Installing windows 7 on macbook air instructions. Installing Windows on a Mac computer. What to do before installing another OS

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 drive (flash drive (at least 4 Gb) or external hard drive)/ DVD drive (transfer all information from a USB drive (flash drive or external hard drive), since in the future everything on the drive 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.

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 "Next".

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 "Finish".

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.

Computers from the well-known company Apple are very multifunctional and have a wide selection of specially designed software. But sometimes it happens that a Mac or iMac user wants to install the Windows operating system that is already so familiar to them. Sometimes OS Windows may be needed to install some programs so that you can play your favorite games, but there is no suitable alternative for Mac.

You can install the OS yourself. This can be done in several ways, for example, through a utility or using a flash drive. Let's look at the example of applications from Apple, which are called Bootcamp, Parallels Desktop and Virtual Box.

Preparing and installing Bootcamp

This option allows you to install an additional OS on Mac and iMac in a separately created partition on your hard drive. You can choose which system to boot into during startup. The advantage of this utility is that by installing the program through it, all the resources of your PC will be available to Windows, this will allow you to use the Mac’s performance to the maximum. The computer will easily play the latest games and perform complex tasks.

Before installing an additional OS, keep in mind that it will take up a lot of space on your hard drive. Make sure it has the required gigabytes. On average, you may need about 30 Gb.

Before you begin installing the operating system on your iMac or Mac, check and prepare the Boot camp program. First, make sure that all updates from Apple are installed on it. To do this you need to do the following:

When you launch the utility, you will have the opportunity to select the location where OS Windows will be installed. Before starting the software, you should close all open applications and programs.

Once the utility and flash drives for copying information are ready, you can proceed to the first steps:

Once all files have been copied, the iMac will automatically begin rebooting. Next, to display the boot manager, press and hold the Alt key. On the Mac, the disk menu will open, mark the partition with the name of the operating system. This will be followed by launching the OS and setting the parameters.

To install Windows 8 you need to do the same. Only in the window Selecting Actions"You should check the boxes next to the items " Download latest software" And " Create a disk to install Windows 7 or new».

Installing Windows on a Mac, or rather, setting up the program, begins with choosing a language. Immediately select the correct language, otherwise you will have to perform all the steps again. Having selected all the parameters in this window, click the Next button, which is located in the lower right corner.

To install the Windows operating system on a Mac, carefully follow all the instructions provided. Do not restart or turn off your computer during the process. The procedure cannot be interrupted in any way.

After your iMac reboots a second time, you can begin installing the necessary drivers. To do this, download them back from the flash drive, install and run the installation program.

Installing Windows via Bootcamp using a USB flash drive

Installation can be carried out either using a disk with the operating system or via a USB drive. To load a program from a flash drive onto a Mac, you must first download it. If we are talking about Windows 8, then the version of this system must be in iso format.

This installation option on Mac and iMac is no different from the previous one. Before you begin, you should also check bootcamp for updates and save all the necessary data. The following instructions will help you complete the task:

But it happens that when the installation media is a flash drive, the utility requires you to insert a disk with the program and refuses to continue downloading the software to the iMac. In this case, you can download the Daemon Tools Lite iMac driver. With its help, we mount the Windows iso image, it will serve as a virtual drive and then Bootcamp will complete the installation process of our OS without any problems.

Installing Windows on Mac and iMac via Parallels Desktop

In addition to Boot Camp, there are several other options for installing an additional operating system. For example, you can use the program Parallels Desktop, which is a virtual machine on the Windows installation. You will be able to run Windows programs without restarting your PC.

You can complete the installation by following the instructions below:

A special feature of Parallels Desktop is the high performance of the program. You can download a free trial version or buy Parallels Desktop using the link below:

Installing Windows using VirtualBox

VirtualBox is one of the popular virtualization programs. With its help, your PC will easily run two operating systems at once. Installing an additional OS via VirtualBox is quite simple.

To get started, enter the query VirtualBox into the search engine, go to the official website and download the program. Once installation is complete, click on the program icon and select “Create”. After this, you can begin installing Windows.

Sometimes it happens that after installing an additional operating system, problems with sound or video playback appear on the iMac. To solve this problem, you need to install on your Mac all the drivers that were previously saved to an additional storage device (disk or flash drive).

After all the steps taken, the installation of Windows on Mac is completely completed. Restart the program and everything will definitely work.

