Some things to know before you install Windows 10 on your Mac
The new Windows 10 can be installed on Mac in a dedicated partition or virtual machines to be exploited by one of the several virtualization software. Here are some things to know.
Today started the distribution of Windows 10, the new operating system from Microsoft that promises to give a cut to the problems complained about by users of Windows 8 and which has several interesting innovations. Like the previous Microsoft operating systems, including the new Windows 10 can be used on the Mac. That’s a bit of things that are useful to know for Mac users before installing the new system.
Which Mac support the new Windows?
There is no definitive list of Mac compatible, but all those products in the last five years should be compatible with no problems with the new system. Microsoft explains that the minimum requirement is 1 GB of RAM, but our advice is to install it on machines with at least 4 GB of RAM or more. If your Mac is already a partition with Windows 7 or Windows 8.X, most likely your computer will run Windows 10 without problems.
The new system is supported by Boot Camp?
Currently, the utility Boot Camp by Apple does not officially support Windows 10, but you can perform the installation as if it was Windows 8.x By starting the utility ” Boot Camp Assistant ” you can create a partition on your existing drive to install Windows. The server integrates a very simple wizard following which you can create a setup disk on a USB flash drive, also starting from the .ISO for Windows. When we buy Windows, this comes as a disk image file (ISO) or as the installation disk. If your copy of Windows has been provided on a DVD, it should be possible to create a disk image of the installation disk.
How much free disk space is used?
The utility Boot Camp Assistant creates a partition dedicated minimum 16GB; Microsoft explains that serve at least 16 GB for 32-bit systems, 20 GB for 64-bit systems, but our advice is to reserve at least 30GB to the new system. Obviously a lot depends of course on what you intend to do with the new system, from which programs you want to install, how much space you need, etc.
And if I wanted to use a virtualization software?
No problem: all latest versions of Windows 10 support virtualizers for Mac: Parallels Desktop 10, VMWare Fusion 7, VirtualBox 5. The latest release of these programs recognizes the .ISO with the Windows image and allow you to install the new system like what you can do with the previous ones.
I have Windows 7 / 8.x installed with Boot Camp on your Mac (or as virtual machines on a virtualizer), I eligible to upgrade free of charge?
If you run all the Windows updates, it should appear automatically in the app and its icon ” Get Windows 10 “. Just click on the small icon in question at the right end of the taskbar in Windows, select ” Book a free upgrade ” in the window of the app, enter your email to receive booking confirmation. Once booked, Windows 10 will be downloaded.
The icon ” Get Windows 10 ” appears.
The icon appears only and only if you use the original versions of Windows, up to date with the latest service pack. Be sure to download the latest updates and even if in this case managed to get the update, bring (from Windows) in.
C:WindowsSoftwareDistributionDownload
deleted everything contained in the folder in question, called the command prompt (Start -> Run – type ” CMD ” – without quotes – and press Enter) and type.
wuauclt.exe / updatenow
After a few minutes you should see the update of Windows 10 appear between downloads.
It is better to make a backup before you install Windows 10 with the utility Boot Camp Assistant?
Yes. Before you install Windows, you should back up your important files. You can use Time Machine or other backup methods: if you have problems, you will be sure to have somewhere a backup copy of the old system and data.
