you're using an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) or iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) or iMac (27-inch, Late 2012) with a 3TB hard drive and macOS Mojave or later, learn about an alert you might see during installation.
2. For example, if your Mac has 128GB of memory, its startup disk must have at least 128GB of storage space available for Windows. To see how much memory your Mac has, choose Apple menu > About This Mac. To see how much storage space is available, click the Storage tab in the same window.
3. These Mac models were offered with 128GB hard drives as an option. Apple recommends 256GB or larger hard drives so that you can create a Boot Camp partition of at least 128GB.
Thanks to the change from PowerPC to Intel based PC, that you can have Mac as another PC. There are various benefits since Mac also started using Intel based processors. Of all the benefits, installing Windows on Mac OS is the best of all. But you might ask it is possible to install Windows 10 OS on a Macbook without erasing the original Mac OS? The answer is YES, Apple provides a custom-tailored solution to help you for this purpose: Boot Camp.
In fact, MS Windows OS still holds a prominent place in operating system, especially in businesses. In other words, there may be so many times when you need to run just one or two specific Windows Apps on a Mac, then you can consider to use CrossOver, which enables many Windows-based Apps to run on Mac or Linux operating systems without actually installing windows OS. If you need a more full-fledged, flexible Windows operating system on your Macbook, then you need to consider to create a Windows 10 bootbale USB drive and completely install Windows 10 on Mac computer. Though it's convenient but the machine speed will reduce for supporting both dual OS configuration.
But still if you are hell bent to experience the Duo, Windows and Mac together, the article will sufficiently guide you from making an Windows installation disk on Mac with or withoutt Boot camp Assistant.
How to Install Windows 10 on Mac using Boot Camp
In fact, Installing Windows 10 on your Mac isn't as difficult as you might think, Boot Camp Assistant built in Mac OS which makes it easy to install Windows 10 OS on a Mac computer. With time, the program took a leap of upgrade, and not only it can run Windows softwares and also OS supporting all versions 7/ 8/ 10, alongside Windows games. But before you choose to use Boot camp for this specific purpose, you need to know that installing Windows on Mac would re-partition your Mac drive, because Windows OS will to take a lot of space. Now Storage availability on Mac is really expensive, and you might need to reboot your Mac every time you want to use Windows and while again switching back to Mac OS, so think before you go for it.
You need to prepare the following before starting to install Windows 10 OS on a Mac.
- 1) A working Mac computer you want to install Windows 10 on.
- 2) A USB drive with at least 10 GB space.
- 3) A second working windows computer.
- 4) Windows IOS file and a Windows 10 license key.
- 5) Boot Camp Assistant
Step 1 Get A Windows Disk Image
First, you need to prepare a Windows IOS files for creating a bootable USB.
- Go and download the Windows 10 IOS file from Microsoft website.
- Select edition menu and choose Windows 10, and click Confirm.
- Select an installation language and click Confirm.
- Select 64-bit or 32-bit Download and then click Save.
Step 2 Run Boot Camp Assistant on Your Mac
Copy the Windows 10 ISO file you just downloaded to your USB drive, then insert it to your Mac and open it, then move the ISO file to your Mac's desktop. Now launch the Boot Camp Assistant app on your Mac, it will guides you to install Windows OS on your Mac easily. Note, don't eject your USB, just keep it connected to your Mac for the rest of job.
To launch the Boot Camp Assistant on your Mac, go to Applications > Utilities folder. Find the Boot Camp and click it to run. Then click 'Choose' button to browse ISO file from your Mac's desktop.
Step 3 Create a partition for Windows On Your Mac
You will see the Boot Camp Assistant will walk you through partitioning, drivers and Windows support software. After the settings complete, your Mac will reboot and ask you where you want to install Windows OS.
Step 4 Install Windows 10 OS on Your Mac
Then when you are done with the Assistant, your Mac computer will restart and your will see the standard Windows installer like below. Fill the information box and connect next.
Windows setup will automatically finish the reset of setup process including the create an user account, this will take a few minutes. Windows will reboot normally and now you can login your Windows, then Boot camp installer will appear and require you to accept some terms. When the installer completes, click Finish to reboot your machine.
If you want to boot your Windows by default, then you set this in Boot camp control Panel in your Windows OS, you're allowed to select which default operating system your Mac boot from.
Then reboot your Mac and you will see a Windows 10 operating system, it's a real Windows 10 OS same as the one you've installed on your Windows computer. You'll see a complete set of buttons, similar to the Control Strip in macOS.
Run Windows Apps On Mac Without Bootcamp Free
If you don't want to use the USB drive to accomplish the task of installing Windows 10 on Mac then you can do one thing, you can directly download the Windows 10 setup file on Mac desktop and then use the Boot camp utility to do the installation part as described above.
Installing Windows 10 on Mac is a marvelous idea to get both Windows and Mac experience at the same time in a single interface. You can choose to switch between both of them as per your requirement.But first you need to go thoroughly through the article before you can start installing it.