Video on the topic

I think that probably everyone has already heard about the new Windows 7 operating system, which seems to be fast, optimized, does not buggy, and in general everything is super (compared to Windows Vista, of course). :P And it's possible that some people might want to install Windows on their Mac. For this you will need Boot Camp!

But first, let's try to understand why a Mac owner, who deliberately abandoned everything that connected him with the world of Windows, needs to use it again? There can be many options. For example, not all software that exists for Windows has its counterpart for Mac - the 1C:Enterprise accounting package and the engineering package with the CAD prefix. In addition, many who have recently joined the Makovods are frightened by the prospect of immediately plunging headlong into a new environment - they want to have a “safe haven” at hand, to which they can return if something happens. :lol: Simply put, there can be many reasons to have 2 operating systems on one computer, it all depends on the individual user.

So, what we will need:

1. An Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or higher.
2. Update the OS (Apple -> Software Update).
3. Disc with Windows 7 and native DVD with Mac OS X.
4. 10 GB of free hard disk space.
5. Back up your system using Time Machine because the installation process will change the disk layout, and doing so in the event of a random failure could result in the loss of some or all of your files.

So, once all the above is done, you can start the process of installing Windows 7 on Mac.

First you need to close all “unnecessary” programs, even those that run in the background. Then you need to open Boot Camp (Programs -> Utilities -> Boot Camp Assistant).

Click Continue. Then we need to decide on the size of the hard drive that we will allocate for Windows 7. The minimum is 5 GB, but I recommend choosing at least 20 GB, because this will make the system more stable and we will have more space for installing Windows programs. To increase the volume, you need to drag the partition between Mac OS X and Window:

After deciding on the disk size, click on the “Partition” button. Disk partitioning usually proceeds quickly, but partitioning errors may occur at this stage. This process will end with a new 20 GB “BOOTCAMP” disk appearing on your desktop, unless you select another one.

After this, the Mac will restart and the installation of Windows 7 will continue. You will be asked to select one of the partitions to install Windows on it; select the one that we created earlier and whose name contains BOOTCAMP.

:!: Attention! If you start the installation in any other partition, this can lead to serious consequences and possibly even make your Mac unusable!

We check again that the correct section is selected, i.e. marked BOOTCAMP, and click Format. Here a window will pop up like: “The section may contain important data...”, OK.

And then the installation of Windows 7 will begin, the process is boring and not very exciting. You can watch TV for now. :wink: After the installation process is completed and the Mac is rebooted, remove the Windows 7 DVD. Then the Mac will automatically reboot again and the installation will continue. Here you will be prompted to select a language and other settings.

Once the installation is complete, the Mac will reboot again and Windows 7 will boot safely. But the low resolution is immediately noticeable, this is because the normal video driver is not installed. This can be fixed by updating Windows.

Downloading and installation can take a long time, it all depends on the speed of your Internet connection. After downloading the updates, Windows 7 will ask you to restart your Mac again. Of course, we are not used to rebooting it so often, but what can you do, it's Windows. :lol

After rebooting Windows 7, the monitor display will improve significantly and will be similar to a modern OS. Now we need to deal with the sound - it’s not there right now. But no need to worry, just insert your Mac OS X installation disc into the drive. Here Boot Camp will start again, click Next:

Next, accept the terms of the license agreement and click Next. Then check the box and click Install, the installation of all necessary drivers will begin. We complete the installation by clicking the Finish button.

You will laugh, but Windows will once again offer to restart your Mac. :D Let's let him do this one last time, after first removing the Mac OS X disk from the drive. Click OK.

Now that’s all for sure! :wink: Windows 7 has been successfully installed on your favorite Mac. To boot into Windows, when you turn on the computer, you need to press the “Option” button and select Windows:

P.S. Before you perform any “unnatural” actions on your Mac, think ten times whether you need all this.

In the last few years, laptops and Apple computers have become very popular (phones and tablet computers, of course, are no less popular, but we’re not talking about them now). But having bought an Apple computer or laptop, some people are faced with the fact that they absolutely cannot work on the new Mac OS operating system or they simply need Windows in addition to this operating system. And here many people have a question - How to install Windows on a Mac computer/laptop? You will find out the answer to this question if you read the article.

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

3 Disk with the Windows7 operating system or its ISO image;

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.

The next step is to specify the amount of disk space under Windows7; to do this, simply 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 Windows7 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 Windows7.

