Boot Camp on the Mac

Through Apple Boot Camp you can set up a partition on the Mac on which Windows can be installed. If you restart the Mac, Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 (older versions are also supported, although not recommended) can be started directly without Mac OS X Yosemite. This has advantages in terms of performance, for example, since the processor does not have to worry about two operating systems, as is the case with emulation using Parallels Desktop. The whole thing is interesting, for example, for people who like to gamble, since the games are usually cheaper under Windows and are usually the first to be published on the Microsoft platform. With other computationally intensive programs it is also interesting to run Windows with Boot Camp directly on the Mac.

Boot Camp or Parallels Desktop?

Personally, I find the use of Microsoft Windows under [Parallels Desktop-> parallels-desktop] more pleasant, as you can jump back and forth between Mac and Windows programs and the clipboard is transferred between the operating systems. So I can copy contact data from Apple Mail and then paste them into my billing program under Windows. With such office applications, the emulation with Parallels Desktop is fast enough that you don't notice any loss of speed.

However, I have also had applications that "noticed" that they were working in an emulated environment. For example, it was software for programming a photo drone. Everything worked, but the software advised me that I should run it directly on Windows and not on an emulated PC.

Installation of Boot Camp on the Mac

The establishment of Boot Camp is up explained at Apple on the website. Unfortunately, these instructions are currently only available in English, but since the link already contains "DE", the German version will certainly be submitted here soon. I assume it's because the page for Yosemite has been updated. But the matter is also explained so quickly:

1. The first thing to do is here check whether your own Mac also meets the hardware requirements for Boot Camp.
2. Next, it is important that you also burn a DVD from the ISO file that you probably received when you bought Windows. You absolutely need a Windows installation DVD. If you have a MacBook Pro or Air, you probably miss the DVD burner and reader. You can get a cheap compatible one find.
3. Then you open the "Boot Camp Assistant", which can be found under "Programs" -> "Utilities". With this you can either prepare a suitable partition or an [external USB drive->external hard drive] for the installation of Windows.
4. After restarting the Mac, it will ask you where you want to install Windows. Select the appropriate partition and click on.
5. The installation steps for Windows are specified below. Once this is all done, the Mac will restart and you will have the option to choose the system you want to start with when booting. You can set this either via "System Settings" -> "Startup Disk" or by holding the "ALT" key while booting.

Helpful downloads and Windows drivers

I would give you the following Download page from Apple recommend. There are CD images with Windows drivers. I needed this, for example, because some of my USB devices did not run directly under Windows. My bluetooth keyboard was not recognized either, so I tried one first wired USB keyboard on the iMac had to use.

Jen Kleinholz( Founder & Sir Apfelot )

Jens has been running the blog since 2012. He appears as Sir Apfelot for his readers and helps them with problems of a technical nature. In his free time he drives electric unicycles, takes photos (preferably with his iPhone, of course), climbs around in the Hessian mountains or hikes with the family. His articles deal with Apple products, news from the world of drones or solutions for current bugs.