Mac vs Windows. Windows vs Mac. Why choose if you can get the best of both worlds by dual booting? Install Windows on Mac so you can jump back and forth from one operating system to another on the same computer.
By now, the practice is well-established and Windows can work on Mac well. In this article, we’ll have a deep look at installing Windows on Mac. Don’t worry, we’ll have your back the whole way through!
Boot Camp for Mac vs virtualization software
If you want to install Windows on your Mac, you have two options. You can either use Mac Boot Camp, a native feature of the macOS operating system, or you can use a third party virtualization program. Both methods have their own pros and cons, so let’s dive in.
Boot Camp is built into the operating system of all Macs. If you go to your Applications > Utilities folder, you’ll see the Boot Camp Assistant app. It makes the separate partition on your hard drive for installing and running Windows. Once Windows is installed in Boot Camp, every time you turn on your Mac, you will be asked to choose the operating system you want to run. This means that in order to switch from macOS to Windows, you need to reboot your computer.
Advantages
- built into your operating system
- easy to use — Boot Camp Assistant guides you through the installation process
- puts less strain on your Mac’s memory and processing power
- completely free (not Windows of course)
- easy to update
Confirm your Mac’s requirements: Before getting started, make sure your Mac has the. Jun 01, 2019.
Disadvantages
- you need to reboot your computer to switch between the systems
- transferring data between operating systems isn’t easy
Virtualization programs are third-party applications that allow to install a separate operating system on one machine. They run like any other app on your Mac, so you can see the entire Windows desktop within a window on your computer.
Among the most popular virtualization programs are VirtualBox, Parallels, and VMware. Each one has its peculiarities, but we’ll try to sum up what they have in common.
Advantages
- you can run both operating systems at the same time
- easy file integration between systems
Disadvantages
- you need at least 8 GB of RAM for Mac to run smoothly
- virtualization apps are not cheap
- updates are not free
Depending on your specific needs, you can choose the option that works best for you. But we suggest using Boot Camp. It’s a free native feature of your operating system, running directly on your hardware. Therefore, it will be faster than any other method. And below, you’ll find all information on how to run Boot Camp on your Mac.
How to use Boot Camp: Preparing your Mac
1. Check the system requirements
Some versions of Windows require a certain processor and more hard drive space than the others. Therefore, you have to check the documentation that came with your copy of Windows to learn what you need.
You also need to make sure that your Mac is compatible with the version of Windows you want to install. For instance, Windows 10 is supported on these models:
- MacBook (2015 and later)
- MacBook Pro (2012 and later)
- MacBook Air (2012 and later)
- iMac (2012 and later)
- Mac Mini (2012 and later)
2. Clean up your hard drive
You need to have at least 55 GB of free disk space on your startup drive for installing Windows on a Mac. And if you don’t feel like spending the next several hours cleaning your Mac manually, you can use a powerful utility CleanMyMac X to find and remove all the junk from your startup disk.
CleanMyMac has everything to finish the 3-hour task of cleaning your hard drive in less than 5 minutes. It will scan every inch of your system and remove gigabytes of junk in two clicks. By the way, CleanMyMac finds about 75 GB of junk on average — more than enough for a smooth Windows installation.
Here’s how to clean your Mac with CleanMyMac X:
- Download CleanMyMac here.
- Run the app and click Scan.
- Click Run.
That’s it! Gigabytes of junk are gone from your computer forever.
3. Back up your Mac
Finally, you should also perform a backup of your Mac in case something goes wrong. Although, it happens very rarely, it’s always better to back up your important data. There are a few methods of backing up your Mac, so choose the most convenient one for you.
You can make automatic backups with Time Machine — software that comes with your Mac. It backs up all data, so you can recover individual files or your entire system from your backups. You may also store files in iCloud and access them whenever you need. iCloud comes with 5 GB of free storage but you can upgrade it any time. If you have an external storage device, you can copy some files and folders on it.
We do recommend you to back up your Mac before installing Windows as it minimizes the chance of losing important data.
How to Install Windows with Boot Camp
Here’s how to install Boot Camp. The installation can be a little time consuming, but it is by no means difficult. Check out the details below.
Step 1: Get a Windows disk image
First of all, you need to get the Windows disk image (ISO file) from the Microsoft website. Here’s how to download it:
- Visit the Windows 10 disk image download website.
- Go to the Select edition menu and choose Windows 10.
- Click Confirm.
- Choose the language of installation and click Confirm.
- Click 64-bit Download and then click Save.
The ISO file now will be downloaded to your Mac.
Step 2: Open Boot Camp Assistant
Boot Camp Assistant guides you through installing Windows on your Mac. You just have to follow the onscreen instructions. To launch the Boot Camp Assistant, go to Applications > Utilities folder. Click continue and Boot Camp for Mac will automatically locate the ISO file on your system.
