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Please log in with your username or email to continue. Facebook Google wikiHow Account No account yet? Create an account Browse Articles Quizzes & Games All Quizzes Hot Community Quizzes Personality Quizzes Dating Simulator Learn Something New Support wikiHow Log in / Sign up Computers and Electronics Virtual Machines Last Updated: August 1, 2026 Fact Checked What You Need To Make A Hackintosh Downloading Prerequisites on Windows Creating a Bootable Disk Getting the Right Serial for Your System Preparing the Boot Drive Installing macOS on Your PC Booting into macOS or Windows This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA . Darlene has been writing and editing tech content at wikiHow since 2019. She previously worked for AppleCare, served as a writing tutor, volunteered in IT at an animal rescue, and taught as an adjunct professor for EN101 and EN102. Darlene has completed Coursera courses on technology, writing, and language. She holds both a BA (2011) and an MA (2012) from Rowan University in Writing, with a focus on workplace communication. With her extensive experience, academic background, and ongoing learning, Darlene has become the go-to grammar expert for her friends and family, as well as a skilled wordsmith for anyone in need. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 2,210,288 times. Learn more... Do you have a Windows PC but prefer to use macOS? Installing macOS on a Windows PC is possible, but it can be a time-consuming and complicated task—we recommend moving forward only if you feel comfortable and have some experience with tech. If you're ready to tackle the problem, check out our step-by-step guide below. Getting macOS on a Windows PC Gather the materials you need: a compatible PC, macOS download, and downloaded tools. Use the tools to create a bootable macOS installation disk, then use more resources to figure out what sort of SMBIOS works with your PC's hardware. Once you've figured that out, you can get a serial code for your macOS, and then load it onto your system. What You Need To Make A Hackintosh 1 Check your computer's specifications . Your Windows computer must have an Intel Core i3, i5, i7, or i9 processor in order to run macOS, as well as a minimum of four gigabytes of RAM. [1] X Research source To check these specs: Open Start . Type in system information . Click System Information at the top of the menu. Look at the name of the processor to the right of the "Processor" heading. Scroll down and look at the number to the right of the "Installed Physical Memory" heading. You can also go to Dortania's GPU's Buyer Guide to see if your GPU is compatible with macOS. As of macOS Monterey, Kepler was dropped, so there's no support for NVIDIA drivers. In short, you can't make your PC a Mac if you have an NVIDIA driver. Type in system information . Click System Information at the top of the menu. Look at the name of the processor to the right of the "Processor" heading. Scroll down and look at the number to the right of the "Installed Physical Memory" heading. You can also go to Dortania's GPU's Buyer Guide to see if your GPU is compatible with macOS. As of macOS Monterey, Kepler was dropped, so there's no support for NVIDIA drivers. In short, you can't make your PC a Mac if you have an NVIDIA driver. You can also go to Dortania's GPU's Buyer Guide to see if your GPU is compatible with macOS. As of macOS Monterey, Kepler was dropped, so there's no support for NVIDIA drivers. In short, you can't make your PC a Mac if you have an NVIDIA driver. 2 Check your computer's BIOS type . Next to the "BIOS Mode" heading in the System Information menu, check to see whether it says "UEFI" or "BIOS". Keep this information in mind for later. [2] X Research source You can exit System Information after this point. Advertisement You can exit System Information after this point. 3 Determine your computer's bit type . There are two types of computers: 32-bit, and 64-bit. Your computer must be able to support 64-bit operation in order to install macOS. [3] X Research source 4 Gather the required equipment. In order to install macOS on your Windows computer, you will need the following hardware: [4] X Research source USB drive - Find a flash drive that can hold at least 32GB. Blank hard drive - Find a USB external hard drive that holds at least 100 gigabytes if you don't want to partition your Windows hard drive. You'll need lots of free space for either OS to run smoothly, so consider getting an external if the built-in one is over half-full. USB drive - Find a flash drive that can hold at least 32GB. Blank hard drive - Find a USB external hard drive that holds at least 100 gigabytes if you don't want to partition your Windows hard drive. You'll need lots of free space for either OS to run smoothly, so consider getting an external if the built-in one is over half-full. Downloading Prerequisites on Windows 1 Get your CPU information. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager and click the Performance tab (on the left). 