Parallels for Apple Silicon Macs Now Supports Windows 11 Pro

[MacBH928]

I remeber VirtualPC as well as the old Sony PS1 emulator. Pretty amzaing considering the tech at the time.

Running a ps game on a mac was outright brain splattering. That was like a gasoline car that can run on kitchen scraps, just...not possible...

You should be able to d/l a copy and use a valid Win 11 serial with it. That's what I did.

You can download W11 directly from within Parallels as part of the creation of a new W11 VM. UUDump is another source of a Windows 11 iso file but is a bit more complicated to use and requires a working windows installation to create the iso file. In either case, you will still have to purchase a license from Microsoft or a 3rd party for Windows 11.

I am confused, @JustAnExpat guy tells me no commercial ARM Windows is available to buy?

1. Windows comes included with Parallels. It downloads it automatically when you install Parallels.
2. Windows ARM allows x64 apps to run, but I don't know if it allows all apps. It's not a solution to play games for example.

Thanks for the answer!

 

[DFZD]

What causes your consternation is the fact that Apple got upset at the poor performance and overheating issues in all of Intel's offerings that they decided to go it alone and build their own, which is where Apple Silicon came from. And because of going to that and dropping Intel altogether, that lost Microsoft another revenue stream, which were those users that used Windows on a Mac via Bootcamp.

Your issue is with Intel, not Microsoft. But you should consider yourself lucky; if memory serves me right, Microsoft hasn't offered an OS not based on the x86 or x86_64 spec since Windows NT 4.x, which they offered it on DEC Alphas, which may barely exist (DEC was bought by HP, and I believe they finally killed off the Alpha chipset).

So complain to Intel about their CPUs effectively making for better space heaters in Manhattan and the Bronx than CPUs in Macs; I mean, a lot of others had.. look at their stock price and the layoffs they've had.

I think you are missing the fact that Microsoft has worked hard to release a Windows 11 version for ARM64 platform.

And if you ask MS about making this Windows 11 boot on a Mac ARM64 computer, they tell you to ask Apple about it.

Considering that Parallels can run this Windows 11 version so well, its quite evident that Microsoft has at least done things on their part by building an ARM64 build, the software support is not that great at the moment but it still emulates x86 apps quite well, just like Mac OS.

Regardless I am not sure how Intel is a part of this anymore.. its ARM now, so maybe if Apple wanted to focus on making it work, they surely can.

 

[jlc1978]

I think you are missing the fact that Microsoft has worked hard to release a Windows 11 version for ARM64 platform.

And if you ask MS about making this Windows 11 boot on a Mac ARM64 computer, they tell you to ask Apple about it.

Because their (MS) ARM implementation is specific to one ARM design.

Considering that Parallels can run this Windows 11 version so well, its quite evident that Microsoft has at least done things on their part by building an ARM64 build, the software support is not that great at the moment but it still emulates x86 apps quite well, just like Mac OS.

Just because MS released ARM64 doesn't mean it can run on any ARM machine out of the box. Each ARM processor is its own SOC design built under a license.

Regardless I am not sure how Intel is a part of this anymore.. its ARM now,

The x86 had a reference design that was industry standard.

Even though there is a System Ready ARM program, it is not necessarily followed and even if it is there are variants. In addition, it is relatively new.

so maybe if Apple wanted to focus on making it work, they surely can.

No doubt they could, but there is no compelling reason to do that.

 

[PauloSera]

Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 in 2025.

So? It will still work.

 

[DFZD]

No doubt they could, but there is no compelling reason to do that.

I understand that but I was just voicing my dissent that I would like to have Bootcamp support because I have a use for both Mac and Windows and carrying two laptops is not practical.

 

[Tagbert]

I understand that but I was just voicing my dissent that I would like to have Bootcamp support because I have a use for both Mac and Windows and carrying two laptops is not practical.

I think you may be waiting for a long time as it doesn’t look like Apple is interested in doing Bootcamp anymore and expects people to use VMs.

 

[BobSc]

Dude, you need to calm the f down.

You said "Good luck trying to run W11 ARM with Fusion. The latest Fusion, that supposedly supports ARM, is so incomplete as to be useless." I can run W11 ARM with Fusion, no luck needed. I also use it for things, so it is not so incomplete as to be useless.

