Installing windows on mac os x. How to install Windows on Mac? Step-by-step instruction

Useful tips

The easiest and most affordable way to install Windows on a Mac is to use the Boot Camp program. Boot Camp is a special application from Apple for installing WindowsXP / Windows7 or 8 by dividing the hard drive into 2 partitions, one for each system. Switching from one system to another is possible only by restarting the computer.

In order to install Windows on your Mac, you will need:

1 MacBook Rro / MacBook Air / IMac with Mac OS installed;

2 USB storage device (flash drive (at least 4 Gb) or external hard drive)/ DVD drive (transfer all information from the USB storage device (flash drive or external hard drive), since in the future everything on the storage device will be deleted after formatting);

3 Disk with the Windows 7 operating system or its ISO image (can be downloaded from the Internet);

4 This article and about an hour of free time.

Attention!!! If you are going to install Windows using a USB flash drive on a late 2013 and newer Mac (they use all USB 3.0 ports), you need to use a USB 3.0 flash drive. Otherwise, when installing Windows, your USB ports and wireless keyboard will not be active.

Turn on your Mac and install the latest updates. To do this, click on the apple (left, upper corner) and select "Software Update".

After you have installed all the updates, proceed to the next step, launch Boot Camp. To do this, click on the search (magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner) and enter there "Boot Camp", among the found ones, click on "Boot Camp Assistant"".

In the window that opens Boot Camp Assistant, read the information and click "Continue".

In the next window, you need to select settings for installing Windows 7, or more precisely, how you will install.

Installation on Mac Windows7 using disk

Installation on Mac Windows7 using USB flash drive/external hard drive

If you have a DWD disk with the Windows7 operating system, you need to select the last two items, namely Download the latest Windows support software from Apple(loads drivers for Windows7) and Install Windows7(allows you to determine the size of the volume where Windows7 will be installed and when rebooting, it boots from DWD).

Leave the default folder name WindowsSupport All drivers will be saved in it and we select the media on which all files will be saved (in this example, it is a USB flash drive).

Then enter your computer administrator credentials and click "Add Helper".

After this, the driver download process will begin.

If you have an ISO image on your computer, in this case you must leave all the checkboxes. In particular, for MacBook Air this method is very convenient, since it does not have a DWD drive and installation from a USB flash drive/USB hard drive will be more reasonable.

Button "Choose" indicate the path to the ISO image of Windows7.

Then a warning window will appear informing you that your disk/USB device will be formatted and all information will be deleted from it.

After this, the USB drive will be formatted and installation files and drivers will be copied to it.

The next step is to specify the amount of disk space for Windows 7; to do this, just move the slider and determine the partition size for the Windows operating system and click "Install".

After this, the computer/laptop will reboot and the Windows 7 installation process will begin upon loading (it is no different from installation on any other computer).

The only thing I would like to add is that when choosing a volume on which the operating system will be installed, be extremely careful not to delete existing partitions. Just format the BOOTCAMP partition and start installing Windows 7.

After installing Windows 7, go to the USB drive, in it you will see a folder WindowSupport(it contains drivers for Windows), run the file setup.exe.

In the next window, read the License Agreement, accept it and click "Further".

After this, you will be prompted to additionally install Apple Software Update, you can leave a checkmark and click "Install".

After this, the installation process of all drivers will begin, it does not require your participation, just when it is finished, a window will appear indicating that the installation is complete. Press the button "Complete".

Then there will be a window asking you to restart the computer, click "Yes".

After the reboot, you will have Windows 7 completely ready to use.

Let me remind you that Mac OS remains in this installation option (your device has two systems, Mac OS and Windows 7). By default, you will always boot into Windows 7, but if you decide to boot into Mac OS, to do this you will need to restart your computer/laptop and hold down the button while booting "Alt". After which you will be asked which operating system to boot your computer/laptop under.

Then, in Windows, download your tutorial, open the archive and follow the instructions.

Every user knows about Microsoft and Apple, which produce their own operating systems. But is it possible to install the familiar Windows 7 on a Mac produced by Apple? Of course, you can, because the latter even provide the necessary software. Next, we'll look at how to avoid mistakes and do it right.

