How to Run Windows 11 PC on an Intel or M1 Mac – Guide
If you want to run Windows 11 on a Mac, you’ll need to use a Boot Camp installation. However, with the release of Windows 11, Microsoft has added a TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot requirement, so many Macs don’t have TPM hardware built into their motherboard.
This basically means that you cannot run Windows 11 on your macOS devices. However, the Parallels app is a third-party software that bypasses the TPM requirement on your macOS device and allows you to run Windows 11 on your macOS computer. The Parallels app is a third-party offering for macOS devices to run a virtual machine on all major operating systems. The only selling point of the “Parallels” app is different from the Boot Camp utility, it allows you to run both operating systems on your Mac at the same time and even lets you drag and drop files between operating systems. ..
Running Windows on an Intel Mac
When Apple switched to Intel processors in 2006, Windows became easier to run. Boot Camp was released which allows users to install Windows on a dedicated partition on a Mac and boot into that operating system when needed. ..
In late 2009, Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion were released which offered virtualization of Windows on macOS. These two applications offer excellent Windows virtualization on Macs if they have Intel processors.
Other options available for Intel Macs were Cross Over, which can run some Windows applications but not the full operating system; and VirtualBox which is a bit tricky to configure up. As Apple transitions from Macs to its own processors, many users who want to run Windows may want to keep an Intel Mac for that purpose, especially if they already have virtualization software.
Running Windows on a Mac M1
Apple’s M1 Macs use a variant of ARM processors and cannot run Windows with Boot Camp. While Parallels Desktop can run Windows on a Mac M1, VMware Fusion cannot. With Parallels Desktop, the process is exactly the same as for an Intel Mac, except that a specific version of Windows is required. Microsoft makes an ARM version of Windows 11 available that you can access by subscribing up for the Windows Insider Preview program. This version is not officially distributed and is currently free. It’s unclear whether Microsoft will officially release the ARM version of Windows 11 outside of this preview program.
Parallels Desktop is a software that allows users to run Windows on a computer with a limited amount of RAM and CPU cores. The Pro edition of the software costs $100 per year, which is more expensive than the Standard Edition. If you use Parallels Desktop frequently, the Pro edition may be a better option. There are also some limitations when running Windows on Parallels Desktop: for example, the software does not support DirectX 12, so some games may not run as well on it.
Another option is to use the open source Qemu, which can emulate various operating systems, including Windows. As with Parallels Desktop, you must sign up for the Windows Insider Preview program to get an ARM build of Windows and set up Qemu is a little more complex than using Parallels Desktop. Finally, Cross Over can still run some Windows apps, particularly games, on a Mac M1, but not on the Windows OS. You need to verify that the app you want to use supports Cross Over. ..
Final note
This guide will show you how to run Windows 11 on an Intel or M1 Mac. If you have any questions about this article, please don’t hesitate to ask us. Additionally, please share your love by sharing this article with your friends.
