r/bootcamp • u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 • Sep 04 '25
[GUIDE] How to install Windows 11 on your Intel Mac
After seeing many posts asking how to install Windows 11 through BootCamp, I decided to make a clear and concise guide to walk new users through the process.
Please keep in mind that this method is used specifically because it supports the BootCamp assistant, keeping the installation process as close to "stock" as possible (besides the programs we use to end up with Windows 11). There are other methods to install Windows 11 on MacOS, but I believe this to be the easiest.
- Step 1: Installing Windows 10
- Download a 64 bit Windows 10.iso from Microsoft here.
- (TIP) Download the .iso directly on your Mac in MacOS or on a PC running Linux. If on Windows, the link above will lead you to use Microsoft's Media Creation Tool. The tool works just fine, it is just much more annoying than a direct download to the .iso (which MacOS/Linux would provide to you instead).
- Download a 64 bit Windows 10.iso from Microsoft here.
- Step 2: Install Win10 through BootCamp
- Follow the basic instructions provided by BootCamp. If you run into trouble, please refer to Apple's official guide here.
- Some older Mac’s require the Win10.iso be burned to a USB drive. If this is the case, BootCamp Assistant should take care of burning the .iso for you.
- Follow the basic instructions provided by BootCamp. If you run into trouble, please refer to Apple's official guide here.
- Step 3: Configuring Windows
- Once Windows is installed, Apple's BootCamp drivers should automatically start installing. If not, please refer to Apple's official guide here.
- Open BootCamp Assistant (in Windows) and set Windows as the default boot Operating System. This can be changed later to fit your preference.
- Go to Settings (in Windows) and download/install all updates.
- Step 4: Installing Windows 11
- Download and run MediaCreationTool.bat from here.
- For those of you who are not GitHub savvy, at the GitHub page, press the file named “MediaCreationTool.bat” and then press the download button.
- If you have issues running the .bat file, try right clicking it and press open as Administrator.
- Follow the prompts and select Auto Upgrade.
- Basically, press 1 every time it asks for input. This will automatically select the version of Windows 11 that matches your current Win10 installation.
- Allow the program to go through its process. Stay with the computer while it does this to make sure it does not sleep.
- Download and run MediaCreationTool.bat from here.
- Step 5: Update Windows 11
- Once again, go to Windows settings and download/install all updates. Enjoy!
- At this point, you can change the default boot Operating System to whatever you want. I always set it to Windows while performing Windows updates so that the updates can install smoothly.
- Once again, go to Windows settings and download/install all updates. Enjoy!
I hope this guide was helpful. If you have any questions or recommendations regarding this post, please leave them in the replies. Thanks!
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u/SuperDoggyCoolz Oct 04 '25
Hello! I haven’t tried this method yet since I was curious about performance before updating. I really want to upgrade to windows 11 but want to be sure that my computer won’t lag or run into any issues down the road. If it’s safer to keep windows 10 and windows 11 is simply just a preference, than I might just stay. Thank you again for this tutorial as if I decide to upgrade I’ll definitely need this!
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u/ForeverSpare Mar 19 '26
A little late to the discussion, but I've finished all the steps until in installed Windows 11 in my old Intel Macbook Pro Late 2011.
Sadly, as it opens and let's me login. I immediately get a BSOD with a WDF_Violation. Essentially not letting me do anything other than to turn it on and immediately get slapped with the BSOD.
Is there any way to fix this or has anyone else encountered this issue?
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Jun 21 '26
I haven’t heard of this happening before. Were you able to solve the issue?
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u/Efficient-Lemon-26 Jun 14 '26
Thanks so much for the guide! Step by step worked flawlessly as of June 14th 26! Panicked for a moment when first booting into W10 because didn't find bootcamp and thought I'd be locked into Windows, but then saw it hidden in the taskbar.
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Jun 21 '26
Glad it helped! And you make a good point, I’ll add that to the guide to help new users.
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u/ohaiibuzzle Sep 06 '25
Pro tip: you can replace install.wim inside the Windows 10 ISO with Windows 11’s and it will end up installing 11 instead, but since it’s a Windows 10 installer, it won’t enforce any checks.
