Microsoft is now officially supporting Windows 11 on Apple’s M1 and M2 Macs, thanks to a collaboration with Parallels that enables the operating system to run in a virtual environment. According to a new Microsoft support article, Parallels Desktop version 18 is “an authorised solution” for running Arm versions of Windows 11 on Apple’s latest M1 and M2 Macs.
While Microsoft limits the CPUs that can run Windows 11 natively, the company is happy for Apple M1 and M2 users to run the OS in a virtual machine. That won’t provide the best performance that a native solution would, but Apple hasn’t indicated that it will support Boot Camp on M1 or M2 Macs.
Microsoft’s intention to officially authorise Parallels to support this method of running Windows 11 on Apple’s latest Macs goes beyond what we’ve seen thus far.
Microsoft has previously only licenced Windows versions of Arm directly to OEMs, making it difficult for M1 and M2 users to run it in VM, so any enthusiast can enjoy Windows on Mac.
Parallels Desktop 16.5 introduced support for Windows on M1 chips, but this latest version allows you to download and install Windows 11 with a single click. Parallels is also dealing with the complexities of Windows 11’s TPM and Secure Boot requirements with a virtual TPM paired with Apple silicon.
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