How to Run Windows on Mac!

The potential for running Windows on Mac has existed since Apple switched from the PowerPC to Intel processors, back in 2006.

It's one thing knowing that this capability exists but how do you actually go about getting Windows to run on your Mac?

In reality you have a number of options, depending on how you want to use Windows e.g all day while at work, the occasional application, etc.

The options we cover are listed below, you can either read the entire article or pick the option that interests you below;

• Running Windows on Your Mac Using Apple's Boot Camp
• Using a Virtual PC to Run Windows on Mac (VMWare, Parallels or VirtualBox)
• Using a Windows Emulator to Run Windows Applications, on Your Mac

Running Windows on Mac Using Apple's Boot Camp

On a 'Real' Windows PC you switch on the computer and Windows will boot up into the desktop. No messing around, so can you get the same simplicity on your Mac?

The answer is yes! But it takes a little bit of work. You see your Mac has Mac OS X installed on the hard disk, and we want to squeeze Windows in alongside it! But how?

Apple recognised that this need would arise and very kindly created a nice little utility called the Boot Camp Assistant, which is supplied with both Mac OS X Snow Leopard and OS X Lion, and resides in your Macs Applications folder, inside the Utilities folder.

Running the Boot Camp Assistant will take you through the step-by-step process of installing Windows on Mac. But before you rush off and start running the utility you need to check that you meet the prerequisites, but you also need to understand the differences between the Snow Leopard and Lion versions.

In order to keep things simple we have split this part of the article into two, starting with Mac OS X Snow Leopard first.

Using the Boot Camp Assistant with Mac OS X Snow Leopard

The latest version of the Boot Camp Assistant for use with Mac OS X Snow Leopard is version 3.2.

First, you must have a licensed copy of a full Windows installation CD/DVD. Note that it needs to be a 'Full' version and NOT an 'Upgrade'. You can install one of the following versions of Windows;

• Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2
• Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate
• Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate

Secondly, you must have a standard Mac OS X installation on a single partition. If Boot Camp detects a partitioned drive then you will receive an error message and the process will halt.

Using the Boot Camp Assistant with OS X Lion

The latest version of the Boot Camp Assistant for use with OS X Lion is version 4.0.

Apple decided to make some significant changes to the Boot Camp Assistant utility supplied with OS X Lion.

First up is a change to the supported versions of Windows. Amazingly, Windows XP and Vista are no longer supported. The only supported version is Microsoft Windows 7, and includes the following variants;

• Windows 7 Home Premium
• Windows 7 Professional
• Windows 7 Ultimate

With the new version of Boot Camp Assistant you can install Windows 7 using a full Windows installation CD/DVD, but you can also install using a Windows ISO image, from Microsoft, and copied onto a USB drive. This is to allow installation on a Mac with no Superdrive.

It is possible for Boot Camp Assistant to generate a Windows Install image if you have an official Windows disk and a supported Mac computer.

It is still important that you have a single partition. Any changes to the partitioning will cause the Boot Camp Assistant to stop with an error message.

Running the Boot Camp Assistant Utility

When you run Boot Camp Assistant it will take you through several steps to ensure that Windows is installed correctly, which even includes setting up the Windows drivers for your Macs hardware.

The following screenshots shows the Boot Camp Assistant when you first run it.

Apple's Boot Camp Assistant

The following is a summary of steps taken by the Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows on Mac;

• Determine which hard disk to install Windows on.
• Create the Windows partition.
• Install Windows from Your Installation DVD/CD.
• Reboot into the Windows desktop.
• Install any necessary drivers for Windows on Mac.
• Set up dual boot capability with Mac OS X.

If you are happy with the idea of going through the above process then go ahead and have a look at our Mac tutorial which takes you through the steps to install Windows on Mac using the Boot Camp Assistant.

The Boot Camp utility works very well. I went through and installed Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro without any problems. I have performed the installation on both Snow Leopard and Lion.

So I can now dual boot OS X Lion and Windows 7. I can set a default option or pick my preferred option during boot-up.

There is off course one big disadvantage with this method of running Windows on Mac. You cannot use Mac OS X at the same time as Windows. You must reboot into Mac OS X which means shutting down Windows first!

So next we need to take a look at a method that allows you to run Windows on Mac but alongside Mac OS X.

Using a Virtual PC to Run Windows on Mac

The good news is that running Windows alongside Mac OS X is easily achieved by running what is called a 'Virtual PC', on your Mac computer. In other words we use some software which makes Windows think it is running on a real PC.

At the moment there are three popular options available for running Windows on Mac, which are listed below;

• VMWare Fusion
• Parallels Desktop for Mac
• VirtualBox

Looking at the list above the first two are commercial software packages. In other words you have to pay for them, and the last is a free Open Source software project supported by Oracle, although you can buy a retail version which includes direct support.

We will be looking at all three versions in detail on this website. But before we delve into each individually it is worth mentioning that Virtual PC software has many features.

Some features are available in all versions of software, and some are unique to a particular developer. The table below compares all three versions of the software. It lists all of the common features available and indicates which are supported in each of the three software packages that we are looking at.

The table above clearly shows that all three of the virtual PC software applications discussed here, have widely varying features. At first glance it looks like Parallels is easily the best option!

This doesn't necessarily mean that the others are inferior. Just that the developers view some features more favourably! It does mean you have to be careful that a feature you want is covered by the software you end up buying.

Now that we understand the features available it is time to take a closer look at the software versions we have picked, to see which offers the best solution for running Windows on Mac.

VMWare Fusion

The first of our options for running Windows on Mac, inside a Virtual PC, is called VMWare Fusion. VMWare was founded back in 1998, and are very experienced at developing virtualization software for the PC.

