I have a MacBook Air m1 2020 but bootcamp says it doesn't support it

Not sure where you read that it supports it. Everything I have read says "Intel-based Macs."

That includes Get started with Boot Camp Assistant on Mac - Apple Support

and

Boot Camp Assistant User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

PhotoFixTeam wrote:

1. Not sure but check this two options.

Unsupported Windows version: Boot Camp only supports certain versions of Windows. If you're trying to install an unsupported version of Windows, Boot Camp may not work.

2.

Security settings: Some security settings on your Mac may prevent Boot Camp from working properly. You can try adjusting your security settings to allow Boot Camp to run.

Thanks.

[Link Edited by Moderator]

Boot Camp does not work on M1 Macs. The original poster has a M1 Mac as stated in his post.

d4vin wrote:

so is there another way I can download windows?

Apple Boot Camp is Intel x86-64 only, and does not support Apple silicon.

For Windows on Apple silicon, acquire and install the Parallels hypervisor, and acquire and install Microsoft Windows for ARM64 there.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/options-for-using-windows-11-with-mac-computers-with-apple-m1-and-m2-chips-cd15fd62-9b34-4b78-b0bc-121baa3c568c

If you want to use Microsoft Windows for Intel x86-64, you will need to acquire and install an Intel emulator. One such emulator is UTM. Windows for Intel can then be installed and booted within that emulator.

M1 should be same support as an M2 - I'm running an M2 Max with 64gb. Parallels 18 runs Windows 11 ARM flawlessly with no issue (it's my primary interface). I use the Mac side of things for all the things it does well (iMessage, etc). Just installed "Brew" and QEMU and it is running a couple of VirtualBox Windows 7/XP images I converted to RAW images (to handle some really old x86 32 bit code) and not one issue doing that either. There is a product in the Apple App Store for Mac called UTM (but save yourself 10 bucks....just do the brew/qemu install.)

Not sure but check this two options.

1. Unsupported Windows version: Boot Camp only supports certain versions of Windows. If you're trying to install an unsupported version of Windows, Boot Camp may not work.

1. Security settings: Some security settings on your Mac may prevent Boot Camp from working properly. You can try adjusting your security settings to allow Boot Camp to run.

Thanks.

[Link Edited by Moderator]

There is a 3rd party option (may be others as well) but I have not used it and am not familiar with any limitations. A starting point is: https://kb.parallels.com/125343

and

https://kb.parallels.com/en/128914

and

https://www.parallels.com/