How to Dual Boot macOS Big Sur and Windows 10 on PC?

by Admin

macOS Big Sur dual boot Windows 10- macOS Big is the successor of macOS Catalina and was later succeeded by macOS Monterey. The macOS was released on November 12 of 2020. It was released during the pandemics of 2020 and is really a great macOS. Big Sur has left its mark like any other macOS due to its stability, efficiency, and performance.

With Big Sur, some major improvement has been brought. Some of the features are improved from macOS Catalina; whereas, some are totally new. If you can’t decide either to use macOS big Sur or any Windows OS then, dual boot is a great option. You can dual boot macOS Big Sur and Windows on your PC or Laptop.

Table of Contents

What is Dual Boot? Is it useful?

For those who don’t know what dual booting is. Dual-booting means installing two different operating systems on a single OS with the option to switch between the OSes. Here we are going to install and switch between macOS Big Sur and Windows 10. Once you got the concept, you can change the macOS Windows 10 versions.

The procedure below is not only for these two OS/macOS. You can use this procedure for any kind of macOS, Windows OS, or Linux. Here is how we dual-booted Ubuntu and Windows 10 on PC. The operation (dual boot) is for users who want to have access to several OSes while having a single PC.

Pre-requisites

Before you start dual boot on your PC, here are some things that you need to take care of.

Download Windows 10– first you will need to download Windows 10 ISO file. For the setup, you can use the direct link or you can go to Microsoft official to download the setup file. You will later use the setup file and burn it on a USB. Once you created a bootable USB of Windows 10 then you will use it for the installation.

Download macOS Big Sur DMG or ISO– you will also need to download macOS Big Sur in DMG or ISO file format. We will use the file later to burn and perform the installation. For this purpose, you will also need another USB drive of at least 16 GB of storage.

Note: make sure you have the backup files on your USB, as all the data will be deleted during the creation of the bootable USB of macOS Big Sur.

Open Core Configurator– you will need to Download Open Core Configurator. I have seen, users using Clover for this purpose. Still, I would recommend you to use Open Core Configurator for an easy and simple user experience. Also, users have experienced issues using Clover, as users have experienced compatibility errors with the installation of macOS Big Sur version 5122.

Commands for Terminal– there will be a command typed below. Still for users who can’t or find it challenging and also to avoid any kind of error; use the direct links to download files with all the required commands.

Download Balena Ethchar– BalenaEthchar will help you to copy all the necessary files (Image files) to any USB easily.

EFI– you will also need this for the partition and installation. Use this link to download EFI.

Reminder: while performing the installation, make sure you are naming the drives and files as simple and accurate as possible. There will be times when you will be asked to type the exact name and time with freedom of choice.

Also, make sure you are placing all the downloaded files or applications on your desktop screen for easy navigation.

Requirement for dual boot macOS Big Sur and Windows 10

Since you are running Windows 10, you will need to have the required specs for Windows 10 that are:

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC

RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit

Hard disk space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS or 20 GB for 64-bit OS

Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver

Display: 800 x 600

For further, you can visit here. Same for running macOS Big Sur, your machine with the specs above can easily run. However; make sure you are running the latest processor for avoiding any kind of error in the future.

How to Dual Boot macOS Big Sur and Windows 10 on PC or Laptop Hackintosh?

macos big sur dual boot windows 10 — macOS big sur dual boot windows 10

For those who don’t have any Windows OS on their system, it is recommended to download Windows 10 from the link above. Download Windows 10 and perform the installation. Once the installation got completed, you will need to go to Disk Management. There you will find all your hard disks.

Select one and shrink it. If you don’t need the drive, then you can even delete that one. Normally, users shrink their C: drive. Now we are going to perform a few steps to dual boot.

We will first create a bootable USB of macOS Big Sur
Then we will mount the EFI
We will go to BIOS and configure it.
Here we will install macOS
After the installation, the partition will be completed

1- Create macOS Bootable USB

Connect your USB of 16 GB storage to your system and use another Mac for the purpose. Go to Disk Utility and format your USB. You will need to make sure of the properties of your USB. Your USB’s properties should look something like this:

Name: (anything that you want)
Format: macOS Extended
Scheme: GUID Partition Map

Then you will use the link above to download the command line for Terminal or copy and paste the command below on your Terminal:

hdiutil create -size 12G -fs hfs+ -volname macOSInstaller -type SPARSEBUNDLE /Users/Shared/macOSInstaller
hdiutil attach /Users/Shared/macOSInstaller.sparsebundle
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/macOSInstaller --nointeraction
hdiutil makehybrid -o /Users/Shared/macOSInstaller /Users/Shared/macOSInstaller.sparsebundl

Press Enter key; you will be asked for the password. Insert password and type “Y” then press Enter and the creation will begin.

