How do I install Windows 7 on my Mac Pro that is currently running Snow Leopard?

So I've done a fair amount of reading on the topic in several mac forums, and still am not quite sure how/if there is a straight forward way to do this. The Mac Pro 1.1 I recently received is the first Mac I've ever had and first extended exposure to OS X, so bear with me. It seems that a lot of the forum posts addressing this question either involve "hacking" one of the OSs or is from 6+ years ago (probably because thats how old the OSs are, but still) and I was hoping someone could give me a step-by-step on how to get Windows 7 running with the most up to date information out there.


I still have to buy Windows 7 - I was waiting for the responses here to see if I should get 32 or 64bit and OEM or Retail.


Snow Leopard is fine for now - I may look to upgrade in the future as I look to add additional hardware to the Mac Pro.


Please let me know if there is anything here that I left out that is needed to respond. Thanks-

Mac Pro

Posted on Feb 1, 2016 6:33 AM

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2 replies

Feb 1, 2016 12:28 PM in response to lllaass

You will need to install Windows using Bootcamp as suggested in the post above. That allows you to run Windows or OS X but you can only run one at a time and need to reboot every time you want to switch operating systems. Not a great option if you want to switch between the two operating systems a lot.

There is software available that allows you to run OS X and Windows both at the same time. (you will need to install the Bootcamp partition first though)

Parallels is the most popular option. See: http://www.parallels.com

This software even allows you to run Windows programs within your OS X desktop if you want and easily share files between the two operating systems.

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How do I install Windows 7 on my Mac Pro that is currently running Snow Leopard?

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