How to run Windows XP on an Intel-based Apple Macintosh

“For those unaware, a website titled Windows XP on Mac has been collecting a pool of donations for anyone who could successfully boot Windows XP on an unmodified Intel Mac. The pool grew slowly at first, but as the news of the contest spread, it passed the US$13,000 mark. The first hint that “narf” may have figured it out came in the form of a set of photos on Flickr that seemed to show Windows XP on an iMac of some sort. Next came the videos and an acknowledgement from the contest administrators that a solution had been submitted. And finally, this morning, onmac.net announced that a proposed solution had been found and had been tested successfully. The contest had been won, and it looks like “narf” is about to almost US$14,000 richer,” Clint Ecker reports for Ars Technica.

“The WindowsXP on Mac website has now posted the solution developed by Narf. It is fairly complicated and will probably be a little difficult for novice users to get a handle on, but I’m certain that an easier, more accessible way to deploy this will become available in a relatively short amount of time,” Ecker reports. “The implications of this method of installing Windows XP onto any Apple Mac are exciting, to say the least. Anyone with a little know-how is going to be able to dual boot their machines and have access to a world of applications not yet available on their OS of choice. For most people that means they’ll be playing EVE Online on their iMacs and for others, they’ll finally be able to run a modern PSPICE application on their Mac mini. Apple computers are now the first machines on which you can boot all three major operating systems without (potentially) violating anyone’s EULA (it’s not yet clear whether or not modifying the Windows XP boot CD is technically legal or not). What is for certain is that a more user-friendly manner of getting Windows XP onto Apple’s Intel computers is going to arise from narf’s implementation, and in my opinion, it will be a net benefit for everyone involved.”

More info, instructions, and links here.

Download link for “Windows on the Intel Mac Bootloader” can be found here.

How to install Windows XP on an Intel-based Apple Macintosh: http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/HOWTO

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Related articles:
‘Windows XP on Intel Mac’ contest won – March 16, 2006
Video of Microsoft Windows XP booting on Apple iMac Core Duo? – March 15, 2006
Windows XP booting on an Intel-based Mac? – March 14, 2006
Growing reward pot awaits first person to get Windows XP running on Intel-based Mac – January 24, 2006
Intel-based Macs running both Mac OS X and Windows will be good for Apple – June 10, 2005

80 Comments

  1. I hate Windows, but like many people, there is one particular application that I can’t run on a Mac (Statistical Analysis System also known as SAS in my case). So I welcome this. Perhaps I can disconnect my computer from the Internet when I boot in Windows.

  2. As you can see, it only took someone a few weeks and $14,000.

    Microsoft could have had it done in less time and they have more money at their disposal.

    Microsoft has stated they WONT make a version of Windows for Mac’s, now why not?

    I would love to have a external drive that will boot my Mactel in Windows, to play games and such, I wouldn’t do anything sensitive, but as long as it can work to play games….

  3. When an Windows virus corrupts your hard drive, making it unable to boot from any system, then let me know how wonderful it is to use.

    I use Mac OS X to PREVENT problems. Why on God’s green Earth would someone want to invite a digital molester to live in their attic merely because he can play a few games?

    Buy a cheap Dell for those aps, so you can keep your Mac isolated and have at least one secure system in your home or workplace.

    I still fail to see the purpose behind all of this insanity?

    I really wish I had all of their time and money to waste on such silliness.

  4. It’s simple, you have two external drives with Windows XP on it.

    One you boot from one to run your games etc online on your MacTel box.

    If it gets corrupted by a virus/malware etc. you simply go offline physically, boot from a write protected boot cd and erase the infected drive, hook up the other drive and clone a new copy of XP.

    Forget about running anti-malware programs and paying those fee’s. Just close up those open ports, follow some simple online securing XP instructions and your Mactel XP machine should be fine for several weeks before needing a fresh copy.

  5. In all the excitement I forgot why I want to do this?

    To play games?

    To use XP only software?

    Audocad?

    To view IE only websites?

    Need I say more?

    Your journey to the dark side is almost complete.

    Apple has said they won’t stop anyone from installing Windows on a Mactel

    This is a obvious indication that they plan or want to sell Mac’s with Windows installed in all their stores to sell more hardware.