2 Get the codename for your CPU. Open a web browser and navigate to Etech Labs . Type in the information for your CPU, then click Go to Specs . Near the top of the chart is your CPU's codename and architecture. You will need this information to download the correct EFI file. Near the top of the chart is your CPU's codename and architecture. You will need this information to download the correct EFI file. 3 Download Balena Etcher. Go to this site to download this tool that flashes OS images to USB drives. Download the appropriate file for Windows. Download the appropriate file for Windows. 4 Download Pre-Built OpenCore EFI. You'll see two main sections on this site : desktop and laptop. Look in the appropriate section for the codename of your CPU and click Download next to it. Be careful to click the right button since the site contains ads with similar Download buttons. You should see text appear in the bottom left corner of your browser window when you hover over the correct Download button. Your best option is to use ad blockers to prevent seeing these ads. Be careful to click the right button since the site contains ads with similar Download buttons. You should see text appear in the bottom left corner of your browser window when you hover over the correct Download button. Your best option is to use ad blockers to prevent seeing these ads. 5 Download Explorer++. You can find the Explorer++ site here . It's a lightweight and fast file manager for Windows. Click the Download 64-bit option. Click the Download 64-bit option. 6 Download GenSMBIOS. This is used to generate a unique serial for your Mac so you can use Apple services. You can find it here . Click Code and Download Zip . Click Code and Download Zip . 7 Download MiniTool Partition Wizard. You'll find this tool here . You want to download the free version, so click Download Now . 8 Download OpenCore Configurator. Go to this site and click Download. This is also referred to as "OCC." This is also referred to as "OCC." 9 Download macOS Sequoia. You can find a working version here . You should have 8 items in your downloads folder for this project: Sequoia OCC Pw-free-online genSMBIOS-master Explorerpp_x64 Balenaetcher EFI You should have 8 items in your downloads folder for this project: Sequoia OCC Pw-free-online genSMBIOS-master Explorerpp_x64 Balenaetcher EFI genSMBIOS-master Creating a Bootable Disk 1 Double-click the downloaded balenaEtcher-2.1.0.Setup.exe file to run it. You should find it in your Downloads folder. 2 Click Flash from file . It's the first option on the menu. 3 Double-click the downloaded Sequoia file. It's in your Downloads folder. Alternatively, single-click it and click Open . Alternatively, single-click it and click Open . 4 Click Select target . If your USB flash drive is plugged in, you'll see it appear. If not, plug it in to continue. Click Select to continue. Click Select to continue. 5 Click Flash . This might take 30+ minutes, so don't rush it! When it's done, you'll see the window change to "Flash Completed!". When it's done, you'll see the window change to "Flash Completed!". Getting the Right Serial for Your System 1 Get the right SMBIOS for your system. This is based on your graphics card and is desktop-laptop different, so read carefully to make sure you have the right one. You can find the right one here . 2 Extract GenSMBIOS. To do this, go to Downloads and select the GenSMBIOS-master folder. Click Extract all and save it to the same Downloads folder. 3 Extract the zipped EFI folder. With modern systems, built-in programs can extract zipped folders without you having to download additional software. To do this, click the zipped folder and click Extract all . Save the extracted folder in the Downloads folder so you can easily find it later. 4 Run the GenSMBIOS Windows Batch File. You'll find the extracted file in Downloads > GenSMBIOS-master > GenSMBIOS-master . 5 Enter 1 . This will allow you to install/update MacSerial. Press Enter after the number to enter the code. Press Enter to go back. Press Enter after the number to enter the code. Press Enter to go back. 6 Enter 2 . This will let you enter the configuration plist. 7 Drag and drop the "config.plist" file into GenSMBIOS. Find the configuration plist in Downloads > EFI > EFI > OC . Press Enter to continue. You'll see the plist listed at the top of the window under the MacSerial info. Press Enter to continue. You'll see the plist listed at the top of the window under the MacSerial info. 8 Enter 3 . You need to create a serial number so you can use Apple services on your Mac. 9 Enter the platform that your PC is compatible with. Check the chart here to see which platform you can use. For example, a CPU with a "Penryn(M)" codename is compatible with a MacBook 7,1. Press Enter to continue. The serial number has been inserted automatically in the "config.plist" file and is listed above. Press Enter again to go back and then you can close the window. For example, a CPU with a "Penryn(M)" codename is compatible with a MacBook 7,1. Press Enter to continue. The serial number has been inserted automatically in the "config.plist" file and is listed above. Press Enter again to go back and then you can close the window. Preparing the Boot Drive 1 Double-click the "pw-free-online" file to install it. This is the Mini Partition Wizard that you downloaded earlier, so you'll find it in your Downloads folder. 2 Continue through the setup wizard. Select your language, then press OK . Continue with the free version by making sure "Continue installing free edition" is checked, then clicking Next . In the next window, deselect "Participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program". Make sure "Mini Tool Partition Wizard Free" is selected. Press Next to continue. Launch the wizard after it installs.

