If you want to run Windows on your Mac there are two ways to do it. One is to partition your main drive using the built-in Bootcamp Assistant and then install Windows on the partition that doesn’t house macOS.
- Free Virtual Machine For Mac Os X
- Run Mac Os On Windows 10
- Best Virtual Machine For Mac To Run Windows
The Best Virtualization App for Windows. Shut down your virtual machine and open Windows’ Command Prompt. And do anything else you like. You’ve got a fully working virtual Mac on your.
You can then boot into whichever operating system you choose. While that method means running Windows natively and so is optimal in terms of performance, it means you have to reboot every time you want to move between operating systems and you can’t, for example, copy and paste between macOS and Windows. If you want to run Windows and macOS side by side, you’ll need to create a Windows virtual machine for Mac. What is a virtual machine?
A virtual machine (VM) is a computer that’s created in software and looks and feels just like a real PC. But it runs inside a Mac application. The whole virtual machine, with the operating system and all its applications, is stored inside one big file on your Mac. That means you can have multiple virtual machines on the same Mac.
Once you launch it and ‘boot’ the virtual PC, Windows VM on Mac behaves like any other Windows machine, except that it’s running inside a window on your Mac. If you have two screens connected to your Mac, you can have macOS on one and Windows on the other. Or you can use Mission Control to swipe between them. A virtual machine can share accessories like printers and external storage with your Mac, and you can copy and paste between the two operating systems. You can even set up the virtual machine to use Mac keyboard shortcuts instead of their Windows equivalents. Can I run a virtual machine on my Mac?
As long as your Mac has an Intel processor (and it will have unless it’s more than 12 years old), in theory it can run a virtual machine. However, running a virtual machine alongside macOS needs lots of memory (at least 8GB in total, and more if you want to run more than one virtual machine) and at least two processor cores.
You’ll also need at least 16-20GB of hard drive space, and that’s before you start installing applications and saving files. Most modern Macs should run any of the virtual machine applications described here without a problem. The other thing you’ll need is a copy of Windows. Virtual machine applications don’t come with Windows installers, so you’ll need to supply your own, along with a licence key. Best virtual machine software for Mac There are three contenders here: Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion, and VirtualBox. We’ll discuss Virtual Box in the next section. Parallels Desktop 13 The latest version of Parallels Desktop has support for features in the latest Macs, like the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar.
It also allows you to make the Windows desktop ‘invisible’ when you’re running apps, so it looks like you’re just running Windows apps in macOS. Or, if you prefer, you can shrink Windows desktop down to a thumbnail preview, so it doesn’t get in the way but you can keep an eye on what it’s doing.
Of course, virtual machines aren’t just about running Windows on your Mac. Parallels Desktop allows you to install Linux, or a different version of macOS, say a beta of the next version if you don’t want to install it on your Mac. If you’ve previously installed Windows on a Boot Camp partition, you can use that partition as a virtual machine, allowing you to boot into it from within Parallels without re-booting your Mac.
Touch Bar support includes functions in Microsoft Office apps, as well as Windows Task Bar. When it comes to performance, Parallels Desktop is about as good as it gets for virtual machines. That means you can run most applications just fine, but demanding 3D graphics-intensive games, and other apps that place lots of demands on the CPU and GPU are still a bit of a struggle. If you want to run those in Windows, you’re still better off using Boot Camp.
VMWare Fusion The other main contender when it comes to running a virtual machine on your Mac is VMWare Fusion. It comes in two versions, Fusion 10, which costs about the same as Parallels Desktop, and Fusion 10 Pro, which is more expensive but adds feature aimed at enterprise customers, such as support for managing virtual servers. In terms of features, there’s little to choose between Parallels Desktop and Fusion. Like its rival, Fusion allows you to choose between running Windows inside a window on your Mac (or full-screen if you prefer) and in what it calls Unity mode, where the operating system disappears and Windows apps look like they’re running natively on the Mac. That means you can run Windows and Mac apps alongside each other and switch between them seamlessly.