    Apple is a hardware company, Mac OS X is just the fancy paint job on the hardware.

    People tend to forget that.

    If you think for a minute that Steve Jobs won’t drop Mac OS X to run a version of Windows (XP or Vista) to sell more hardware, your a idiot.

  6. “I can just see the headlines in 6 months
    “Latest News: Macs get hit by massive virus attack”

    then somewhere in the text will be ‘ a Mac computer running WindowsXX”

    EXACTLY! And all the sheeple will just accept even more that computers go hand in hand with viruses, spyware, etc.

    It’s very sad.

  7. Could we get a reality check please? This development means so many things. First some people need windows for particular apps that aren’t available on the mac side of things. It sucks that is that case but we have to deal it. Yes, we all know that windows is not that great and that OSX is better but could we please be a little more objective about the situation. Secondly, it does mean that you need to take precautions now that windows is on the machine. Personally I would use an external drive to keep it in a separate area. Next, this is a security blanket for those that want to dip their toe in the mac waters. Instead of totally taking a dive into an entirely new OS people can have the security of knowing their old companion windows is still there. When I switched I kept my old PC for a while because I was used to it. After time I used the PC less and less until I no longer owned a windows machine. It’s a great way to weem people off of windows and onto OSX. Another positive is when PC people give you a hard time you have a great come back. “Yeah, I can boot windows, OSX, and Linux on my machine.” So much for it being a “toy computer” as so many say. From a technical standpoint what other arguements can they give you. You can run windows on basically the same hardware they do. Their anti-mac agruements are all becoming mute. Finally, those of us that are gamers can finally get titles to play on their machine. I personally am not a gamer but I know many that would never switch to a mac because of the lack of games. They only thing this dual booting thing will do is to bring more people over to the mac side. The dual booting option as well as the switch to intel seems to have been a necessary evil for Apple. The only things that will happen is Macs will be seen in a new light and it’s market share will increas.

  8. Since you need a full version of XP pro and not an upgrade or OEM, Microsoft should officially support running XP on a mac. They should also encourage ATI to write a video driver too. Because all you who think your going to run games on your brand new iMac are obviously not aware that this solution has limited video support…ie. no games or Autocade ect.

    But you know why they won’t? Because once people use OS X and XP together, it will painfully highlight just how inferior Windows is and would speed the adoption of OS X.

    I expect Microsoft to shut down this site. Hurry up and get the download because it won’t be there very long.

  9. I think we all should accept the realization that Vista will most likely be our next operating system.

    Apple is transitioning to be a common PC vendor with all their expensive stores.

    They are in the process of dropping Firewire and making their machines more like PC’s in every aspect.

    Apple can’t possible sustain this sort of retail growth without tapping the huge Windows market.

    Adobe got their taste of the huge Windows market, now Apple did with the iPod and soon will their computers.

    I don’t think Vista will be all that bad, after all Mac OS X has not proven itself all that great, it’s been racked with security problems.

  10. This line shows just how out of touch Ars Technica gets sometime:

    For most people that means they’ll be playing EVE Online on their iMacs and for others, they’ll finally be able to run a modern PSPICE application on their Mac mini.

    Nonsense, for MOST people, this means nothing.

  11. If you think for a minute that Steve Jobs won’t drop Mac OS X to run a version of Windows (XP or Vista) to sell more hardware, your a idiot.

    Ashvillian, you really are a dumb-ass mother fscker.

  12. No way in hell will I run Windows on my iMac. What Apple ought to do is push development of the Wine concept and amke it available for free. I know many people who would switch to Mac in a hearbeat if 1) they could install and run their Windows only applications, and 2) install and run Windows software that they cannot afford to replace just to use a Mac. If Apple is serious about attracting switchers and building market share, they need to do this.

    MW: game. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention 3) games.

  13. For me it’s simple: I currently work in a relatively small industy. For some applications the ISVs sell maybe 2,000 or so copies of their software worldwide. Even if Apple hardware accounted for 10% of the users this would only be 200 copies. Based upon this there are several specialized applications which will never make it to Macintosh.

    The scenario for me is traveling and needing access to these rare applications. Now I will be able to take my Mac laptop with me and still do the analyses I need to do at reasonable performance.