Microsoft didn't support running it at all on ARM outside of the OEM machines it was sold on, so VMWare didn't spend a lot of time on it yet. Also, its a free product compared to Parallels ridiculous subscription model.

Nothing I said was incorrect or misleading information. If anything you were the one providing misleading information, I was just clarifying (if not out right correcting) what you said.

Well dude, thanks for the advice about coming down. I'll calm down when posters stop thinking that a product being free is the holy grail and that if something isn't good for gaming, it's not worthwhile.

You state that "I can run W11 ARM with Fusion, no luck needed." Well, if playing Solitaire or using Quicken on Windows for free is the goal, I'm sure Fusion is your solution. For these programs, you wouldn't need multiple monitor support, copy/paste, or folder sharing between Mac and PC. I'm happy for you that you have a free way to accomplish this.

But for me and others, our computers are used for business in addition to pleasure/personal stuff. We use our computers to earn a living. And that means we may need multiple monitor support, which we did have with earlier versions of Fusion, but no longer. And because of the incredible convenience of so easily flipping between the Mac and PC side, we also use copy/paste and folder sharing between Mac and PC. These feature also used to be part of Fusion, but no longer is. Fusion's Tools are so incomplete that with a routine installation on Fusion, networking doesn't work. You have to dig to find out how to at least install network drivings and video drivers. If that sounds fine to you, then more power to you. But the software I need to earn a living is quite complicated and require at least two monitors to function, something no available anymore with Fusion's half-assed release.

And then you said this, "Also, its a free product compared to Parallels ridiculous subscription model." As long as I hear this nonsense, I'll never calm down. Your claim of "Parallels ridiculous subscription" is simply absurd. I'm very happy to pay Parallels because they allow me to earn a living and I can make in an hour the money needed to pay for Parallels for a number of years. So, to me, it's quite a bargain. Do you have any idea of how much a license can cost to run some specialized software?

Fusion offers a free version for PERSONAL USE". That means someone is NOT using it to run a business or offer a service for profit. If so, one would need to pay for a commercial version/license. It's no longer free. If I make money using someone else's software, shouldn't I expect to pay for that software? The pirates will find any and every reason to fight this assertion.

So, for business/income related uses, Fusion isn't free. It's incomplete with significant and previous features no longer supported. So Fusion is useless to me from my point of view and my desire to make a living. The software I need to run works perfectly on Fusion. I have multi-monitor support and other features, missing from Fusion, that make Parallels very valuable to me at a very reasonable cost.

 

[jlc1978]

I understand that but I was just voicing my dissent that I would like to have Bootcamp support because I have a use for both Mac and Windows and carrying two laptops is not practical.

I get that. I need to occasionally use Windows to test compatibility, so for me a VM up to the point of installing on the client’s machine. At that point, I borrow one of theirs to test before turning it over.

 

[jameslmoser]

Well dude, thanks for the advice about coming down. I'll calm down when posters stop thinking that a product being free is the holy grail and that if something isn't good for gaming, it's not worthwhile.

You state that "I can run W11 ARM with Fusion, no luck needed." Well, if playing Solitaire or using Quicken on Windows for free is the goal, I'm sure Fusion is your solution. For these programs, you wouldn't need multiple monitor support, copy/paste, or folder sharing between Mac and PC. I'm happy for you that you have a free way to accomplish this.

But for me and others, our computers are used for business in addition to pleasure/personal stuff. We use our computers to earn a living. And that means we may need multiple monitor support, which we did have with earlier versions of Fusion, but no longer. And because of the incredible convenience of so easily flipping between the Mac and PC side, we also use copy/paste and folder sharing between Mac and PC. These feature also used to be part of Fusion, but no longer is. Fusion's Tools are so incomplete that with a routine installation on Fusion, networking doesn't work. You have to dig to find out how to at least install network drivings and video drivers. If that sounds fine to you, then more power to you. But the software I need to earn a living is quite complicated and require at least two monitors to function, something no available anymore with Fusion's half-assed release.

And then you said this, "Also, its a free product compared to Parallels ridiculous subscription model." As long as I hear this nonsense, I'll never calm down. Your claim of "Parallels ridiculous subscription" is simply absurd. I'm very happy to pay Parallels because they allow me to earn a living and I can make in an hour the money needed to pay for Parallels for a number of years. So, to me, it's quite a bargain. Do you have any idea of how much a license can cost to run some specialized software?

