Download a Copy Windows 7 available from Microsoft until February 10th here: 32-Bit Windows 7 (use if you have less than 4GB of RAM) 64-Bit Windows 7 (use if you have 4GB of RAM or more) Otherwise, you'll have to use Bittorrent. Get a Product Key You get a product key when you sign up.
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Do You Actually Need to Use Boot Camp?RELATED:Before you install Windows, stop and think about whether or not Boot Camp is the best choice for your needs. There are a couple of drawbacks to consider.When you use Boot Camp to install Windows on your Mac, you’ll need to re-partition your drive, which is going to take up quite a bit of your available drive space.
Since storage on a Mac is fairly expensive, it’s something you should really think about. In addition, you’ll need to reboot every time you want to use Windows, and reboot again when you want to switch back to macOS. The benefit of Boot Camp, of course, is that you’re running Windows directly on the hardware, so it’ll be a lot faster than a virtual machine.If all you need to do is run a few Windows applications on your Mac, and those applications don’t a lot of resources (like 3D games), you might consider using a virtual machine like (there’s a free trial), or to run that software instead.
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The vast majority of the time you don’t actually need to use Boot Camp, and you’d be better off using a virtual machine. If, however, you’re looking to play Windows games on your Mac, Boot Camp might be a good choice.RELATED:For most people, though,. It’s something we use at How-To Geek every single day for testing software and running Windows. The integration with macOS amazingly well done, and the speed blows away Virtualbox. In the long run, the price is well worth it. You can even use Parallels to load your Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine while you are in macOS, giving you the best of both worlds.
What Version of Windows Can I Run?Which version of Windows you can run depends on your Mac: recent models support only Windows 10, while some older Macs only work with older versions of Windows. Here’s a quick outline, along with links to Apple’s official lists of supported models. Windows 10 is supported on. Windows 8.1 is supported on most, with some exceptions. Windows 7 is supported, for the most part, and you’ll need an even older Mac to run Windows Vista or XP.Note that Macs can only run 64-bit, non-Enterprise versions of Windows.RELATED:To install Windows, you’ll need an ISO file of the installer.
You can if you already have a product key, though. If you’re installing Windows 7, you’ll also need a USB drive at least 16GB in size for the installer and drivers. Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 do not any external drive for installation. How to Install Windows on Your MacReady to install Windows? It’s probably a good idea to before getting started, just in case. Odds are nothing will go wrong, but any time you’re partitioning things there’s always a chance. Done? Let’s get started.You’ll use the Boot Camp Assistant application that comes on your Mac.
You do not have to downgrade to a earlier version of MacOS, you just need to install High Sierra in a new APFS volume in the same APFS container that Catalina is using. You can download High Sierra by accessing the link on the Apple website. After High Sierra finishes downloading, you will get the following popup message. You can click on Quit to exit the installer.To install High Sierra, you will have to copy the installation files to a flash drive. See the Apple website for instructions. Once booted from the High Sierra flash drive, you can install High Sierra in a new APFS volume.Note: The installation of High Sierra on my Mac consumed about 29 GB of space. If you are space limited, then you may have to temporarily move some of your personal files off of the installation drive.After finishing installing High Sierra, you can use the Boot Camp Assistant included with High Sierra to install Windows 7.Note: Apple documentations does state that the Windows 7 ISO should include Service Pack 1 (SP1).
You can download a Windows 7 ISO with SP1 from the Microsoft website.During use of the Boot Camp Assistant, you will encounter the following window.If you click on Open Website, you will be directed to the website. You should follow the directions given on the website.After Windows 7 is installed, you can boot to Catalina and use the Disk Utility application to remove the High Sierra volume. Some Comments about 2015 and Newer MacsApple and Microsoft intended for Windows 7 to BIOS boot on Macs.
The instructions given in this answer should install Windows 7 to BIOS boot. However, starting in 2015, Apple starting eliminating the ability for Macs to BIOS boot. This is why the links to download on the website end in 2014. In your case, you can either try installing Windows 7 without the Boot Camp Support Software (Window Support Software) or try the Windows Support Software that can be downloaded by using the Boot Camp Assistant. A Note about Windows 10If you have a Windows 7 product key, then you may be able to use this product key to install and activate Windows 10 for free.
When asked for the Windows 10 product key, just substitute your Windows 7 product key. The latest Windows 10 ISO can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.
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January 2023
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