Windows Migration Assistant transfers your contacts, calendars, email accounts, and more from a PC. It migrates this data to the appropriate places on your Mac.
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After you migrate data to your Mac, be sure to authorize your Mac in iTunes. It’s important to authorize before you sync or play content that you download from the iTunes Store.
Before you begin
To prepare for a smooth migration:
- Make sure that Windows is up to date. Migration Assistant works with Windows 7 and later.
- Make sure that you know the name and password of an administrator account on your PC.
- Connect your Mac and PC to the same network, such as your home Wi-Fi network. Or connect an Ethernet cable between the ports on your Mac and PC to create a direct network connection. Some Mac models require an Ethernet adapter like the Belkin USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter, or the Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter.
Next, use the check disk (chkdsk) utility on your PC to make sure that your Windows drive doesn’t have any issues:
- Choose Start > Run.
- In the Run window, type
cmd
and press Enter. - In the command window, type
chkdsk
and press Enter. - If the check disk utility reports that it found problems, type
chkdsk drive: /F
and press Enter. In this example, “drive” is the letter that represents your Windows startup disk, like “d.” At the prompt, press the Y key, then restart your PC. Repeat this process until the check disk utility reports no issues.
Can you clear all of the disk issues that the check disk utility reports? If not, you might need to have your PC serviced. Then migrate your data to your Mac.
Move your data
This section guides you through migration, post-migration, and what to do if the steps don’t work for you.
How to move your information from a PC to your Mac
- On your PC, download and install the Windows Migration Assistant.
- Windows Migration Assistant for macOS Mojave
- Windows Migration Assistant for macOS Sierra and High Sierra
- Windows Migration Assistant for OS X El Capitan or earlier
- Quit any open Windows apps.
- Open Windows Migration Assistant.
- In the Migration Assistant window, click Continue to start the process.
- Start up your Mac. Setup Assistant automatically opens the first time you turn on your Mac. If you’ve already set up your Mac, open Migration Assistant from the Utilities folder.
- On your Mac, follow the onscreen prompts until you get to the migration pane of the assistant. Select the option to transfer information “From a Windows PC.”
- When you’re prompted, enter an administrator name and password.
- Click Continue to close any other open apps.
- In the migration window on your Mac, select your PC from the list of available computers. Then wait for the PC to show the same passcode that your Mac shows.
- When both computers display the same passcode, click Continue on your PC and Mac.
- Your Mac scans the drives on your PC to build a list of information to migrate. When the scan completes, select the information that you want to migrate to your Mac and click Continue. Learn about some of the data that you can transfer.
![Windows 7 On Mac Windows 7 On Mac](/uploads/1/2/4/8/124859429/400067952.jpg)
You can watch the progress and estimated time remaining on both the PC and your Mac. They tell you when migration is complete.
After you move your data
When migration completes, close Windows Migration Assistant on your PC. Then log in to the new user account on your Mac. The first time you log in to a user account that’s migrated from a PC, you’re asked to set a password. You can use the same password that you used on your PC, or create a new password. Learn how to choose a good password.
After you log in to the user account that you migrated, be sure to authorize your Mac in iTunes. It’s important to authorize before you sync or play content that you download from the iTunes Store.
If you have issues moving your data
If the steps above don’t work as you expect, try these options.
Quit other Windows apps
Use these steps to make sure that no other apps are open while you migrate:
- Press Alt-Tab to choose an open application.
- Press Alt-F4 to quit the selected application.
Check your network connection
Does your PC appear in the Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant window on your Mac? If not, make sure that the computers are connected to the same network. You can create an isolated network if you connect a single Ethernet cable between your Mac and PC.
If Migration Assistant still doesn’t show your PC, try to turn off any Firewall software on your PC. It might block network ports that Windows Migration Assistant needs to work. After migration completes, you can turn on your Firewall software.
Turn off antivirus software
If Migration Assistant doesn’t open on your PC, turn off any antivirus software on your PC. Then try to open Migration Assistant again. After migration completes, you can turn on your antivirus software.
If your PC isn’t compatible with Migration Assistant
There are other options you can use to transfer your data. For example, you can use an external drive or file sharing to manually copy important data to your Mac.
What data can I transfer?
Migration Assistant lets you choose the data to move to your Mac. Here’s what moves over for specific apps and data types:
Email, contacts, and calendar information
Migration Assistant moves your email messages, mail account settings, contacts, and appointments. This depends on your Windows version and the accounts that you have.