You can also copy and paste between Mac and Windows, share peripherals, and map Mac keyboard shortcuts in Windows. Support for OpenGL and DX10, as well as Apple’s Metal technology means that playing resource-hungry games is theoretically possible. But, as with Parallels, performance in the latest games lags behind Boot Camp and may prove frustrating. The latest version of Fusion adds support for the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar. Choosing between Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion may be as much a matter of a preference for one or the other’s user interface. They have very similar features, and cost almost the same. Fortunately, both offer free trials — Parallels for 14 days and Fusion for 30 days — so you can download each one and try them out before making a decision on which to buy.
Best free virtual machine software for Mac If you want to run a virtual machine on your Mac but can’t stretch to the $70 for Parallels or Fusion, there is a third option — VirtualBox. Owned by Oracle and made available as open-source software for personal or educational use, VirtualBox won’t cost you a penny if you fall into either of those two categories.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that VirtualBox, because it’s open source and free lacks all of the polish of Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion. While it does the basics competently, it’s much less user friendly and much less easy to use than the other two. And while there is help available online from other users, there’s no official support if you run into problems. And remember, while VirtualBox itself is free, you’ll still need to supply your own copy of Windows.
Alternatively, you could use VirtualBox to run Linux on your Mac, instead of Windows. Alternatives to a virtual machine As we mentioned earlier, the alternative to running a virtual machine on your Mac is to partition your main drive using the built-in Boot Camp Assistant (it’s in the Utilities folder).
You can then install Windows or Linux, or another version on macOS, on the other partition. Boot Camp Assistant is very easy to use and once you’ve set it up, booting into, say, Windows, is just like using it natively on a PC. That means, of course, that you won’t be able to copy and paste between Mac and Windows, and you won’t be able to use external storage that’s formatted in APFS or Mac OS Extended, but Windows will run faster than it does on a virtual machine. If you plan to use Boot Camp Assistant to partition your main drive, remember to back it up first.
Partitioning a drive is not quite major surgery, but it definitely carries the risk of losing data. How to make space for a virtual machine on your Mac Depending on how many applications you plan to install on your virtual machine and what you plan to use it for, you may need tens of gigabytes of free space on your Mac. If space is tight, don’t worry, there’s plenty you can do to make room.
As a first step, we recommend installing. It scans your Mac and looks for files that can be safely deleted. These include “junk” system files like cache files and other temporary files that are still hanging around, as well as language support files, and data in Photos and iTunes you may not need. Once it’s scanned your Mac and found all those files, you can delete them all with a click, or review the results of the scan and decide for yourself what you want to trash. CleanMyMac can also uninstall files completely, getting rid of all the files that are left if you just drag and app to the Trash, and highlight large and old files that you haven’t opened for a while. Best of all, you can and give it a try.
You’ll be surprised about how much space you can free up. Virtual machines are the most convenient way of running a second operating system on your Mac. The ones we have highlighted here are the best VMs for Mac, so download one and give it a go.
Edward Mendelson The Best Virtualization Software Virtualization software lets you run Windows and all its apps on your macOS or Linux system. Here are the best options to make your Mac Windows PC–compatible. Virtualization is not the buzziest tech term, but that's probably because most people don't really understand what it means.
Virtualization software does for your computer what picture-in-picture does for your high-end TV, but a lot more powerfully. Virtualization let you run a complete Windows system on a Mac or Linux machine, or one version of Windows inside another version.
The virtual machine created by the software acts like a real desktop or laptop computer for the guest operating system to run on, except that it doesn't require extra hardware. Everything in the virtual machine—the CPU, video card, RAM, hard disk, network adapter, and everything else—exists only as bits and bytes. The Windows, Mac, Linux, or other system running in the virtual machine acts exactly as if it were running on real hardware. So you can run a Windows app on a Mac running.
