Forum Discussion

Stephennen's avatar
Stephennen
Bronze Contributor
Oct 16, 2025

Install Windows 11 on Mac without bootcamp and virtual machine?

Hi everyone, Long time Mac users and need some help from Microsoft community as they are many experts for Windows OS. I just bought a new MacBook Pro m4 and my old MacBook Pro 2018 will be retired....
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NKal4CC's avatar
NKal4CC
Copper Contributor
Jun 23, 2026

Unfortunately, you can't install Windows 11 on any M-series Mac, even if you use a Windows on ARM ISO, because Snapdragon chips or QUALCOMM ARM processors are NOT the same as Apple's proprietary M-series model. Secondly, it is highly unadvised to install Windows 11 reliably on any Mac without Boot Camp, because this software provides the drivers, post-install cleanup, and firmware modifications to ensure Windows 11 can even boot on your system.

 

I know a lot of replies here from more experienced users are more detailed and helpful, but I just want to let you know that this is not possible, and Boot Camp is designed to let you dual boot macOS and Windows. Removing macOS entirely is risky and requires extra manual steps, such as removing the startup disk, and most importantly, Boot Camp has to modify the EFI to let Windows 11 even boot. If you don't do this, you will have to set up an EFI partition yourself, and without Boot Camp installing drivers, a lot of features will not work as intended.