Microsoft explicitly told me that 'Parallels Desktop is currently the only authorized option that supports Windows 11 in VMs on Macs.' Parallels has been used to run Windows 11 for quite some time on M-series Macs, however, and installing Windows 11 is a simple part of the app's setup (opens in new tab).Apple Silicon (M.x chip) Macs sport feature called “Rosetta 2,” integrated emulation software, to enable ARM-based Macs to run Intel code. We don't expect that this news means that Microsoft will also make the Arm versions of Windows 11 more available to the public. But Microsoft says that 32-bit Arm apps 'are in the process of being deprecated for all Arm versions of Windows.' Ideally, you would run 64-bit Arm apps on Mac, but you can also emulate 圆4 or x86 apps.

Microsoft says it's authorized for running Arm versions of Windows 11 Pro and Windows 11 Enterprise.īut going the Parallels route also doesn't allow for nested virtualization, so you won't be able to run the Windows Subsystem for Android or Linux (to run Android apps from the Amazon app store or run a GNU environment in Windows), or the Windows Sandbox or Virtualization-based security (VBS) to separate some memory from the OS.Īdditionally, 32-bit Arm apps from the Microsoft Store in Windows don't work on Macs with M1 and M2 processors (Apple stopped supporting 32-bit apps with macOS Catalina). Using Parallels Desktop 18 may be more accessible for most people, but the standard edition for home and student use starts at $99.99 a year, with professional and business edition subscription services at $119.99 and $149.99 per year. The benefit of this is that Windows 365 offers nested virtualization, allowing you to run emulators and get full compatibility with features that require virtualization, like running Android apps from the Amazon app store. In this case, you can stream Windows 11 to a Mac (or any device) through the software-as-a-service.

Windows 365 Cloud PCs are currently available in business and enterprise plans (opens in new tab), starting at $31 per user per month. In general, it seems to be pointing it only toward business users. The options to do so aren't necessarily new - Microsoft is pushing Windows 365 Cloud PCs or by using Parallels Desktop 18 - but it's the first time we've seen Microsoft provide Windows guidance to Mac users since Boot Camp went away.

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