5 best PC emulation software for Mac [2021 Guide]

• Most users wish to replace their Windows OS with a MacOS one.
• But sometimes Mac users wish to experience Windows software on their devices, as well. Here are the best tools to do just that.
• Sick of limitations? Toggle freely between operating systems and devices and get the best of all platforms with the help of our Emulator Solutions.
• Check out more creative solutions to enhance your digital experience in our Tools & Utilities Hub.

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PC emulation software enables you to run Windows platforms and programs on Mac. This means that you can open a Windows OS within a Mac OS with a PC emulator installed on an Apple Macintosh!

Thus, you can get the best of both the Microsoft and Apple worlds with a virtual machine.

As such, PC emulation software can greatly expand the amount of software you can open on Mac by running programs that are otherwise exclusive to Windows.

There are two types of PC emulation of software. The first is virtualization software that emulates operating systems with virtual machines.

The second type of PC emulation software enables you to run Windows apps on Mac without any virtual machine.

As there’s no virtual machine, you don’t need any Windows product key to run the programs with non-virtualization software. These are a few of the best PC emulation software for Mac with which you can run Windows software.

What is the best emulator for Mac?

VMware Fusion (Recommended)

VMware Fusion is probably one of the best-known applications that allow you to run Windows apps on your Mac. And you can run it on most Mac launched from 2011 onward.

The Pro version includes extra virtual network customization and simulation, and it even incorporates a new Fusion API.

VMware Fusion supports more than 200 guest operating systems and its Unity View Mode enables you to launch Windows software from the Dock, Launchpad, and Spotlight.

Let’s quickly look at its key features:

• Switch between a window and full-screen mode for the guest platform
• Copy and paste and drag-and-drop files and folders between Windows and Mac
• Good choice for Windows games as it incorporates a 3D accelerated graphics engine for DirectX 10 and OpenGL 3.3.
• You can utilize Windows-only devices with your Macintosh when Windows is up on the Mac.

VMware Fusion

Parallels Desktop

Parallels Desktop is one of the most flexible and best-known emulators for Mac OS.

The standard Parallels Desktop version is currently retailing at about $79.99. However, there are also Parallel Pro and Business Editions that include advanced networking and software developer tools.

You can utilize this software on Mac OS X El Captain, Yosemite, macOS Sierra, and High Sierra 10.3.

Let’s quickly look at its key features:

• Allows you to run various guest operating systems, which include Windows, Chrome OS, Mac OS X Leopard, DOS, Ubuntu, and Debian.
• You can launch Windows software from the Mac’s Dock much the same as Mac programs.
• You can copy and paste and drag-and-drop folders and files from the Mac desktop into the host platform.
• You can even open Windows programs without the guest platform desktop.
• Includes handy file archiving solutions and drive cleanup utilities.
• Video conversion and video download tools, GIF maker, screencast, audio recording feature

Parallels Desktop

Bluestacks

Bluestacks is an excellent software that allows you to run Android apps on both PC and Mac with the main focus on gaming.

Boasting unique features designed to enhance your gaming experience, this program has the capacity to simultaneously r eplicate actions in multiple instances.

But the advantages do not stop there. You can do more than emulate any Android game on PC and/or Mac, you can also use it to record and replay your actions at your convenience, with just one keypress.

Let’s quickly look at its key features:

• Emulate any Andriod game on both PC and Mac
• Resources optimization to boost your performances during gameplay
• Disk Cleanup utilities to maximize storage capacities
• Video Recording to capture your gaming highlights
• In-built screenshot tool and more

NoxPlayer

This is another gaming-centered Android emulator that you can use to replicate your gaming experience on PC and Mac alike.

Packed with numerous features, this Android emulator is perfectly crafted to enhance boost your gameplay with keyboard support, script recording, and multiple instances.