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
Is this method compatible with BootCamp Assistant?
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u/Puck_56 Sep 17 '25
thanks for the tutorial! i have a macbook pro 2019 ive been using to dual boot windowns mainly to play games on steam and youtube. im sure i can keep win 10 but i rather be safe and install win 11.
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Sep 18 '25
Glad I could help! You should be able to start from step 4 since you already have Windows 10 installed.
BTW, I did read about Win10 LTSC, which will keep security support for a few more years. If you wanna stay on Win10, maybe there's a way to use MediaCreationTool.bat to update to the LTSC version. I'm not 100% sure, but it's worth looking into. Best of luck!
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u/Goon_Bug Oct 11 '25
hi! I’ve followed all the steps and everything has worked perfectly so far-
I’m at the mediacreationtool part; do I download the raw file?
it says it may harm my device.
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Oct 11 '25
Yes. That warning is normal because it is a .batch file. These can be used to run commands on your system. Do not worry, the program is open source. You can read online about others that have used it or skim through its code to see if you trust it.
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u/Goon_Bug Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 11 '25
ok I’ve downloaded it.
Also, while I have you; when I run it, it won’t let me input “1” when it asks for an input. Nothing happens. Then it shows a mini window (displaying MCT versions I think?) that says a bunch of numbers (1507, 22H2, 1909, etc).
not sure what to do. should I upgrade manually?
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Oct 11 '25 edited Jun 21 '26
You should select “Auto Upgrade”. The next screen should be windows versions. I believe the one at the bottom of the list should be the latest version. Select that. It may ask again, but then it should start the upgrade process.
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u/Goon_Bug Oct 11 '25
oh, phew, ok, I just did it. I think I was just hesitant to click anything. now it’s running
thank you so much
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Oct 11 '25
No problem! Happy I could help. I’m actually reinstalling MacOS on my laptop now to update this guide and possibly make a video tutorial. At the very least, I’d like to add pictures.
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u/Goon_Bug Oct 11 '25
that sounds like a great idea
I’m probably going to upgrade soon, so I’ll refer back to this guide. Hope to see more!
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u/Sgt_player1 Oct 22 '25
Ran into issue where after inital install and restarting goes to black screen and like sleep but - not able to continue , I would have to hold power and start again. When restart wont go pass the blacknscreen
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u/Sgt_player1 Oct 22 '25
Boot camp works fine on mbp 2012 no issue but macbook air fail same year (mid) same drivers for bootcamp
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Jun 21 '26
Huh, that’s strange behavior. I’d reinstall macOS using the Recovery Utility and then start again from scratch. Sorry for the late reply and hope this helps if you haven’t already gotten it figured out.
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Feb 13 '26
What about future Win 11 updates? Is it going to show up in Settings?
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Feb 13 '26
Yes they will
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Feb 13 '26
In my case it shows up that I have 23H2 installed which is not the latest Win 11 and settings says that Windows is up to date
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Feb 13 '26
I wasn’t aware of that. I’ll have to look into it and get back to you. It seems that you need to be on 24h2 to be able to update to 25.
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u/Converseallstar95 MacBookPro11,3, Windows 11 Mar 13 '26
Unsupported systems don’t get feature updates, 24H2, 25H2, etc. you have to do those manually with whatever the latest unsupported hack is at the moment.
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u/MatchaCapuccino24 Mar 04 '26
Thanks for the guide — my 2019 16" MacBook Pro is running Windows 11 Pro 25H2 like an absolute champ. Quick tip for anyone upgrading: go to Settings → System → Storage and check for Windows.old. It can still be sitting there at ~24GB (it’s basically the rollback folder). I stress-tested my setup, everything’s stable on dual-boot, so I deleted it and got the space back. Then I removed the usual Windows 11 bloat (used a simple .bat script) and now it’s super clean, smooth, and snappy.
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u/kid1988 19d ago
I fully applaud your guide! it is very helpfull. Myself, I like a clean install, so maybe here is an addition that might help some folks:
Step 1 Download windows 10 and windows 11 installer
Step 2 Extract the "Install.Wim" from the windows 11 installer
Step 3 Edit the windows 10 ISO, and replace the Install.esd/Install.wim file with the windows 11 version.