After installing Windows7, go to the USB drive, you will see a folder in it WindowSupport(it contains drivers for Windows7), run the file setup.exe.

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

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 "Finish".

Many people who are used to working with Windows find it quite difficult to switch to a new operating system after purchasing a computer from Apple. In addition to non-standard controls and many functional differences, they are also not satisfied with the fact that the number of programs, games and various utilities developed for macOS is significantly smaller. For this reason, some users install Windows on Mac.

Is it possible to install Windows on Apple computers?

As a rule, the question about the possibility of installing Windows on a Mac computer appears in the first few days after purchasing it. Few people are interested in this issue before purchasing. But habits left over from the days of using Windows and a noticeable shortage of software force us to think about the possibility of using a more familiar and familiar operating system.

Fortunately, such an opportunity exists. Owners of Apple computers can install almost any Windows OS, and without the help of qualified specialists.

The Windows operating system does not replace the installed macOS, it is an additional independent program.

How to install Microsoft OS on Mac

To install Windows on Mac devices, the Boot Camp utility is most often used; virtualization programs are used less frequently. But first you need to choose the appropriate OS version and upgrade macOS, if necessary. Many users do not attach much importance to the issue of choice, which creates additional difficulties for themselves both at the stage of installing an additional OS and after it.

For example, Windows 10 cannot be installed on Mac computers released before 2012. This is due to higher system requirements and other features of the program. If you don't follow this rule, you will simply waste time. Here is a list of Mac computers that support Windows 10:

• the entire MacBook Pro lineup that appeared after mid-2012, including 13 and 15-inch versions;
• two 12-inch MacBook models sold in early 2015 and 2016;
• all MacBook Air models with diagonals of 11 and 13 inches that hit the market after mid-2012;
• Mac Pro, released in late 2013;
• Mac mini 2012 and 2014, including the Mac mini Server model introduced in late 2012;
• all iMac models starting from the late 2012 version.

As for earlier versions of Windows, they can also be installed on Mac computers released before 2012, but there are also some restrictions. Here is a small list of operating systems supported by Apple devices, indicating the appropriate version of the Boot Camp program:

• Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate (Boot Camp 4 or 1);
• Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate Service Pack 1 or later (Boot Camp 3);
• Windows XP Home Edition or Professional with Service Pack 2 or 3 (Boot Camp 3).

Before purchasing an operating system, make sure it is suitable for your computer.

Many users from Russia and post-Soviet countries prefer to download unlicensed operating systems instead of buying original boot disks. This is a gross violation of copyright law.

What you need to install Windows on Mac

In terms of installation requirements, all Windows OS releases can be divided into three categories:

1. Windows 7 and earlier.
2. Windows 8.
3. Windows 10

Requirements for the first category:

The external drive must support the method of storing and transferring data in FAT (MS-DOS) format.

Requirements for the second category (Windows 8):

• original image of the required OS version (flash drive, DVD or ISO image);
• Internet connection;
• at least 40 GB of free space;
• one Mac computer with technical specifications that meet the system requirements of the eighth version of Windows;
• installed Mac OS X of the appropriate version.

If all the requirements are met, the Boot Camp utility will automatically install additional software to adapt Windows 8 to the technical features of your Mac.

To find out the version of your operating system, you need to go to the menu (the button with the Apple logo in the lower left corner of the keyboard) and select “About This Mac.”

The requirements for the third category are similar, except for one condition: the version of the OS used must be Mac OS X Yosemite or higher.

Installation using Boot Camp

Due to differences between different Windows operating systems, we will describe installation instructions for each category separately.

Windows 7 or earlier

To install Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 on an Apple computer, you must:

1. Connect an external storage device and do not remove it until the installation is complete.
2. Create a virtual image of the boot disk. To do this, you can use programs such as Daemon Tools or Nero Burning Rom. The image will be required to work with the Boot Camp program.

   You can create a Windows boot disk image using Nero Express

3. Launch the Boot Camp program. It can be found in the "Utilities" folder. If you can't find the folder you need, use the search.
4. The installer will appear, where you need to check the box next to “Create a Windows 7 installation disk.” After this, click the “Continue” button.

