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Running Windows on a Mac doesn’t have to be difficult. We show you how to do it using Boot Camp, Parallels and VirtualBox, and walk through some of the trickier glitches and problems to get you up and running quickly.

Although MacOS is well supported with the majority of popular commercial applications, there remain occasions where it’s useful to run Windows on your Mac. It could be because you’re testing software for compatibility, or that you want to run a particular Windows-only app, or because you want to play a game. They’re all valid reasons, but the approach you take to each is likely to differ.

Here, I’m looking at the three most common ways to run Windows on a Mac: Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop and VirtualBox. This guide will help you choose the right method for your particular scenario, and show you how to get each one up and running.

Related: Windows 10 Anniversary update review

Run Windows on a Mac – Choose your method

Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. Boot Camp, provided by Apple for free, lets you run Windows natively on your Mac. It’s just like using a Windows laptop, in fact. This method provides the best performance, as you can see below. The downside is that you have to reboot to change operating systems, and sharing files between operating systems is harder as neither OS can see the other.

The other two methods run Windows inside a virtual machine, which although reduces performance means that you don’t have to reboot to switch OS. It also makes it easier to share files, with both using simulated network shares to do the job.

Parallels Desktop 12 is the most convenient method of running Windows. It supports some light gaming, plus Windows apps can run in their own windows, so they look just like any other MacOS app. The downside is that you have to pay £65 for it.

VirtualBox is completely free. It isn’t as quick as Parallels, requires more setup time, and its version of running Windows apps in their own windows is a little flaky and doesn’t work with Windows 10 at the moment. Still, for the occasional foray into the world of Windows, perhaps for a specific app, it’s a good choice.

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Getting the right method is about picking what task you want to do and choosing the software that gives you the best performance and convenience. Below, the graphs compare 2D performance with Geekbench 3 and 3D performance with first-person shooter Overwatch.

Run Windows on a Mac – Choose your Windows version

All of the methods we demonstrate work with Windows 10, so we’re using that throughout. However, all support older versions of Windows, so if you want to run Windows 7 or Windows 8, you can.

In all cases, you’ll need a full Windows licence. That means a boxed copy of Windows, since the OEM version of Windows that ships with a computer or laptop isn’t transferable to a new computer.

Related: How to speed up Windows
To install Windows, you’ll need the ISO file of your version of Windows. For the latest version of Windows, this is easy, since you can just download the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft. For older versions of Windows, you’ll need the original installation media (disc or flash drive). Insert this into your computer, then run Disk Utility (press Command+Space, type “disk utility” and then select the matching application).

Select your installation media, then click File | New Image | Image from (the bottom option). Choose DVD/CD master from the Image Format menu, enter a file name and save location, and then click Save.

If prompted, enter your username and password. When the process is complete, find the file in Finder and select it. Press Enter to rename it and change the extension from “.cdr” to “.iso”. You’ll be prompted to confirm the change, so click Use .iso.

You may need to create an ISO to install an older version of Windows

Run Windows on a Mac – Boot Camp

Boot Camp is, perhaps, the most straightforward version of getting Windows on your Mac. It partitions your hard disk, creating room for Windows. You can then switch between them by rebooting your computer. The main downside is that you can’t easily share files between the two operating systems, since Windows can’t see the Mac partition and vice versa.

To install Windows press Command+Space, type “boot camp” and run Boot Camp Assistant. Click Continue, then click Choose and find your Windows ISO file. You can now use the slider to choose how big to make the Windows and macOS partitions.

You can’t resize a partition once it’s been created, so make sure that you leave enough room for both operating systems. Click Install when you’re happy. Boot Camp will now download the software it needs (drivers and additional Windows software), and then it will repartition your hard disk.

Boot Camp makes it easy to repartition your Mac and install Windows.

There’s a chance that repartitioning will fail, displaying a “Disk could not be partitioned” error message. This is usually because there’s a file system error. To fix this, restart your computer, but hold down Command+S to restart in single-user mode.

Type/sbin/fsck -fy and hit Enter. This command will check and repair any file system errors. When the check has completed, type reboot and hit Enter to restart your computer. You can now re-run Boot Camp. We had the same problem even after doing this, but re-running the fix and then choosing a slightly different size for the Windows partition in Boot Camp eventually fixed it.

Once your disk has been partitioned, your Mac will restart, and you just have to follow the standard Windows installation wizard. Once Windows has installed, Apple will automatically install the Boot Camp Control Panel.

Run Windows on a Mac – Boot Camp multi-touch problems

The one thing that Boot Camp doesn’t support is multi-touch trackpad gestures in Windows 10. The workaround is to use the free Trackpad++. This replacement trackpad driver brings multi-touch support to Windows on your Mac – and it works brilliantly.

Before you install Trackpad++, you first have to install Power Plan Assistant. This free software has to change the Windows signing policy to allow any bit of software to install, so use with caution. Once your computer has rebooted, run the Trackpad++ installation. When your computer restarts, you’ll be able to use multi-touch gestures, including pinch-to-zoom, and four-fingers swiping up for Task View.

Don’t worry if you receive an error message, as Trackpad++ should still work (it did for us). You can customise gestures using the Trackpad++ Control Module in the Windows Notification area.
Trackpad++ does what Apple won’t and enables multi-touch.

You can also adjust your keyboard and trackpad settings using the Boot Camp Control Panel. Open this up from the Notifications area and click the Keyboa

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