Or that old Windows XP-only app that you need for your business can run in a window in your new machine. Or you can run multiple versions of OS X on your Mac. Virtualization Use Cases. For large organizations such as corporations and, virtualization makes it easy to run identical copies of a virtual machine on a hundred different desktop machines and, at the end of the day, restore every copy to its original pristine state, without any of the malware or clutter accumulated over the course of use. Or you can configure a virtual machine so that it's isolated from the Internet and the rest of the network and then use that virtual machine to test any software that you suspect might be dangerous. When I'm working at a Mac, I use virtualization software to run that doesn't have any OS X counterparts, or when I prefer to use the keyboard-friendly Windows version of Microsoft Office instead of the mouse-friendly OS X version. Under Windows, I use virtualization software to run old apps that have served me well for years but that don't run under modern Windows versions.
One limitation of these apps: You can't run a guest OS X system on a Linux or Windows machine, because OS X is licensed to run only on Mac hardware, and virtualization apps won't launch an OS X guest under Windows. Hackers have found ways around this system, but they're as unstable as they are illegal, and we don't recommend them. You can install multiple virtualization apps on the same machine and use different apps for different purposes. For example, you might choose Wineskin Winery to run an old on a Mac, but use Parallels Desktop to run the latest version of on the same machine. Keep in mind that there are two kinds of virtualization software out there.
On the one hand, you can choose full-scale apps that work by running a complete operating system such as Windows or Linux. The full-scale apps include Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, and Oracle VirtualBox. On the other hand, you can choose Wineskin Winery or other software based on the WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) project. WINE doesn't run a complete copy of Windows or anything else, but instead provides a minimal environment that lets a single Windows app run in OS X or Linux. Virtualization Requirements and Features Before you get started, think about the amount of RAM and disk space you have on your machine. Virtualization software tends to hog memory and CPU cycles, and every virtual guest system that you create is likely to need 10GB to 30GB of disk space, and probably more as you continue to use it.
The new Veertu Mac virtualization app outclasses older full-scale apps by using the built-in virtualization resources of OS X to reduce its own footprint. Wineskin Winery (like other WINE-based software) doesn't need to install a full Windows system, and uses far fewer resources than apps like Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or Oracle VirtualBox, which always run a full Windows system even if only a single app is visible.
Also consider the depth of integration that you want between the virtual guest system and the actual host system. All virtualization apps offer varying degrees of cross-system integration. The champ in the integration sweepstakes is Parallels Desktop, which can optionally make all the files and folders that you have on your actual Mac desktop also appear on a virtual Windows desktop running under Parallels.
You may or may not want this level of integration—I always turn it off because it adds to clutter and distraction—but you'll almost certainly want the ability to drag and drop files between the host and guest system and to copy text in the host and paste it in the guest, or the reverse. All the full-scale virtualization apps offer these features.
Free Virtual Machine For Mac Os X
WINE-based software like Wineskin Winery lets you share text via the clipboard, and lets you share folders between the OS X or Linux host and the guest Windows app. But setup can be tricky, and it uses an interface that looks like something out of Windows 95.
The full-scale commercial apps, VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop, offer further integration features like an option to add shortcuts in OS X that open specific Windows apps so you don't have to start Windows and then manually launch the Windows app you want. They also let you set up the host and guest system so that (for example) an email link in the guest Windows system opens the Mail app in OS X—or the reverse, with a mail link in OS X opening Outlook in Windows. You can also set up menus of Windows apps that can open in OS X. One of the most useful features in high-end virtualization apps like Fusion or Parallels is a display mode that lets you hide the guest Windows desktop while displaying only the window for whichever Windows app you're using. The effect is to make a Windows app look as if it's an OS X app, though it will inevitably run slightly slower than a native OS X app. All the apps include varying levels of keyboard customization, so you can (for example) use OS X-standard keystrokes like Cmd-C and Cmd-V to copy and paste in Windows apps running on the Mac, instead of Windows-standard Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V.
Some keyboard keys on Windows machines—like Ins or PrtSc—have no matching keys on Mac hardware, so full-scale virtualization apps let you type those keys into a Windows app by choosing them from a menu in the virtualization app. Advanced users may want to experiment with different virtualization apps to find the keyboard controls that best suit their work habits. All these apps let you run the guest computer full-screen, so that your Mac looks as if it's a Windows machine.
