There is now an official way to run Windows 11 on ARM silicon-based Macs – the latest version of Parallels Desktop can do it with Microsoft’s blessing. This solution was developed by the Parallels team and Alludo.
“Why would you want to?” some of you may be wondering, but if you are, you’re lucky enough not to need software that runs only on Windows. Some professional applications don’t have macOS versions, but they are vital for certain jobs.
Parallels could run Windows before, although previous versions only supported Windows 10. The latest version supports Windows 11, which opens up new possibilities.
Parallels Desktop version 18 supports Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise on all current Apple M-based Macs. Of course, a valid Windows license is required, but this can be managed enterprise-wide with Key Management Services.
Here’s an interesting note: The Windows Subsystem for Android, i.e. the Android emulation of Windows 11, works. This means you can download Android apps from the Amazon App Store and run them on your Mac.
The Windows Subsystem for Linux works too, so Macs can turn into truly cross-platform development machines since you can test versions of an app for every major operating system under the sun.
As far as what isn’t supported, DirectX 12 is on that list. Also, you can’t run 32-bit ARM apps for Windows (although Microsoft wants to deprecate them anyway). You’ll find out more about what works and what doesn’t here.
Running the new Parallels Desktop requires 600MB to install the app, plus an installation (and license) of Windows 11 and, of course, the apps you want to run. You should get near-native performance from the Parallels virtual machine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Bslirrie0
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