Installing Windows 11 on Mac Pro 6,1 (2013)

To install Windows 11 on a Apple Mac Pro 6,1 (2013) you need to first install Windows 10 using our guide: Installing Windows 10 on Mac Pro 6,1 (2013).

Then you need to create a patched Windows 11 USB flash drive using another guide: Creating Windows 11 installer USB flash drive.

This guide is valid for upgrading Windows 10 to Windows 11 as well as upgrading major Windows 11 build e.g. from Windows 11 23H2 to Windows 11 24H2 which would not be carried out automatically since the machine is not officially supported. The only difference is that you would be starting from Windows 11 instead of Windows 10.

We recommend using built-in HDMI port for the installation. Post installation it could be later switched to miniDisplayPort (Thunderbolt 2) connection to get full resolution.

If you have Apple Studio Display or Pro Display XDR please use WJESOG DisplayPort to USB-C cable (https://www.amazon.com/WJESOG-DisplayPort-Adapter-Converter-Thunderbolt/dp/B0BNX7MS6N/) + any HDMI to DisplayPort adapter, then replace this adapter with any 4K miniDisplayPort to DisplayPort adapter e.g. from Cable Matters (https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Przej%C5%9Bci%C3%B3wka-DisplayPort-kolorze/dp/B00HNF0KF0/).

Apple Studio Display/Pro Display XDR might show violet colors on boot screen/boot picker until proper driver gets is loaded when used with a built-in HDMI port. If you have such issue just ignore this and continue installation. This will fix as soon the driver get loaded or you can use miniDisplayPort.

Please note the maximum resolution via HDMI is 2K@60Hz, while via miniDisplayPort 4K@60Hz is possible. If you want to get full 5K@60Hz (on Apple Studio Display) or 6K@60Hz (on Pro Display XDR) resolution you need to get one of our eGPU cards.

Apple Crossfire mode (two internal AMD FirePro graphics cards linked together to double the performance) will be enabled automatically.

Step 1 First you need to remove AMD graphics card drivers using AMD Cleanup Utility for Windows. Open a following page https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/faqs/GPU-601.html in any web browser e.g. Safari and click on AMD Cleanup Utility for Windows link in the Using AMD Cleanup Utility section to download it.

Step 2 Open your Downloads folder and double click on amdcleanuputility.exe file to run it.

Step 3 Click No as rebooting into safe mode is not really needed.

Step 4 Click OK button to start removing AMD drivers.

Step 5 Removing the drivers would take just a few minutes.

Step 6 Click Finish button to complete the removal process.

Step 7 Click Yes button to restart the computer.

Step 8 Now insert a USB flash drive with Windows 11 and click the AutoPlay prompt in the right lower corner of the screen.

Step 9 Click Open folder to view files to show contents of the USB flash drive.

Step 10 Double click setup.exe file to launch Windows 11 installer.

Step 11 Before the installation first we need to disable Windows 11 installer updates to prevent new updates disable our unsupported machine patches making the upgrade impossible. Click Change how Setup downloads updates link.

Step 12 Click Not right now radio button, as well as uncheck I want to help make the installation better checkbox and click Next button to continue.

Step 13 Read the licence agreement and click Accept button to continue.

Step 14 You will be warned that your system does not meet the minimum system requirements, but since it's patched you can safely click Accept button.

Step 15 The installer would choose proper version of Windows depending on your current version of Windows 10, so if you upgrade from Windows 10 Home you will be upgraded to Windows 11 Home, if you upgrade from Windows 10 Pro you will be upgraded to Windows 11 Pro. Make sure the Windows 11 USB flash drive was created using the same language you've used for Windows 10 installation e.g. US English is not the same as English International otherwise there would be only an option to Keep personal files only while settings and apps would be deleted. Click Install button to start the installation.

Step 16 The installer would start the update process which takes around 30-40 minutes to complete.

Step 17 When the installation is complete you will be booted directly to Windows 11 with all your files, settings, apps as well as drivers you previously had in Windows 10, so there is no need to reinstall these.

Step 18 However we need to reinstall AMD drivers for the integrated AMD FirePro D300/D500/D700 graphics cards. All cards use the same driver version. Open a following website in any web browser: https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/release-notes/Apple-Boot-Camp-Previous.html Look for a line with Mac Pro (2013) and click DOWNLOAD* link to download it.

Step 19 In your downloads folder you will find unified_r5_20.45.40.15_whql_211111a-375339c.zip file. Right click on it and choose Extract All... option to extract files.

Step 20 Leave the default path as is and check the checkbox next to "Show extracted files when complete" and click Extract button.

Step 21 File will be extracted into Unified_R5_20.45.40.15_WHQL_211111a-375339C folder. Double click on it to open it.

Step 22 Double click on Setup.exe file to launch AMD graphics driver installer.

Step 23 Click Install button to start the installation.

Step 24 As soon it's finished click Restart button to restart the computer.

Step 25 Post computer restart you can test if the new display driver is working properly. To do so right click on the desktop and choose Show more options from the context menu.

Step 26 Then click AMD Radeon Pro Settings.

Step 27 If you see a screen like the one pictured, it means it's working perfectly. You don't need to change anything here unless needed.

Step 28 Now you can test if the Boot Camp application itself it working properly. Apple BootCamp is located in system tray. You need click an arrow to reveal all tray icons, then left click gray triangle icon in your tray.

Step 29 Now select Boot Camp Control Panel... option from the context menu.

Step 30 Here you can select the default drive to boot the computer from. It could be either any macOS partition or Windows partition.

Step 31 If you have Apple Studio Display or Apple Pro Display XDR you should now see dimming slider and automatic brightness checkbox. Also there are presets to choose from. Please note brightness control only works on default Apple Display (P3-600 nits) preset. That's it. Enjoy!