Microsoft is finally supporting running Windows 11 on Macs running Apple’s M1 and M2 chips, opening the door for VMware and Parallels to provide full support for running Windows 11 virtualized on Arm.
The move was announced in a support page, get users’ attentionsays that Parallels Desktop is allowed to run Windows 11 on Arm on M1 and M2 chips.
“Parallels Desktop version 18 is an authorized solution for running Arm editions of Windows 11 Pro and Windows 11 Enterprise in a virtual environment on its platform on Apple M1 and M2 computers,” Microsoft notes.
When Apple released the M1 chip in 2020, users immediately started running Windows 10 on Arm on them. The problem that is while users can run Windows on Intel-based Macs using Apple Bootcamp (or Parallels and VMware Fusion), Microsoft has not licensed Windows on Arm for devices outside of its own Surface range, and other Windows-on-Arm OEMs, such as HP and Lenovo. Apple software director Craig Federighi at the time speak Windows on Arm can run on M1 hardware, including x86 applications, but licensing Windows for such use is up to Microsoft.
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Microsoft highlights some limitations when running Windows on Arm on M-series processors, but the change in status has resulted in additional ‘support’ messages from Parallels-maker refer (formerly Corel) and VMware.
“With today’s announcement from Microsoft, we’re excited to finally be able to move forward at full speed in delivering world-class support for Windows on Macs with Apple silicon. , “VMware” said in a blogpostplus it will now be able to receive development guidance directly from Microsoft.
Alludo says its customers now have “assurance that Microsoft has authorized this solution”. Parallels 18 to run Windows on Arm on existing Apple M-series chips since last year. The timing is remarkable as Apple has given itself two years from 2020 to phase out Intel chips from its new Macs, which it has achieved, signaling a finite runway for Parallels.
Microsoft also offers Windows 11 on a Cloud PC via Windows 365 service for PC, Mac, iPad, Linux and Android devices via native Remote Desktop app or browser, but subscription fee between $20 to $162 per user per month.
Microsoft notes that Windows on Arm (for PCs and Macs) may affect games based on DirectX 12 or OpenGL3.3 or later. Additionally, Windows features that depend on virtualization based on ‘nested’ Microsoft Hyper-V are not supported, including Windows Subsystem for Android, Windows Subsystem for Linux, Windows Sandbox, and Windows Subsystem for Linux. Virtualization-based security (VBS).
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Microsoft has also clarified that it is better to run 64-bit Arm applications on Windows on Arm, but customers can also run applications in x64 or x86 emulation.
“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 discontinued for all versions of Arm of Windows. The customer’s preferred experience is to run 64-bit Arm applications, but customers can also use applications in x64 or x86 emulation on M1 and M2 Mac computers,” Microsoft notes.
