
Windows ARM on M1 & M2 Macs: Before You Start.The Best Ways To Install Windows on Mac.Parallels is also the only virtual machine to run Windows on a Mac that is authorized by Microsoft.Īt the moment, the only major rival to Parallels is VMWare Fusion which took a lot longer to support M1 & M2 Macs and doesn’t have Microsoft endorsement. Parallels was the first virtual machine to be officially compatible with the M1 & M2 chip and allows you to run Intel only Windows software on Apple Silicon Macs. Parallels is incredibly easy to use even for beginners and once you’ve downloaded everything, will install Windows on an Apple Silicon M1 or M2 Mac in little more than 10 minutes. Parallels is a virtual machine which runs Windows “virtually” within macOS meaning you can switch between Windows and macOS instantly. Alternatively, many users in the past opted for Macs because of their design, so if you are not married to macOS, try a Surface Laptop instead.If you’re wondering whether Apple Silicon M1 Macs or M2 Macs can run Windows the good news is they can and here we show you how to install Windows on an M1 or M2 Mac for free.Īlthough there are various ways of running Windows on a Mac, the best way to run Windows on an M1 or M2 Mac is with Parallels. Personally, I have run Macs with Parallels in the past and if you have to run a few Windows applications then this is the only way to go with Apple Silicon Macs. Now that you have Windows 10 installed (virtually) you should update it to the latest version and hit up the Microsoft Store to install the latest app updates and find new apps.Users of Parallels desktop have a few options to choose from here, start a 14-day free trial, buy Parallels Desktop Standard which is a one-time purchase, but will not get you future versions of Parallels Desktop and two other high-end subscriptions for $99/year, that enable more performance and annual upgrades to new versions of Parallels.

After several minutes the Windows 10 installation will complete, next select continue and sign into your Parallels account or create a new one.Depending on your needs for the Windows apps, you may want to allocate at least half of your resources like CPU and RAM to Windows while you are using Parallels Desktop.After your Windows 10 installation is created you can customize the amount of CPU cores, RAM, Storage and so on.Parallels will automatically find you Windows 10.VHDX image file, if it doesn’t find it on your Mac, probably in your downloads folder, unless you specified otherwise.

