Boot Camp Assistant is a multi boot utility included with Apple Inc.'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.
 | |
 Boot Camp running on macOS Monterey | |
| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| Initial release | October 26, 2007 |
| Stable release | 6.1.19  (29 August 2022)
|
| Type | Software assistant for dual booting |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | support |
Initially introduced as an unsupported beta for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger,[1][2] 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 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 only supported Windows 7.[3] 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 versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8 are officially supported.[4][5]
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 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 Macs.[6] Via virtualization, 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 emulator,[7] VMWare Fusion, and Parallels Desktop virtualization software, which also allows Linux.[8]
Overview
editInstallation
editSetting up 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 currently supports Windows 10 on a range of Macs dated mid-2012 or newer.[9] Apple Silicon is not supported due to being ARM-based. Although Windows 11 supports ARM64, the ARM64 version is only licensed to OEMs, and there are no drivers for the Apple silicon SoCs, so it cannot run on Apple Silicon Macs natively.[6]
Start-up Disk
editBy default, Mac will always boot from the last-used start-up disk. Holding down the option key (⌥) 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 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 emulation through EFI and a partition table information synchronization mechanism between GPT and MBR combined.[10]
On newer Macs, Boot Camp keeps the hard disk as a GPT so that Windows is installed and booted in UEFI mode.[11]
Requirements
editMac OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
editApple's Boot Camp system requirements lists the following requirements for Mac OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion:[12]
- 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
editApple lists the following requirements for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard:[12]
- An Intel-based Macintosh computer with the latest firmware (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)[13]
- Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit editions)[14]
- Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit editions)
Supported Macintosh computers with Windows 8
editOfficially, the earliest Macintosh models that support Windows 8 are the mid-2011 MacBook Air, 13-inch-mid-2011 or 15 and 17-inch-mid-2010 MacBook Pro(except 13" mid-2010), mid-2011 Mac Mini, 21-inch-mid-2011 or 27-inch-mid-2010 iMac(except the 21.5" mid-2010), and early 2009 Mac Pro.[15][16] 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.[citation needed] This can also work with Windows 10. Pre-2011 Intel Macs would unofficially run later versions of Windows (Windows 8 through Windows 10).
Limitations
edit- Boot Camp will only help the user partition their disk if they currently have only a primary HFS 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.[17] 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.[18] Changes to the partition table after Windows is installed are officially unsupported, but can be achieved with the help of third-party software.[19]
- 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.[20]
- 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 or macOS Catalina. Apple has not publicly commented on why this limitation is in place.[21]
Boot Camp version history
editThis article needs to be updated. (June 2020) |
| 1.0 beta |
April 5, 2006 |
|
| 1.1 beta |
August 26, 2006 |
|
| 1.1.1 beta |
September 14, 2006 |
|
| 1.1.2 beta |
October 30, 2006 |
|
| 1.2 beta |
March 28, 2007 |
|
| 1.3 beta |
June 7, 2007 |
|
| 1.4 beta |
August 8, 2007 |
|
| 2.0 | October 26, 2007 |
|
| 2.1 | April 24, 2008 |
|
| 2.2 | November 19, 2009 |
|
| 3.0 | August 28, 2009 |
|
| 3.1 | January 19, 2010 |
|
| 3.2 | November 18, 2010 |
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| 3.3 | August 24, 2011 |
|
| 4.0 | July 20, 2012 |
|
| 5.0.5033 | March 14, 2013 |
|
| 5.1 | February 11, 2014 |
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| 5.1.2 | October 16, 2014 | |
| 6.0 | August 13, 2015 |
|
| 6.1 | September 20, 2016 |
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| 6.1.13 | October 26, 2020 |
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| 6.1.14 | May 17, 2021 |
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| 6.1.15 | June 10, 2021 |
|
| 6.1.17 | March 19, 2022 |
|
| 6.1.16 | August 22, 2022 |
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| 6.1.19 | August 29, 2022 |
