Running Microsoft Windows on a Mac

Can you run widows on a Mac?

I was driving down the street the other day when I answered my cell phone and a friend asked me if he could run Windows on Macintosh.

He said he had a Windows XP CD and he could not get it to install on his Apple Macbook.

My first thought was I shouldn't answer my cell phone when I am driving, then I proceed to answer his question.

“Sure you can,” I answered, “but you just can't put in a Windows XP CD in your Mac and expect it to install. The CD you have is intended to be installed only on computers designed to run Microsoft Windows operating Systems. However, there is a way to install Windows XP or Vista on Mac using the windows installation disk that you have.”

On any Mac that has an Intel processor you will need to download a copy of Apple's Boot Camp software. This software divides up areas of your hard drive allowing you to keep your Mac operating system and software on one part, also called a partition, and then install and run a windows operating system and software on the other partition.

The process of running two Operating Systems on one hard drive is called dual booting. In my friends situation, he will be dual booting Windows XP and Mac OS X.

I do not own a Mac or use one very often, but those I have assisted with installing Windows Vista on their Mac tell me that they find Vista actually runs better on their Mac computer than their computer designed for Windows. I have no evidence for whether this is the case, but I have heard this several times.

I may have to try this out myself one day and do a Video podcast series on this when I get my own Mac.