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Apple Updates Boot Camp With WiFi Improvements and Bug Fixes

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Apple today released a new version of Boot Camp, the software that allows Windows to be run on Intel-based Macs. Boot Camp 6.1.16 is a bug fix update that addresses minor issues, and it is replacing the prior 6.1.12 update that fixed stability issues with Bluetooth and WiFi drivers.

bootcamp.jpg

According to the release notes for the update, the software introduces WiFi WPA3 support and it fixes a Bluetooth driver issue that sometimes occurred when resuming from Sleep or Hibernation.

Apple back in March introduced a Boot Camp 6.1.17 update that is available to Intel Mac owners who run a Studio Display.

Boot Camp users can navigate to the Start menu in Windows and open the Apple Software Update app to install the new Boot Camp drivers.

Boot Camp is a feature that is only available on older Intel-based Macs. It is not compatible with Apple silicon Macs, and these machines are not able to run Windows except with virtualization software.

Article Link: Apple Updates Boot Camp With WiFi Improvements and Bug Fixes
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/08/22/apple-boot-camp-wifi-update/
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mozumder said:
Are Apple/Microsoft ever going to release something that lets ARM Windows run on ARM Macs?
Click to expand...

As I understand it, at the moment Qualcomm has an exclusive agreement with Microsoft that effectively prevents Apple from creating a Boot Camp environment for Apple Silicon Macs.

This agreement does not apply to virtualized environments, which is why many of us are running Windows 11 as a VM under macOS on ASi Macs.
 
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CWallace said:
As I understand it, at the moment Qualcomm has an exclusive agreement with Microsoft that effectively prevents Apple from creating a Boot Camp environment for Apple Silicon Macs.

This agreement does not apply to virtualized environments, which is why many of us are running Windows 11 as a VM under macOS on ASi Macs.
Click to expand...
I thought the rumors were that exclusivity contract ended within the last year/few months. No idea if it's likely to be coming, or MS don't want to let it run on Macs, but fingers crossed. I'm mostly happy with MacOS but sometimes it would be super useful to be able to run stuff natively in Windows wityhout the cost/performance hit of VMs.

EDIT: here you go, from Nov 2021... https://www.techradar.com/news/qual...ft-for-windows-on-arm-but-not-for-much-longer
 
Last edited:
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Piplodocus said:
...super useful to be able to run stuff natively in Windows wityhout the cost/performance hit of VMs.
Click to expand...
Well, most Windows apps on ARM still run through x86 translation, and Microsoft's implementation isn't nearly as good as Rosetta. So there's still going to be some performance hits.
 
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mozumder said:
Are Apple/Microsoft ever going to release something that lets ARM Windows run on ARM Macs?
Click to expand...

Probably. It seems there is an exclusivity agreement with Qualcomm right now but considering who is currently in charge of Windows and the love he has for Apple I think it’s inevitable.
 
Perhaps we'll see something done by the community, if it goes on long enough without an official version. And developers are interested. There's already Windows on Raspberry Pi, and Asahi Linux on M1, so put them together. (Though there are still probably incompatibilities with regular ARM chips, knowing Apple...)
 
I hope this fixes the awful wifi driver for 27in iMac 2020 which mine has been stuck running in 802.11a only in snails pace since forever. I have bypassed with Ethernet, but it would be nice to have that working correctly.
 
I'm glad to see that they haven't left BootCamp users entirely in the lurch. It would be awfully nice if Apple also addressed one or two other driver bugs -- but I'm not exactly holding my breath, as it's likely that they have to get a substantial portion of these updates from the hardware vendors for the various sub-components, who in many cases probably no longer support the hardware in question.
 
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Miles Teg said:
Max Tech just did a video today showing Geekbench running on Windows 11 using Parallels faster on a M2 MacBook than on a comparable intel laptop.
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Yeah, while this is true, there's still a performance overhead, and more importantly, this does not translate to graphics. CPU benchmarks do remarkably well on Parallels, but GPU benchmarks don't, and lots of DirectX calls are still pretty glitchy.
 
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mozumder said:
Are Apple/Microsoft ever going to release something that lets ARM Windows run on ARM Macs?
Click to expand...
To be a little more specific than some of the other responses that mention a potential Qualcomm agreement, etc...

There currently is NO legal way to purchase a license of Windows for ARM. Until Microsoft makes such a license available, there is no logical reason for Apple to offer any support to boot an OS that the users can't legally use anyway. In fact, doing so would potentially show that Apple itself is violating a licensing agreement as they would need to install Windows in order to test any Bootcamp solution they offered.

Until Microsoft offers an option to purchase a license for the ARM version of Windows, there isn't any reasonable excuse for Apple to explore offering Bootcamp on Apple Silicon based machines.
 
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CWallace said:
As I understand it, at the moment Qualcomm has an exclusive agreement with Microsoft that effectively prevents Apple from creating a Boot Camp environment for Apple Silicon Macs.

This agreement does not apply to virtualized environments, which is why many of us are running Windows 11 as a VM under macOS on ASi Macs.
Click to expand...
What VM software do you use? Any software not requiring a subscription? I would even agreed to pay a one time fee
 
sorgo said:
Putting off the new round of betas for THIS? 🤨
Click to expand...
There's not just one guy working at Apple, lol. Like, one day he cleans the bathrooms, one days he works on the AC units, one day he codes...

So many teams doing so many things. There's literally a full-time development team just working on the ARM version of Blender, an open source 3D program that Apple doesn't even own.
 
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mozumder said:
Are Apple/Microsoft ever going to release something that lets ARM Windows run on ARM Macs?
Click to expand...

I wouldn’t hold my breath.

sorgo said:
Putting off the new round of betas for THIS? 🤨
Click to expand...

Yes, as we all know, all 16,000 software engineers have been re-tasked to focus on Boot Camp rather than iOS.

iMacDragon said:
Though they could support it a step more and enable the TPM suppot for w11 on the capable laptops..
Click to expand...

Probably non-trivial. Macs don’t have a TPM (very early Intel Macs did, but it wasn’t activated). They do have a Secure Enclave, but I suspect nobody wants to certify that to be compatible.

jjtech said:
Well, most Windows apps on ARM still run through x86 translation, and Microsoft's implementation isn't nearly as good as Rosetta. So there's still going to be some performance hits.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but it’s been getting better. A lot of Visual Studio features are now ARM64, for example. The emulator/translator hybrid also seems to have improved.
 
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thawk9455 said:
To be a little more specific than some of the other responses that mention a potential Qualcomm agreement, etc...

There currently is NO legal way to purchase a license of Windows for ARM. Until Microsoft makes such a license available, there is no logical reason for Apple to offer any support to boot an OS that the users can't legally use anyway. In fact, doing so would potentially show that Apple itself is violating a licensing agreement as they would need to install Windows in order to test any Bootcamp solution they offered.

Until Microsoft offers an option to purchase a license for the ARM version of Windows, there isn't any reasonable excuse for Apple to explore offering Bootcamp on Apple Silicon based machines.
Click to expand...
I can download windows 11 legally directly from the Microsoft website without having to pay anything.
 
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