Boot Camp (software)
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| developer | Apple |
| Current version | 6.1.0 (6067.60.1) |
| operating system | macOS from version 10.4 (Tiger) |
| category | assistant |
| License | Proprietary |
| German speaking | Yes |
| apple.com | |
Boot Camp is software from Apple to install Windows alongside macOS on a Mac with Intel - processor .
The computer becomes a dual boot system . Before Boot Camp, a virtual machine was necessary to use Windows on Macs . A hybrid mode of the firmware and the partition table made it unnecessary . Boot Camp supports the user in partitioning the hard drive and brings the device drivers for Windows with it.
Boot Camp is seen as a strategically important move by Apple to win more customers, as they can now operate their own macOS and Windows alternately on the same computer without any loss of speed.
In the sustainability discourse , Boot Camp is an example of how planned obsolescence can be reduced, as the hardware can be used longer by changing the operating system after the appropriate macOS security updates for their hardware have expired.
functionality
The Boot Camp Assistant helps with the installation of Windows on the primary hard drive . The wizard can reduce the size of the partition for macOS (formatted with the HFS + or APFS file system ) and occupy the free area with an additional partition formatted with the FAT32 file system . This is named BOOTCAMPand must be selected as the installation target during the Windows setup procedure for the installation of Windows on the hard disk, which is then automatically reformatted as NTFS .
After the Windows installation, the USB stick prepared by the Boot Camp Assistant can be used to install the so-called "Boot Camp" software. This installs drivers optimized for Apple hardware, read access to the MacOS partition and the Boot Camp control panel. The Boot Camp control panel can be called up in the notification area of the Windows taskbar and may allow a following configurations:
- Default startup volume when switched on (Windows or macOS).
- Apple trackpad e.g. B. "tap" (instead of clicking) or the preferred type of triggering of the "secondary click" (context menu).
- Apple keyboard: Windows function keys or Apple function keys (display brightness, volume, media player, etc.) as the primary key press or the secondary key press via the Fn key.
After installation, the user can switch between the two operating systems in three different ways:
- When the computer is restarted by pressing the selection button ⌥ , the “Startup Manager” selection menu appears for selecting the operating system. If an external hard drive with a bootable operating system is available, this will also appear for selection. If the option key is ⌥not pressed when restarting, the default operating system preferred by the user is loaded automatically.
- Under Windows, the user can use the “Boot Camp Control Panel” to specify which operating system should be loaded automatically when the computer is restarted.
- Under macOS, the user can go to the "Startup Disk" item in the system settings and also specify which operating system should be started automatically when the system is restarted.
To switch between the installed operating systems, the computer must be restarted when using Boot Camp.
restrictions
MacOS is started up using the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and the GUID partition table . To compatibility with older versions of Windows to manufacture Apple EFI uses an emulation of a BIOS , called English Compatibility Support Module (CSM), which each BIOS with as Master Boot Record (MBR) works as a partition table. The two partition tables are superimposed on what is known as a hybrid MBR . This means that with Boot Camp it is not possible to install more than two operating systems on the primary drive, since hybrid partitioning is limited to four partitions due to the restrictions of both partition tables: If you count the EFI system partition (ESP) and the macOS In addition , there is only one partition for the macOS and Windows operating systems.
If a second data storage device (such as a USB stick, an NVMe SSD or a hard drive), internal or external, is used to start one of the two operating systems, this restriction can be bypassed.
System requirements
- Apple Mac computer with an Intel processor and the latest firmware
- Operating system Mac OS X Leopard (Leopard) or higher
- At least 10 GB of free hard disk space (5 GB for the Windows partition, 5 GB must remain free)
- As of Mac OS X 10.5, there is a Windows partition on the installation DVD for the required Windows drivers.
- A full version Windows installation CD and a valid product key
Windows versions supported
The Windows version that can be installed with Boot Camp depends on the Apple Mac computer and the Boot Camp version that can be installed on it, for which there are separate tables for Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. The oldest Boot Camp versions also allowed Windows to be installed XP and Windows Vista. Basically, as soon as Microsoft ceases to officially sell a Windows version, it will also remove it as a selectable operating system version in an update from Boot Camp. Since Boot Camp version 5.1, only the 64-bit versions of Windows can be installed. Older Mac models do not get the latest Boot Camp version, so 32-bit Windows versions can be reinstalled over older Mac models.
history
Boot Camp has been available as a time-limited beta version since April 2006 ; With the release of Mac OS X Leopard on October 26, 2007, these can no longer be used to set up new Windows partitions. Existing Windows installations will continue to work without any problems. Boot Camp has since been part of the operating system and is no longer available separately.
