Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Boot Camp Requirements
Boot Camp comes with Mac Pro, but you can only use it to dual-boot with Windows
if you have a copy of Windows to install. Specifically, you need the full installation
version (the upgrade version does not work) for Windows 8 or one of the following
versions of Windows 7: Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate version. You must
install the 64-bit version of Windows. The Windows installation can be either be a
DVD (in which case you must connect a DVD drive to Mac Pro) or an ISO disk im-
age.
Boot Camp Preparation
Mac Pro needs to have enough room on its hard drive to create a partition big
enough to hold Windows and whatever Windows applications you plan on using. At
a bare minimum, your Mac Pro hard drive needs about 20GB free to install a 64-bit
version of Windows 7 or Windows 8. Before beginning the process of installing Win-
dows on Mac Pro, check your hard drive free space and clear some space, if neces-
sary. Also, it is a good idea to run a Time Machine backup before you install Win-
dows.
Guard Against Malware
Although writers of viruses and other malware do not often target Macs, they regu-
larly target Windows, so after you have completed the installation of Windows you
should install a top-of-the-line antivirus program. Some examples are Norton Inter-
net Security (
www.symantec.com
)
, McAfee Internet Security Suite (
ht-
tp://mcafee.com
), Microsoft Security Essentials (
www.microsoft.com/security/pc-se-
curity/mse.aspx
), and avast! antivirus (
http://avast.com
). If you do catch a virus or
other form of malware on Windows, note that it is not possible for the malware to
also infect your Mac, although it could delete data from your hard drive.