In the next window, deselect "Participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program". Make sure "Mini Tool Partition Wizard Free" is selected. Press Next to continue. Launch the wizard after it installs. 3 Right-click the EFI partition in Disk 2 and select Change Letter . Use the drop-down menu to assign it a new letter, like "X:" or "D:". Press OK to continue. Press OK to continue. 4 Right-click the unallocated partition in Disk 2 and select Create . Click Yes to continue. 5 Label the partition. For example, name it "OCC" so you can remember it contains the OpenCore Configuration. Press Ok to continue. Press Ok to continue. 6 Click Apply . It's in the lower left corner of the partition wizard. Click Yes and close any open windows. You should see a "Success" message and can close the wizard. Click Yes and close any open windows. You should see a "Success" message and can close the wizard. 7 Extract Explorer++. Click the zipped folder in Downloads and click Extract all . Save the unzipped folder in the same location so you can find it easily. 8 Run Explorer++ as an administrator. To do this, double-click the Explorer++ folder in Downloads , right-click the Explorer++ Application , and select Run as administrator . 9 Locate the "This PC" location. This should be the default location and you can skip this step. However, you can also navigate here using the menu on the left. 10 Double-click the EFI partition you just made. You should see a list of drives on your computer including the new ones that you created with the Mini Partitioner tool. 11 Delete everything inside the drive. Inside the EFI drive, you'll find default EFI files and folders that you need to delete. Press Ctrl + A to select everything, then press Delete . Press Ctrl + A to select everything, then press Delete . 12 Copy your EFI folder into the EFI partition. Using Explorer++, navigate to your Downloads folder and find the unzipped EFI folder. Remember, since it's unzipped, there's an extra EFI folder level that we don't want to copy. To make sure to get the right folder, click through the EFI folders until you see " OC " and " Boot ". Go up one level and copy that folder (right-click it and select Copy ). Return to your EFI partition and paste the copied folder (right-click an empty space in the drive and select Paste ). Close Explorer++. To make sure to get the right folder, click through the EFI folders until you see " OC " and " Boot ". Go up one level and copy that folder (right-click it and select Copy ). Return to your EFI partition and paste the copied folder (right-click an empty space in the drive and select Paste ). Close Explorer++. 13 Open Disk Management. To open this quickly, press the Windows key and enter create partitions . Then click the Control Panel app. This also says "Create and format hard disk partitions." This also says "Create and format hard disk partitions." 14 Right-click the C: drive and select Shrink Volume . You're doing this to make room for the macOS. This number depends on your hard drive; but you want to reserve a good amount of space for macOS to use (like 50GB+). This number depends on your hard drive; but you want to reserve a good amount of space for macOS to use (like 50GB+). 15 Right-click the empty volume and select New Simple Volume . Click Next to continue past the first and second pages. The default values on the second page will be fine. Assign a letter to your drive and click Next . Label the volume. For example, name it macOS 15 so it's easily identifiable. Click Next and Finish . Close Disk Manager and return to your Downloads folder. The default values on the second page will be fine. Assign a letter to your drive and click Next . Label the volume. For example, name it macOS 15 so it's easily identifiable. Click Next and Finish . Close Disk Manager and return to your Downloads folder. 16 Copy the zipped OCC folder to your USB flash drive. Click the folder to select it, then click Copy . Go to This PC > OCC . It's the OCC drive on your flash drive that you created with Mini Partition Wizard. Paste the folder by right-clicking empty space and selecting Paste . Go to This PC > OCC . It's the OCC drive on your flash drive that you created with Mini Partition Wizard. Paste the folder by right-clicking empty space and selecting Paste . 17 Restart your PC. In the Start menu, click the "Power" icon, then select Restart . Installing macOS on Your PC 1 Enter your BIOS. As your PC restarts, press the button needed to launch BIOS. Common manufacturers are listed in this wikiHow article , but you can also find the buttons you need to press online by searching your motherboard's manufacturer and model number. 