Install Windows on your older Mac
using Boot Camp
You can use Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows 10 on your Intel-based Mac.
You need an external USB drive to install Windows on older Mac computers. To find
out whether you have a Mac that requires an external USB drive, see the “Learn
more” section in the Apple Support article Install Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot
Camp Assistant. If your Mac is a newer model that doesn’t require a USB drive,
follow the instructions in Install Windows on your newer Mac using Boot
Camp instead.
What you need
The keyboard and mouse or trackpad that came with your Mac. (If they aren’t
available, use a USB keyboard and mouse.)
A blank 16 GB or larger external USB 2 flash drive, formatted as MS-DOS (FAT).
To format an external USB drive as MS-DOS (FAT), use Disk Utility, located in
/Applications/Utilities. In Disk Utility, choose View > Show All Devices, select the
USB drive in the sidebar, then click Erase in the toolbar. In the dialog, enter a
name for the drive, choose MS-DOS (FAT) from the Format pop-up menu, choose
Master Boot Record from the Scheme pop-up menu, then click Erase.
A full-installation, 64-bit version of Windows 10 on a disk image (ISO file) or other
installation media.
You can download a Windows 10 Disc Image (ISO File) from Microsoft.
Sufficient free storage space on your startup drive. For information about the
amount of free space needed, see the Apple Support Article Install Windows 10
on your Mac with Boot Camp Assistant.
Before you begin
Before you install Windows, make sure you back up important files.
You can use Time Machine or any other method to back up your files. For
information about backing up files, see Back up your files with Time
Machine and Ways to back up or protect your files.
Perform the installation
Do the following steps in order.
Step 1: Check for software updates
Before you install Windows, install all macOS updates.
1. On your Mac, log in as an administrator, quit all open apps, then log out any
other users.
2. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Software Update , then
install all available updates.
If your Mac restarts after installing an update, open Software Update again to
install any additional updates.
Step 2: Prepare your Mac for Windows
Boot Camp Assistant prepares your Mac by creating a new partition for Windows
named BOOTCAMP and downloading the Boot Camp support software.
Important: If you’re using a Mac notebook computer, connect it to a power source
before continuing.
1. Connect an external USB drive or insert a flash drive into the USB port on your
Mac; keep it connected or inserted while you install Windows and the Windows
support software.
2. On your Mac, open Boot Camp Assistant , located in /Applications/Utilities.
3. At the introduction screen, click Continue.
The system is checked for total available disk space. Older Time Machine
snapshots and cached iCloud files are removed to make space for Boot Camp.
This process may take a long time to complete (you can click the Stop button to
skip this process).
4. At the Select Tasks step, select all the tasks, then click Continue.
5. At the Create Bootable USB Drive for Windows Installation step, choose the
Windows ISO image and the USB drive, then click Continue.
The Windows files are copied to the USB drive. This process may take a long
time to complete (you can click the Stop button to interrupt this process).
6. At the Create a Partition for Windows step, specify a partition size by dragging
the divider between the macOS and Windows partitions. If you have multiple
internal hard drives, you can select a different hard drive from the one running
macOS and create a single partition on that drive to use solely for Windows.
Important: You can’t resize the partition later.
7. Click Install.
When this step is complete, the Windows installer starts.
Step 3: Install Windows
1. In the Windows installer, follow the onscreen instructions.
2. When you’re asked where to install Windows, select the BOOTCAMP partition
(you may need to scroll through the list of partitions to see it), then click Next.
WARNING: Do not create or delete a partition, or select any other partition.
Doing so may delete the entire contents of your macOS partition.
3. Continue following the onscreen instructions to finish installing Windows.
After you install the Windows software, your Mac automatically restarts using
Windows.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to set up Windows.
Step 4: Install Boot Camp on Windows
After installing Windows, Boot Camp drivers that support your Mac hardware start
installing.
Note: If the support software doesn’t install automatically, you need to install it
manually. For instructions, see the Apple Support article If the Boot Camp installer
doesn't open after using Boot Camp Assistant.
1. In the Boot Camp installer in Windows, follow the onscreen instructions.
Important: Do not click the Cancel button in any of the installer dialogs.
If a message appears that says the software you’re installing has not passed
Windows Logo testing, click Continue Anyway.
You don’t need to respond to installer dialogs that appear only briefly during
installation, but if a dialog asks you to install device software, click Install.
If nothing appears to be happening, there may be a hidden window that you must
respond to. Look behind open windows.
2. When the installation is complete, click Finish, then click Yes to restart your Mac.
3. After your Mac restarts, follow the instructions for any other installers that appear.
