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BootCampARM
Ko-fi (opens in a new tab)

A boot framework, still under test.

BootCampKit is the automation around this work: inspect an Apple Silicon Mac, prepare an alternative boot environment, and, later, install Windows 11 ARM64. The install has not been demonstrated.

The aim is a Boot Camp-like choice at startup, without macOS remaining as the host. The machine under test is a MacBook Pro 14-inch with M3, from 2023.

Apple Silicon does not expose the interrupt controller, CPU bring-up interface, or UEFI firmware that stock Windows 11 ARM64 expects. The path under test may need an EL2 hardware-virtualization layer inside m1n1, then UEFI from U-Boot. That is not an unvirtualized Windows kernel, and the layer is not finished.

On that one machine the chain has run through an alternative boot environment, m1n1, U-Boot, the BootCampARM shim, a loaded Microsoft EFI image, and firmware-service traces. Windows Boot Manager is not verified past that point. The progress record is the list.

BootCampARM is not affiliated with Apple or Microsoft. M1, M2, M4, and other M3 models are future targets.

Filled marks have executed on the M3 test machine. The record stops at the shim.

  1. Apple iBoot

    Verified

    Apple's bootloader on the test machine. Not a BootCampARM component.

  2. m1n1

    Verified

    Stage 1 and stage 2 have executed on the primary M3 test machine.

  3. U-Boot / UEFI

    Verified

    U-Boot supplies the UEFI environment used to launch EFI applications.

  4. BootCampARM shim

    Verified

    The AArch64 shim runs, loads a Microsoft EFI image, and traces firmware services.

    The record stops here.

  5. Windows Boot Manager

    Not yet verified

    StartImage is attempted. Initialization has not been verified.

  6. Windows Loader

    Not achieved

    The Windows loader has not been shown to run.

  7. Windows 11 ARM64

    Not achieved

    No setup, desktop, or completed installation.

BootCampKit

Inspection, preparation, staging, payload placement, diagnostics, and a compatibility database. Maturity is noted beside each stage.

  1. Apple Silicon system inspection

    BootCampKit can read the model, chip id, device class, firmware version, and macOS version, then compare them with a device database. Recognition is not a support claim.

    In the engineering tree

  2. Boot environment preparation

    The tree includes a stub-volume path, a Mach-O wrapper so kmutil can install an m1n1 stage-1 image, and stage-2 placement on the EFI system partition. An alternative boot environment has run on the primary M3 machine. The automated path is not a finished installer.

    Exercised on the test machine

  3. Installation media staging

    The partition planner reserves a FAT volume for Windows setup files. Windows Setup has not run, and no installation has been completed.

    Designed, not demonstrated

  4. Firmware payload management

    A firmware-payload interface copies stage-1 and stage-2 images and refuses to invent a missing payload. The images are experimental. They are not a signed, supported firmware product.

    Experimental

  5. Boot diagnostics

    The AArch64 shim and a smaller diagnostic EFI application record the UEFI handoff, PE load, and firmware-service calls. That trace is the current evidence. It stops short of a verified Windows Boot Manager.

    Verified in the current test environment

  6. Compatibility management

    The database lists chips and models so later work can track them separately. Family-wide Apple Silicon compatibility is not established, and the matrix on this site is the public rule.

    Future objective