2 Disable Fast Boot. Navigate to the Boot tab and choose "Disabled" in the drop-down next to "Fast Boot." 3 Clear Secure Boot Keys. The location of this menu is different between manufacturers, so refer to your manual if these steps don't match. You can find Secure Boot Keys in: Boot > Secure Boot > Key Management > Clear Secure Boot Keys . Boot > Secure Boot > Key Management > Clear Secure Boot Keys . 4 Change the SATA Mode to AHCI. You might find this under Advanced > PCH Storage Configuration > SATA Mode Selection . 5 Save your changes and reset. Go to the Exit tab and select Save Changes & Reset . 6 Choose a boot drive. As your computer loads, press and hold F8 . This keyboard shortcut is different depending on your PC's manufacturer. 7 Load the "UEFI: FAT (Your USB Name)". Select it using the arrow keys on your keyboard and press Enter . 8 Select "Reset NVRAM" and press ↵ Enter . Your PC will reboot again. 9 Select "OpenCore" and press ↵ Enter . Boot options should load automatically for you. If not, try again and press the button to see Boot Options. 10 Select "Install macOS Sequoia" and press ↵ Enter . You'll see lots of code flicker across the screen, then you'll be asked to choose a language for installation. 11 Select "Disk Utility" and press Continue . Disk Utility will open so you can install macOS Sequoia. 12 Select "macOS 15" and click Erase . "macOS 15" is the partition you created in Windows, so you'll need to format it for Mac before you can use it. Set the format to "APFS" and click Erase . When it's finished, click Done and close the Disk Utility window. Set the format to "APFS" and click Erase . When it's finished, click Done and close the Disk Utility window. 13 Click "Install macOS Sequoia" and Continue . Click Continue again to proceed. Select the Mac hard drive. In this case, it's macOS 15. Click Continue again to proceed. This can take a while (around an hour!) and your computer may restart a few times. Select the Mac hard drive. In this case, it's macOS 15. Click Continue again to proceed. This can take a while (around an hour!) and your computer may restart a few times. Booting into macOS or Windows You can use macOS or Windows whenever you start your computer. If you're using macOS and want to switch to Windows, shut down your computer by clicking Shut Down from the Apple menu. Turn your computer back on and select Windows when prompted. Turn your computer back on and select Windows when prompted. Question Will this work on AMD systems? Community Answer No, it won't, unfortunately. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 14 Helpful 42 Question Why do high system requirement applications like Android Studio, After Effects, Photoshop, etc., run so smoothly on a Mac but are quite slow in Windows? Community Answer This is very much dependent on the hardware you are using. It may be that the Windows PC you are using has lower specs or has other software which is slowing it down. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 19 Helpful 18 Question Can I use other virtual programs like VirtualBox or VMWare to use Mac OS? Community Answer You can; VMware will be the best for using it because it provides for functions and runs smoothly on Windows. You should allocate 4 GB RAM for Mac OS. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 10 Helpful 17 Windows computers with macOS installed on them are called "Hackintoshes". Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1 If you enjoy macOS on your Windows computer, consider purchasing a Mac to stay Apple-compliant. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 4 Macs are mostly used for professional things, i.e. video editing. Graphics-intensive games such as COD (Call of Duty) won’t work as smoothly as expected. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0 Installing macOS on a Windows computer violates the Apple End User License Agreement. Thanks Helpful 10 Not Helpful 1 Only do this if your computer has a sufficient amount of RAM installed. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0 You Might Also Like ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C8ISPdSB3k ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C8ISPdSB3k ↑ https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-run-macos-on-windows/ ↑ https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-run-macos-on-windows/ About This Article Installing macOS on a Windows computer is tricky, but not impossible. You'll need to download the macOS High Sierra installation file on a Mac and then transfer the installer over to Windows by using a macOS-formatted USB drive running a program called Unibeast; after this point, you can use the USB drive to install macOS over onto a blank hard drive that you've also formatted for macOS. Once you've installed macOS, it's a good idea to run Multibeast from the flash drive in order to install drivers needed for things like sound, Internet, and graphics cards. Did this summary help you? Yes No Send fan mail to authors Is this article up to date? 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