Parallels for Apple Silicon Macs Now Supports Windows 11 Pro

[MacRumors]

Virtualization software Parallels for Mac now supports Windows 11 Pro on Apple silicon machines, as Microsoft is now officially allowing the app to use the Arm-based version of Windows 11 Pro and Windows 11 Enterprise.

Apple silicon Mac users can access the Windows 11 platform on their machines using Parallels, and as it is an authorized solution from Microsoft, IT administrators can install the Arm-based version of Windows 11 on employee Macs.

Parallels is well-known virtualization software that allows Windows apps and desktops to be used on Mac machines. Apple used to have its own Boot Camp solution, but Boot Camp is not available on Apple silicon Macs, leaving virtualization software as the only option for Mac owners who need to access Windows content.

Parallels Desktop for Mac is optimized for Apple silicon Macs that include the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Studio. The standard version of Parallels Desktop for home use is priced at $100, with upgrade pricing available as well.

Article Link: Parallels for Apple Silicon Macs Now Supports Windows 11 Pro

 

[stiligFox]

Let’s go! About time we got official support. Glad to see Microsoft has finally opened up.

Now a Mac Studio looks really, REALLY tempting for my needs…

 

[saudor]

Nice! this is big news for the rest of us on intel platforms because of windows compatibility.

 

[RedTheReader]

This is pretty nice, but until we see Boot Camp make a come back, modern Macs don’t have the same utility for a lot of people as the old Intel ones.

 

[groove-agent]

I've been running Windows 11 Pro on Parallels for months. What has changed?

 

[KoToNaS]

I've been running Windows 11 Pro on Parallels for months. What has changed?

it was in preview. now its fully released

 

[al256]

Parallels but not VMWare Fusion? I thought that was interesting. Why just one vendor?

 

[EMZUMAKI]

What does this mean for someone who was already running Windows via Parallels on an M1 machine? Any big changes in terms of compatibility in apps or increased speeds we should be aware about?

 

[Kylo83]

Wasn’t is always working with parallels

 

[Larsen2k4]

Wow. I‘d have even thought Microsoft would run against Parallels for allowing this on their own. 😅 But maybe the number of active Parallels/Win11/ARM systems was enough evidence for MS to see the interest of users to use Win11 on the new cpus (and building on that with their own ARM hardware as well).

 

[playtech1]

I'm guess Microsoft's exclusivity deal with Qualcomm for Windows on ARM has expired so now it can go 'official' with its support of Apple Silicon via Parallels.

 

[ppetrovic]

Wonderful. Apple - the ball is in your court now, can we finally have full support for nested virtualization on Apple Silicon? Pretty please?

 

[iMacDragon]

Parallels but not VMWare Fusion? I thought that was interesting. Why just one vendor?

I suspect because parallels implementation is more complete currently

 

[antibolo]

This is a poorly written article that will create more confusion than anything.

Parallels on ARM has supported Windows for a while now. The difference now is that you can run a fully-licensed release build of Windows, rather than developer previews.

 

[socialwill]

Wasn’t is always working with parallels

It was never officially supported and Parallels was using a preview version of Windows 11 ARM. This is now officially supported by Microsoft.

 

[tbone7467]

it was in preview. now its fully released

I dont know if that is 100% true. While i did run the preview version from the parallels link for a while i had issues with it. I ended up buying a licensed copy from the Microsoft store not much after i got my M1 Pro Max. Im looking at my system settings on win11 and it says windows 11 Pro OS Build 22000.1574, is that a preview version?

 

[ThaGoochiestMane]

It's interesting that Microsoft is officially supporting Windows 11 on M-series Macs (without some of the OS's necessary hardware), despite many users seeing an "unsupported hardware" warning when trying to upgrade to Windows 11.

 

[BobSc]

This is a poorly written article that will create more confusion than anything.

Parallels on ARM has supported Windows for a while now. The difference now is that you can run a fully-licensed release build of Windows, rather than developer previews.

Not really true. I've been running a release version of Windows 11 Pro with Parallels on my Studio Mac for months now.

 

[xdmys]

Not gonna pay them $100 a year when I can use UTM to do the same **** for free and better

 

[Jarman74]

Wonderful. Apple - the ball is in your court now, can we finally have full support for nested virtualization on Apple Silicon? Pretty please?

macOS has been in desperate need of standout features for quite some time - you know, one of those which enticed you to upgrade to the latest and greatest in the good ol' days - and this could easily be one of them.

 

[DFZD]

We're in our 3rd year of Apple Silicon and no Bootcamp in sight.

 

[PhoenixDown]

What is everyone using parallels for?

I have it on my 2015 iMac because some MAC versions just sucked at the time but a lot of that has improved tremendously I think? I am also wondering how native windows apps are running on an M-series Mac. I assume they are using something similar to Apples Rosetta?

 

[BobSc]

Parallels but not VMWare Fusion? I thought that was interesting. Why just one vendor?

Good luck trying to run W11 ARM with Fusion. The latest Fusion, that supposedly supports ARM, is so incomplete as to be useless. The Tools are so crippled. No multi-monitor support anymore. No shared folders. No copy/paste between Mac and PC. I'm totally unable to run the software I need with Fusion.

But Parallels is fantastic. Their tools support all the features that Fusion doesn't. I have zero problems running complicated software on Windows 11 ARM with Fusion.

And given how many MR users rave about UTM for free, well, for giggles, I tried it. It seemed to install W11, but then could never get it to properly boot Windows. Pure garbage.

Sure, there is essentially a subscription for Parallels, but I'm happy to pay for it. I earn a living because of Parallels and don't have to buy a PC. Not having to buy a PC covers the cost of Parallels for many years.

 

[CalMin]

We're in our 3rd year of Apple Silicon and no Bootcamp in sight.

I know folks want BootCamp, but I really don't understand why. Sure it allows tapping into the full power of the hardware, but that was mostly needed for gaming and other resource intensive applications. Those apps generally don't run or completely suck on Windows ARM!

So my question is, what would BootCamp enable for y'all that can't be done effectively in a VM?

 

[david0128]

I've been using this for months. I installed the image directly from Parallels after I installed parallels desktop. I assumed it was the release version.