    I’ve been running VPC and it’s a pain. Now I should be able to get full performance by dual booting.

    Hopefully soon there will be a technique out where I can run Mac OS X and Windows concurrently so I can move data back and forth between apps running under the two different OSes. For me, that is the optimum choice.

  14. Mac OS X is not secure in the sense that it doesn’t need constant updates to make it secure much like Windows is.

    Security pros have warned that with the increase of market share of OS X will come more exploits, they are 100% right.

    So if Mac OS X is just the same as Windows security wise, there is really not much difference between the two, except XP is ugly, which Vista will be nicer and more secure.

    I know I’m not going to buy a Mactel machine, I’m going to buy a Vista machine next and run any software I want.

    I think we Mac users should realize the obvious.

  15. Whoa there folks, it’s not like you can just easily pop XP onto your new Core Duo iMac and start playing your games. They said that video support is really bad right now and at best you could play Mine Sweep. Also, things like the built in iSight camera and Apple remote don’t work either.

    That being said, I find it fascinating that some hackers with a relatively small reward in sight were able to breach the BIOS/EFI issue in a matter of weeks.

    Lastly, Ashvillian, are you really that much of a moron or are you just trying to get some attention?

  16. I agree with Beryllium 100%! Running Windows on the Mac is a sin as bad as incest and will dilute Apple’s market share!

    The name of that article should be “How To Ruin A Perfectly Good iMac.” I can’t understand why anyone would do such a thing…probably just to show it could be done. There is no practical application that I can think of. It’s like me putting a lawnmower engine in my new Jeep®.

    The ability (of OS X) to run Windows and Linux apps as one would run Mac OS X apps would be cool and practical.

  17. Mary, Mary quite contrary…

    “Apple can’t possible sustain this sort of retail growth without tapping the huge Windows market.”

    Apple has been tapping the Windoze market for years, and it doesn’t require Apple to throw out one of its greatest assets, OSX!

    “…Mac OS X has not proven itself all that great, it’s been racked with security problems.”

    That’s the most ridiculous piece of steaming FUD I’ve read for some time. I unfortunately have to use XP Pro at work. what crap! Even when installed and maintained by IT professionals it is unstable and flakey!

  18. Ashvillian,

    you said “your a idiot”. Who is here the idiot?
    You manage to make TWO grammatical mistakes in a sentance of just THREE words.

    Try:- ‘you’re an idiot’

    Learn to write English before you call other people an idiot.

  19. Mary needs a clue.. or to stop listening to that dolt Dvorak.. possibly both.
    Apple isn’t going to Windows for crying out loud. They dropped FW800 due to:
    1: The fact that intel mobo’s don’t support it (yet).
    2: Do you have a FW800 device? No, I didn’t think so.
    They dropped FW from the iPod due to more winders people having USB2 and probably MOST not having FW. I believe they had support for both when they first came out (right?) well now they don’t have to include both cables.. one box .. less cost..more profit.

    Just my two “cent”s

  20. I unfortunately have to use XP Pro at work. what crap! Even when installed and maintained by IT professionals it is unstable and flakey!

    That’s XP, Vista is a totally different animal.

    I run a copy here and it’s nice, it’s getting better with every new update.

    It’s about the same as Mac OS X in security and visual quality, and it’s better in the terms of ease of use.

    Your going to like it, trust me.

  21. OK so we are one step to where we really want to be…

    I don’t want XP on my computer, but I would be happy running a WinProg in a window on my Mac in a protected environment that doesn’t threaten OSX.

    This will make OSX the king of all computers and start the BIG switch to Mac that we all know is inevitable…

  22. For all those children belly-aching about Windows being able to install on a Mac stop whining. No one is going to force you too.

    I think this is fantastic news. I will be switching to Mac when the new PowerMacs are available. I will install Windows on it and engage shit eating grin knowing that I now have the machine I have always craved. The security of OSX, FCP Studio, Shake and all my PC apps like combustion and Lightwave that run far better on PC than Mac. I will uninstall Windows when that ceases to be the case. The best of both worlds.

    This is great news for the Mac community and does not represent a threat to OSX over and above what has been there for a very long time.

