installing windows 11 on mac book pro 13, is it possible?

By Ramy, 3 January, 2024

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

I've macbook pro 13 and i need to make windows 11 on it, is it possible?
Also, how can i do a fresh mac install with downloaded os, not by downloading from the internet?
i've allready the copy on my hard disk, so, do not want to download again.

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By Abdulaziz Faqihi on Friday, December 29, 2023 - 17:41

no. this is not possible. But you can install it on virtual machine

By Ramy on Friday, December 29, 2023 - 17:41

Can u tell me how?

By Ramy on Friday, December 29, 2023 - 17:41

how can i bypass these things? will i need sited assistance?

By Chris on Friday, December 29, 2023 - 17:41

I have a 2013 13-inch MacBook Air, and this works, so I imagine anything up to the 2020 Intel MacBook Pro will work. Before we get started, you'll need a few things. First is a Windows 11 ISO, which can be downloaded directly from Microsoft.
https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11
You'll also want a USB headset or other USB sound device. While this isn't necessary after the drivers are installed, you'll need it before they are, as Windows doesn't come with the audio drivers by default. This may not be necessary on newer machines, but it is on mine, and it's better to be safe than sorry. Finally, you'll want at least a 16 GB USB drive, though I recommend having 2. One will store the Windows installer, and the other will hold the drivers.
Next, go into Boot Camp Assistant, and check the menu bar. I forget exactly where it is, but there should be a place to download the Windows Support Software. Choose a place to save it such as your Documents folder, and wait for the download to complete. These are the drivers you'll need to install once Windows is installed, so make sure you copy them to your other external drive.
Now, you can either choose to use the entire Mac drive for Windows, or manually partition the disk. Last I checked, the slider to adjust the partition size in Boot Camp Assistant isn't accessible with VoiceOver, and Apple has no plans to fix it. That's okay, because we're not going to use BootCamp Assistant at all.
Open Disk Utility and partition your drive. Windows needs at least 64 GB, but I recommend 128 if you can spare it. If you'd prefer to erase the entire Mac drive, this step can be skipped entirely, as the Windows installer will do it for you. Don't worry about naming or formatting the partition to anything specific, just use Disk Utility to create it. The Windows installer will do the rest.

The next part of the process might be a little tricky. You'll have to make the install drive. Format one of your 16 GB flash drives as FAT32, and make sure the scheme is set to GUID. All modern Intel Macs support UEFI, and this is what you want to install. Next, use the restore feature to restore the Windows 11 ISO file to the flash drive. This should work, though I haven't personally tried this. Still, the restore process should create an exact copy of the installer on the drive, which should make it bootable. If you have a Windows machine, you can use Rufus to create the bootable drive, and I know this works for sure. It's also much easier. Rufus is an awesome program!

With all the preparation done, here's where things get fun! Since my Mac doesn't have the T2 chip, I can hold the Option key at startup, press right arrow once, and press enter to boot the installer. If you have a Mac with the T2 chip, you'll need to boot into macOS Recovery and set the startup policy in the Startup Security Utility to either allow booting from external drives, or disable the security entirely. I don't know how this works, as I don't have a modern Mac, but this is most likely necessary to allow you to boot from the flash drive.

Once you're booted, make sure you have your USB audio device connected. I recommend doing this before you boot. Press Control Windows Enter or Control Command Enter in this case to start Narrator, and you should hear it start talking. At this point, you'll need to modify the Registry to bypass the TPM and Secure Boot checks. Press Shift F10, type regedit, and press enter. In here, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup, and create a new key under Setup called LabConfig. Under LabConfig, create 2 Dword keys called BypassTPMCheck and BypassSecureBootCheck, and set each value to 1. If you prefer, there's a registry file that can do this automatically, making it far less likely you'll make mistakes. Let me know if you want it. I forget where I got it, but it's safe, as I use it all the time. Essentially, you're modifying the Registry in the installer to ignore the checks, which will let you install the OS. If you used Rufus to create the drive, you can bypass all these steps by checking a few checkboxes.

After that's done, close the Registry Editor with Alt F4, and continue with the installation. When you get to the place to choose a disk, either format the partition you created, or erase all partitions if you intend to turn the computer into a dedicated Windows laptop. If you go for the second option, it's possible to get macOS back by either using an external install drive, or booting into Internet Recovery. Internet Recovery will require sighted assistance to select the Wi-Fi network, but once the recovery image is downloaded, you can use VoiceOver.

Once installation is done, you'll be taken to the OOBE or Out of Box Experience where you configure your network, user account, etc. We're going to bypass a couple more draconian requirements. We're going to bypass the mandatory connection to the Internet, as this probably won't work until the drivers for Wi-Fi are installed. As a plus, you'll also bypass the mandatory Microsoft account nonsense. Once you've booted into OOBE, press Shift F10 and type oobe\bypassnro exactly as shown into the Command Prompt. This will cause the computer to reboot, but this time, you can go through the setup process without connecting to Wi-Fi or signing into Microsoft.
Once you've landed on the desktop, run setup.exe in the Boot Camp driver folder you saved earlier. This might take a few minutes to install, but once done, reboot. Your Wi-Fi, sound, and many other things should work. Connect to Wi-Fi, check Apple Software Update for any updates, and install any Windows updates as well.