   In the window that appears, check the box next to “Create a Windows 7 installation disk”

5. We insert the disk with the new OS or mount the image into the virtual drive and click “Continue” again.
6. After a few seconds, a message will appear indicating that you can download the appropriate software from the official Apple website. We confirm the action. The Boot Camp utility will automatically download the necessary software. If this does not happen, you need to download the archive with drivers yourself by selecting your Mac computer model and Windows version on the official website.

   Confirming that you have downloaded the latest Windows support software from the Apple website

7. After downloading additional software, you need to unpack it on an external drive (USB flash drive). The system will offer to copy files with replacement, confirm this action.
8. Once again, go to Boot Camp and select “Install Windows”.
9. The program will offer to divide the memory allocated for the additional OS into disks, after which it will reboot and begin installation.

   Set the required virtual disk size for Windows OS

Further actions must be performed based on the prompts of the installer program.

Video: install Windows 7 on Mac as a second OS

Windows 8

Installing Windows 8 is easier and faster than earlier versions of operating systems:

Boot Camp will install the necessary software and drivers on its own. No external USB storage required. This also applies to the latest release from Microsoft - Windows 10. All you need to do is install a boot disk or flash drive, launch Boot Camp Assistant, divide the disk space and follow the instructions.

Video: How to install Windows 8 on Mac as a second OS via BootCamp

Features of installing Windows OS using a flash drive

In fact, the process of installing an additional OS using a flash drive is the same as in the case of a DVD, the only difference is that you need to prepare a USB drive in advance so that it becomes bootable. If you simply burn the image to a USB drive, nothing will work; you need an additional program called UltraISO or similar.

In order to install Windows from a flash drive, you need to make it bootable

This program is shareware - there is a test period, which is quite enough to install Windows from a flash drive. Here are brief instructions for preparing a USB drive for installing an OS from Microsoft:

You can buy an operating system already stored on a USB drive. In this case, no additional actions need to be taken.

Using the instructions described above, you can install Windows OS as an additional and, importantly, independent program. Before each start of your computer, you will have a choice which of the installed operating systems to use.

Virtualize Windows OS on Mac

In addition to installing via Boot Camp, there is another method to use Windows on Apple computers - virtualization. It differs in that the Microsoft operating system is installed and used as an application running directly on macOS. In this case, it looks more like a regular program that opens in a small window than a full-fledged operating system.

When installed in virtualization mode, Windows operates more like a regular application

At the moment, the most popular virtualization programs are:

• Oracle VM VirtualBox, distributed free of charge;
• Parallels Desktop, which costs 3,990 rubles;
• VMware Fusion with a price tag of 5,153 rubles.

The difference in cost is dictated solely by the pricing policy of the development companies, since all programs work equally well. The only difference between a free virtualization program and its paid counterparts is that it cannot be used together with Boot Camp.

Installing virtualization programs is almost identical, so as an example, let's consider installing only one of them - Parallels Desktop:

When you start the program, a Windows window will open in front of you, which can be expanded to full-screen mode.

Video: how to install Windows XP on VirtualBox

Combined use of Boot Camp and virtualization

Some users have gone even further, developing a mechanism for combining the capabilities of Boot Camp and virtualization. Thus, they solved the problem of excessive consumption of computer resources with two operating systems running simultaneously.

To achieve the correct operation of the above circuit, you need to perform the following steps:

1. Install Windows on your computer using Boot Camp.
2. Install one of the virtualization programs (except Oracle VM VirtualBox).
3. When creating a new virtual machine, check the box next to “Use Windows via Boot Camp.”

Pros and cons of using Boot Camp and virtualization

Boot Camp was created by Apple developers to give users the ability to change operating systems at will. Moreover, databases have been created in the form of drivers and additional software designed to simplify the process of adapting Windows to Apple computers as much as possible. It is for this reason that Boot Camp is so popular among MacBook owners of various modifications.

Benefits of using Boot Camp:

As for the disadvantages, there is only one: not all versions of Windows are supported by Mac computers.

If we talk about the benefits of Windows virtualization on Mac, we can highlight the following points:

• the ability to use Windows without leaving macOS;
• quick work with documents and programs.

Disadvantages of virtualization:

• two operating systems running simultaneously consume much more system resources;
• Some Windows programs may not work correctly. The situation is similar with the screen resolution settings.

With utilities like Boot Camp and virtualization programs, users can work on familiar Windows operating systems while using high-performance, high-quality Mac computers. This is an excellent example of how two once-warring giant IT corporations are meeting each other halfway for the sake of the interests of their clients.