How to Install Windows on an Intel Mac

Apple’s decision to ditch Intel processors and move its entire Mac lineup to using Apple’s in-house Silicon processors certainly seems to have paid off. Its M-series processors, including the latest M3 and M4 chips, deliver impressive performance and battery life – and even mean Macs have the graphics power to play some decent games finally.

But of course, there are still plenty of Windows apps and games that don’t run on Macs at all, and this is one area where old Macs using Intel processors had an advantage because they made it easier to run Windows and Windows. software in addition to all your regular Mac applications. The Windows operating system was written specifically to run on Intel processors, and the fact that Macs adopted Intel processors as early as 2005-2006 meant that they could also run Windows as well as macOS itself. This has been a real boon for many Mac users, as there are many professional-level applications in areas such as graphics and design that are only available on Windows PCs – not to mention all those Windows games that aren’t never released on Mac. Therefore, the ability to run Windows applications and games on Intel-based Macs gave Mac users the best of both worlds.

And of course, many people still use Macs that have Intel processors – I plan to hang on to my 27-inch Intel iMac for as long as possible (although the possibility of a new Mac Mini coming soon with an M4 processor ). is rather tempting). So, for all my fellow Intel-Mac enthusiasts, here are the options for installing Windows on your Mac, along with all the Windows apps, games, and other software you might need to use.

If you want to run Windows on a new M-series Mac read our separate article explaining how to run the ARM version of Windows on an Apple SIlicon Mac.

Boot Camp

Intel Macs had—and still have—two options for running Windows, using either Apple’s Boot Camp software or third-party virtualization tools like the popular Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion.

Boot Camp is software developed by Apple that allows you to install the Windows operating system on your Mac alongside macOS, so you can switch between macOS and Windows whenever needed. Boot Camp is still supported by Apple today, even though they no longer sell any Macs using Intel processors, and you can read detailed installation instructions on Apple website.

It’s worth noting, however, that Boot Camp hasn’t been updated much since the release of Apple’s next-generation Silicon Macs, and it still seems to focus on older Windows 10 rather than the current Windows 11. However, there are still millions of people around the world happily using Windows 10, so it’s not necessarily a problem if you simply want to run a few Windows apps or games on your Intel Mac.

Boot Camp software allows you to partition an Intel Mac’s internal hard drive or solid-state drive (SSD), dividing it into two separate sections (known as dividing). One partition continues to store macOS and all the usual Mac apps, but Boot Camp also lets you install the Windows operating system on the second partition, along with any Windows apps and software you want to use. Once you’re done, you can use a simple keyboard shortcut start your dual Macswitching between macOS or Windows as needed.

The only downside to using Boot Camp is that you have to make a choice – either boot (or boot) your Mac into macOS, or boot into Windows. The two operating systems remain completely separate, so you can’t run Mac apps and Windows apps at the same time. If you want to run the Mac version of Photoshop while you’re at work, but maybe switch to Windows for a quick Diablo 4 action at lunchtime, then you’ll have to keep restarting your Mac to switch back and forth between macOS and Windows.

However, there’s another way to install Windows on your Mac — called virtualization — that lets you run Windows and Windows apps right alongside all your normal apps without having to switch between the two operating systems.

Virtual machines

See our summary the best virtual machine software for mac.

Programs like Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion use virtualization—sometimes called emulation—to install Windows on your Mac, and they’ll work with both Intel Macs and the current generation of Apple Silicon Macs. These are both conventional Mac programs that can be installed on your Mac like any other program and allow you to create a virtual machine (or VM), which is a piece of software that emulates the operation of a physical computer.

When you create a virtual machine on your Mac, you allocate a certain amount of your Mac’s memory and storage to the virtual machine, and this allows you to install Windows on the virtual machine. You can even specify the number of CPU cores you dedicate to running the virtual machine. You can then install other Windows applications on the virtual machine and run those Windows applications in the virtual machine. The virtual machine runs on your Mac just like any other Mac application, so you can run Windows applications right alongside all your regular Mac applications. This is more convenient than using Boot Camp because you don’t have to keep switching back and forth between macOS and Windows.

The downside of virtualization is that your Mac is effectively running two operating systems at the same time – macOS and Windows on your virtual machine – so you need a fairly powerful Mac with plenty of memory and storage to run efficiently a Windows virtual machine. Even with the most powerful Intel Macs—which, after all, are a few years old now—it’s hard to get good enough performance using virtualization to play the latest Windows games that need high-speed 3D graphics. If you need top-notch performance for gaming or professional-level graphics work, then it’s better to use Boot Camp to run Windows on an Intel Mac, as it will provide the best possible performance. However, a virtual machine running Windows can still give you good enough performance to run many Windows applications, such as Microsoft Office, or even some 3D graphics applications that may not be available for Mac, so is still a useful option for many Mac users. .

There are other options, though they have their own drawbacks. Microsoft has a streaming service called Windows 365which runs Windows on a special cloud server and then lets you stream Windows to your Mac — or other devices — over the Internet. This can be a useful option if you have a fast enough broadband connection, but it requires a monthly subscription fee and the service is designed primarily for business users. However, a one-month free trial is available, and you can also read our article How to use Windows 365 to run Windows on a Mac for more information.

Finally, there are translation programs like CrossOver and Whiskey that actually allow you to run Windows software without having to install a copy of Windows first. These are a bit more specialized though, so we cover them in more detail in a separate article.