When you're running a guest machine in a window, not full-screen, almost all the apps let you drag on a corner of the window to resize it on the fly. (Veertu and Wineskin Winery are exceptions to this.) These features, and all other advanced integration features, are available only if you install in the guest special software called 'guest additions' that run in the background in the guest system to interact with the host system. The kind of integrations that you get with a virtualization app depends on the quality of the guest additions that it provides—and if you're trying to run a little-used OS, you may need to look around to find a virtualization app that offers guest additions for the system you want to run.
If you're testing software, or if you want to restore a system to a pristine state after it's been used, then you'll rely on the Snapshot feature in Parallels, VMware, and VirtualBox. At any time, you can save one or more snapshots that preserve the current state of a guest system, and you can return to any snapshot at any time, removing all traces of anything that occurred on the guest system after you created the snapshot. This lets you repeatedly test software as if it were being installed for the first time, or lets you access a potentially dangerous website from a virtual machine and then remove all traces that the site left on the virtual machine, restoring it to the clean state it started in. Virtual Gaming Virtualization apps aren't all work and no play. Many users of Wineskin Winery, for example, use it to play Windows games that never got ported to the Mac. Many users of VMware Fusion or Oracle VirtualBox use those utilities to experiment with ancient operating systems like Nextstep or OS/2.
And, in addition to the apps listed in the table below, you can find emulation software that lets you run old MS-DOS software and ancient pre-OS X versions of the Mac operating system. If you want to play old DOS games, you can find versions of the open-source for Windows, OS X, and Linux. If you want to run text-based DOS apps like databases or word processors, the best choice is, by Jos Schaars. You can run apps and games written for twentieth-century Macs with SheepShaver or Basilisk II (abandoned by their original authors, but supported by ) or with the still-evolving Mini vMac at the. A promising work in progress is the open-source that emulates various hardware platforms and is getting close to providing usable support for early OS X versions.
Run Mac Os On Windows 10
Virtualization apps make it possible to run almost any app or game ever written on the computer you're now using. For corporate and leading-edge users, these apps make it possible to test and run programs or whole operating systems with minimal expenditure on hardware. If you've tried virtualization software already, you already know how valuable it is. If you haven't tried it, think back to that game you played on some clunky machine 10 or 20 years ago—because a virtualization app will let you play it again. Pros: Stable and reliable.
Runs guest macOS virtual machines. Can use the same virtual machines created on VMware products running in Windows and Linux. Can be used to run nearly any intel-hardware OS. Cons: Slower and less beginner-friendly than Parallels Desktop. Virtual machines not as tightly integrated with macOS as Parallels Desktop's. Bottom Line: VMware Fusion 8.5 is a top corporate-level choice for virtual machines on Macs. It's rock-solid, flexible, and can share its virtual machines with Windows and Linux machines running other VMware software.
Runs almost any Intel-based guest system. Can run on Windows, OS X, Linux, and Solaris host systems. Drag-and-drop and shared clipboard between host and guest systems. Cons: Clumsy interface.
Slower and less stable than commercial alternatives in testing. Buggy drag-and-drop functionality. No automatic printing to printers installed on host system. Bottom Line: VirtualBox is a free, powerful virtualization utility that runs a vast range of Intel-based guest OSes, but it has some rough edges and lacks features offered by the commercial competition.
Pros: Fast and reliable. Sandboxed security. Free version includes easy downloads of Linux and other free OS guests. Simple interface.
Best Virtual Machine For Mac To Run Windows
Cons: Minimal integration between host OS X and guest Windows or Linux system. No drag-and-dropping between host and guest. Only one shared folder for Windows guests. Bottom Line: Veertu is a minimalist virtualization app for running Windows, Linux, and a few other operating systems under OS X. It lacks some features offered by the competition, but it's got excellent sandboxed security built in.