    If OSX is as good as you all say then what’s to worry? Adobe are probably going to bring Premiere back to the Mac if rumours are correct. That would not have happened with the PPC shit. PPC was never as good as Jobs said it was as the core duo benchmarks have shown.

    Now all Apple needs to do is allow Mac users to buy whatever graphics cards they want.

  23. Peter,

    saying that vista is more secure than XP is not really saying much, now is it?

    I know that Vista will be a poor system for the same reason all the other versions of windows have been, microsoft has to provide backwards compatibility, backwards being the operative word. This means that vista will be ‘new’ with a small ‘n’, still containg thousands of lines of legacy code required to run older software back to the year dot. This explains why with almost limitless resources microsoft always fails to deliver.

  24. VISTA is well on its way to being at least as prone to viruses as XP was.

    And your running a copy I presume?

    Microsoft has addressed the problems that made XP a continous security issue.

    Vista will be like Mac OS X, it will have a occassional security problem, but it won’t stay in that condition long enough to be useful to anyone for very long.

    Vista will be a serious blow to Mac OS X, that’s why Apple is entertaining the idea of selling Mac’s with the option of either Vista or Mac OS X.

    Apple sells hardware.

  25. Things that are useless:
    1. XP on a Mac
    2. Tits on a bull
    3. Penthouse subscription for a priest
    4. Acting lessons for Paris Hilton
    5. Stilts for Yao Ming
    6. A low fat diet plan for RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser
    7. Explaining to George Bush that the word is pronounced nu-kyu-ler
    8. The IRS
    9. cosmetics for Salma Hayek
    10. Declaring first post

  26. Apple does not simply sell hardware. Apple sells an integrated computing experience. Divorcing software from hardware in their model is like seperating the brain and heart in the human body — see, look, breathing continues without the brain, so thus it’s not really needed.

    Most people understand the iPod requires iTunes to be so successful, and vice versa. I consider Mac hardware and OS X to have the same crucial, unbreakable relationship.

  27. Peter: “your running a copy”

    My running is a copy? I get it. You’re saying I run like Bill Rodgers.

    “. . . that’s why Apple is entertaining the idea of selling Mac’s with the option of either Vista or Mac OS X.”

    Stop bogarting the joint, man. Uncool.

  28. Two of the funniest quotes ever on these threads:

    “Mac OS X is just the fancy paint job . . . “

    and

    “. . . Mac OS X has not proven itself all that great, it’s been racked with security problems.”

    Oh man, my sides hurt from laughing. There’s some powerful weed being passed around out there.

    Any takers on the bet that Peter and Mary are the same person?

    MW: children. Apropos.

  29. Anyone else think that recent trollers “Peter”, Paul”, “Mary”, and “Ashvillian” are all the same person who used to post as “MacDude”?

    I’d further guess that this person is twelve years old and should really be in school.

  30. shadowself – “For me it’s simple: I currently work in a relatively small industy. For some applications the ISVs sell maybe 2,000 or so copies of their software worldwide. Even if Apple hardware accounted for 10% of the users this would only be 200 copies. Based upon this there are several specialized applications which will never make it to Macintosh.

    The scenario for me is traveling and needing access to these rare applications. Now I will be able to take my Mac laptop with me and still do the analyses I need to do at reasonable performance.

    I’ve been running VPC and it’s a pain. Now I should be able to get full performance by dual booting.”

    So, the maximum potential increased number of Macs sold due to this particular specialized software would 1800 (2000 – 200) if I follow your reasoning. That’s assuming all people requiring this obviously expensive software would actually make the switch to Mac now that they can run this via dual-booting Windows. Hardly a drop in the bucket marketsharewise for Apple, really…

  31. Well Mary, whoever you are, I’m forced to suffer Windows XP at work, maintained by an IT Department which is so neurotic and paranoid, we can’t even have a decent web browser like Firefox because it might corrupt the OS or network. What bollocks!

    Sit in front of that abortion of an OS all day, every day and the shortcomings quickly become apparent. There’s no automation or scripting ability across applications and the OS. The interface is butt-ugly regardless whether its XP or Vista. Even applications from the same vendor and from the same family – MS Office – have only the most rudimentary integration. XP constantly annoys me with bubble help popups – “you have icons hidden in your task bar”, “click here to start” – no f*cking kidding! Or it gives me error messages which simply don’t make any sense.