Bootcamp was also included in the Mac OS X Server operating system variant until August 2010. Before this turned into an additional package macOS Server that could be purchased on July 20, 2011 .
| version | Publication date | Remarks |
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| 1.0 (Public Beta) | April 5, 2006 | First publication. Supports Windows XP (Home and Professional) with SP2. |
| 1.1 (Public Beta) | August 2006 | Contains additional device drivers , including a. for integrated iSight web cams. |
| 1.2 (Public Beta) | March 28, 2007 | Supports Windows Vista (32-bit). |
| 1.3 (Public Beta) | June 8, 2007 | Contains additional device drivers, including a. for the keyboard backlight on the MacBook Pro . |
| 1.4 (Public Beta) | August 9, 2007 | Includes improved device drivers. |
| 2.0 | October 26, 2007 | Part of Mac OS X Leopard , no longer available separately. |
| 2.1 | April 24, 2008 | Supports Windows XP (Home and Professional) with SP3, Windows Vista (64-bit). |
| 3.0 | August 28, 2009 | Direct file transfer between Mac OS X and Windows partitions is possible. |
| 3.1 | January 19, 2010 | Supports Windows 7 . |
| 4.0 | July 20, 2011 | Windows XP and Windows Vista are no longer supported. |
| 5.0 | July 25, 2012 | Supports Windows 7 and Windows 8 . |
| 5.1 | 11th of February 2014 | Supports Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 (“Core”; Pro and Enterprise), only 64-bit |
| 6.0 | August 12, 2015 | Supports Windows 8.1 (“Core”; Pro and Enterprise) and Windows 10 (all versions), only 64-bit |
Alternatives
You can install other operating systems without the help of Boot Camp and even remove macOS, but this requires system knowledge. An alternative boot loader, such as B. rEFIT or rEFInd can be installed.
Another possibility to use other operating systems on an Intel Mac is through virtualization software . This has the advantage over Boot Camp that two operating systems can run at the same time without having to restart, but the operating systems have to share resources such as computing power and RAM. Well-known virtualization solutions are Parallels Desktop , VMWare Fusion or VirtualBox . Some virtualization solutions can also integrate a boot camp partition as a virtual machine, so that both operating modes are optionally possible.
Virtualization solutions also allow the installation of 32-bit operating systems on Apple Mac models, there are only Boot Camp versions that require a minimum of 64-bit Windows versions.
In addition, with Wine and its forks such as CrossOver, it is possible to run Windows programs on other operating systems without installing Windows. Large parts of the Windows API were reprogrammed for this purpose. However, this has not yet been done completely. Some multimedia functions are not yet supported, so such programs cannot be used.
Historical digression
On Macs with PowerPC architecture (until 2006) it was possible to use Windows operating systems on Apple computers with Virtual PC as early as 1997. However, the program was an emulator and no longer runs on Macs with an Intel processor (from 2006).
literature
- Antoni Nadir Cherif: Windows on the Macintosh - Mac OS X 10.5, Boot Camp & Co . SmartBooks, Baar (Switzerland) 2008, ISBN 978-3-908497-77-6 .
Web links
- support.apple.com / ... - Apple's official Boot Camp website
- tecchannel.de / ... - Apple Boot Camp for Mac OS X: Install Windows 10 on the Mac
Individual evidence
- ↑ Apple opens Mac computers for Windows . Spiegel Online , April 5, 2006; Retrieved September 15, 2011
- ↑ Create a Windows partition on your Mac. Apple, Inc., July 15, 2017, accessed May 23, 2017 .
- ↑ Install Windows 7 on your Mac using Boot Camp. Microsoft, June 10, 2015, accessed December 30, 2019 (machine translation of 2647609).
- ↑ Switch between Windows and macOS. support.apple.com, July 9, 2019, accessed January 2, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Thomas Joos: Apple Boot Camp for Mac OS X: Install Windows 10 on the Mac. In: tecchannel.de. July 7, 2016, accessed April 18, 2019 (Part 7 and Part 8).
- ↑ Christoph Pfisterer: Myths and Facts About Intel Macs. In: The rEFIt Project. December 9, 2006, accessed April 11, 2017 .
- ↑ Boot Camp: System Requirements for Microsoft Windows. Apple; Retrieved September 15, 2011
- ↑ Install Windows 7 on the Mac using Boot Camp. In: support.apple.com. August 24, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2020 (This article has been archived and is no longer updated by Apple).
- ↑ Use Windows 8.1 on Mac with Boot Camp. In: support.apple.com. August 24, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2020 (This article has been archived and is no longer updated by Apple).
- ↑ Install Windows 10 on a Mac using Boot Camp Assistant. In: support.apple.com. December 20, 2019, accessed January 1, 2020 .
- ↑ When does Boot Camp Beta expire? Apple.com; Retrieved August 5, 2011
- ↑ linux-community.de
- ↑ Boot Camp 1.4: Apple improves Windows support. golem.de, August 9, 2007, accessed August 5, 2011 .
- ↑ Boot Camp 2.1 makes Macs compatible with Windows XP SP3. golem.de, April 24, 2008, accessed August 5, 2011 .
- ↑ Boot Camp 3.1 brings Windows 7 to Macs. golem.de, January 20, 2010, accessed August 5, 2011 .
- ↑ Boot Camp 4.0, OS X Lion: Frequently asked questions. Apple.com, August 1, 2011
- ↑ Boot Camp 5.0: Frequently asked questions. Apple.com; Retrieved December 6, 2013