Migrating from an intel iMac with a windows 10 bootcamp partiton to an M3 iMac

anticipating delivery of a new 24 inch M3 iMac with 16GB Ram and 516 GB SSD and would like to prepare my old 2017 3.4 ghz i5 intel iMac with a Windows 10 bootcamp partition for the migrations process.


I have currently converted many of my Corel Office files and spreadsheets to Numbers and Pages formats and will be working on reformatting as much of my other data files to compatible Apple programmes and file formats as possible.


What I am really asking help with is the correct procedure to deal with the bootcamp partition; do I need to get rid of the bootcamp partition before attempting the migration to the new M3 iMac and if that is required how do I do that and just leave the current OSX partition and data.


If the bootcamp partition does not have to be removed first does the migration manager just ignore everything on the bootcamp partition and I just follow the instructions to do a migration like there was no bootcamp?


Any help would be gratefully appreciated,


Iain

iMac 21.5″ 4K, 13.6

Posted on Nov 30, 2023 4:26 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 30, 2023 5:19 PM

You could never migrate the MS Windows Boot Camp partition to a new Mac. Also and this is very important M Series iMacs do not support Boot Camp, only the Intel based Macs do. If you still want to run MS Windows on the new Mac you will need to buy Parallels and install Windows using Parallels. My understanding is you can only use Windows 11 on the M series Macs, please confirm that by visiting the Parallel's website. To migrate your Mac OS partition, please read below:


When you buy a new Mac the easiest, quickest and most reliable method to migrate from the old Mac to the new Mac is to simply connect the old Mac's Time Machine External Hard Disk to the new Mac using a USB cable before you turn on the new Mac. You will likely need a USB A to USB C adapter, you can find them on Amazon for $10 or less. When you start the new Mac for the first time it will startup Setup Assistant (SA), SA will get to a point where it asks if you are migrating from another computer, select Yes  and follow the on-screen prompts and it's done! It is THAT simple.

 

If you have already done SA on the new computer then simply connect the Time Machine External Hard Disk using a USB cable and launch Migration Assistant (MA) which is located in Applications - Utilities - MA. Then follow the on-screen prompts. 

 

The ONLY difference between MA and SA is MA will create a new user account that you need to log into.

 

Both SA and MA migrate applications (not 32 bit apps), data files & settings. They do not migrate Mac OS itself. Some professional apps such as Adobe and Microsoft apps may require re-installing their apps as they will not allow them to be migrated. As long as you kept the security keys for installing their apps, it is not an issue. 

 

Finally, never EVER use Wi-Fi when doing Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant. Why, it simply fails in most cases. Please read and follow the directions in Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant. If you do not have a Time Machine backup of the older Mac then create one! If you are not aware of Time Machine, please read Back up your Mac with Time Machine and finally if you need an External Hard Disk to use as a Time Machine External Hard Disk then many experience users on these forums prefer the OWC Mercury Elite Pro due to it's reasonable price, high level of quality and ease of use. 




4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 30, 2023 5:19 PM in response to iainfromvictoria

You could never migrate the MS Windows Boot Camp partition to a new Mac. Also and this is very important M Series iMacs do not support Boot Camp, only the Intel based Macs do. If you still want to run MS Windows on the new Mac you will need to buy Parallels and install Windows using Parallels. My understanding is you can only use Windows 11 on the M series Macs, please confirm that by visiting the Parallel's website. To migrate your Mac OS partition, please read below:


When you buy a new Mac the easiest, quickest and most reliable method to migrate from the old Mac to the new Mac is to simply connect the old Mac's Time Machine External Hard Disk to the new Mac using a USB cable before you turn on the new Mac. You will likely need a USB A to USB C adapter, you can find them on Amazon for $10 or less. When you start the new Mac for the first time it will startup Setup Assistant (SA), SA will get to a point where it asks if you are migrating from another computer, select Yes  and follow the on-screen prompts and it's done! It is THAT simple.

 

If you have already done SA on the new computer then simply connect the Time Machine External Hard Disk using a USB cable and launch Migration Assistant (MA) which is located in Applications - Utilities - MA. Then follow the on-screen prompts. 

 

The ONLY difference between MA and SA is MA will create a new user account that you need to log into.

 

Both SA and MA migrate applications (not 32 bit apps), data files & settings. They do not migrate Mac OS itself. Some professional apps such as Adobe and Microsoft apps may require re-installing their apps as they will not allow them to be migrated. As long as you kept the security keys for installing their apps, it is not an issue. 

 

Finally, never EVER use Wi-Fi when doing Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant. Why, it simply fails in most cases. Please read and follow the directions in Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant. If you do not have a Time Machine backup of the older Mac then create one! If you are not aware of Time Machine, please read Back up your Mac with Time Machine and finally if you need an External Hard Disk to use as a Time Machine External Hard Disk then many experience users on these forums prefer the OWC Mercury Elite Pro due to it's reasonable price, high level of quality and ease of use. 




Dec 1, 2023 11:07 AM in response to rkaufmann87

rkaufmann87 wrote:

You could never migrate the MS Windows Boot Camp partition to a new Mac. Also and this is very important M Series iMacs do not support Boot Camp, only the Intel based Macs do. If you still want to run MS Windows on the new Mac you will need to buy Parallels and install Windows using Parallels.


Windows 11 for ARM. You can't run any of the versions of Windows built for Intel/AMD processors on an Apple Silicon Mac. (Same goes for Linux.). (A virtual machine runs the same type of machine code as the host CPU.)


Microsoft Support – Options for using Windows 11 with Mac® computers with Apple® M1® and M2™ chips

Dec 1, 2023 10:07 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Hello and thank you rkaufmann87.


Appreciate your prompt and helpful response to my query.


Re bootcamp not being available in M series Macs; yes that is why I've been working to convert as many of my windows applications to Mac compatible file formats or applications as possible in advance. I plan on dropping windows completely if at all possible. As a back up I've got an external drive with all my widows data and also windows 10 file history drive so if I need to return to Windows 11 I will have that option. I've found I can actually access my external Windows data drive in my Mac Finder as it was formatted in Fat extended and directly view and move many of those files to my Mac.


Re the most important part, migrating to the new iMac which I assume will be running Sonoma from my existing Ventura 13.6.2. Thanks for the tip on connecting my TimeMachine drive to the new computer before turn it on and using the Set up assistant to select the 'migrate from another computer option.


Sounds straight forward and believe that will all go into a single portion on the new M3 iMac.


Thanks again for your response.

Iain


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Migrating from an intel iMac with a windows 10 bootcamp partiton to an M3 iMac

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