Let’s quickly look at its key features:

• Emulation capacities to perfectly render any Android games on Windows and Mac infrastructures
• keyboard, gamepad and mouse controls
• Play more games simultaneously and sync between accounts
• Record your gameplay and transform complex operations in fully-functional scripts

CrossOver

CrossOver is true to its name and does a great job at running Windows-built apps on your Mac with native functionalities like copy & paste, keyboard shortcuts, and more.

With over 13,000 Windows apps to choose from, you can easily get the PC feel on your Mac and even more easily switch between the two without rebooting or using a virtual machine.

Let’s quickly look at its key features:

• Run Windows software on MacOS effortlessly
• No rebooting and no virtual machine installation necessary
• One-click installation
• Does not impact your RAM and CPU usage
• Seamless integration with your desktop environment

These are some of the best tools that will allow you to run Windows applications on your Apple computer.

Bear in mind that you’re not limited to the Windows platform, and thanks to the virtualization emulators you can run Linux and other platforms on Mac.

As such, emulators can greatly expand your software library for any platform.

How to run Windows programs on Mac for free

Both Windows PC and Mac have certain captivating features that make users hard to choose between two. If you have been a Window user for a long time switching to Mac is never easy. Although Mac may take the edge when it comes to aesthetics, Windows is way ahead in the way it handles software & games. If you are a die-hard fan of Windows machine but have switched to Mac, you may have to face few inconveniences occasionally. Mac doesn’t support to run Windows exclusive apps, but if you have programs on Mac that are compatible only with Windows, you may have to find a possible way to run Windows programs on your Mac.

Fortunately, there are some solutions that allow you to run programs that support only Windows. Thanks to the options like Remote Access, Wine Bottler, Boot Camp, and Virtual machines – they allow you to run Windows-only apps and software on Mac for free.

Run Windows Programs on Mac

The following solutions will help you run Windows exclusive PC games and software on Mac:

1. Remote Access
2. Wine Bottler
3. Boot Camp
4. Virtual Machines.

In this article, we overview the different ways to run Windows software on Mac.

1. Remote Access

If you have both Mac and Windows machine, you can make use of remote desktop to access files, software and other apps on Windows PC from your Mac. There are many free tools like TeamViewer and Remote desktop for Mac that would allow you to access Windows machine from your Mac. Additionally, if you are Chrome user, you can access Windows PC having Chrome from your Mac’s Chrome using Chrome Remote Desktop. These remote access tools allow you to easily set up remote access to your Windows PC. To use this, all you need to do is configure the remote desktop on both your machines and sign-in to your accounts to connect both the PCs whenever you desire.

2. Wine

Wine is helpful if you have a small number of Windows programs to run on Mac. It is a free tool that allows you to run small programs easily on a Mac with a single click. It doesn’t require any installation. Wine is an open-source program, and it doesn’t require any Window license to run Windows apps on the different operating system. To use this tool simply download .exe files and open it with Wine tool to run the programs directly on Mac. The tool rewrites the code to allow applications to run on different operating systems. Hence it may not work for all the software. The tool is not ideal for some Windows software, but it is useful if as some apps may crash, but it does work perfectly well for few applications. Wine is mostly used with third-party tools like Wine Bottler or Wineskin to build a convenience interface. Get this tool here.

3. Boot Camp

If your work requires you to switch between Mac and Windows, Apple’s Boot Camp comes in handy. Boot Camp allows you to install Windows on your Mac machine. This is similar to dual-booting Linux on Windows machine. Apple’s Boot Camp lets you run Windows and Mac side by side on a single machine. Boot Camp partitions your hard drive so that you can install Windows and reboot it whenever needed. Boot Camp doesn’t allow you to run both the Windows and Mac programs simultaneously. You need to restart your current program in order to reboot the other. That is why Boot Camp is ideal for running Windows PC games or other software as the Windows can utilize the entire machine resources. However, it doesn’t allow you to run Windows and Mac OS applications side by side simultaneously.