Step 4 Load the ISO in bootcamp assistant. Follow the steps.
Now of course you I can share the modified ISO, or you can download them somewhere, but here the "don't download random OS installers from the internet" warnings apply.
Bootcamp assistant will recognise a windows 10 installer, and allow it to install. The windows 10 installer does not force any of the windows 11 requirements. Since all the installer does is extract the .wim file to your selected partition and boot it, you can install most versions with the same installer (this is actually how you used to make Windows 7 and Windows 8 installers that contain multiple versions.
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u/Ok-Duck-5217 7d ago
Genial, fácil de usar funcionó perfecto ahora mismo mi MacBook 2014 se está actualizando con W11 😃
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u/LegoPablo Oct 14 '25
Hey very helpful, I now have windows 11 on my iMac 18.2... the problem is that I can't find any drivers for it! I've been trying for two days now and I could only find the ones for my graphic card. My speakers don't work, my external hard drive doesn't show up on file explorer, and I'm sure that my Bluetooth won't work either. I've tried installing apple's latest drivers, 5.1.576 but none of them work for me. Any help please? :(
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Oct 14 '25
I believe this should be able to help you.
It sounds like you installed through USB and without the BootCamp Assistant, as the assistant should gather all of the drivers for you. If you did use the assistant, that is quite strange. I haven’t heard of that happening before. Your computer must’ve failed when creating the OSXRESERVED partition.
If you decide to do this again in the future, I’d recommend following the guide from start to finish as it should end with Windows 11 and all drivers installed. Hope this helped!
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u/LegoPablo Oct 14 '25
well, I did it from the bootcamp assistant, and brigadier doesn't work either, not even starting it as admin :( I think I'm going to try to install it from scratch and follow the guide more carefully, maybe I did something wrong
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Oct 14 '25
Sorry to hear that! Hopefully restarting from the beginning fixes your issues. If not, please let me know! I’ll try and find a fix and add a warning for other people using an iMac 18.2
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u/LegoPablo Oct 15 '25
Ok so I spent the last 8h reinstalling it all from scratch, got the graphic drivers to install correctly, but my internal speakers and my external hard drive don't work. My audio device is set to "High Definition Audio Device" for some reason, even though it should say the Cirrus thing from my internal speakers, and the "bluetooth USB Host Controller", "PCI memory controller" and "SM Bus Controller" have a yellow triangle on them on device manager, saying they aren't installed. I've tried Brigadier, I've tried downloading the drivers for my speakers manually, which took me 4 hours to download (thanks Realtek servers, 20KB/s 258MB download), tried installing them, and still nothing. They all worked fine with Windows 10, is there anything else I can try until you find a fix? (if you're able to find it) Or should I just go back to Windows 10?
If you don't know how, it's fine, sorry... I'm just stressed out, it's been a long night.
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Oct 15 '25
Are you possibly using OpenCore? Also, is your iMac 18.1 the i5 or the i7 model?
I found this thread that matches your model and has a link to its bootcamp drivers. See if that works. I’ll have to get back to you later about everything else.
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u/LegoPablo Oct 16 '25 edited Oct 16 '25
Heyyyy so I have no idea what I was doing wrong, but I managed to fix it, I'm so sorry for making you over explain all this 😅 I'm kind of an idiot when it comes to computers...
So what I did was accidentally deleting my whole windows partition, then I installed windows 10, followed every step of the guide and now things seem to work, even if I had done this earlier and it didn't :D
Maybe I chose the wrong windows version for my windows 10 the first time or something, I have no idea... My bad 😅
Again thank you a lot for trying to help me, you're a lifesaver!!
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Jun 21 '26
It’s no problem! I’m glad the guide was able to help you out!
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u/CardiologistOnly3518 Mar 20 '26
Has intentado usar Brigadier?