|
Boot Camp support software (for Windows) version history
edit| Version | Date | Supported Systems |
|---|---|---|
| 5.1.5621 | Feb 11, 2014 |
|
| 5.1.5640 | Feb 11, 2014 |
|
| 5.1.5722 | Aug 12, 2015 |
|
| 5.1.5769 | Aug 12, 2015 |
|
| 6.1.6655 | Sep 25, 2017 |
|
| 6.1.6700 | Unknown |
|
| 6.1.6851 | Apr 19, 2018 |
|
| 6.1.7748 | Dec 09, 2019 |
|
| 6.1.7800 | Unknown |
|
| 6.1.8034 | Dec 16, 2021 |
|
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Broersma, Matthew (April 13, 2006). "Users Find Flaw in Boot Camp". PC World. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
- ^ Mossberg, Walter (April 6, 2006). "Boot Camp Turns Your Mac Into a Reliable Windows PC". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 6, 2007. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
- ^ Kessler, Topher (August 1, 2011). "Boot Camp 4 requires Windows 7 or later". CNET. Archived from the original on September 7, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
- ^ "Boot Camp 5: Frequently asked questions". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
- ^ "Apple BootCamp 5.0 only supports 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and 8". BetaNews. March 15, 2013. Archived from the original on March 19, 2013. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
- ^ a b Warren, Tom (June 24, 2020). "Apple's new ARM-based Macs won't support Windows through Boot Camp". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 7, 2021. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
- ^ Computer Clan (December 8, 2020). "Windows 10 on M1 MacBook Air (Virtualization Sensation) - Krazy Ken's Tech Misadventures". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
- ^ "Just Released: Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac Supports Both M1 and Intel Chips". Parallels Blog. April 14, 2021. Archived from the original on January 20, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
- ^ "Use Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp". Apple Support. Archived from the original on October 20, 2016. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
- ^ "You need BIOS compatibility and a MBR partition table to boot Windows". rEFIt project. December 9, 2006. Archived from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
- ^ "EFI and Windows on Option Boot Screen". Twocanoes. December 4, 2013. Archived from the original on December 18, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
- ^ a b "Boot Camp: System requirements for Microsoft Windows". Apple Inc. January 19, 2010. Archived from the original on July 25, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
- ^ "Boot Camp 2.0: Which versions of Microsoft Windows are supported?". Apple Inc. June 17, 2008. Archived from the original on September 13, 2008. Retrieved October 3, 2008.
- ^ a b "Boot Camp: Macs that work with 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows Vista". Apple Inc. December 21, 2010. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
- ^ "Boot Camp: System requirements for Microsoft Windows operating systems". Apple Inc. March 14, 2013. Archived from the original on March 18, 2013. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
- ^ "Boot Camp: Frequently asked questions about installing Windows 8". Apple Inc. March 14, 2013. Archived from the original on March 18, 2013. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
- ^ "Set up a Windows partition on your Mac". Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
- ^ "Successful setup of OS X Lion + Data Partition ... - Apple Support Communities". Archived from the original on May 9, 2016.
- ^ "how to resize my bootcamp partition without del... - Apple Support Communities". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
- ^ "How to Install and Dual Boot Linux on a Mac". April 21, 2014. Archived from the original on August 20, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
- ^ "Use an external graphics processor with your Mac". Archived from the original on July 3, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
- ^ Apple Inc. (March 16, 2011). "Boot Camp 3.0, Mac OS X 10.6: Frequently asked questions". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
- ^ "Boot Camp Software Update 3.3 for Windows". Archived from the original on September 25, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2011.
- ^ Keizer, Gregg (August 2, 2011). "OS X Lion requires Windows 7 for Boot Camp". Computerworld. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
- ^ "About the security content of Boot Camp 6.1.14". Apple Inc. May 17, 2021. Archived from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
- ^ "Boot Camp update to version 6.1.19". Gaming Deputy. August 31, 2022. Archived from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
External links
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