What Apple utility lets Intel-based Macs boot Microsoft Windows?

Boot Camp is Apple’s utility for installing and booting Microsoft Windows on Intel-based Macs. It guides users through creating a Windows partition, installing Windows, and adding drivers for Mac hardware.

Boot Camp first appeared as an unsupported beta for Intel Macs in 2006 and became an included feature with Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 in 2007. Unlike virtualization software, it boots Windows directly on the Mac’s Intel hardware, allowing Windows applications to run without a virtual-machine layer.

Wine, VirtualBox, and Parallels Desktop serve different purposes: Wine provides a compatibility layer, while VirtualBox and Parallels run virtual machines. Boot Camp is not supported on Apple-silicon Macs, although ARM versions of Windows can run there through virtualization in supported setups.