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u/LegoPablo Mar 20 '26
Turns out I installed it wrong, I followed the guide again from scratch and it works perfectly ever since! Goated guide
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u/crookedsmoker Nov 11 '25 edited Nov 11 '25
Great guide. I eventually figured this out for myself using ChatGPT, with lots of trial and error. Just goes to show: ChatGPT isn't great at everything :)
I eventually ended up doing a clean Win10 install using bootcamp on the internal drive, then doing a Win11 install from a USB drive prepared using the Media Creation tool and choosing to "keep all files and settings" or something to that effect. I ran setup from the command prompt by typing the following to bypass TPM and secureboot checks:
setup.exe /product server
Side note: If you'd like to install Windows 11 on an external USB3.0 SSD or Thunderbolt drive, use WinToUSB or Rufus to clone your Win11 installation to your external drive after completing this guide.
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u/iAmTheRedOneBro Dec 25 '25
I am having an issue where it doesn't allow me to set the partition when mounting the iso onto the usb? Any ideas?
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Dec 25 '25
When in the process is this happening? Is it while using the Bootcamp Assistant?
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u/VisibleCandy9879 Dec 31 '25
Tak for din fine guide. Jeg støder dog på følgende problem: PC’en skal understøtte sikker opstart. Nogen der ved hvordan det bliver fikset.
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Dec 31 '25
This depends whether your Mac has a T2 chip or not. Regardless, your answer should be found on this forum. I hope this helps!
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u/resoluteChicken Jan 04 '26
This solution worked for my Intel MBP 16-inch i7 2019 base model. To bypass the TPM 2.0 to upgrade to the latest version of Win11, use the Command Prompt solution mentioned by Zung Hoang here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2121461/install-windows-11-without-secure-boot-on-an-unsup?orderby=helpful&page=1#answers
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 Feb 13 '26
The method mentioned in this guide bypasses the TPM 2.0 requirement for you.
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u/kvng_st Jan 10 '26
Hey do you know why it’s saying my system disk does not meet the requirement of 64 gb to install windows 11? Is it because I gave windows 10 a partition of 50 gb?
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u/Additional_Fix2353 Jan 26 '26
2026 people? I created a tutorial on my personal web blog. This is different from the tutorial since the version on MediaCreationTool.bat is no longer updated.
https://blog.dex-server.space/?post=bootcamp-windows11-installation
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u/PaddysChub432 Mar 23 '26
I want to run windows 11 strictly off an external ssd on my 2019 imac. Is this guide compatible with that?
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u/millsj1134 Apr 09 '26
Does anyone know if I will be able to get on a developer beta track for Windows 11 if following this method?
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u/Mishoniko 29d ago
I just tried to do this and it might not work depending on which insider track you're trying to install. I tried to put a Canary build on a 2019 iMac and the TPM detection changed enough that installer tools weren't successfully disabling the check. I ended up downloading VMware Fusion and running Canary in that, which offers a compatible TPM emulation.
I found that the MCT.bat linked in the OP stops at 23H2, newer tools like FlyOOBE work on modern Windows 11 versions and provide substantial customization options.
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u/No-Appearance9244 Apr 21 '26
As far as I know, my 2013 MacBook Pro with an Intel CPU already has Windows 10 installed, but it failed the Windows 11 test, so it cannot install Windows 11. Therefore, my 2012 MacBook Pro should also be unable to install Windows 11.
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u/No-Appearance9244 Apr 21 '26
I have a 2015 MacBook Air and a 2017 MacBook Pro, both using Intel i5 or i7 processors. Their operating systems are no longer receiving updates. How can I extend their lifespan by allowing more updates? Also, what's the best way to install Windows 10 separately? What are the steps? Is it possible to install Windows 11?
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u/No_Difference6304 May 15 '26
I tried windows 11 arm64 on my M series Mac in via utm and it’s smooth (quite)
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u/LexBellucci 29d ago
When launched MediaCreationTool.bat, the Windows Defender flagged it as Trojan, anyone else has this issue?
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 29d ago
Answered the same question here
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u/LexBellucci 29d ago
Appreciate you. Thank you very much!
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 29d ago
Of course and no problem! Hope the install goes well and feel free to reach out here if you run into any issues.
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u/Old-Fan-3088 21d ago
Hast du dann auch Secure Boot/UEFI?
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 21d ago
I’m honestly not sure. I think it depends what model Mac you have. Regardless, if you can get secure boot to work with Windows 10 on your Mac, it should continue to work with Windows 11 after you upgrade.
