BootCamp and M1 Mac Computers

For more than a month now, I have been running a licensed copy of Windows 11 for ARM-based computers on my 2020 M1 MacBook Air, using Parallels 17 for Mac. Works perfectly so far for all my Windows apps (I have dozens of them). It interfaces perfectly with my Mac. I can access all internal and external drives. Networking (including NordVPN) works perfectly, as do all printers and other network devices. So far, the only incompatibilities I've read about are apps that require an Intel CPU--I don't have any of those, so I can't attest to that, but it makes sense. I'm a heavy Excel user, and find that the Windows version works better for me. And of course, as there isn't a Mac version of Microsoft Access, The Windows 11/Parallels combination is a lifesaver.

There's lots of information on the Parallels website. Yeah, you have to buy an additional app (Parallels for Mac), but I always did that anyway, as I can have Windows and Mac apps running at the same time--something Bootcamp didn't allow. The Coherence mode of Parallels allows my Windows apps to appear in their own windows along with my native Mac apps (rather than having a separate Windows window with all the apps inside of that one window). I also use NTFS for Mac (also from Parallels), so I can have Windows formatted external drives that I can also access from Mac's Finder.

Parallels and Windows 10 for ARM are in beta for apple silicon at the moment. It's easy to join and free at the moment too. Crossover is also a really viable method to run pc apps and games.

Both are really fast! The newly added 64bit emulation on Windows 10 is working really well so that means modern apps and games are working.

I'm using it for mostly games via steam and for the most part is a really good experience. Tested quite a few games using both parallels and crossover and the performance is really good.

So far tried Shemnue 1,2 and 3, Evil within 1 and 2, Wolfenstein old blood, fallout 4, Metro Exodus and most play 30fps+ at 1080p. Fiddling with the settings is required but usually it is around medium to high. Some of the newer games have to be set a bit lower but for playing on a Mac Book Air or Mac Mini via several layers of emulation it is really something to see.

Parrallels Desktop is the current paid alternative to BootCamp on M1.

I use a 13" M1 macbook air 2020 and I have installed the Parallels Desktop on it. It works great.

I was actually part of the preview testing so I had a 20% discount on the paid annual subscription (when the full official release went live this week)

which goes for

$99/yr (for the popular version) or

$79/yr for the Home or Student version.

Hopefully Apple will announce a BootCamp for M1 soon.

As of now, M1 is not designed to work with Boot Camp. That does not mean it will not work in the near future. In thinking back, I remember when Apple first switched to Intel, and there were competitions all over the web on who could get Windows to work natively on a Mac. About six months after the initial switch, Boot Camp came out. There might be third party software you can look at like Parallels which will probably using the Rosetta 2 to run at this point, but the best thing to do is to wait for Boot Camp to be fixed, or if you need to login to a remote PC, setup a VPN.

you may feel that way but what apple did was to change cpu type, bootcamp is a collection of 3 things

a bootloader which points to what operating system is started, a driver collection for their hardware, and a setup tool

bootcamp or macos is not running in the background "supporting" Windows runs directly on the metal, x86 windows can't run on an arm based cpu, and microsoft does not sell it's arm-based windows to anything but OEM. if microsoft change their minds and make bootcamp on arm cpus happen, then it's unlikely that x86 windows games would run and it's unlikely all old windows x86 drivers for older hardware would work.

Will Boot Camp Assistance ever become available for M1 Mac Computers?

it will depend on Microsoft

Apple: It's Really Up to Microsoft to Make Windows Work on M1-Based Macs | Tom's Hardware

x86 windows will 99% never be a think in bootcamp on arm based macs

if microsoft begin to sell their arm based window10 to others than OEM them maybe, but x86 based games will likely never run native and if they will not well, and drivers for older hardware supported by windows x86 version will likely not run on arm windows10

thats not how it works at all

m1 is an arm based cpu it execute arm-based binaries because apple developed a "wrapper" called rosetta stone 2 Rosetta Stone - Wikipedia

macOS arm version can execute x86 binaries, they had the same system when they moved from powerpc cpu to intels x86

bootcamp does not run under macOS it's right on the metal which in the case of m1 is arm based, microsoft x86 operating system can't run on an arm cpu, microsoft has a windows 10 for the arm cpu architecture, but does not sell it other to oem (manufactures of computers) not to end users

bootcamp is 3 things

1. a setup tool to remove some of the storage from macOS and put a microsoft file system on it
2. a bootloader which choose if windows is started or if macOS is
3. a zip file with drivers for windows to best suit the apple hardware in the mac computer

apple will never be able to run x86 windows on their arm based cpu

if microsoft release their win10 arm based operating system that's another situation

windows 10 arm based will likely not run the latest 3d x86 games all that well

likely the best bet is to way and see if parallels can make a virtual machine that can run x86 apps on an arm platform

also not likely to be an option for the latest 3d x86 games.

varun133 wrote:

boot camp install 2020m1 macbook air

M1 is an Arm architecture processor and not x86-64, and Apple Boot Camp is for x86-64 processors.

Windows for x86-64 will not boot and will not work on an M1 processor.

For Windows, you will need Windows for ARM64 for your M1 Mac, and that product is not available for purchase (yet?) from Microsoft.

Send your feedback to Apple: Product Feedback - Apple

tharindu273 wrote:

not workin bootcam assisten

Boot Camp is not expected to work on Apple silicon, and M1 Arm processors, and is not compatible.

There is no Apple Boot Camp available for M1; for the M1 Arm processors.

Apple Boot Camp is restricted to Macs with x86-64 Intel processors.