    Security in Windows is a joke. It was always been a joke and it will always be a very expensive joke.

    If I’m ever permitted to telecomute for work, the best solution for me would be to have WinXP (uuurgggh!) running in a virtual machine on my Intel Mac, so I can switch willy-nilly between all apps from with OS X. But I’ll want that bastard OS from MS thoroughly contained and quarantied for my real OS.
    Actually, there’s only three apps I need Windows for – TravelLink (until a browser based solution is adopted), Outlook and Access.

  32. “Apple has said they won’t stop anyone from installing Windows on an Intel Mac”

    But will they help that poor sucker when their HD takes a shit because of a windows worm? I hope they don’t.

    That money should go to the developers of Darwine, not this guy.

    I’m going to keep pushing wine until it’s finished. Granted, this is a step in the right direction in terms of getting Windows apps on Apple hardware, but nobody (and i mean NOBODY) who uses a Mac wants the OS (and any other crap like that) that unfortunately comes with it.

    That’s why Darwine is such a good idea. No Windows- totally OS X, just the apps happen to not be for it. Anything that does that is a good idea. That’s where the 13K should be ivested.

  33. Umm… let’s not rush to firing our guns into the air just yet. That the OS installs and boots doesn’t yet mean it can actually run any apps.

    This solution satisfies the contest rules (presuming no hoax in play), so the guy is entitled to his cash prize. Huzzah!

    But let’s get feedback from people who’ve actually done it and installed some programs.. does it work? How fast? C’mon.. SOME of you guys must be secretly delighted to hear the news, and LOTS of you ran out and bought the stupid MacBooks and minis and whatnot. So — let’s hear it!?

  34. From the article:
    “It is fairly complicated and will probably be a little difficult for novice users to get a handle on”

    In other words, only the hardest core geeks already running Linux on their Macs & OS X on their PC’s will want to, or even be able to, do it.

    Like climbing Everest, I see absolutely no practical reason for booting Windows on a Mac. Maybe it’s the challenge that fixates people. Hurray that someone’s finally done it, let’s all have a cookie.

    As for the arguments for Windows on a Mac:

    “To play games?”
    Get a PlayStation or a PC. And what was that line about Macs being toys?

    “To use XP only software?”
    What’s PC-only and relevant? If there’s an app you just gotta have, get a PC.

    “To view IE only websites?”
    Mac IE is still available. If that isn’t good enough for a given site, screw ’em.

    “Need I say more?”
    Yes. Why would I want to shut down Mac OS X, just to turn my Mac into a hacked, unsupported PC clone? PC’s are cheap, come with Windows, and make a great stepping stone to Mac. Windows is miserable enough; why pull hairs hacking it onto an alien platform?

  35. To “Software Developer”:

    “Want to run our software? Boot Windows.

    End of discussion.”

    Want to sell your software? Be customer focused. What a pigheaded attitude you have! My your company drown in the wake of someone with vision.

  36. To “Software Developer”:

    “Want to run our software? Boot Windows.

    End of discussion.”

    Want to sell your software? Be customer focused. What a pigheaded attitude you have! May your company drown in the wake of someone with vision.

  37. “…after all Mac OS X has not proven itself all that great, it’s been racked with security problems.” -Mary

    Ha ha ha!!!
    That was funny – you freakin’ troll! Let’s not forget the 650,000+ pc viruses. Talk about racked with security porblems.

    PC users – they’re just mad ‘cuz they ‘wuz had!

  38. “Want to sell your software? Be customer focused. What a pigheaded attitude you have!”

    Like it or not, 90% of potential customers run Windows. In today’s world of Wal-Mart business ethics, deploying only to the big target makes sense (look at it from a cold-blooded bean counter’s point of view).

    Jimmymac, why don’t you ring up your CEO, call him a pighead, and tell him he has to deploy to a minority platform that’s being made to run Windows anyway. You’d be booted out the door within minutes.

    Thank God this Windows-on-Mac thing is an unofficial hack. Anything more would seriously clip third-party Mac software.

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