Microsoft is now supporting the use of Arm versions of Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise on Apple’s M1 and M2 Mac computers, allowing the Redmond, Wash. IT giant’s newest operating system to run in a virtual environment on Macs.
This is made possible by a partnership with global technology company Alludo and its virtualization solution Parallels Desktop for Mac. This allows the use of Arm versions of Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise installed in a virtual machine with Parallels Desktop for Mac customers on Mac with Apple silicon.
According to Alludo, this allows IT administrators to enable their users to run Windows 11 on Arm on the Parallels platform, with the support from Alludo and assurance that Microsoft has authorized the solution.
In a Microsoft support document, the company calls Parallels Desktop version 18 an authorized solution for running Arm versions of Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise in a virtual environment on its platform on Apple M1 and M2 computers.
In addition, users can securely stream their full Windows 11 experience to many devices via Microsoft’s Windows 365 Cloud PC service.
According to Alludo, the latest version of Parallels Desktop for Mac is optimized for the latest Mac lineup with Apple silicon, including MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Studio.
Parallels Desktop users can download, install and configure Windows 11 in just one click, while the virtual TPM chip paired with the strong security capabilities designed into Apple silicon and Secure Boot provide a high level of security for customers, the company says.
In its own blog, VMware says the company is finally able to move “full-speed ahead in offering world-class support for Windows on Mac computers with Apple silicon with VMware Fusion via a new partner program.”
“Going forward we’ll be able to get insight and development guidance directly from Microsoft to help us leapfrog the competition and deliver the type of Windows-on-Mac experience that our users would expect from the worlds leader in virtualization,” VMware says in the blog.
However, Microsoft says there are some limitations that can impact the use of hardware, games and apps, such as those relying on DirectX 12 or OpenGL3.3 or greater, per Microsoft’s document.
The Arm version of Windows 11 has limitations that can impact your ability to use various types of hardware, games, and apps, including those that rely on DirectX 12 or OpenGL3.3 or greater.
Experiences that depend on an additional layer of virtualization (nested virtualization) are not supported, including:
- Windows Subsystem for Android, which enables your Windows 11 device to run Android applications that are available in the Amazon Appstore
- Windows Subsystem for Linux, which enables a GNU/Linux environment on Windows 11
- Windows Sandbox, a lightweight desktop environment to safely run applications in isolation
- Virtualization-based Security (VBS), which enables customers to create and isolate a secure region of memory from the normal operating system
DirectX 12, a suite of multimedia technologies frequently used in Windows games and other apps, is not supported.
32-bit Arm apps available from the Store in Windows are not supported by Mac computers with M1 and M2 chips. 32-bit Arm apps are in the process of being deprecated for all Arm versions of Windows. The preferred customer experience is to run 64-bit Arm apps, but customers can also use apps in x64 or x86 emulation on Mac M1 and M2 computers.
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