Basic Mac Requirements

Before you install Windows 7 on Mac devices, make sure your computer meets the following requirements:

Internet connection;
installed BootCampAssistant program;
administrator account in Mac OS;
working mouse/keyboard;
at least 2 GB of RAM;
30 GB of hard drive space (more than 40 GB of space is recommended for additional applications and updates);
if you will use a disc with an ISO image, you need a working DVD drive (external or internal);
A USB flash drive or disk with 8 GB of free space (for installing third-party software, such as drivers);
A Mac computer that supports the installation of an appropriate operating system.

Not every Mac computer model is suitable for Windows operating systems. This link shows the correspondence of operating systems and computer models from Apple https://support.apple.com/ru-ru/HT205016#tables

Before proceeding with the actual installation, you need to check whether this can be done in principle (link provided above). Only then plan subsequent installations. If the system is not supported, the installation will not occur. By clicking on the blue number (4 or 5) indicated in the table, you can download the required version of the BootCampAssistant application, ideal for installing Windows 7 on your existing computer.

Step-by-step installation instructions

Mac Air, Mac Pro, iMac, etc. are suitable for this process, the main thing is that all conditions are met. The installation procedure is as follows:

It is important to correctly select the disk partition that will be formatted before installation. It is a newly created program, just for the needs of a newly installed system, and is called BOOTCAMP.

Using a flash drive

If it is not possible to use a drive or there is no DVD with a system image, then you can write the image to a flash drive:

Video instructions for installing Windows 7 on Mac

We present to your attention a video that describes in detail all the steps for installing the Windows 7 operating system on Mac computers.

Installing Windows 7 on Mac computers is easy if you use the BootCamp utility distributed by Apple. There are various ways to do this, but the one we mentioned earlier is the simplest and requires a minimum amount of body movements from the user. Follow the instructions and you will succeed.

The article provides detailed instructions on how to install Windows 7 on a MacBook.

Everyone is used to working with Windows, and when you buy a MacBook, you need to install it for the usual work with documents.

Installing Windows 7 on Macbook Air using Boot Camp

Installing Windows 7 on Macbook Air will not take much time. Installation requires a USB optical drive or 16 GB USB flash drive. Before installation, you need to check for software updates on your computer.

Turn on your MacBook and launch Boot Camp.
Uncheck the box at the top where you want to create a disk. Check the box if the installation will be carried out from an image.
Use a USB flash drive to save drivers and other information. All information on the drive will be deleted, so use an empty drive.
Split the disk into two equal parts for the two operating systems.
Connect a USB DVD drive and insert the Windows distribution into it.
Wait while Boot Camp downloads the latest software from the Internet and reboots your computer.
Install Windows following the instructions, select the suggested settings.

Windows installs in just over an hour. For those who don’t know how to start Boot Camp: on the desktop at the top, click the magnifying glass. In the search window write down the name of the application and click “Continue”.

Creating an image

If you have a disk to install the software, you need to create an image of it.

Use an optical drive.
Using Finder on your laptop, open Disk Utility.
In the window that opens, select the installation disk.
Go to the “File” menu, “New image” and then click “DVD disc”.
In “DVD/CD Wizard”, find “Image Format” and "Encryption". Check "No".
Create a file name, enter a password and wait until the new image is created.
When finished, disconnect the optical drive.
Use Finder to find the new image.
Rename the file name from .cdr to .iso.
If you are using removable storage devices, make sure they appear as removable devices in the Finder.
Connect the USB drive.
After creating the ISO image, proceed to install the program.

Keyboard

After downloading the software, you can use the keyboard in several ways. Keys in different operating systems can perform different functions. Many keys on laptops with the Windows operating system have analogues on the Apple layout.

Formatting Windows OS

To format, use the installer, after being asked about the installation location, select the Boot Camp partition. Next, we begin formatting by selecting “Disk Setup”.

The new partition can be renamed, formatted, or deleted. Once two partitions are created, they cannot be resized. To resize, you will have to delete the partition and create the required partition again. To rename a partition, boot the operating system itself and rename the partition in it. Do not use other programs to resize the partition; this may cause problems.

Be careful! Deleting a partition results in loss of files.

Boot Camp app

The application consists of three sections:

selecting a system to boot;
setting up the keyboard operation;
setting up the trackpad.

The first partition will allow you to boot one of two operating systems. Using the second section, you can control the functions of the F1 - F12 keys. In the third section, choose familiar gestures for working in any OS.

Starting Windows

On a Macbook Air 11 or Macbook Pro there is no choice of operating system when booting, so to work in Windows 7, press Alt. A menu will appear in which select the desired system and boot. If you do not press the Alt button when turning on, MacOS will start loading.

