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Is there a way to enable Secure Boot for Win11 on bootcamp?

Tony Danger

Tony Danger

macrumors regular
Original poster
As the title? I’ve got some games that require secure boot, BF6 beta being one of them. The MPro should play them no bother except the requirement of SecureBoot.

I went through the Mac settings with cmd+r but all that does is stops windows 11 from booting…
 
Technically windows 11 isn’t supported with the 2019 Mac Pro as it uses apples T2 chip rather than a TPM module. So I’m guessing it is probably the reason why.

When you go into the settings there’s no UEFI settings section to enable it.
 
What the wider industry refers to as Secure Boot is, for a Mac user, better referred to as UEFI Secure Boot to differentiate from Apple Secure Boot used on Macs.

You see, while Intel Macs are technically UEFI devices, and UEFI Standards are set by an independent group that includes Apple and Microsoft, it was clear to Apple from the start, and accurately so as it transpired, that the big gorilla in the room, Microsoft, would become the de facto specifier of UEFI standards; being gatekeeper and actual determiner of the standards equipment makers must meet.

Today, you basically cannot, one way or another, implement UEFI Secure Boot on the equipment you make without Microsoft's blessing and Apple was never going to go along with this. Hence, Apple has always never fully compiled with UEFI specs ... at least not in an orthodox manner as this invariably meant Microsoft control.

Long story short, any user space app requiring UEFI Secure Boot, basically abusing this feature, excludes Apple Macs where this is not implemented and Apple's version is instead.

I wonder though, whether a third party Boot Manager like RefindPlus might be able to spoof UEFI Secure Boot being switched on.
 
Dayo said:
I wonder though, whether a third party Boot Manager like RefindPlus might be able to spoof UEFI Secure Boot being switched on.
Click to expand...

Scary ... We are being watched by the Bots:
windowsforum.com

Windows 11 on Intel Macs: Why Secure Boot + TPM can't be faked

The short answer is: not in the way Windows and most PC vendors mean when they say “Secure Boot.” Intel-based Macs running Boot Camp do not expose a Microsoft‑style UEFI Secure Boot + TPM environment to Windows the same way a Windows OEM PC does. Boot Camp can adjust trust so Windows will boot...
windowsforum.com windowsforum.com
 
Hi,

Don't know if this is helpful but according to this sounds like EA is not enforcing TPM being enabled on Windows 10 yet.

I saw a comment from a random guy on another reddit thread mentioned he managed to make BF6 run on his mac pro 2019 via bootcamp by "reinstalling windows 10", but he vanished and hasn't said anything since.

Sounds like a potential way of making this work is to install Windows 10 instead and enabling secure boot, forgoing the TPM requirement. I can't test it yet as I don't have a mac pro 2019 with me atm, but will give it a go in a month or so when I do.

Do feel free to give it a try though and report back! Good luck!
 
bernas said:
Sounds like a potential way of making this work is to install Windows 10 instead and enabling secure boot, forgoing the TPM requirement.
Click to expand...

There is no way to enable Microsoft/UEFI SecureBoot with 2019 Mac Pro. Apple Secure Boot and Microsoft/UEFI SecureBoot are not the same thing…
 
tsialex said:
There is no way to enable Microsoft/UEFI SecureBoot with 2019 Mac Pro. Apple Secure Boot and Microsoft/UEFI SecureBoot are not the same thing…
Click to expand...
Sorry mate, but that's not quite correct. Read here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102522

What you can't do is enable TPM 2.0 secure boot (extra layer of security) that is now also mandatory on fresh W11 installs.
That's why one of the workarounds to install W11 on bootcamp is to upgrade from W10, as it forgoes the extra requirement of TPM 2.0 (that macs don't have).
 
bernas said:
Sorry mate, but that's not quite correct. Read here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102522

What you can't do is enable TPM 2.0 secure boot (extra layer of security) that is now also mandatory on fresh W11 installs.
That's why one of the workarounds to install W11 on bootcamp is to upgrade from W10, as it forgoes the extra requirement of TPM 2.0 (that macs don't have).
Click to expand...

Seems you are missing the fact that Apple Secure Boot (notice the space and related to macOS) is not UEFI SecureBoot - completely different things and you can't enable UEFI SecureBoot with Macs.
 
tsialex said:
Seems you don't know that Apple Secure Boot (notice the space and related to macOS) is not UEFI SecureBoot - completely different things and you can't enable UEFI SecureBoot with Macs.
Click to expand...
I know perfectly well what UEFI SecureBoot and Apple Secure Boot are.
What I'm telling you is that Windows 10 on bootcamp recognises secureboot=ON if you install it with full security on on the T2 chip.
Windows 11 won't work (as a fresh install) as "secure boot" on Windows 11 also includes having TPM 2.0 enabled.
 
bernas said:
I know perfectly well what UEFI SecureBoot and Apple Secure Boot are.
What I'm telling you is that Windows 10 on bootcamp recognises secureboot=ON if you install it with full security on on the T2 chip.
Windows 11 won't work (as a fresh install) as "secure boot" on Windows 11 also includes having TPM 2.0 enabled.
Click to expand...

So, did you ever tested?!?
 
Hey everyone, just thought to leave an update as I finally got round to test this. I have:
* Downloaded official microsoft ISO for Windows 10 Pro x64
* Used bootcamp assistant to install windows on my mac pro 2019
* did not do anything with SIP, left everything on, didn't boot into recovery
* updated my windows as usual, once installed, plus all bootcamp updates and the nvidia drivers for my RTX 5090 (which works under windows)
* installed steam/ea and BF6
* ran bf6 and joined an online game

So, as far as EA's current cheat engine is concerned, I'm good to go and everything works.

I am not updating to Windows 11 and I don't believe this is full secure boot as per the TPM2.0 incompatibility, but it works for now at least! Hope that helps anyone else.
 
bernas said:
Hey everyone, just thought to leave an update as I finally got round to test this. I have:
* Downloaded official microsoft ISO for Windows 10 Pro x64
* Used bootcamp assistant to install windows on my mac pro 2019
* did not do anything with SIP, left everything on, didn't boot into recovery
* updated my windows as usual, once installed, plus all bootcamp updates and the nvidia drivers for my RTX 5090 (which works under windows)
* installed steam/ea and BF6
* ran bf6 and joined an online game

So, as far as EA's current cheat engine is concerned, I'm good to go and everything works.

I am not updating to Windows 11 and I don't believe this is full secure boot as per the TPM2.0 incompatibility, but it works for now at least! Hope that helps anyone else.
Click to expand...
If you do decide to update, Win 11 and secureboot do work, and my tpm software! (Just make sure you have secureboot on and set to full in mac os recovery, Windows can see it)
 
tommysm said:
If you do decide to update, Win 11 and secureboot do work, and my tpm software! (Just make sure you have secureboot on and set to full in mac os recovery, Windows can see it)
Click to expand...
Oh interesting! So just updating it, I’ll still be able to play BF6?
 
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