How it works

Ten stages, about four hours, mostly waiting. Each stage checks what it depends on before it starts and checks its own result before it finishes.

1. Check

   Runs in: macOS

   Confirms this is a MacBook Pro 16,2, then checks free space, the macOS version and your stick. Read-only.

2. Download

   Runs in: macOS

   Fetches Windows 10, Ubuntu, rEFInd and, if you want it, chromeOS and Brunch, each from its maker. Checks every file against the maker's checksum.

3. Windows

   Runs in: macOS, then Windows

   You run Boot Camp Assistant; the Wand tells you which choices to make.

4. Make room

   Runs in: macOS

   You use Disk Utility to make space for Linux and chromeOS, the Compendium's safer way.

5. rEFInd and Startup Security

   Runs in: macOS Recovery

   One trip into Recovery: you allow starting from external drives, and the Wand installs rEFInd. Compendium: installing rEFInd

6. Install Ubuntu

   Runs in: The Ubuntu installer, from the stick

   You run the installer into the space you made. Compendium: installing Linux

7. Finish Ubuntu

   Runs in: Ubuntu

   The Wand sets up Wi-Fi, runs updates, sorts out GRUB and fixes the partition table.

8. chromeOS (optional)

   Runs in: Ubuntu

   Installs chromeOS with Brunch. Brunch's own README warns it can delete data, even on other partitions, and it isn't tested on Macs, so the Wand asks first. Compendium: installing Brunch

9. Rebless

   Runs in: macOS Recovery

   Puts rEFInd back in charge of start-up. Compendium: reblessing rEFInd

10. Finish

    Runs in: Any system

    Checks that all of them start from the rEFInd menu and writes a short report.

Safety, built in

• A stage that finds your Mac in a state it doesn't expect stops, changes nothing, and tells you what to do, usually by pointing to a Compendium section.
• Every stage writes a log to the stick, so the record follows you from one system to the next.
• Once Windows is installed, the Wand reminds you at every stage: don't pick Windows from the Option-key start-up menu. Use rEFInd.

Why Windows 10 and not 11

Boot Camp doesn't support Windows 11, because these Macs have no TPM 2.0 chip. The Wand installs Windows 10. Microsoft ended mainstream support on October 14, 2025, and Extended Security Updates run to October 12, 2027.

Nothing is copied, everything is checked

The Wand doesn't carry anyone else's software. It downloads each system from the people who make it and checks each file against their published checksum. See the credits for who they are.

For the full detail behind every step, read the Think quadratic. Compendium.