2- Mount EFI Partition of macOS on USB

Here you will run Open Core Configurator. On running you will be asked to enter User and Password. Then you will mount the EFI partition of the USB.

You will copy all the EFI files that you have downloaded to your EFI partition USB. Copy the Open Core Configurator Tool to your USB and close all files.

3- Bootable Windows

Attach your other USB to your machine. Go to Disk Utility and change the properties to:

Name: (any suitable name you desire)
Format: MS-DOS(FAT)
Scheme: GUID Partition Map

Then you will use Balena Ethchar software to burn the ISO file of Windows 10 on your USB. run the application and you will select the USB first. Then you will select the location and burn the ISO. During the burning, a pop-up will appear, click on Continue.

4- Configure BIOS for Dual Boot

First, you will change all your BIOS settings to default (of your machine with Windows 10 installed) to be on the same page as me. Then you will navigate in BIOS and change the options given below:

Secure Boot: Disabled
Serial Port: Disabled
Parallel Port: Disabled
VT-d: Disabled
PXE Boot to LAN: Disabled
USB Boot: Enabled
Boot Mode: UEFI
XMP: Enabled/Profile 1 (if available),
XHCI HAND OFF: enabled

Once the BIOS is ready, you will save changes and exit it.

5- Install macOS Big Sur

Now that you have burned your macOS Big Sur and Windows 10. Now is the time for the installation. First, you will insert your USB (of macOS Big Sur) and restart your system. While your machine boots, select USB with Big Sur.

The burned USB will normally be found as Open core, select it. Then get into macOS and proceed to Recovery mode. it will take some time and loading to get into Recovery mode.

Then you will start the installation of macOS Big Sur.

Select your “language” and “Country.
Choose “Disk Utility” and proceed.
Select the drive from the side menu and “Erase” from the top menu and proceed.
Provide “Name=macOS Big Sur”, “Format: APFS”, and “Scheme: GUID Partition Map” and “Erase”. This should be the same disk that you have create while shrinking your C: drive.
Close the Disk Utility here.
You will proceed the installation of macOS Big Sur by clicking on Continue.
Then you will agree with the “Terms and Conditions”.
Here you will select the formatted drive and proceed.

Once the installation got completed, you will go to the desktop of your macOS. Then you will run Open Core Configuration by copying the one from your USB to your desktop. Run the software and mount the EFI partition of the USB and system drive.

Copy the EFI folder from the EFI partition of USB to the EFI partition of the system drive. Eject the EFI partition of USB and restart your system.

6- Partition of Drives for Windows 10

If you haven’t shrunk the C: drive, then you will need to create a new drive for Windows 10. As the C: is now used by the macOS Big Sur.

Now you will go to Utilities > Disk Utility and there you will click on the View. Then you will click on Show all devices. Here you will select the available storage. This is the storage where you have already installed Windows 10. However; you will need to format it and perform the installation again.

Change the partition to:

Name: Windows 10
Format: Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
Size: 100 GB+

And click on Apply.

7- Boot Windows 10 and perform installation

This is going to be the last step. Restart your system and while your machine boots, select Windows 10.

You will be in Windows 10 setup.
Choose the options in Language, Time and Currency, Keyboard and input method.
Select the Install now.
Click on I don’t have a product key.
Select the Windows 10 editions.
Accept the Terms and Conditions.
Chose the Custom: Install Windows Only (advanced) option.
Here you will select the drive to install Windows 10 on. The drive will be the one that you have named as Windows 10.
Perform the installation of Windows 10.

Congratulation, you have successfully installed both macOS Big Sur and Windows 10 (dual boot) on your machine. You can select the OS when your system boots.

How to Dual Boot macOS Big Sur and Windows 10 on PC?

What is Dual Boot? Is it useful?

Pre-requisites

Requirement for dual boot macOS Big Sur and Windows 10