Step 3: Create a partition for Windows
When you are done with the Assistant, your Mac restarts to the Windows installer. When you are asked where you want to install Windows, choose the BOOTCAMP partition and click Format.
*Note that this step is only required if you’re using a flash drive or optical drive to install Windows. In other cases, the right partition will be selected and formatted for you automatically.
Step 4: Install Windows
To finish the installation, you have to follow the onscreen instructions. Take a long breath — the next 12 steps may seem like climbing Everest, but it’s much easier than you think. Here’s how to install Windows on a Mac:
- Choose your ISO file and click the Install button.
- Type your Password and click OK. You will see the Windows Setup screen.
- Select your language.
- Click Install Now.
- Type your product key if you have it. Otherwise, click 'I don’t have a product key'.
- Select Windows 10 Pro or Windows Home and then click Next.
- Click Drive 0 Partition X: BOOTCAMP.
- Click Next. Windows 10 will be installed.
- When the Setup screen appears, click either Use Express Settings or Customize Your Installation. We recommend you to choose the Customize button and disable most, if not all of the switches.
- Then you’ll be asked to create an account. Type a username. You can also add a password if you want.
- Click Next.
- Choose whether you want to use the Cortana personal assistant or not. You can disable it by clicking Not Now button.
Windows will boot fully so you can use it normally.
On the Welcome to Boot Camp Installer box, click Next and accept the terms in the license agreement. Then click Install to proceed. When the installer completes, click Finish to reboot your machine.
Step 5: Restart your Mac
By default, your Mac will still boot to macOS. To access Windows, you have to turn your Mac off and then turn it on while holding the Option (Alt) key. You will be asked from which drive you’d like to boot.
Note that while in Windows, the Mac’s Command key functions as the Windows key, while the Option key functions as the Alt key. If you have a Touch Bar, you’ll see a complete set of buttons, similar to the Control Strip in macOS.
How to remove Windows from your Mac
If for some reasons you don’t need Windows anymore, you can permanently remove it from your Mac. Follow these steps:
- Boot into macOS, launch Boot Camp Assistant and click Continue.
- Choose 'Remove Windows 7 or later version' or 'Remove Windows 10 or later version'.
- Click Restore when you see the Restore Disk to a Single Volume option.
The Boot Camp Assistant will automatically remove Windows from your Mac.
Warning: All data, including software and files, stored on the Windows partition will be deleted, so make the backup copies first.
Free Mac Os For Windows 10
That may seem like a lot of steps, but it doesn’t take all that long to install Windows on a Mac. Now you can enjoy two operating systems and switch between them right when you need. Cheers!
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Current Stable Version
The current stable release of GIMP is 2.10.22 (2020-10-04).
We think your OS is Well, we don't actually know. Either JavaScript is disabled, or I am not working quite right... So I am showing you all the options.
Show downloads for GNU/Linux | OS X | Microsoft Windows | All
GIMP for Unix-like systems
If available, the official package from your Unix-like distribution is the recommended method of installing GIMP!
The flatpak build is new and has known limitations, though it will likely provide faster updates, following GIMP releases closely.
Therefore choose your installation medium according to your needs.
Flatpak build available in: i386, x86-64, ARM and AArch64.
Flatpak additional instructions
The flatpak link above should open your software installer and prompt you to install GIMP. Yet it may not work out-of-the-box on some platforms since the flatpak technology is new. If that is the case, ensure flatpak is installed and if clicking the link still does not prompt to install GIMP, then manually install by command line:
flatpak install https://flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakref
Once installed, it will be made available exactly the same way as other applications (menus, desktop overview, or any specific application launch process used by your desktop).
If this is not the case, we suggest to report a bug to your desktop or distribution asking for proper support of flatpak. In the meantime, you can still run it by command line (not as the recommended method, only a workaround):
flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP//stable
This installation will also provide regular update. You don't have to come back on this page and install again (it will not work!) when a new version of GIMP is released. Instead if your distribution and/or desktop has a good support for flatpak, it should propose to perform updates.
Once again, if your distribution does not have proper support, you can always fall back to using the following command line:
flatpak update
Systems without flatpak support
GIMP can also run on Solaris and is available for the BSD family of systems such as FreeBSD and OpenBSD.
Please refer to the documentation for your Unix-like system on the installation of software.
GIMP for macOS
Note: the currently available package provides GIMP 2.10.14 and has not yet updated to the latest version, GIMP 2.10.22. We're working on that, please check back later.
The download links above will attempt to download GIMP from one of our trusted mirror servers. If the mirrors do not work or you would rather download directly from our server, you can get the direct download here.
Supported OS: macOS 10.9 Mavericks or over
Since the 2.8.2 version, GIMP runs on OSX natively. No X11 environment is required.