Migration Assistant moves your email messages, mail account settings, contacts, and appointments. This depends on your Windows version and the accounts that you have.
Outlook
Migration Assistant supports this data from 32-bit versions of Outlook in Windows 7 and later:
Migration Assistant supports this data from 32-bit versions of Outlook in Windows 7 and later:
- People move to Contacts*
- Appointments move to Calendar
- IMAP and Exchange settings and messages move to Mail
- POP settings and messages move to Mail*
Migration Assistant doesn’t support 64-bit versions of Outlook. You can manually migrate Mail, Contacts, or Calendars from Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016 by signing in and entering the content on your Mac manually.
Pictures
Photos and other images copy to your Home folder. You can add these files to Photos. After you migrate, open Photos and let it search your Mac for photos to import.
Windows 7 On Macbook Pro 2009
Other files
You can also choose whether or not to move these files during migration:
You can also choose whether or not to move these files during migration:
- Files from the top-level folder of the currently logged-in PC user’s home directory
- Non-system files located in the Windows or Program Files folders
- Top-level folders located on the user’s Windows system disk
- Top-level folders located on other local disks attached to your PC
Windows Live Mail
Migration Assistant supports this data from Windows Live Mail in Windows 7 and later:
Migration Assistant supports this data from Windows Live Mail in Windows 7 and later:
- IMAP settings and messages move to Mail
- POP settings and messages move to Mail*
Windows Mail
Migration Assistant supports this data from Windows Mail in Windows 7 and later. The only exception is Mail app for Windows 8.
Migration Assistant supports this data from Windows Mail in Windows 7 and later. The only exception is Mail app for Windows 8.
- IMAP settings and messages move to Mail
- POP settings and messages move to Mail*
- People move to Contacts
Bookmarks
Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Safari for Windows, and Firefox transfer to Safari.
Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Safari for Windows, and Firefox transfer to Safari.
iTunes content
Your iTunes Music, Movies, and other iTunes library files transfer to iTunes on your Mac.
Your iTunes Music, Movies, and other iTunes library files transfer to iTunes on your Mac.
System settings
Your language and location settings, web browser homepage, and custom desktop pictures transfer to System Preferences settings in macOS.
Your language and location settings, web browser homepage, and custom desktop pictures transfer to System Preferences settings in macOS.
* Migration Assistant transfers only the Mail or Contacts data that belongs to the logged-in Windows user. To transfer data from another user account, use Migration Assistant again while you’re logged in to another Windows account. Each time you migrate, your Mac creates a new user account.
Macs have a thriving ecosystem of software, but some programs still only support Windows. Whether you want to use business software or play Windows PC games, there are many ways to run Windows programs on your Mac.
Some of these methods are similar to the ways you can install Windows software on Linux or run Windows programs on a Chromebook. Virtual machines, dual-booting, the Wine compatibility layer, and remote desktop solutions are all included here.
Virtual Machines
We recommend using a virtual machine program, ideally Parallels or VMWare Fusion, to run Windows applications on a Mac without rebooting. For maximum performance, which is particularly necessary for gaming, we recommend dual-booting Windows with Boot Camp instead.
A virtual machine is one of the best ways to run Windows desktop software. They allow you to install Windows and other operating systems in a window on your Mac desktop. Windows will think it’s running on a real computer, but it’s actually running inside a piece of software on your Mac.
You don’t have to use your Windows program in the virtual machine window, either—many virtual machine programs allow you to break Windows programs out of your virtual machine window so they can appear on your Mac desktop. However, they’re still running inside the virtual machine in the background.
You’ll need a Windows license to install Windows in a virtual machine. If you already have a product key, you can download Windows installation media for free and install it in a virtual machine program.
RELATED:How to Seamlessly Run Windows Programs on Your Mac with Parallels
Popular virtual machine programs for Mac include Parallels and VMware Fusion. Each of these is a paid program, so you’ll have to buy both a Windows license and a copy of your virtual machine program of choice. You can also use the completely free and open-source VirtualBox for Mac, but its 3D graphics support and Mac operating system integration aren’t as good. Parallels and VMWare Fusion both offer free trials, so you can try all these programs and decide which is best for you.
Note:We don’t often recommend paid software, but in the case of Parallels Desktop, it’s something we use at How-To Geek every single day for testing software and running Windows. The integration with macOS is amazingly well done, and the speed blows away VirtualBox. In the long run, the price is well worth it.