Uninstalling Windows

To uninstall, simply launch Boot Camp in OS X and select "Delete"". After removal OS X will take up all the space. It will take less than a minute for a previously installed operating system to be completely removed.

Software updates

Use the App Store program to check for updates on your laptop. Select Update from the Updates section. In the application settings, set the options to “Download recently released updates in the background.” Then updates will be carried out automatically. Once the latest update has installed, you can begin installing Windows.

If you have an update disc, follow these steps:

Boot your MacBook into MacOS.
Connect the Windows update disk.
Unzip and transfer the files to a USB drive.
Restart your laptop and turn on the installed version of Windows.
Perform the update using the installation program.

Driver

Some users have a question: “What is a driver?” A driver is a program without which the connected device will not work with the computer. At least once in their life, everyone has installed a laptop driver to operate a scanner or printer. Usually the OS already has drivers for different devices, but sometimes updates are needed, so check for updates. For example, for audio systems to work correctly, download the free realtek driver from the Internet.

Apple does not provide technical support for installing or repairing Windows. Consultation can be obtained by phone about the special Boot Camp assistant, its installation or recovery.

Not long ago, Apple released a new version of the 13-inch MacBook Air. Contrary to the usual year difference, the new product came out just six months later, however, the changes in it are small: a slightly more powerful processor, and that’s all. Reviewers decided on a desperate experiment - installing the Windows operating system on a MacBook Air. You can find out more about the results below.

In the standard configuration of the new MacBook Air 13, the default Intel Core i5-4260U processor with a clock frequency of 1.4 GHz is installed instead of the Intel Core i5-4250U with 1.3 GHz in the six-month-old model. This gives a very small increase in performance, it can only be noticed in benchmarks, however, the new product is offered to customers for the same money, and the previous model is cheaper. It is difficult to find adequate competitors for the MacBook Air. Models that are more or less comparable in price tend to have lower performance (despite the higher clock speed, the Intel Core i5-4200U itself is less productive than the i5-4250U/4260U).

On the other hand, you can find Windows laptops similar in size and performance, but they will cost much more - it will be a completely different price category, and some characteristics will be noticeably better (screen resolution, for example), which is not always justified in such laptops.

Well, moreover, it is impossible to find a Windows laptop that would last as long as a MacBook Air on battery power. This is due, among other things, to the energy efficiency of the OS X operating system.

How to Install Windows on MacBook Air

It is very difficult to install the OS X operating system on a regular Windows PC, and even then it is not a fact that everything will work. In most cases, the so-called “Hackintosh” is used - a special build of OS X, which, after performing special rituals “with dances and tambourines,” is capable of running on a regular PC. However, if the user is lucky with the motherboard, then after flashing the BIOS and replacing the bootloader, you can even install a completely official OS X distribution, which will even receive regular updates from the Apple server. Some, however, also call this method hackintosh.

But installing Windows on any Mac is a piece of cake. No more difficult than installing Windows on any “regular” computer, perhaps a little longer. The simplest method of installing Windows on a Mac is to use the Boot Camp Assistant utility built into OS X, which will help you partition the disk, configure the bootloader and prepare a bootable USB flash drive with drivers and a distribution image (or without it, if you have a DVD at hand).

Note that even if you prefer virtualization to installing multiple operating systems on your computer, this is also not a problem in OS X: the most popular virtual machine for Mac, Parallels Desktop, allows you to work with Windows installed in Boot Camp and does not require additional manipulations: that is, you can use Windows both in virtualization mode and loading into it separately. But for the purposes of this article we will only work with Boot Camp.

So, we stock up on an external USB DVD drive, an image of 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium and an 8 GB flash drive. Now it's time to do something small - launch Boot Camp.

First, the utility will ask what we are going to do. The top checkbox: “Create a Windows installation disk or later” can be removed immediately - we don’t need this, because There is already a disc (DVD). Click “Next”.

Since we have already inserted the flash drive into the USB, Boot Camp suggests using it to save drivers and other useful utilities that will be useful to us when working in Windows. The next stage is disk partitioning.

Usually programs that deal with disk partitioning are quite complicated for beginners, but here everything is elementary - you don’t have to do anything by hand. Maybe just pull the slider, choosing how much space on the built-in drive will be allocated for OS X and how much for Windows. We chose the “Divide into equal parts” option.

