Run Windows on Mac

Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac

• Optimized for the latest Windows 10 updates, macOS Catalina and macOS Big Sur 11
• Play PC games and run demanding graphics software
• Work with Windows-based accounting and trading software
• Run all your favorite Windows software on your Mac, MacBook, or iMac!

Over 7 Million Users and Praised by Experts

“It’s always been astonishing that it’s faster to start up a Parallels PC than a real one. On my MacBook Air, I’m up and running in Windows six seconds after I double-click the Parallels icon.”David Pogue, The New York Times

“Of all the ways to run Windows on a Mac, Parallels Desktop is my favorite because it just works. It’s fast, it’s reliable, and there’s no need to futz about with confusing setting or convoluted setup processes.”Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet

“Unlike Apple’s Boot Camp, Parallels lets you run both operating systems at the same time.”Larry Magid, Forbes

”Parallels Desktop is the easiest, fastest, and most tightly integrated app for running Windows apps or the Windows desktop in Apple OS X.”Edward Mendelson, PCMag.com

“The latest version of Parallels, the popular Windows virtualization tool for Mac OS X, almost feels like its trolling Apple.”Engadget

“The software has been iterating over a decade and now makes Windows feel like part of the macOS. You can also virtualize Linux, Android, and just about anything that runs on Intel chips including another instance of macOS—great for testing macOS Betas!”9to5Mac

Fast, Powerful and Easy

Whether you need to run Windows programs that don’t have Mac versions, or you are making the switch from PC to Mac and need to transfer your data, Parallels Desktop has you covered.

In this video, you’ll find the playback speed has increased. The video shows a typical experience on a Mac powered by the Intel processor. Information on the M1 experience may be found in this article.

Parallels Desktop for Mac Features

Ultimate Flexibility

Touch Bar

Works with Boot Camp

One-Click Tuning

• Office 365 Integration
  Allows Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents in Safari to open in their native Windows Office app.
• Works with Boot Camp
  Reuse your existing Boot Camp installation. Converting a virtual machine from Boot Camp is easy, just follow our installation assistant at startup.
• Retina Display Support
  Smart resizing and independent screen resolutions for separate displays.
• One-Click Tuning
  Select productivity, games, design, software testing, or development and Parallels Desktop will optimize your VM settings and performance for you.
• Instant Access
  Launch and access Windows applications right from the Mac Dock.

• Save Disk Space
  Get the most out of your Mac with automatic Disk Space optimization.
• Volume License Key
  Unified volume license key, centralized license management and advanced security features are available in Parallels Desktop Business Edition.
• Travel Mode
  Extend battery life while away from a power source.
• Parallels ToolboxBonus with Subscription!
  Over 30 one-touch tools—clean your drive, take screenshots, download a video and more—all with just a single click.
• Remote AccessBonus with Subscription!
  Remote access to your Mac from any iOS device, Android device or browser with Parallels Access ® .
• 24/7 Support
  Premium 24/7 phone, email and social support after activation.

• Share Mac applications with Windows
• Automatic resolution change
• Single cloud storage space between Mac and Windows
• Drag and drop files between Mac and Windows
• Copy and paste files or text between Mac and Windows
• Launch Windows applications right from the Dock
• Move your PC to Mac in a few easy steps
• Assign any USB devices to your Mac or Windows
• Retina display support for Windows
• Volume control synchronization
• Open any site in Microsoft Explorer right from Safari ® browser
• Apply macOS Parental Control to Windows applications
• Windows alerts in Mac Notification Center
• Mac dictation inside Windows applications
• See the number of unread emails in the Dock
• “Reveal in Windows Explorer” in macOS files menu
• Virtual machine encryption
• Linked clones for VMs*
• Vagrant provider*
• 32 vCPUs and 128 GB vRAM*
• Nested virtualization for Linux*
• Drag and drop files in macOS guests
• Real-time virtual disk optimization
• Create VM from VHD and VMDK disks*
• Drag and drop to create VM
• Disk Space Wizard optimizes your disk space
• Shared folders and printers for Linux VMs
• Windows applications in Launchpad
• Power Nap in Windows
• Use Force Touch to look up definitions
• New virtual machine wizard
• Mission Control support
• Presentation Wizard prevents most projector issues
• Drop files onto Outlook to create a new message
• Multi-language keyboard sync
• Picture-in-Picture view