There is no version of Windows for Arm that can be purchased for use with Apple M1 and Arm.

Should Microsoft decide to make Windows for Arm available for purchase, then some or all this answer will change.

But should that availability of Windows arise, that will be Windows on Arm and not Windows on x86-64.

Window on Arm runs Arm applications for Windows on Arm.

Windows on Arm may or may not sufficiently emulate Windows x86-64 apps for your needs.

There are ~seven pages of discussions of this topic in this thread too, so please feel free to skim those.

To clear up confusion in this discussion:

There will never be Boot Camp for Windows x86 on M1 Macs. This is because the M1 processors offer no ability to virtualize Windows x86, as opposed to modern Intel x86 processors which do. It's that simple. (And note that, despite confusion on the Internet, Boot Camp specifically made use of Windows virtualization, not emulation).

M1 processors are able to virtualize operating systems written to run on ARM architecture processors. As such, M1 compatible virtualization software, such as Parallels for M1 processors, can run Windows 10 for ARM and Linux for ARM. The list of currently compatible operating systems using Parallels virtualization can be found on this page:

https://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/resources/#requirements

Compatible operating systems include:

• Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview
• Ubuntu 20.10, 20.04
• Fedora Workstation 33-1.2
• Debian GNU/Linux 10.7
• Kali Linux 2021.1

At this time, Microsoft is not making Windows 10 for ARM architecture available to the public except as a preview. The general consensus is that Microsoft are not going to put much further effort into Windows 10 for ARM, such as providing further drivers or software. (Note that Windows 10 for ARM cannot run Intel x86 software).

WINE, such as CodeWeavers CrossOver, has been updated to run WINE compatible Windows applications on M1 Macs. You can search the CrossOver compatibility Windows software list here:

https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility

You're going to find that a great many Windows programs are not WINE compatible, most particularly those that use Microsoft proprietary APIs such as DirectX. You'll also find compromised compatibility in many cases. IOW: WINE is no replacement for virtualization but may work great in some cases. Check the compatibility list linked above to be sure. (Note that both Homebrew and MacPorts, using the X11 system, may be able to run WINE compatible Windows x86 apps for free. But they require use of the Mac Terminal CLI to run).

There is a fairly large and growing number of emulators that run alternative operating systems on M1 Macs. At this time, however, there is no emulator that will run Windows 10 x86 software. That may well change in the future. But keep in mind that running software in emulation is comparatively slow.

iApplemetoo wrote:

The only way Windows can work on a Mac through bootcamp is if you have an Intel base processor on said Mac. So, no

...or Microsoft decides to port Windows to ARM M1 (and future Apple Silicon). 😉

Dingo1005 wrote:

but what I don’t under stand is why they would install the boot-cam on the new Mac if they are stoping unless they are wait to see what there customers are going to say about it before doing away with it.

Because there is no reason to build two separate versions of macOS - one for each CPU type - Intel and M1, and complicate the software delivery and recovery models. One 'extra' piece of software does not make the whole OS. It will get removed when time comes. Wait for Parallels and Fusion to allow Virtualization in the future, there is no need for a native boot OS other than macOS.

Anyway I am stuck now because I use both Mac and windows Mac more but there is something you can’t do on a Mac, I have no choice but to sell this new Mac now and all the extra bit bought usb doc/windows 10/ cover/screen protector/ Parallels/ software all costing me lots of money. I will probably lose money now

If you are outside the return window, you should keep it for the future, if you think you will lose money.

it’s a big mistake that Apple have made here.

No. They have created new revenue streams. 😉

Good job I still have my MacBook Pro 2015 all wiped clean so will have to start the windows 10 setup and all Mac software back on nightmare☹️☹️☹️☹️

Old hardware still has value and utility. 👍

saraswat290 wrote:

Well I understand window Via Bootcamp days are over, however no one talked about a nifty app call crossover, why do I need window on Mac when I can run all the window apps via crossover.

As long as you do not have any performance issues, you can use CrossOver (based on WiNE). Also, see https://www.macrumors.com/2020/11/18/run-windows-software-on-m1/ .

Vikas_Patel wrote:

... Instead of looking side of Microsoft, we should think can Apple make drivers ...

It is almost 100% Microsoft. Windows is a whole operating system that would need to ported from Intel/x86 to ARM. It's not just "drivers" that could be argued to be Apple's responsibility.

Microsoft has an ARM-based version of Windows, but it's under a very, very restrictive release program. Also, Windows applications would have to be re-written to take advantage of the M1 processor, otherwise they'd be limited to an Intel/x86 emulator in the same way PPC Mac Applications were limited to Rosetta in the early days of the Intel Macs.

Thank you Loner T. I've never came across QEMU previously. I’d edit my post above, if Apple allowed me.

Digging around further, I found the following recent article instructing how to obtain and run the Windows 10 ARM Preview in virtualization (vs emulation) for free using QEMU on M1 Macs with at least 32 GB for free space:

https://randomblock1.com/blog/qemu-windows-mac/

It uses Homebrew via the Terminal CLI for downloading, building and installation.

To quote:

"M1 Macs don’t have support for Bootcamp. So, in order to have a working Windows environment, you have to do it all in a virtual machine. The problem is that QEMU isn’t optimized for M1 Macs, and virtualization is very slow… unless it uses MacOS’ Hypervisor.Framework. While this isn’t quite as performant as paid solutions (like Parallels), it works ‘fast enough’ and is completely free…. It’s not terribly fast, but it works well and is fast enough to do most things."

But again note that Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview is limited to running only Windows 10 ARM native software, not X86 software.