There’s one big downside to virtual machines: 3D graphics performance isn’t amazing, so this isn’t the best way to run Windows games on your Mac. Yes, it can work—especially with older games—but you won’t get the best performance, even in an ideal situation. Many games, especially newer ones, will be unplayable. That’s where the next option comes into play.
Boot Camp
RELATED:How to Install Windows on a Mac With Boot Camp
Apple’s Boot Camp allows you to install Windows alongside macOS on your Mac. Only one operating system can be running at a time, so you’ll have to restart your Mac to switch between macOS and Windows. If you’ve ever dual-booted Linux on your Windows PC, it’s just like that.
Installing Windows as a real operating system on your Mac is the best idea if you want to play Windows games or use demanding applications that need all the performance they can get. When you install Windows on your Mac, you’ll be able to use Windows and Windows applications with the maximum possible performance. Your Mac will perform as well as a Windows PC with the same specifications.
The downside here is that you can’t run macOS applications and Windows applications side-by-side at the same time. If you just want to run a Windows desktop application alongside your Mac applications, a virtual machine will probably be ideal. On the other hand, if you want to play the latest Windows games on your Mac, Boot Camp will be ideal.
As with virtual machines, you’ll need a Windows license to install Windows on your Mac.
Wine
RELATED:How to Run Windows Programs on a Mac With Wine
Wine originated on Linux. It’s a compatibility layer that allows Windows applications to run on other operating systems. Essentially, Wine is an attempt to rewrite the Windows code that applications depend on so they can run on other operating systems. This means that Wine is nowhere near perfect. It won’t run every Windows application, and will have bugs with many of them. The Wine AppDB can give you some idea of which applications are supported, although it focuses on Linux support.
Nevertheless, Wine is one way to try running Windows applications on a Mac. Because it doesn’t require you actually use Windows, you don’t need a Windows license to use Wine. It’s completely free. Just download Wine or WineBottler for macOS and see how well it works for your application.
CrossOver Mac
CodeWeavers’ CrossOver Mac is a paid application that will run Windows programs on Mac. It uses the open-source Wine code to accomplish this, but CrossOver provides a nice graphical interface and focuses on officially supporting popular programs. If an officially supported program doesn’t work, you can contact CodeWeavers and expect them to make it work for you. CodeWeavers contributes their improvements back to the open-source Wine project, so paying for CrossOver Mac also helps the Wine project itself.
CrossOver offers a free trial it you want to try it out first. You can also view a list of which programs run well on CrossOver before buying. While CrossOver focuses on compatibility, it’s still based on Wine, and won’t work with everything.
![Best way to run windows on mac Best way to run windows on mac](/uploads/1/2/4/8/124859429/640150419.jpg)
Most people will probably be happiest going for a virtual machine program and a Windows license. With CrossOver, you don’t need to run a Windows virtual machine—but, if you do run a Windows virtual machine, you’ll be able to run almost any Windows program with less risk of bugs. CrossOver does theoretically allow you to run Windows PC games on a Mac with better performance than you’d get in a virtual machine, but you’ll risk running into bugs and unsupported programs. Boot Camp may still be a better solution for that.
Remote Desktop
RELATED:How to Access Windows Remote Desktop Over the Internet
If you already have a Windows system, you could skip running Windows software on your Mac completely and use remote desktop software to access the Windows machine from your Mac’s desktop. Organizations with business software that runs on Windows can host Windows servers and make their applications available to Macs, Chromebooks, Linux PCs, iPads, Android tablet, and other devices. If you’re just a home user who also has a Windows PC, you could configure that Windows PC for remote access and connect to it whenever you need a Windows application. Bear in mind that this isn’t ideal for visually intensive applications like PC games.
Windows 7 On Macbook Pro 2017
If you’re a Chrome user, you can even use Chrome Remote Desktop to connect to a Windows PC running Chrome from your Mac running Chrome.
All these tricks obviously require more work than simply installing a Windows program on a Windows PC. If you have a Mac, you should focus on using Mac software when possible. Windows programs won’t be as integrated or work as well.
You may have to buy a Windows license for your Mac to get the best compatibility, whether you’re using a virtual machine or installing Windows in Boot Camp. Wine and CrossOver are nice ideas, but they aren’t perfect.
Image Credit: Roman Soto on Flickr
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