4. Virtual Machine

Unlike Bootcamp, Virtual machine allows you to run both Windows programs and Mac programs side by side at the same time without rebooting your machine. It is one of the popular ways to run windows program on Mac, and it enables to install Windows OS on your Mac desktop. To run Windows as a Virtual OS, you will need a Windows license to install Windows on a Virtual machine. Window users who already have a product key can install the Windows installation media for free and use it in a Virtual machine program. Mac offers Parallels, Virtual Box, and VMware Fusion as virtual machine programs. One downside of Virtual Machine is that it consumes a lot of resources to keep the VM running without difficulty.

How to Run Windows Programs on Mac

Windows programs which don’t have a dedicated version for Mac OS X cannot be ran on Mac directly, but they can be ran with the help of a special tool. There are two basic ways to run Windows programs on a Mac. One is emulation, and another is virtualization.

Emulation

Emulation refers to simulating the basic portions of the Windows environment necessary to run some Windows programs on a non-Windows system. The most well known emulator is WINE, which is a humorous acronym for “WINE Is Not an Emulator”. While it is possible to build WINE on Mac an official pre-built binary package is not available, and building it yourself is probably exceedingly difficult. That’s where third party WINE distributions come in.

There is a full list of those available on this wiki page. Likely the best among them is PlayOnMac which comes as a standard Mac app and features an easy to use interface with which you can browse and install compatible Windows applications.

To install a Windows program using PlayOnMac just click on the Install button in the toolbar, navigate through the lists of available programs, select one, and click install. Then just follow prompts on the screen. If the program installs successfully it will be listed in the main PlayOnMac window where you can select it and click “Run” on the toolbar to launch it.

Another way to try running Windows programs with PlayOnMac is to simply download a Windows executable and try running it. PlayOnMac will be automatically associated with all Windows .exe files, and will try to help you install the program. This is a way to try out installing those Windows programs which aren’t on PlayOnMac’s install list. It just might work.

As an alternative solution there is a pay-for Crossover package which offers a potentially more polished experience. You can try it out and see if your program can run through it, and if you are satisfied you can choose to buy it.

The shortcoming of this method is a limited selection of available programs, and potential quirks in running some of them because they are not running in their native environment. The WINE process can also take quite a bit of CPU time.

The advantage, however, is that it is relatively fast to get going with it so it may be worth trying out to see if the program you want to run is supported before trying a more involved method.

Virtualization

Virtualization refers to running an entire operating system in a virtual machine. The virtual machine is a software simulation of a real machine. It is then possible to simulate a Windows PC on a Mac, and run Windows programs in it.

The downside to this approach is somewhat greater usage of memory and CPU resources because you are not only simulating a virtual computer, but also running two operating systems at the same time. The virtual computer also may not be able to fully utilize your real hardware capabilities, such as graphics acceleration. That said, if you have at least 4GB of memory and a recent dual core processor in your Mac you’ll probably be fine. You will also need to have a Windows install DVD.

The advantage of virtualization as a method of running Windows programs is that they have a full blown Windows environment to work with so the program should function just as it does on a real Windows PC without any loss of functionality. It is also a way to run virtually any Windows program on Mac since you are running a complete Windows system within your Mac system.

There are multiple pieces of software you can use to virtualize the Windows system and programs. VirtualBox is a Free and Open Source virtual machine manager, which is what we will be covering here. If you would like more features you can also opt to buy VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop. The general principles of functioning should apply to all of them.

Running Windows programs in VirtualBox

The first thing to do is download the right VirtualBox package for Mac. Go to the VirtualBox download page and click on the “x86/amd64” link next to the VirtualBox version for OS X hosts. Once you open the downloaded DMG archive launch the VirtualBox.mpkg installer to start the installation.

Once you install and launch VirtualBox you will see a VirtualBox Manager dialog that allows you to add a new virtual machine. To start the process click on the “New” button in the toolbar and follow the prompts on the screen.

