Windows 11 and Parallels Desktop

Parallels® Desktop version 18 and 19 are authorized solutions for running Arm® versions of Windows 11 Pro and Windows 11 Enterprise in a virtual environment on its platform on Apple M1, M2, and M3 computers.Virtualization software is the only way to run Windows on an M1 or M2 Mac. There were several very good options for virtualization tools available for Intel Mac computers, but partly because of the challenges of moving to a different architecture, not many remain.Install Windows 11 automatically

To install Windows 11, run Parallels Desktop, then click on the Parallels icon in the Mac menu bar > Control Center > + > Get Windows 11 from Microsoft > Continue > Install Windows. Windows will be downloaded and installed automatically.

Does Boot Camp work on M1 : Boot Camp requires one of these Mac models, which have an Intel processor: MacBook introduced in 2015 through 2017. MacBook Air introduced in 2012 through 2020, excluding MacBook Air (M1, 2020)

Can a M2 chip run Windows

While Microsoft has limitations on which CPUs are supported to run Windows 11 natively, the company is happy for Apple M1 and M2 users to run the OS in a virtual machine.

Will Boot Camp come to M2 : Unfortunately, Apple only supports Boot Camp on Macs with an Intel processor. Since Apple has been updating its Macs to run on its own Apple silicon (i.e. M1, M2, and M3) processors, few Macs are still available that let you dual-boot Windows or run Windows apps natively with an Intel processor.

Apple's macOS and iPadOS operating systems both run on the M1. Initial support for the M1 SoC in the Linux kernel was released in version 5.13 on June 27, 2021.

If you're running a virtual machine on your Mac using Parallels Desktop, you may experience some performance issues that can make the virtual machine run slower than you'd like. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to improve your virtual machine's performance.

Do I need license for Windows 11 on Parallels

You will need to acquire a separate license for Windows 11 Pro if you do not already have one. A unique license is required for each instance of Windows 11 Pro that you are running, either on a hardware or in a virtual machine.M1 is an Arm architecture processor and not x86-64, and Apple Boot Camp is for x86-64 processors. Windows for x86-64 will not boot and will not work on an M1 processor.Apple's M-series chips use the Arm architecture, which is different from the x86 architecture in Intel processors, so the version of Windows that runs on Intel PCs will not work on M-series Macs. With Apple's transition to the M1 processor in 2020, the company decided to not develop Boot Camp for the M-series Macs.

More Transistors, More Memory

The additional transistors improve features across the entire chip, including the memory controller that delivers 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth — 50 percent more than M1. And with up to 24GB of fast unified memory, M2 can handle even larger and more complex workloads.

Does Boot Camp work on M2 : Unfortunately, Apple only supports Boot Camp on Macs with an Intel processor. Since Apple has been updating its Macs to run on its own Apple silicon (i.e. M1, M2, and M3) processors, few Macs are still available that let you dual-boot Windows or run Windows apps natively with an Intel processor.

Can a M2 Mac run Windows : Microsoft is finally supporting the practice of running Windows 11 on Macs powered by Apple's M1 and M2 chips, opening the door for VMware and Parallels to offer full support for running virtualized Windows 11 on Arm.

Why doesn’t M1 support Boot Camp

If you have an Apple M-series chip, Boot Camp will not work as it requires a Mac with an Intel processor. To install Windows on your M-series Mac, you can use Parallels Desktop for Mac.

The M1 has four high-performance "Firestorm" and four energy-efficient "Icestorm" cores, first seen on the A14 Bionic. It has a hybrid configuration similar to ARM big.LITTLE and Intel's Lakefield processors. This combination allows power-use optimizations not possible with previous Apple–Intel architecture devices.An Apple M1 or M2 processor is also sometimes referred to by the architecture name of aarch64 or arm64.

How much RAM to run Parallels on a Mac : Parallels Desktop 19 for Mac system requirements

	Best Performance For graphics-intensive applications, high loads and running multiple virtual machines
Memory	16 GB of RAM or more
Storage	SSD drive