• Share Bluetooth between Mac and Windows
• macOS guest support
• Spaces functionality for Windows applications
• Mission Control exposes your Windows applications
• DirectX support
• Thunderbolt support
• Licensing portal*
• Firewire support
• USB-C and USB 3.0 support
• Work without risk with Snapshots
• Safeguard your VM with encryption
• 2 GB video memory support
• Finder tabs work with Windows applications
• AVX512 instruction set support
• Mojave support
• Disk usage optimizations
• Report disk space left on Mac
• Express installation of Windows 10
• Native Mojave screenshots
• Auto allocation of video memory
• “Free Up Disk Space” wizard
• Free OS downloads
• Coherence for external displays
• Continuity camera support
• Touch Bar support
• Shared smart card reader
• Multi-monitor support
• 4K shared camera support
• CPU usage indicator
• Mojave Quick Look support
• Pressure sensitivity support
• Resource usage monitor
• OpenGL support
• Offer to import Boot Camp
• Auto-detect games keyboard
• And many more…

*Available with Parallels Desktop Pro Edition and Business Edition subscriptions

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Parallels Desktop work?

To add Windows, Linux, or another operating system to your Mac, Parallels Desktop creates a virtual machine (VM)—a virtual PC inside your Mac. You can then install Windows on the virtual machine, just as you would install any operating system on a regular computer. Run multiple OSs at the same time, all on your Mac. It’s like two computers in one!

What can I do with Parallels Desktop?

• Open Windows applications side by side with your macOS applications, without having to restart your Mac
• Copy and paste text or drag and drop objects between Mac and Windows.
• Run Windows games and other 3D applications.
• Transfer all your data from a PC and use it on your Mac.*
• Easily share files, devices, and other resources between Windows and Mac.
• Install other operating systems, such as versions of Windows, Linux, another copy of macOS* and free virtual appliances—and use them together.
• And much more…

How do I get Windows?

There are several ways to install Windows (or any other operating system) in a virtual machine, and Parallels Desktop makes it easy to get started within minutes.

On Intel-powered Mac computers it is simple to install Windows. Just follow our Installation Assistant and click “Install Windows.” On Apple M1 chip-powered Mac computers you can install Windows by following the instructions in this article.

You can provide your own Microsoft Windows license key, purchase Windows directly from within Parallels Desktop, or transfer an existing Boot Camp partition with Windows already installed.

This screenshot illustrates the installation experience on an Intel-powered Mac and there is a separate article with installation information for the Apple M1 chip-powered Mac.

Transfer is only available for Intel-powered Mac and PC

What if I’m already using Boot Camp?

With Parallels Desktop, you can switch between Mac and Windows without ever needing to reboot your computer.

If you have already installed Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, or Windows 7 on your Mac using Boot Camp, you can set Parallels Desktop to run Windows from the Boot Camp Partition or import Windows and your data from Boot Camp into Parallels Desktop as a new virtual machine.

To use Windows from Boot Camp, install Parallels Desktop and follow the Installation Assistant.

How do I play Windows games on Mac?

Play your Windows-only game on a Mac using Parallels Desktop. Parallels Desktop even has a virtual machine setting dedicated to gaming to optimize performance. With ongoing support for DirectX and OpenGL, many popular games and game engines are supported within Parallels Desktop. Download a free 14-day trial of Parallels Desktop and see if your desired game is supported.

What are the system requirements for Parallels Desktop?

What if I need multiple licenses and license management?

Need Parallels Desktop for your team? Check out Parallels Desktop Business Edition.

Do you have educational pricing for students or faculty?

Parallels offers exclusive discounts for educational students currently enrolled in a qualified educational institution or professional educators who are currently employed. Educational discounts can save users up to 50% off by verifying their eligibility.

What is Parallels Desktop Pro Edition?

Parallels Desktop Pro Edition is packed with extra features, including:

How to Play Windows PC Games on Mac 2021: Steam, GOG on Catalina

Video games are more popular today than they’ve ever been. With the ever-increasing cost of consoles, some gamers would rather utilize their PCs instead of splurging huge sums of money on a console unit that would become near obsolete in about a year.

The best thing is that you can now run your favorite games across different platforms, such as playing Windows games on your Mac. There are numerous ways, but we’ll take a glance at just the 6 most popular ones.

PC Game Emulator for Mac

As a matter of personal experience, if you are looking for how to play Windows games on Mac in 2021, it is easier to play multiplayer games on a Mac than a regular Windows PC. So, if you have a Mac at home, there’s no need to restrict yourself to your Windows games PC when you can comfortably run them as Mac games.

