#Setup windows virtual machine on mac install#
#Setup windows virtual machine on mac trial#
#Setup windows virtual machine on mac free#

With those notes out of the way, it is now time to show you the process of using Parallels to create a Windows 10/11 virtual machine on your Mac. This means that the files used for the VM creation differ, which will be addressed in the instructions below.

#Setup windows virtual machine on mac install#

On Intel Macs, Parallels lets you install a Windows 10 VM, while on M1 Macs, you can create a Windows 11 VM using Parallels.

Thirdly, while you can use Parallels to create a Windows VM on both Intel and M1 Macs, there is one slight difference in the process of doing so.

That said, 8 GB should be enough to cover the minimum requirements of any game, so that youРІР‚в„ўd be able to test playing it from within the Parallels VM.

#Setup windows virtual machine on mac trial#

One important thing we should point out about the trial version is that it only allows you to allocate 8 GB of RAM to the VM, so even if your Mac has 16 GB or more, you wonРІР‚в„ўt be able to give more than 8 to the VM if you are using the trial version.

#Setup windows virtual machine on mac free#

There is, however, a free trial version that lasts for 14 days, and we highly recommend using it to test the waters and see if Parallels provides you with what you need.

The next thing to note is that Parallels is a paid program and this means that, so if you want to use it long-term, you will need to purchase it.

For instance, if a game requires 8 GB of RAM and your Mac has 8 GB of RAM, you wonРІР‚в„ўt be able to run this game through Parallels, because 4 GB of RAM would need to be left for your macOS, leaving the VM with only 4 GB of RAM rather than the needed 8 GB. In most cases, in order to be able to play a certain game while in the Parallels VM, your Mac would need to meet itРІР‚в„ўs recommended and not only its minimum requirements. This is particularly important if you want to play games through Parallels. This is because your Mac would still be running on macOS while you are using Windows through the Parallels VM, so some hardware power needs to be left for macOS.

The first one is that the Parallels VM cannot use all of your MacРІР‚в„ўs CPU cores and RAM.

On this page, we will show you how you can set up a Windows VM on a Mac with the help of Parallels, but there are a few notes that we must first make: This method is a commonly used alternative to the Boot Camp Assistant method, as the latter isnРІР‚в„ўt available for M1 Macs, also requires a lot of storage space, and doesnРІР‚в„ўt always provide the best performance.

Using Parallels to create a Windows VM on a Mac and then play Windows games through that VM is a popular way of getting games that donРІР‚в„ўt have a Mac version to run on a Mac. This means that you can do almost anything within the VM that you could do on a Windows PC, including downloading, installing, and playing Windows games. In other words, the VM is like just another app on your Mac РІР‚вЂњ one that looks, behaves, and functions as the Windows OS. The Parallels virtual machine (VM) emulates the Windows OS while the Mac is still running on macOS.

Parallels is a program that allows Mac users to run Windows on their Macs by creating a virtual Windows machine on the computer.

Step 2: Downloading a Windows installation file.