On your Mac, go to this Windows software download page. You can download a free disc image, also known as an ISO file, of Windows 10 from the official Windows website. So, you'll need to download Windows 10 instead. Before you start, though, it's wise to back up your disk with Time Machine before partitioning just in case something goes wrong. If you see the words Processor, followed by the name of an Intel processor, like '2. If you're unsure whether your computer is Intel-based, click on the Apple logo on the menu bar, and then go into About This Mac.

As long as you have an Intel-based Mac with enough storage and the correct Windows 10 ISO file - which you can download for free from the official Windows website - you can set up Windows 10 on your Apple computer in less than an hour. However, even when running it on a MacBook Pro with a 2.Īnd you might not know this, but if you only own an Apple computer, there's still a way to run Windows on it. Parallels is updated frequently to keep apace of updates to macOS and Windows so this may work out cheaper in the long run than having to buy a new version every year if new versions of macOS and Windows are released. Note that If you want to install Windows on an M1 Mac, the following procedure is slightly different and you can find instructions how to install Windows on an M1 Mac for free here. You can find full instructions on how to run Windows 11 on a Mac here. Windows 11 was released by Microsoft on October 5th and you can now install Windows 11 on a Mac including M1 Macs. For the needs of most Mac users that want to run Windows only programs on Mac, using a virtual machine is by far your best option. The advantage however is that Boot Camp is completely free whereas Parallels is only free for 14 days. You can download a free trial of Parallels and you can can read our full Parallels review for a more detailed look. Parallels is also the only way to run Windows on M1 Macs.

With Parallels, you can switch between Windows games or apps and macOS instantly in just a click. By far the best virtual environment on Mac is Parallels which makes it extremely easy to install Windows on macOS. The best way to run Windows on a Mac is to install it in a virtual machine.Ī virtual machine allows you to run Windows and macOS at the same time so that you can switch between the two at any moment with just one click. Here we show you how you can easily get Windows 10 on your Mac for free, including Apple Silicon M1 Macs, in little more than 10 minutes.

How to run windows 10 free on mac