To play PC games on Mac, you will need to install an emulator – a software that creates a Windows OS environment on your Mac – to play them.

Here are 6 different ways of accomplishing this:

(1) Parallels Desktop

Parallels Desktop is the best virtualization solution for macOS computers if you are thinking about running Windows alongside your MacOS applications. You don’t even require a complimentary license or similar necessities to get started. There’s little doubt that their latest version will work perfectly on your machine.

Perhaps the most pressing question for some newbie and PRO gamers out there is if they can run Windows games on their Macs with Parallels Desktop and still not experience stutters and untimely shutdowns. The answer is ‘Yes’.

Supports the Latest DirectX

With Parallels Desktop for Mac, you can, comfortably, play any Windows games you want, especially those that need DirectX 11. DirectX 11 is a suite of technologies and tools designed to make your Windows-based computer an ideal platform for displaying and running applications rich in common multimedia elements such as 3D animation, video, rich audio, and full-color graphics.

If you upgrade your old Parallels Desktop to version 15 or 16, DirectX 11 will automatically become available in your Windows once you’ve installed the new Parallels Tools . The same will be felt on your Mac once you install Parallels Desktop.

Here are some of the popular games that have been tested to run flawlessly on the system:

The system needs to be equipped with these must-haves if you want to run DirectX 11 smoothly. Remember, Parallels Desktop would be near useless without great pictures and sound quality – that’s how DirectX 11 gets in the mix:

* macOS v10.14.4 or later sub-versions, macOS v10.15 or later versions

* Parallels Desktop 15 or later version

* Windows 7, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10

Tune Your Windows Virtual Machine for Best Performances

Before even installing this emulator, you need to ensure that the Windows virtual machine is running to the best of its abilities.

Follow these steps:

(A) Shut down the Windows virtual machine

(B) Proceed to open the virtual machine’s configuration

(C) Click on the “Change…” button, then select “Games only.” Click on profile, then OK.

Important: This profile will change Windows and macOS sharing settings. So, if you want to permit Shared Applications as well as Shared Profile, proceed to the Options tab, click on “Sharing” and “Application” settings, respectively.

Also, note that most of the DirectX 11 games out there are hardware stressful apps, so their performances are directly related to the Mac hardware (hard disk, CPU, and GPU) they run on.

Further note that macOS v10.15 Catalina would be highly recommendable if you want the best graphic performance.

To check what Graphics and Processor your Mac are equipped with, open the About This Mac section of your Mac, proceed to System Report, and open Graphics/Displays.

It is a good idea (and even strongly recommended) to equip your Mac with a dedicated PCIe graphic adapter. Alternatively, you can choose an external graphics processor just to ensure things run perfectly.

Now that you know the system requirements, let’s have a look at how to activate your Parallels Desktop and eventually install Windows on macOS.

Activating Parallels Desktop and Installing Windows on Mac

Before even getting started, you are required to sign up by creating Parallels ‘My Account’, which, for a gamer, is beneficial.

Play Windows Games On MacOS

The first step to running Windows games on Mac is installing Windows on your Mac.

To do that, you first must install the right PC game emulator for Mac or a Windows virtualization tools suite, in this case, Parallels Desktop. Parallels Desktop comes with two advantages: it’s perfectly compatible with pretty any Windows game out there and is also secure, fast, and designed for quick mass deployments.

Here’s how to add Parallels Desktop on your Mac:

(A) Start by downloading your Parallels Desktop installer on your Mac.

(B) Go on to double-click on the .dmg installation pack to conveniently mount it in Finder, proceed to double-click Install.

(C) Take your time to read through the EULA or Software License Agreement, then click Accept.

(D) When prompted, enter your Mac user password and finalize the installation process.

Next, you will need to activate your Parallels Desktop, here’s how:

(A) Double click the icon to launch Parallels Desktop.

(B) If the first dialog box that pops up is the software’s Installation Assistant, just skip it – it’s not needed at this moment. The Installation Assistant assists you in installing Windows—that sounds like something you can install later, doesn’t it?

(C) Now proceed to click on the Parallels Desktop tab at the top of the window to reveal a dropdown menu, navigate downward and click on Account & License. It will open the Parallels Desktop sign-up box.

(D) If you want a business edition of this emulator, you can click on the Business Edition button located at the bottom-left section of the box. Otherwise, proceed with the regular version by entering the email and password of the Parallels ‘My Account’ you created earlier.

