MacBook Air Portable Genius, 4th Edition

What You Need to Run Boot Camp

Before you strike out for Boot Camp territory, you should take a second and double-check that you have everything you need for a successful and trouble-free trip. Fortunately, Boot Camp is a relatively simple affair (at least on the surface; it’s quite complex behind the scenes), so you don’t need much to make it happen. In fact, you need just six things:

OS X 10.5 or later. Boot Camp is available as a utility that comes with OS X (10.5 or later), so you’re out of luck if you’re still using OS X 10.4 or earlier.

Windows 7. The version of Boot Camp that comes with OS X Mountain Lion only supports Windows 7, and only the Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate versions. You can install either a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 7. Whatever version you’re installing, you must have the installation disc for the full install of Windows 7. If all you have is an upgrade installation disc, Boot Camp won’t work.

If you want to install Windows 8 instead, just be sure you have a full install disc, not an upgrade disc. Also, you can install either the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro.

DVD or CD drive. You need an optical drive so ...