Basically, that's all. After clicking the “Install” button, Boot Camp will begin preparing the USB flash drive. At this time, you can go have tea, having previously connected a USB-DVD drive and inserted the Windows distribution into it. Boot Camp will work for about half an hour, it all depends on how much you have to download from the Internet. Remember the checkbox in the first step: “Download the latest Windows support software from Apple”? This is what it is. You could turn it off, but we prefer everything fresh. After Boot Camp finishes, the computer will reboot and Windows installation will begin as usual. Select your country, select your keyboard, sit back, enter your product code, sit back again, and so on. Unless you have to manually format the newly created partition (it will be called BOOTCAMP) in NTFS. But Windows will warn you about this.

When Windows installs and finally boots, it will install the very same Windows support software from Apple that it includes.

In total, Windows 7 was installed via Boot Camp in just over an hour with minimal user interaction. Even a child can handle it.

Running Windows on MacBook Air

Windows 7 feels great on the latest MacBook Air.

This is not surprising - the hardware of poppies is quite ordinary.

To help a Mac driver who has just left the friendly and familiar world of OS X and entered Windows - a world little familiar to him and therefore hostile, there is a “Boot Camp Control Panel”, which is automatically installed from a USB flash drive. The icon of this application is placed in the tray and you can always call it from there.

The application has three sections: boot volume selection, keyboard settings, and touchpad settings.

In the keyboard settings - only selecting the operating mode of the functional row of keys F1-F12. Unfortunately, there is no key mapping. By default, the Alt/Ctrl control keys correspond to their Windows counterparts, and Cmd turns into the Windows key (accordingly, to launch Explorer, for example, you need to press Cmd+E). If you connect an external Windows keyboard, it will work as expected from a Windows keyboard. As for the layout, the default will be “Russian (Apple)” - completely similar to the standard Russian layout in OS X, but you can simply select “Russian”, and then the button under Esc, to the left of the “1” key will turn into the letter “Ё” "

There are more options in the trackpad (touchpad) settings. In fact, they allow you to bring the use of the touchpad in Windows as close as possible to OS X - almost all the usual multi-touch gestures will be available.

By the way, the logical disk with OS X (which is formatted in HFS+) is also accessible from Windows. True, only for reading. You won't be able to delete anything from it, just like you won't be able to create a folder or file.

By the way, formatting will also not work - the system will throw an error. But it’s still better not to do this - after we tried to format the OS X partition from Windows, it crashed and we had to restore OS X via Recovery. In general, this is the only bug that we found. Although quite unpleasant.

From OS X, the Windows disk (formatted in NTFS) is also readable, but not writable.

Download and select OS

On a Mac, there is no “traditional” OS selection menu. By default, after installing Windows in Boot Camp, the laptop will boot into OS X without issue when rebooted or turned on. If you want to boot into Windows, you need to hold down the Alt button while booting - then a menu for selecting a boot partition will appear. If you have not installed anything else, there will be three sections: recovery (OS X recovery), OS X and Windows. Select the third one and boot into Windows.

And since Windows will reboot much more often than OS X, which generally rarely requires a reboot, it makes sense to configure the Boot Camp utility on Windows to boot into Windows by default. Even if you very rarely use Microsoft operating systems, believe me, it will be easier. After all, you will have to turn off or restart your Mac under OS X even less often.

Performance test

Let's now see what MBA13 is capable of on Windows. First, a performance assessment based on the version of Windows 7 itself.

Everything is quite expected: fast RAM, a fast hard drive (which here, actually, is not a hard drive, but a solid-state drive), although the system clearly flattered the processor and graphics for games. But when working, as they say, with office applications, “everything really flies.”

We also ran PC Mark 7. The results are as follows:

Is it a lot or a little? See for yourself: Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro with Intel Core i3-4010U scored only 4286 points, and Acer Aspire S7-392-74508G25tws with Intel Core i5-4200U processor scored 5048 points.

But we have one more test left. As you know, the MacBook Air 13 is the longest-lasting thinnest laptop available today. Under OS X, it works for up to 12-13 hours without any “dim the screen brightness, turn off all wireless interfaces, move at least 10 steps away from the computer and try not to breathe.” Well, what about Windows? Easy to check. We carried out the following test: in each OS we launched a standard browser (Internet Explorer for Windows and Safari for OS X), opened three pages in the browser: Facebook, Twitter and Vkontakte (so that they were constantly updated), and also launched an MPEG video for loop playback. 4 with Full-HD resolution and expanded it to full screen. By the way, the screen brightness was set to maximum. In general - harsh conditions and no concessions.