Voila! There you have Parallels Desktop on your Mac – fully activated and ready for Windows installation!

Installing Windows 10 in Your Parallels Desktop

You’ve just finished installing Parallels Desktop, but you still need Windows OS to actually play your games on Mac. So, this guide will walk you through the process of setting up Windows OS on your Mac – you don’t need to buy Windows 10 beforehand.

The process of installing Windows 10 on your Mac can vary slightly depending on your situation, and there are 3 situations you are more likely to find yourself in:

* Situation 1 – You have just finished installing Parallels Desktop on the machine

* Situation 2 – You already have Parallels Desktop running on your Mac, and the only thing remaining is to add Windows 10 VM (virtual machine)

* Situation 3 – You wish to transfer Windows 10 from your physical PC to your Parallels Desktop VM

Situation 1 – You have just finished installing Parallels Desktop on the machine

You might have observed that when you try to launch your Parallels Desktop, it automatically detects that virtual machines are missing, so it offers to download Windows 10 and install it for you. In this case, simply click on Install Windows, and the system will immediately start the download process. It’s going to take about 40 minutes with a sufficiently fast internet. While at it, the system will show you Parallels® Toolbox – a suite of over 30 single-purpose tools that are, almost always, bundled with Parallels Desktop.

Situation 2 – You already have Parallels Desktop running on your Mac, and the only thing remaining is to add Windows 10 VM (virtual machine)

Installing Windows 10 as an extra VM in your Parallels Desktop can be as easy as ABC.

To initiate the process, either click on the plus (“+”) symbol in the top and right corner of your Control Center window or choose the “New…” option on the File menu of your Parallels Desktop.

Let’s assume you do not have any Windows 10 installation DVDs with you, click on the “Get Windows 10 via Microsoft” button. Proceed to buy the OS and use the items they’ll send to you (Win 10 ISO file and product key) to install it.

Situation 3 – You wish to transfer Windows 10 from your physical PC to your Parallels Desktop VM

This process will make a copy of everything you have on your physical PC and transfer it to a Parallels Desktop VM: data files, Windows itself, and apps. The physical PC may remain unmodified. This transfer occurs over a network.

There are 2 computers: the source Windows PC and the destination Mac with Parallels Desktop, which is receiving the OS. Some of the operations and actions you will take during transfer occur on your PC as well as your Mac, so you might need to make trips back and forth to get the process right between the two computers.

The task on how to transfer from PC to Mac with Parallels Desktop for Mac are a little detailed but uncomplicated.

Whatever you intend to do, Parallels Desktop’s Installation Assistant now makes the process seamless and easy for you.

(2) Crossover Mac

The new Macs equipped with Apple’s M1 chip are designed to support CrossOver v20 for running some of the most sought after Windows games. CrossOver is part of the Wine Project – an open-source – that permits users to play a few 32-bit Windows games on macOS and Linux. This removes the laborious need to first install Windows on the machine before playing your games.

This is welcome news for gamers who relied on BootCamp to play Windows games on their Macs since the newer ARM-based M1-powered Macbook models don’t support BootCamp:

To install and use CrossOver, here’s how you should proceed:

(A) First off, install CrossOver.

(B) Once you’ve installed CrossOver, search for ‘Steam’ and download it. It’s a simple process, very much like downloading any Windows application.

(C) Thereafter, you need to download and install dxvk Vulcan. This add-on is optional as it only helps you run the Windows games smoothly – no other remarkable purpose.

(D) Lastly, proceed to install Direct X designed for modern games.

Note that not every game you will install will work smoothly. Some games – for example, ‘Alien Isolation’ – have been found to run and crash abruptly. Others like ‘Apex Legends’ and ‘Batman: Arkham Knight’ have been reported to fail to work completely.

Here’s the bottom line: Any game that utilizes DRM will not run on CrossOver. Some games stutter with low graphics and fps as low as 50 – ‘Bioshock Infinite’ is an example.

(3) BootCamp Mac

BootCamp is another way of running Windows games, natively, on your Mac. You will use BootCamp to install Windows on the hard drive of the Mac. This effectively makes your Mac a Windows PC with your macOS still on it.

Still, you will be required to reboot into the Windows OS every instance you want to launch the Windows game.

BootCamp comes with one major benefit: there is no third-party software onboard, so the performance is fast and better.

Using BootCamp to install Windows on your Mac is not a difficult process.

