Caution:
Users running ArcGIS Pro on a Mac can contact Esri Technical Support for questions and troubleshooting. However, all troubleshooting for defects is only performed against certified Windows systems.
Boot Camp allows you to install Windows Desktop OS on a hard disk partition on the Mac hard drive. This allows ArcGIS Pro to run natively on a Windows partition on the Mac. Configuring ArcGIS Pro through Boot Camp is described below, after the minimum hardware requirements.
Note:
Running ArcGIS Pro 2.3 and later on a Windows virtual machine (VM) on macOS requires Parallels version 15 or later. Earlier versions of Parallels are not recommended with ArcGIS Pro.
Minimum hardware requirements
To use ArcGIS Pro on a Mac, a contemporary Mac (MacBook Pro, iMac, or Mac Pro) with a quad-core Intel processor, 256 GB storage, and 8 GB RAM or more is required.
Mac systems configured with Apple Silicon (Mx), or non-Intel processors, are not compatible until Microsoft Windows OS environments are supported on Apple processors. If you already have an incompatible Mac and want to run ArcGIS Pro, consider the following options:
- Connect to a supported on-premises hosted VM.
- Deploy and connect to a cloud-hosted VM.
For hardware requirements for the host machine, see the ArcGIS Pro system requirements. If you cannot view all the specifications for the host machine, you can use the Can You Run It utility to check your system's hardware.
Run ArcGIS Pro natively on a Windows partition (Boot Camp)
Boot Camp allows you to install Windows in a dedicated hard disk partition on your Mac. In this configuration, Windows runs natively, accessing the Mac hardware directly. You can access Windows by restarting your Mac and pressing and holding the Option key while selecting the disk partition that contains your Windows operating system.
The limitation is that you cannot access macOS and its applications at the same time. To access Windows and macOS, you must restart your Mac.
To run ArcGIS Pro in Windows installed natively with Boot Camp, you need your ArcGIS Pro installation files and a Windows installation DVD or disc image (.iso), if you haven't already set up Boot Camp.
The Boot Camp Assistant helps you install Windows in a dedicated hard disk partition. You can access the Assistant from the Utilities folder in the Applications folder in macOS. For more information about Boot Camp, see Apple's Support site.
Run ArcGIS Pro in a virtual environment
ArcGIS Pro can also run in a virtual environment such as Parallels. This allows you to run Windows without creating a partition on your machine.
Recommended settings for Parallels
To run ArcGIS Pro with Parallels version 15, the following are recommended:
- Run the Mojave operating system or later.
- Disable the Auto graphics switching option in the Mac system settings and Parallels.
- Set the GPU memory assignment to Auto.
- Assign at least two virtual CPUs to the machine.