Fusion offers a free version for PERSONAL USE". That means someone is NOT using it to run a business or offer a service for profit. If so, one would need to pay for a commercial version/license. It's no longer free. If I make money using someone else's software, shouldn't I expect to pay for that software? The pirates will find any and every reason to fight this assertion.

So, for business/income related uses, Fusion isn't free. It's incomplete with significant and previous features no longer supported. So Fusion is useless to me from my point of view and my desire to make a living. The software I need to run works perfectly on Fusion. I have multi-monitor support and other features, missing from Fusion, that make Parallels very valuable to me at a very reasonable cost.

okay so I'm not even going to bother reading your whole rant...

For the record, I don't use it to play Solitaire. I actually use it for working on assembly and C programming for x86_64 (as gdb doesn't support macOS on Apple Silicone yet) and it works great without having to change systems to test the changes for a different architecture.

I just stated that I didn't have any problems using Fusion and the reason why I believed it to not have those features worked out yet after your first tirade. I know its not FREE for everyone's use case, but its free for most peoples especially if they were running windows 11 on m1 which wasn't officially supported. If you were relying on this for business reasons then you got other issues.

I have Fusion Pro as well as Workstation Licenses, I know how their licensing works.

Get over yourself already....

 

[CosmoCopus]

I run windows 10 using VMware 11.5.7 on an Intel MacBook Pro (Catalina 10.15.7) and it keeps restarting after I put it to sleep. I’ve tried booting into safe mode, disconnected everything from my laptop, reinstalled MacOS and it still restarts while sleeping. Any ideas why this is happening?

 

[chrfr]

I run windows 10 using VMware 11.5.7 on an Intel MacBook Pro (Catalina 10.15.7) and it keeps restarting after I put it to sleep. I’ve tried booting into safe mode, disconnected everything from my laptop, reinstalled MacOS and it still restarts while sleeping. Any ideas why this is happening?

Seems like a topic for a different thread, really.

 

[name99]

I think you are missing the fact that Microsoft has worked hard to release a Windows 11 version for ARM64 platform.

And if you ask MS about making this Windows 11 boot on a Mac ARM64 computer, they tell you to ask Apple about it.

Considering that Parallels can run this Windows 11 version so well, its quite evident that Microsoft has at least done things on their part by building an ARM64 build, the software support is not that great at the moment but it still emulates x86 apps quite well, just like Mac OS.

Regardless I am not sure how Intel is a part of this anymore.. its ARM now, so maybe if Apple wanted to focus on making it work, they surely can.

Operating systems do not run on CHIPS, they run on "systems" which are a set of conventions about all manner of things.
Page size. How interrupts are handled. How IO is handled. How to discover what's connected to the computer. Changing power states.
etc etc.

Windows runs on a particular specification for how to do all this. Apple has a *different* specification.
Apple isn't going to change their specification to match Windows (for so many reasons) and Windows has no reason to modify their code to match Apple's specifications for so many reasons.

Fortunately their is a trivial solution, which is to create a Virtual Machine which runs on Apple but implements the Windows specs...

Oh, your sooper-speshal use case DEMANDS running on raw Apple Hardware, not in a VM?
Well, tough, sometimes the universe does not give us what we want. That is one of these occasions and it likely will not change. Have fun installing Asahi Linux (with all its half-working elements) and then trying to somehow run a fake Windows on top of that...

 

[DFZD]

Oh, your sooper-speshal use case DEMANDS running on raw Apple Hardware, not in a VM?
Well, tough, sometimes the universe does not give us what we want. That is one of these occasions and it likely will not change. Have fun installing Asahi Linux (with all its half-working elements) and then trying to somehow run a fake Windows on top of that...

As mentioned earlier, I have already bought a separate windows laptop. Also lets keep it civil.. we are all adults here.

 

[Tagbert]

As mentioned earlier, I have already bought a separate windows laptop. Also lets keep it civil.. we are all adults here.

Optimist 😊

 

[MaxBurn]

What "Apps" do you have currently? A good rule of thumb is the more complex the app, the less likely it'll run in Windows 11 Arm.

Remember, you're using a *virtualization layer* to run an emulator.

Enterprise apps you've never heard of. They have a history of being difficult and some of the older ones struggle to be compatible with windows 10 x64 alone.

 

[BobSc]

If you were relying on this for business reasons then you got other issues.