I know this is a lot, but blame Microsoft for making it a royal pain to get Windows 11 working on hardware that's perfectly usable. There are a couple final notes. Since this is technically unsupported, the drivers may stop working at any time. I think they're written for Windows 10, so it's lucky things haven't changed that much. Second, you'll need to manually perform upgrades to new major versions of 11 using downloaded installation media. Microsoft won't offer these versions via Windows Update, though the regular monthly patches will work just fine. I'm talking about new major versions such as 22H2, 23H2, 24H2, etc.

By Ramy on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

Hello and Thanks so much for this very detailed explnation.
just need to ask some questions please:
1- can you send me this registery key please?
2- my mac now is almost full, and am thinking of making a fresh mac install before doing my windows thing, should i format before this or what?
3- I have a windows 10 serial, so, will it work on widnows 11? is there away to be sure of this? or i should install widnows 10 first then upgreade to 11?

sorry for alll my questions, but am far from windows from a long time, so, need to know some information.
Thanks in advance

By Justin Harris on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

Hello, I found it easier to install Windows 10 first then upgrade, but that’s up to you. Your license should work.

By Ramy on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

i'll do win 10 now, but same steps? or any difference?

By Tyler on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

The installation of Windows 10 on an Intel-based Mac should be more straightforward, as it doesn't require modification of the Registry to bypass preinstallation checks, nor does it require an Internet connection or Microsoft account to proceed through the OOBE.. However, I believe the upgrade to Windows 11 won't work until the Registry modifications are made.

By Chris on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

You should either free up space or perform a clean macOS install before continuing. The steps to install Windows 10 are the same, except you don't need to modify the Registry in the installer, as there are no hardware checks. Your product key should work as long as it's a Retail key and hasn't been used before.
I don't recommend upgrading from Windows 10 to 11, as you may encounter strange errors, but if you want to, you can. The simplest method is to download the 11 disk image from Microsoft, extract it, and then replace the appraiserres.dll file in the sources folder with a fake you create in Notepad. Create a blank file, save it as appraiserres.dll, change the type to all files, and put that fake file into the sources folder. This tricks the installer into not checking for compatible hardware. Next, run the setup program and perform a standard upgrade.

Here's a link to the .reg file that bypasses the TPM and Secure Boot checks in the Windows 11 installer. Unzip the file, copy it to a drive, and then import it into the Registry of the installer using Notepad. Press shift F10 and type Notepad. Once in Notepad, press Control O to bring up the open dialog, and browse to the file. You should be able to select it, and then answer yes to the prompt asking if you want to import it. If you want to verify it's safe, open the .reg file in a text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit and read it.
https://christopherw.me/TPM_Bypass.zip

By Ramy on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

will install it, but when upgrading to 11, why u do not want it to check for hardware?

By Chris on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

The installer will check to ensure your device meets the so-called minimum requirements. I call them recommended, not minimum! It will fail on Intel Macs because it can't detect a TPM, Secure Boot, or a compatible CPU. The real minimum requirements are a 64-bit CPU, 4 GB RAM, and 64 GB storage.

By Ramy on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

a question came to my mind, why we can not use bootcamb? is it easier? or will not work? or just because it is not accessible?

By Chris on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

Apple may have fixed this in Sonoma, though I doubt it. The slider to adjust the Windows partition size isn't accessible to VoiceOver users. I'm happy to be proven wrong, but this was the case last I checked in Big Sur. You could get sighted assistance with this part of the process if you want.

By Justin Harris on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

I upgraded Win 10 to 11, no weird after issues. Works like a charm. I found a tool online, that lets you do the upgrade super easy, basically tricking it in to thinking you are installing Windows server, though it isn’t, but that was super easy. Getting through setting up Windows in Bootcamp and doing the install is the hardest part, and you may need sighted help. I had a usb headset and even so could not get working sound until Windows was up and running and drivers were installed. Having said that, once that was all done, the upgrade to Windows 11 was easy. It requires a bit of hackery no matter how you decide to do it, but the method I used was fast and easy.

By Brian on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

Is why I will (never) upgrade to Win11. 🤯

By Ramy on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

so strange that it didn't work after installing win10, but anyway,
after installing win10, will try the 11 next step.

By Chris on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

The information in my previous posts should work. If Windows 11 can run just fine on my 2013 Air with 4 GB RAM and 128 GB storage, a 2017 iMac shouldn't be a problem.

By Tayo on Friday, January 5, 2024 - 17:41

I had Windows 10 running on my Macbook Pro 2017 for a few months, and then made the mistake of switching back to the MacOS to see if I could reliably switch between the two. When I switched back to Windows, I got no audio, and no amount of sighted help could resolve the issue. I ended up, with heartfelt regret, removing Windows from the Mac and going back to VM. I may try again some