Image courtesy of VMWare

VMWare spent many years providing virtualization software for both Windows and Linux users, with their product VMWare Workstation.

I used VMWare Workstation for both Windows and Linux during my Windows era. I found the software very powerful and was very pleased when I could reacquaint myself with VMWare products that allowed me to run Windows on Mac, but this time using VMWare Fusion.

As of August 2010 VMWare Fusion supports over 150 different guest operating systems, which is the operating system that you can run in a virtual machine.

It supports versions of Microsoft Windows from XP through to Windows 7, so no worries there then! It is available either as a retail box, or as a download from
the VMWare website.

If you chose to download it, you can take advantage of a
30-day evaluation of the software on your Mac.

Parallels Desktop for Mac

Image courtesy of Parallels

This is our second commercial software package and is developed by a company called Parallels, founded back in 1999.

Interestingly, this was the first software to bring virtualization to the Mac, and giving us the power to run Windows on Mac. It was released on the 15 June 2006.

The latest version is 7.0 released during 2011, which was updated following the release of OS X Lion, has some very interesting features. As you can see from the features table above it is a very capable piece of software.

VirtualBox

Our final option for running Windows on Mac is called VirtualBox. This is an Open Source project originally supported by Sun Microsystems, and now by Oracle.

One advantage is that VirtualBox is FREE and is capable of running Windows 7. At the end of the day if all you want to do is run a version of Windows on Mac then this option may be for you.

It doesn't have the same bells and whistles as its commercial brothers, but that doesn't mean a lot! The developers simply have a different view of the virtual world.

My first impression is that VirtualBox comes into its own if you want a large number of virtual machines, and want to administer them through a web front end.

Using a Windows Emulator on Your Mac

This is a slight drift away from the initial subject of running Windows on Mac, but I think it is still relevant. It kind of completes the picture and gives you all of the options available. So let's have a look at Windows Emulators.

So the first question we need to answer is "What is a Windows Emulator". Well, all of the previous techniques we have looked at for running Windows on Mac have required a full licensed copy of Microsoft Windows, either Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7.

This is not a cheap option, unless you are lucky enough to have an existing copy.

According to the online version of the Oxford Advanced learners Dictionary the term Windows Emulator is defined as;

"… a device or piece of software that makes it possible to use programs, etc. on one type of computer even though they have been designed for a different type …"

That definition captures perfectly what a Windows Emulator does. It allows you to run Windows applications on your Mac without having to have a licensed copy of Windows.

Before you start to worry, this is fully legal. The Windows Emulator has been written to mimic the Windows software libraries from scratch without copying anything from Microsoft.

At first glance you may think that this is the perfect approach. Being able to impersonate Windows on Mac. In reality it has taken a lot of work to produce a working Emulator which is usable. Why?

Every time Microsoft makes a change, either to it's libraries or with the release of a new Windows version, the developers of the Windows Emulator have to play catch-up. The result is that not all Windows applications will run successfully. You have to check a database to ensure that your application is supported.

So what Windows Emulators are available for the Mac? Well, the actual Emulator is called WINE which is available for a number of platforms e.g Mac OS X, Linux.

But WINE is actually available in two versions, a bit like VirtualBox we discussed previously. The first option is free and available as a download, and the second, which is a supported project from Codeweavers, who have added in their own extensions to make WINE easier to use and set-up. Let's take a look at both.

Running Windows Applications on Mac Using WINE

Let's start by looking at what the name WINE stands for and at the same time clear a bit of a problem with classing WINE as an Emulator.

WINE is one of those funny recursive names, it stands for "WINE is Not an Emulator". This stems from the days when Emulators tended to emulate hardware e.g the CPU and were slow. WINE does not Emulate the processor or any hardware. It is purely a layer between the operating system e.g Mac OS X, and the Windows application. Hence the view that it is a Windows Emulator.

The WINE project is a very active and well supported project. Their website contains downloads, information, forums, and the application database, the place where you find out if the application you want to run is supported.

I am very impressed with WINE. I used it back in my days running Linux, but it has come a long way since those early days.

The only drawback with WINE is that there is no Mac OS X version available for download. If you want to use WINE you need to build it yourself, or use one of the other options available for installing it.

But if you are prepared to spend some money then you can get WINE in the form of Codeweavers "CrossOver Impersonator".

Windows Applications on Crossover Impersonator

Codeweavers is software company that have been around since 1996 and the early days of Linux. They developed a number of so called CrossOver products, initially for Linux, which allowed Windows applications to be run on Linux.

In 2007, Codeweavers released the first version of CrossOver Mac. Which allowed us Mac users to run our Windows applications on our Macs, a nice alternative to installing Windows on Mac.

What I like is that Codeweavers uses WINE for its base, they support the WINE project, and feed some of their code back into the WINE project. This is the true spirit of Open Source in action.

But, if CrossOver is WINE, and WINE is free, then why do I need to pay for CrossOver? Well, Codeweavers takes the basic WINE application and adds functionality to it, as well providing their customers with support. This costs money.

Below is a list of the additional features, added by Codeweavers, into CrossOver Impersonator;

• One click installation for Windows applications.
• A Graphical installer for Windows applications.
• Bottles - portable virtual windows environments.
• Seamlessly integrates with your Mac desktop.
• Constantly testing Windows applications.
• Product support.

I like this product a lot. Being available for the Mac means that you have none of the installation problems associated with WINE, and you can also download it as free trial before parting with your cash.

Using the Codeweaver CrossOver Impersonator is very straightforward with easy installation of your favourite Windows applications.