In this mode, the MacBook running OS X worked for 9 hours and 32 minutes. Not a bad result, we approve. Well, what about Windows? Alas, the situation here is not so rosy: 5 hours 11 minutes. In principle, this is not so little compared to the same ultrabooks on Windows, whose manufacturers claim 6-7 hours of operation, but in reality they (if used approximately as we described above) are discharged after 4-4. 5 o'clock. But still, the difference is almost double with OS X. This, by the way, once again confirms the energy efficiency of OS X itself.

By the way, at first we wanted to test without launching the video player, but simply open the fourth page in the browser, from YouTube, where we could launch the Full-HD video. In OS X, MacBook Air 13 worked in this mode for 6 hours 26 minutes (such a low result is explained by the constantly running Flash Player - because of YouTube), and in Windows 7 - five hours, but for some reason in Internet Explorer it was impossible to select YouTube Full-HD resolution (1080p), only HD (720p), and when using Google Chrome, where there were no problems with Full-HD on YouTube, the laptop generally worked for 4 hours 15 minutes. We rejected this test - you can hardly trust its results, because... conditions were unequal. But, if anything, keep in mind: the Google Chrome browser drains your computer faster than Safari or Internet Explorer.

How to Remove Windows from MacBook Air

What should you do if you no longer need Windows on your Mac and need to remove it? Apple took care of this too. Boot into OS X, launch “Boot Camp Assistant” and select “Remove Windows 7 or later.”

That's it, nothing else is needed - the program itself will erase the disk partition that is no longer needed and fill the remaining space with the main partition.

Removing Windows has never been so fast - the entire procedure took less than a minute.

Practice shows that Apple still produces the best laptops in the world. Reliable, powerful, lightweight, energy efficient. But even if the Windows world doesn't let you go, all is not lost. Apple took care of the user and provided him with an amazing opportunity to use Windows on a Mac, if necessary.

If you have never reinstalled an operating system in your life, much less installed several operating systems on one computer, Boot Camp will still not let you get confused. You won’t even have time to get scared - a minimum of questions and Boot Camp will already start working. Well, if you are an experienced geek, then you will certainly be surprised by the simplicity and ease of the process. Although, it is worth noting that not every geek is able to appreciate the simplicity and ease.

Hello dear readers.

There are several major operating systems that many users use. And Windows and Mac OS are considered among the most popular. The latter comes with computers from Apple. When purchasing such units, people try to use the security they already have. But sometimes some people need to switch to an OS from a “competing” developer. In the following article I will tell you how to install Windows on a Mac. This can be done in several ways - it all depends on the needs of the users.

There are several options for installing Windows on Apple computers. This could be a second system (installed on an SSD or external drive), built into the first, or even the main one. We will review each of these cases as they become popular.

So, one of the most common is the use of Win as a second system. Fortunately, the developers of the latest versions of Mac OS have foreseen a similar situation and have provided the appropriate tool. Therefore, this method describes the option of installing an additional OS via Boot Camp. The application is located in " Programs" In addition, it can be found in the search Spotlight.

For the procedure itself you need:

Download the image with the operating system from the official Microsoft website.

Availability of an empty 8 GB flash drive.

Sufficient amount of empty hard disk space.

It’s worth saying right away that this option is perfect for devices without a DVD drive, since the entire installation will take place from a flash drive.

So, now we need to do a number of actions:

To get back into the Microsoft environment after using Apple's OS, you need to reboot and hold down the Option button.

Parallels Desktop( )

In addition to the additional system, it is possible to place the required OS “inside” the main one. This can be done using a virtual machine. There are various software specifically that allow you to do everything you need. So, for example, you can install via Virtualbox- a good free solution.

But the most convenient and most suitable for OS X is considered to be placement via Parallels Desktop. At the same time, the application is also considered the best in terms of performance and battery life.

This option is perfect for users who need to use programs designed for Windows, but at the same time they only have a Mac at hand. It is perfect for clients who do not want to understand the tangle of settings.

True, there is one big drawback - the program is paid. Of course there is a trial version option. But it will end sooner or later. You can always find a demo version or buy the full version on the official website. It also provides detailed help on all features of the application.

So we need to do a few things:

As a result, users are offered a fully functional Windows that runs inside Mac OS. At the same time, in the future, users will be able to easily change various settings of the virtual machine.

If something suddenly becomes unclear to you, the application provides detailed help.