Native build
The official GIMP 2.10 DMG installer (linked above) is a stock GIMP build without any add-ons. Just open the downloaded DMG and drag and drop GIMP into your 'Applications' folder.
The SHA256 hash sum for gimp-2.10.14-x86_64-1.dmg
is: 52654d85f894834f6c134c724beff3eddf212a1bda317299314322cfeff97e52
Check it on VirusTotal: gimp-2.10.14-x86_64-1.dmg
Older Downloads
Previous installers for OSX can be found here: download.gimp.org.
Macports
An easy way to compile and install GIMP and other great Free software on your Mac is by using Macports. The installer allows you to choose from a large directory of packages. To install gimp using Macports, you simply do sudo port install gimp
once you have Macports installed.
Last we checked, the GIMP port file pointed to the current stable release and we have reports from people who've built GIMP successfully this way.
Homebrew
Homebrew is similar to Macports and provides packages (aka formulas) to install, either by compiling them from source or by using pre-made binaries. There are indications that there is now a formula for GIMP, installable with: brew tap homebrew/cask && brew cask install gimp
.
NOTE! Please be aware that it was announced recently that Homebrew is using analytics. To turn this off in homebrew then run: brew analytics off
You can read more about this on Brew Analytics.
Fink
Fink is a package repository that offer mostly precompiled binaries. It provides the apt-get command known to e.g. Debian and Ubuntu users, and installing GIMP is as easy as sudo apt-get install gimp
once you have installed the Fink installer.
If there's no binary package, then fink install gimp
will compile GIMP from source.
Disclaimer: we haven't been able to determine if it is possible to install or build recent GIMP from Fink. Last we checked, GIMP 2.6.12 appears to be the most recent GIMP package that is offered there.
GIMP for Windows
The download links above will attempt to download GIMP from one of our trusted mirror servers. If the mirrors do not work or you would rather download directly from our server, you can get the direct download here.
Supported OS: Windows 7 or over
These links download the official GIMP installer for Windows (~200 MB). The installer contains both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of GIMP, and will automatically use the appropriate one.
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing system. It works by downloading GIMP from a distributed network of BitTorrent users, and may improve download speed dramatically. Choosing this option will download the torrent file for the GIMP installer. You may need to install a torrent client to make use of this file. Learn more...
Windows 10 For Mac Free Download
Hash Sum
The SHA256 hash sum for gimp-2.10.22-setup.exe
is: f7851c348584ce432dfd8e69b74a168c7dec33ebfddc29c96ad2d6b83aded083
Check it on VirusTotal: gimp-2.10.22-setup.exe
Older Downloads
- Previous v2.10 installers for Windows can be found here: download.gimp.org.
- Previous v2.8 installers for Windows can be found here: download.gimp.org.
GIMP User Manual
These links download language-specific Windows installers for GIMP's local help. By default, they will place the help files with your GIMP installation.
Note: GIMP uses online help by default. If you want to use this local help offline, you will need to change GIMP's help settings.
- In GIMP, select [Edit] > [Preferences] > [Help System]
- For 'User manual', select 'Use a locally installed copy'
- Under 'Help Browser', you can choose between your system's web browser and GIMP's help browser plugin (if available).
See the online help for more settings.
- Chinese Simplified (39 MB)
- Catalan (40 MB)
- Danish (39 MB)
- Dutch (39 MB)
- English (39 MB)
- English (United Kingdom) (39 MB)
- Finnish (39 MB)
- French (41 MB)
- German (41 MB)
- Greek (38 MB)
- Italian (43 MB)
- Japanese (39 MB)
- Korean (40 MB)
- Norwegian Nynorsk (35 MB)
- Portuguese Brazilian (40 MB)
- Romanian (39 MB)
- Russian (40 MB)
- Spanish (40 MB)
Source for version 2.10 (Stable)
GIMP releases available from gimp.org and its mirrors contain the source code and have to be compiled in order to be installed on your system.
For instructions, how to build GIMP from source code, please see this page.
GIMP 2.10.22 is now available at https://download.gimp.org/mirror/pub/gimp/v2.10/. You may want to read the Release Notes for GIMP 2.10.