Get over yourself already....

Once again, a generalization that is incorrect. Exactly what does "If you were relying on this for business reasons then you got other issues" mean?

As soon as Parallels released a version that supported Windows at the beginning of 2022, I was finally able to purchase a Silicon device (theMac Studio M1 Ultra), and have been making money running my needed software on a Silicon machine. Parallels proved they could perform and they did so in glorious fashion.

What issues do you claim I have because I wanted to use ARM W11 for business and I have been able to do so for almost the last year? Today, I couldn't use Fusion for business as it is an incomplete mess. Fusion does not have the tools necessary for me and many others to perform as needed, especially with VMWare's decision to not support multiple monitors, etc. Fusion abandoned Mac users for a long time and now continue to dump on Mac users with Tools that are so incomplete as to make Fusion almost useless for so many.

If anyone needs to "get over themselves", it isn't me.

 

[Geologi]

The Parallels Desktop 18 already supports Windows 11 for the M1/M2 Mac a few months ago , and I install the windows 11 in the PD and activate it with a product key from keyingo.com store, it has been working so good !!!

 

[duck apple]

But having to reboot the Mac to use Windows and not be able to easily switch between the Mac and PC side without rebooting is a huge limitation for me. Parallels works so well with W11 ARM that I'm happy to pay for it.

Agree!
And I also need Linux which is not supported by Bootcamp but well supported as VM in Parallels.

All I hate about Parallels is the subscription model for its Pro and up version.
I need Pro version to give more CPU and RAM to a single VM.

 

[duck apple]

Once again, a generalization that is incorrect. Exactly what does "If you were relying on this for business reasons then you got other issues" mean?

As soon as Parallels released a version that supported Windows at the beginning of 2022, I was finally able to purchase a Silicon device (theMac Studio M1 Ultra), and have been making money running my needed software on a Silicon machine. Parallels proved they could perform and they did so in glorious fashion.

What issues do you claim I have because I wanted to use ARM W11 for business and I have been able to do so for almost the last year? Today, I couldn't use Fusion for business as it is an incomplete mess. Fusion does not have the tools necessary for me and many others to perform as needed, especially with VMWare's decision to not support multiple monitors, etc. Fusion abandoned Mac users for a long time and now continue to dump on Mac users with Tools that are so incomplete as to make Fusion almost useless for so many.

If anyone needs to "get over themselves", it isn't me.

So true.
Last time I tries Fusion (the free version) on X86 Mac and felt it performed like a half baked junk by amateur community.
I can't blame VMware to dedicate to enterprise.

 

[duck apple]

Whatever happened to the days when Virtualbox would run just about anything relatively modern?

Virtualbox is no comparison to Parallels in performance, compatibility and features.
That's expected for an open sourced community effort of this level of sophistication.

 

[duck apple]

I run VMWare Fusion on Intel MacOS and it supports copy/paste and common file access.

I wiped it the last time I tried the free version of Fusion (that's the first new version several years after its last paid version).
And why VMware would invest on a free software?

I use free products because I don't want to pay a yearly tax for Parallels. Even without copy/paste, etc., VMWare Fusion is plenty useful for what I need to do.

You can buy the non Pro version and run it as long as MacOS allows, with a few drawback.

 

[chucker23n1]

Enterprise apps you've never heard of. They have a history of being difficult and some of the older ones struggle to be compatible with windows 10 x64 alone.

As someone who write such an enterprise app, it's a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. Whereas Apple is very aggressive in pushing developers to the newest APIs, Microsoft is kind of the opposite; they still support their aging Win32 stuff, and they don't provide good migration paths to modernize apps. Add to that that, for a variety of reasons, enterprise apps are increasingly moving to the web and leaving the Windows desktop behind, which incidentally also removes the need for Windows…

 

[jameslmoser]

If anyone needs to "get over themselves", it isn't me.

keep telling yourself that...

 

[Yebubbleman]

About damn time! Now we just need VMware Fusion joining this party too (which it will) and for Apple to release Boot Camp Support for Windows 11 on compatible Intel Macs (any 2018 through 2020 Intel Mac ought to be capable of running it with a firmware update or two)!

 

[dysamoria]

It would be very difficult since it would require Windows drivers for Apple Silicon.

Difficult is subjective. This is the company that develops drivers for that hardware already, but currently only for its own OS.