(4) Steam

Play Windows Games On Mac Through Steam

BootCamp comes with one drawback: it uses a sizable part of your Mac’s hardware, so Macs with slow integrated graphics will not run more resource-hungry games. Conversely, Steam for Macbook is a bit resourceful and uses your battery sparingly.

If you have an average Windows gaming PC with satisfactory graphics hardware, big disk space, and enough CPU power, you can utilize Steam’s in-home streaming component to stream a wide range of games running on Windows PC straight to your Mac.

Steam is more of an online games store than a straightforward emulator. It offers plenty of mac computer games as well as Windows PC games. But, can you play steam games on Mac? Certainly ‘yes’.

To run Windows steam games on Mac, follow these processes:

Here is how to install it and download your first on Mac:

Installing Steam on Your Mac

(A) Go to steam’s website using your browser and download Steam for Mac.

(B) Click on Install Steam located at the top right part of the webpage.

(C) Select Install Steam.

(D) Click on the “Show Downloads” button. This may automatically open when the file concludes downloading, depending on the browser.

(E) Proceed to double-click on the steam.dmg file to launch your installer.

(F) Click, drag Steam, and drop into Mac’s Applications folder.

(G) Wrap up this part by exiting the window.

How to Download Your First Steam Game:

(A) Launch Steam from your Mac’s Applications folder.

(B) Click on Open, if applicable.

(C) You will need to pause a bit for Steam to update.

(D) If you already have an account, log into it; otherwise, tap on Create New Account to establish one.

(E) Go through the required steps on the displayed box.

(F) Click Store.

(G) Browse the Steam store for a few games of your liking. You will need to ensure the game is compatible with your Mac. You will see Apple’s logo on every compatible game.

(H) Click on the game’s title

(I) Click on Add to Cart.

(J) Proceed to purchase for yourself.

(K) Choose your payment method and fill in the appropriate payment information.

(L) Proceed by clicking on Continue.

(M) Click the provided checkbox to agree with the terms and conditions.

(N) Click on Purchase.

From here, the game will start to download, and you’ll start playing your Steam Mac games immediately after they are done.

(5) VMware

If you are a PC gaming purist and love a little bit of sophistication, you may want to consider VMware as an emulator for PC gaming on Mac. VMware Fusion PRO, together with VMware Fusion Player Desktop Hypervisor, gives Mac users all the freedom they need to run their Windows games on Mac side by side with all macOS applications. Like Parallels Desktop, the best thing about VMware is that you don’t need to reboot the system to play your games – just hop on your games from regular MacOS applications as you wish.

With an improved 3D graphic engine, you may now be able to play many games with recent releases of VMware without stuttering, hanging, or shutdown. Also, it provides hardware-accelerated OpenGL and DirectX 11 capable virtual machines, plus added support for most eGPU devices. Any gamer with a Mac OS stands to benefit from its 8GB (max) of vRAM per virtual machine. Better yet, VMware employs a special ‘sandbox’ process that renders graphics to improve performance.

The installation process can be long and a bit intricate.

(6) VirtualBox

VirtualBox is yet another popular emulator used by hundreds of thousands globally to bring the Windows gaming experience on macOS.

To get started, you will first need to get a Windows 10 ISO file from Microsoft, download VirtualBox. The rest of the process involves following simple instructions, and in no time, you will have Windows OS running on your MacOS X.

* Download VirtualBox installation file from Oracle free – install this just like any other application.

* Get Windows 10 ISO file from Microsoft free – save this somewhere you can locate it easily, such as Mac Desktop.

* Remember, you need 8GB or more of free disk space to successfully install Windows in the virtual machine.

* As long as your Mac has reasonable speed and sufficient CPU and RAM, you are good to go (the newer your system is, the better).

VirtualBox is one of the most recommendable cross-platform compatible virtual machine software out there, and while the demonstration above involves installing Windows 10 system in Mac OS X High Sierra, macOS Mojave, macOS Catalina, Yosemite, and El Capitan, you still can use this same guide for any other major OS.

Conclusion

So, can you play Minecraft Windows 10 on Mac? Absolutely ‘yes’. Whether you simply want to play old Windows games on Mac or play Windows games on Mac Catalina and the latest versions, you can easily do it using one of the many emulators available for free on the web.

Even if you are one of those gamers that take a simplistic approach to desktop thrill, you can still play Windows GOG games on Mac. However, make sure your system meets the bare minimum demanded by the game or emulator. Also, note that some games for Macbook can be a bit demanding when it comes to hardware resources.