To allow you to check the integrity of the tarballs, here are the hashes of the latest releases:
- gimp-2.10.22.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- 2db84b57f3778d80b3466d7c21a21d22e315c7b062de2883cbaaeda9a0f618bb
- gimp-2.10.20.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- e12f9f874b1a007c4277b60aa81e0b67330be7e6153e5749ead839b902fc7b3c
- gimp-2.10.18.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- 65bfe111e8eebffd3dde3016ccb507f9948d2663d9497cb438d9bb609e11d716
- gimp-2.10.16.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- cbf9fe9534b913a9487b00cd9710cbc569bfd71fdd2f8c321547701a7d70cbeb
- gimp-2.10.14.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- df9b0f11c2078eea1de3ebc66529a5d3854c5e28636cd25a8dd077bd9d6ddc54
- gimp-2.10.12.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- 7d80b58e0784120d57d327294f6a1fda281ff51a61935c2cd764da281acaac71
- gimp-2.10.10.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- 12d1f243265c7aee1f2c6e97883a5c90ddc0b19b4346cf822e24adbb6c998c77
- gimp-2.10.8.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- d849c1cf35244938ae82e521b92b720ab48b8e9ed092d5de92c2464ef5244b9b
- gimp-2.10.6.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- 4ec8071f828e918384cf7bc7d1219210467c84655123f802bc55a8bf2415101f
- gimp-2.10.4.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- ffb0768de14a2631b3d7ed71f283731441a1b48461766c23f0574dce0706f192
- gimp-2.10.2.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- 1cb0baaecdefe44d371a15f2739a1bcbce4682336b4ccf8eb7b587ce52c333eb
- gimp-2.10.0.tar.bz2 (sha256):
- 7fcc96fb88cb0a0595d2610f63a15dec245bb37bf9db527d37a24fb75e547de2
GIMP help files are available at https://download.gimp.org/mirror/pub/gimp/help/.
Please consider using one of the mirrors listed below.
Development snapshots
We now have a separate page for development versions of GIMP.
Want to check out the GIMP development release?
Get it on our development downloads page.
FTP and Web Mirrors
We had a server move a while back that caused us to lose our existing mirrors (moved from physical to virtual server and to an environment that doesn't allow FTP access). On the plus side, we are now able to offer rsync access to download.gimp.org.
Mac Themes For Windows 10 Free
If you are running one of the existing GIMP mirrors, or want to create a new one, please contact us to get your rsync credentials.
How To Download Windows 10 For Mac Free
- https://mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/sites/gimp.org/pub/gimp/
- ftp://mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/gimp.org/pub/gimp/
- rsync://mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/gimp.org/pub/gimp/
- Denmark
- https://mirrors.dotsrc.org/gimp/gimp/
- ftp://mirrors.dotsrc.org/gimp/
- rsync://mirrors.dotsrc.org/gimp/
- Finland
- https://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/mirrors/ftp.gimp.org/
- ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/mirrors/ftp.gimp.org/
- rsync://rsync.nic.funet.fi/ftp/pub/mirrors/ftp.gimp.org/
- France
- http://ftp.iut-bm.univ-fcomte.fr/gimp/
- ftp://ftp.iut-bm.univ-fcomte.fr/gimp/
- rsync://ftp.iut-bm.univ-fcomte.fr/gimp/
- Germany
- https://ftp.fau.de/gimp/gimp/
- ftp://ftp.fau.de/gimp/gimp/
- rsync://ftp.fau.de/gimp/
- https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/grafik/gimp/
- ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/grafik/gimp/
- https://artfiles.org/gimp.org/pub/gimp/
- Greece
- https://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/gimp/
- ftp://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/gimp/
- Japan
- http://www.ring.gr.jp/pub/graphics/gimp/
- Netherlands
- https://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/gimp/gimp/
- ftp://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/gimp/gimp/
- Philippines
- http://mirror.rise.ph/gimp/
- ftp://mirror.rise.ph/gimp/
- Poland
- https://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/graphics/gimp/
- ftp://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/graphics/gimp/
- rsync://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/graphics/gimp/
- gopher://ftp.icm.edu.pl/1/pub/graphics/gimp/
- Sweden
- https://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/gimp/
- ftp://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/gimp
- rsync://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/gimp
- Ukraine
- https://gimp.ip-connect.info/gimp/
- rsync://gimp.ip-connect.info/gimp/
- ftp://gimp.ip-connect.info/mirror/gimp/
- https://mirror.klaus-uwe.me/gimp/gimp/
- ftp://mirror.klaus-uwe.me/gimp/
- rsync://mirror.klaus-uwe.me/gimp/
- United Kingdom
- https://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/
- ftp://ftp.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/
- rsync://rsync.mirrorservice.org/ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/
- United States
- https://mirror.jaleco.com/gimp/gimp/
- https://mirror.umd.edu/gimp/gimp/
- http://gimp.cp-dev.com/
- ftp://devhost.cp-dev.com/gimp
- rsync://gimp.cp-dev.com/gimp
- https://mirrors.syringanetworks.net/gimp/gimp/
- ftp://mirrors.syringanetworks.net/gimp/
- rsync://mirrors.syringanetworks.net/gimp/
- https://mirrors.xmission.com/gimp/gimp/
- ftp://mirrors.xmission.com/gimp/gimp/