1. Select Windows version

You will first need to provide a name for your new virtual machine. It can be anything you want, but something clear like “Windows” should do. You’ll also leave “Microsoft Windows” selected as an Operating System, but choose the version which you wish to run. If you have a Windows XP CD, for example, then make sure “Windows XP” is selected. If you have Windows 7 select Windows 7.

2. Allocate some memory to the virtual machine

The next step is to allocate some of your system memory to the virtual machine. The default and recommended amount for Windows XP is 192 MB, and for Windows 7 it is 512 MB. How much memory you will ultimately need depends on the Windows programs you want to run. If they are heavier and more memory hungry they will consume more memory.

A limiting factor will be the overall amount of memory you have on your machine. If you have 4GB then allocating 1GB is probably safe. If you’re unsure just stick to the defaults.

3. Create a virtual hard disk

Now we need to create a virtual hard disk to install Windows on. Just leave “Create new hard disk” selected and click continue. VirtualBox will recommended a start-up disk size depending on the Windows version you’ve selected. For Windows 7 it recommends 20GB.

When you click continue it will offer a few options for the format of the virtual hard disk. If unsure simply leave it at the default selection (VDI).

On the next screen you can select if you want the virtual hard disk size to be dynamically allocated or of fixed size. With dynamic allocation your virtual hard disk will only take as much space on your real hard disk as it needs, which is the safest option if you’re hard pressed for free disk space. If you have plenty of space to spare fixed size may provide a better option as it may make your virtual machine perform somewhat faster.

Finally, the next screen allows you to select the location of your virtual disk, which can be anywhere on your hard drive or on your external hard drive. This is where you can also select the virtual disk size. This matters most if you previously chose fixed size. If you previously selected dynamic allocation just leave it as is.

Once you click continue, review your virtual disk settings and click “Create”. Then review your overall virtual machine settings and click “Create” again to create the machine. The new virtual machine will be added to your VirtualBox manager where you can see all information about it, edit its settings, and start it up.

4. Install Windows

Simply click on the “Start” button in the toolbar to turn on your new virtual machine. This will display a new wizard that allows you to select where to boot the machine from. Your options are the internal DVD drive, which is selected by default, or an existing disk image. Since you probably don’t have a virtual Windows install disk you can keep the DVD drive selected as is.

Then you should insert a Windows install DVD to your DVD drive and click continue. The virtual machine will then try booting from the disk and initiate a Windows install process. You should be safe following the instructions on the screen as it will already have the previously created virtual disk drive detected, and will install Windows to it. Nothing you do here would delete any data on your actual hard drive.

5. Boot up and run your program

After Windows installation completes you can boot up the virtual machine and use it as you would a normal computer. The virtual machine should support an internet connection and the DVD drive so you can install any Windows program you wish to run in it.

You can also set up a shared folder on your Mac, which will appear as a separate drive in your virtual Windows installation. To set it up go to the Devices menu while in the virtual machine, click Shared Folders, and then click the small add (+) icon to add a new shared folder. You can also set to make it permanent, making it persist when you boot the machine next time, or transient to make it temporary. Of course, this folder has to exist on your Mac, and otherwise you need to create it before making it a shared folder.

You can also access the Shared Devices set up by selecting the virtual machine in the Virtualbox manager, clicking on the “Settings” button in the toolbar, and then the “Shared Devices” tab.

After adding the shared folder reboot Windows in your VM to have it detected. Now you can drop files in this folder when you want to make them visible on a virtual disk drive within your virtual Windows machine.

It is also possible to run the virtual machine in full-screen mode selecting it from the View menu or pressing Command-F. You could put it in its own Space, and make it full-screen on that Space to make it easy to switch between your normal Mac system and your virtual Windows system.

Another great feature is the seamless mode which allows you to see your virtual Windows dialogs, menus and windows alongside your Mac user interface for a more natural workflow, albeit only within a single Space. You can enable seamless mode from the View menu or by pressing Command-S. When in seamless mode it is recommended to move your dock to the right edge of the screen so it doesn’t interfere with the bottom Windows panel and the Start menu, as shown on the screenshot below.