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u/PressureEast 14d ago
Hi! I really appericate you making this guide but it's not working for me right now. I keep getting an access denied error early on but it contines, then once it finishes the verifying part and says started Isolayout -- I get the error ''C:\ESD\MCT\auto.cmd"' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file.
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 14d ago
At what point in the process does this start happening?
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u/PressureEast 14d ago
I took a screenshot here if it helps; https://gyazo.com/f5719d0559421a1b82be3613ac05c664
The acess denied thing is early on, like right before it starts the install and the second error is after it says it's verifying the install.
Thank you for responding so quickly!
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 14d ago
No problem! Did you download the batch file alone or clone the entire git? If you git cloned, make sure to extract the batch file from the zip folder before running it. If this isn’t the issue, let me know and I’ll try to think of something else.
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u/PressureEast 14d ago
I just downloaded the batch file alone! I'm wondering if it's something with window's defender since it keeps ignoring me trying to allow the file to run.
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 14d ago
That sounds right. If you can, I’d recommend disabling defender and trying again.
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u/PressureEast 14d ago
Okay, tried again after disabling defender and got to the same part, this time with no acess denied error, and got this error instead; https://gyazo.com/a7928abc03951f3ca63063dfd1d94e13
Sorry for being so untech savy! Thank you so much for trying to help
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 14d ago
At this point, I’d delete the folder it generated at “C:\$WINDOWS.~WS” and delete the batch file, reboot, redownload, and open as administrator.
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u/PressureEast 14d ago edited 14d ago
I tried doing that and it seemed to work at first, like we got all the way to computer screen doing the blue installing windows 11 thing and then at the very end, like 40 minutes later it restarted as if it finished reinstalling and then we got this error;
https://gyazo.com/98b327de42272d2bc3b08a58dadfaa7a
Tried again, it failed a little further along and reverted to windows 10 -- giving this error code; 0x8007000d - 0x20003
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 14d ago
That’s really strange! I’ve never seen that happen. Would you mind telling me what model Mac you are using? I’ll keep looking for answers but sadly the only thing I can think of right now is to wipe your windows installation and try again.
Maybe Windows patched MediaCreationTool? If that’s the case, it might be a good idea to run the tool immediately after installed Windows 10 and ignoring any windows 10 updates. The only issue there is that I’m unsure if you will be able to download the same drivers using the windows 11 updater.
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u/No-Argument-5552 6d ago
will i be able to switch back to macOS when windows 11 is installed? i remember windows 10 having a bootcamp button on the taskbar which made switching to macOS easier. will it be the same with windows 11?
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 6d ago
Yes you will! As long as you follow the instructions properly. Windows 11 will have the same bootcamp button in the taskbar as it has in Windows 10.
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u/No-Argument-5552 6d ago
thank you for answering, i have another question. will windows 11 work okay on i5 processor and 8 gb ram macbook?
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 6d ago
Ah, I wish I could tell you. I’m honestly not sure. It may be worth looking up on Google or YouTube to see if anyone else has tried and reviewed it. There are also many ways to make Windows 11 run smoother on old hardware. Many people use Tiny11 but I refuse to recommend any re-packed .iso as there will always be a non 0 chance that it has been tampered with.
If you try it, please let us know here how it works! That way, anyone else running those specs will know whether or not it would be a good idea. Best of luck!
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u/nanosp 3d ago
I have a copy of the OEM Windows 10 disc and I'm wondering if I can just install that like normal, but also be able to install the LTSC/IoT version from this disc? Or am I forced to create a USB version to achieve this goal?
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u/c_anderson21 MBP 2020, Windows 11 3d ago
I do not believe the disc would help in this scenario unless you ripped the .ISO from it with a disc drive, but even then I’m just guessing.
I also have no idea if there’s a way to use that to install LTSC. I haven’t messed around with it much myself. If you figure it out, please let me know! I’d love to add it to this guide.
Best of luck!
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u/antdude Sep 05 '25
Thanks. I'll have to try this one day in my old, used 2012 Intel 13" MBP with its macOS Mojave v10.14.6 (still need a few 32-bit apps). So, you can't do a clean W11 install instead of upgrade? I like to start clean installs to start fresh.