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Boot Camp (software)

Built-in macOS software to natively install Microsoft Windows on a Mac

Built-in macOS software to natively install Microsoft Windows on a Mac

FieldValue
nameBoot Camp Assistant
logoBoot Camp Large.png
screenshotBoot Camp 1.1.png
captionBoot Camp running on macOS Monterey
developerApple
released
latest release version
operating system
genreSoftware assistant for dual booting
licenseProprietary
website

Boot Camp Assistant is a multi-boot utility included with Apple's macOS, previously Mac OS X/OS X, that assists users in installing Microsoft Windows operating systems on Intel-based Macintosh computers. The utility guides users through non-destructive disk partitioning, including resizing of an existing HFS+ or APFS partition, if necessary, of their hard disk drive or solid-state drive and installation of Windows device drivers for the Apple hardware. The utility also installs a Windows Control Panel applet for selecting the default boot operating system.

Initially an unsupported beta for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the utility was introduced with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and has been included in subsequent versions of the operating system. Previous versions of Boot Camp supported Windows XP and Windows Vista. 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 supported only Windows 7. With the release of Boot Camp 5.0 for Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion in version 10.8.3, only 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8 are supported.

Boot Camp 6.0 added support for 64-bit versions of Windows 10. Boot Camp 6.1, available on macOS 10.12 Sierra and later, will accept only new installations of Windows 7 and later. This requirement was upgraded to requiring Windows 10 for macOS 10.14 Mojave.

Boot Camp is not available on Apple silicon Macs. Via virtualization, it is possible to run ARM-based Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Overview

Installation

Installing Windows 10 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 supports Windows 10 on Macs dated mid-2012 or newer. Apple silicon is not supported due to being ARM-based. Windows 11 supports ARM64, but the ARM64 version is licensed only to original equipment manufacturers, and there are no drivers for the Apple silicon SoCs, so it cannot run on Apple silicon Macs natively.

Start-up Disk

A Mac boots from the last-used start-up disk. Holding down the option key (⌥) at startup brings up the boot manager which allows users to choose in which operating system to start the device. When using a non-Apple keyboard, the alt key performs the same action. The boot manager can also be launched by pressing the menu button on the Apple Remote at startup.

On older Macs, its functionality relies on BIOS 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 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:

  • 8 GB USB storage device, or external drive formatted as MS-DOS (FAT) 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. Early Intel-based Mac 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. The 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 Mac computers with Windows 8

The earliest Macs that support Windows 8 are the mid-2011 MacBook Air, 13" mid-2011 or 15" and 17" mid-2010 MacBook Pro, except the mid-2010 13" computers, mid-2011 Mac Mini, 21" mid-2011 or 27" mid-2010 iMac, except the 21.5" mid-2010, and early 2009 Mac Pro.

Limitations

  • Boot Camp will only help a user partition their disk if the user has only a primary HFS+ or APFS partition, an EFI system partition, and a macOS Recovery partition.
  • Boot Camp does not help users install Linux. 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.
  • Macs transitioned to Thunderbolt 3 in 2016 and Boot Camp does not support running Windows with a Thunderbolt 3-powered External GPU (eGPU) unit under macOS High Sierra, macOS Mojave or macOS Catalina.

Boot Camp version history

6.1.19August 29, 2022

Boot Camp support software (for Windows) version history

VersionDateSupported Systems
5.1.5621Feb 11, 2014
5.1.5640Feb 11, 2014
5.1.5722Aug 12, 2015
5.1.5769Aug 12, 2015
6.1.6655Sep 25, 2017
6.1.6700Unknown
6.1.6851Apr 19, 2018
6.1.7748Dec 09, 2019
6.1.7800Unknown
6.1.8034Dec 16, 2021

References

References

  1. Broersma, Matthew. (April 13, 2006). "Users Find Flaw in Boot Camp".
  2. Mossberg, Walter. (April 6, 2006). "Boot Camp Turns Your Mac Into a Reliable Windows PC". The Wall Street Journal.
  3. Kessler, Topher. (August 1, 2011). "Boot Camp 4 requires Windows 7 or later".
  4. "Boot Camp 5: Frequently asked questions". [[Apple Inc.]].
  5. (March 15, 2013). "Apple BootCamp 5.0 only supports 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and 8". BetaNews.
  6. Warren, Tom. (2020-06-24). "Apple's new ARM-based Macs won't support Windows through Boot Camp".
  7. (2021-04-14). "Just Released: Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac Supports Both M1 and Intel Chips". Parallels Blog.
  8. "Use Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp". Apple Support.
  9. (December 9, 2006). "You need BIOS compatibility and a MBR partition table to boot Windows". rEFIt project.
  10. (December 4, 2013). "EFI and Windows on Option Boot Screen". [[Twocanoes]].
  11. (January 19, 2010). "Boot Camp: System requirements for Microsoft Windows". Apple Inc..
  12. (June 17, 2008). "Boot Camp 2.0: Which versions of Microsoft Windows are supported?". Apple Inc..
  13. (December 21, 2010). "Boot Camp: Macs that work with 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows Vista". Apple Inc..
  14. (March 14, 2013). "Boot Camp: System requirements for Microsoft Windows operating systems". Apple Inc..
  15. (March 14, 2013). "Boot Camp: Frequently asked questions about installing Windows 8". Apple Inc..
  16. "Set up a Windows partition on your Mac".
  17. Hoffman, Chris. (April 21, 2014). "How to Install and Dual Boot Linux on a Mac". Valnet Publishing Group.
  18. "Use an external graphics processor with your Mac".
  19. Apple Inc.. (March 16, 2011). "Boot Camp 3.0, Mac OS X 10.6: Frequently asked questions". Apple Inc..
  20. "Boot Camp Software Update 3.3 for Windows".
  21. Gregg, Keizer. (August 2, 2011). "OS X Lion requires Windows 7 for Boot Camp". IDG Communications, Inc.
  22. Apple Staff. (March 8, 2024). "Boot Camp Support Software 5.0.5033". Apple, Inc..
  23. (May 17, 2021). "About the security content of Boot Camp 6.1.14". Apple Inc..
  24. (August 31, 2022). "Boot Camp update to version 6.1.19".
  25. (March 8, 2024). "Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5621". Apple, Inc..
  26. (March 8, 2024). "Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5640". Apple, Inc..
  27. (March 8, 2024). "Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5722". Apple, Inc..
  28. (March 8, 2024). "Download Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5769". Apple, Inc..
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This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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