How to install Windows 11 on Mac with Parallels – Guide
Using the latest version of the popular Parallels Desktop app, you can install the x86 version of Windows 11 on Intel-based Macs without any issues. Newer Macs equipped with Apple’s M1 chip are more demanding because they can only handle ARM-based versions of Windows. But you can make it work using Microsoft’s Insider Preview of Windows 11 for ARM. Windows 11 runs as a virtual machine in Parallels Desktop, similar to how it runs in Windows VM applications such as VMware Workstation or Oracle VM VirtualBox. You will need a product key to activate Windows on Parallels Desktop. Parallels Desktop 17 costs $80 for the Standard version, $100 per year for the Pro version, and $100 per year for the Professional version. Those who upgrade from the previous version can get the Standard version for $50 and the Pro version for $50 a year. But anyone can try Parallels Desktop for free through a featured 14-day trial.
How to install Windows 11 on Mac with Parallels
Install Parallels Desktop 17
The first step to installing Windows 11 on your Mac is to download Parallels 17 Desktop. You can do this by going to the Parallels 17 trial page and clicking Download Parallels Desktop button. The Parallels Desktop 17 installer DMG file will appear in the Downloads folder, which you can double-click to start the installation. You will likely get a warning that Parallels Desktop is an application you downloaded from the Internet. This is a standard Apple dialog for security purposes. Just click Open to continue. Double-click the box icon with a Windows screen inside it (see below). At this point, the installer will download the entire Parallels Desktop 17 software package to prepare for the installation. This file is about 325MB on Intel Macs, as you can see in the screenshot below. You will then need to accept the Parallels 17 software license agreement. You may also choose to share information with Parallels to help improve the stability of the software. If you don’t want to share this information, just uncheck the box. Now that Parallels is installed on your machine, you will need to download Windows 10. The good news is that Parallels handles the entire Windows 10 download process for you.
Download and install Windows 10
The Parallels 17 installation wizard will present a dialog to download Windows 10. Keep in mind that you can also run other operating systems using Parallels, such as Linux or older versions of macOS. This means that you can technically skip this step when installing Parallels 17. However, as our goal final is to use Windows 11, we will install Windows 10 here. Once you choose the Install Windows option, Parallels will start to download Windows 10. The download is quite large as you can expect 5.82GB for my Macbook Pro 2018. Depending on your internet speed, this step may take some time quite. After Windows 10 is fully downloaded, you will need to accept some permissions to complete the installation and set up Windows 10 with Parallels 17. The microphone permission below might seem a bit strange, but it’s just a requirement to run the Windows 10 boot process. Once you accept the permissions, Windows 10 will complete the boot process, which can also take about 10 minutes in total, depending on which Mac you’re using. Finally, you will see a completion screen with a big green checkmark. Windows 10 is now up and running as a virtual machine in Parallels Desktop 17 for Mac. To actually use Windows 10 in the virtual machine, you need to read and accept a few more data privacy related agreements. These are pretty standard legalese, but you should read them to know what you’re getting yourself into when using this software. After accepting these privacy agreements, Windows 10 will open Microsoft Edge and display the Parallels 17 splash screen, indicating that you have successfully installed Windows. There is actually some useful information on this page, so let’s take a look at some of the helpful tips. O final dialog box simply mentions that all your Mac files are accessible in Windows user profile folders. This is one of the best features of Parallels as it allows you to use macOS and Windows side-by-side seamlessly. You can even choose to set files on macOS to open in a Windows app by default, which is pretty cool.
Install Parallels Toolbox for Mac and Windows (optional)
At this point, you can proceed directly to the Windows 11 installation below, but I would recommend taking a few minutes to install Parallels Toolbox for Mac and Windows. This program is actually a standalone product, but it comes with Parallels Desktop 17. These toolboxes allow you to complete many common tasks on macOS and Windows. A window will appear up and offer to install the Mac and Windows Toolbox. These programs are very quick to install, and they are quite useful if you plan on switching between macOS and Windows quite often. The Mac version of the Toolbox has a few more options like presentation mode, image resizing, and the ability to uninstall programs from your Mac. The Windows toolbox is a little more limited, offering the ability to download videos, take a break from work, and a few other screenshot tools in the Dashboard. Anyway, considering that these tools are free and quite robust, you can also grab both packages.
Join the Windows Insider Program
The next step on our journey is to join the Windows Insider Program. To do this, first navigate to the Windows 10 menu at the top of your Mac while using Parallels Desktop. Choose the About Windows 10 option. Inside this menu, you will see a menu panel on the left side. Near the bottom, you will click on the Windows Insider Program option. A warning should appear up warning that you need to enable optional diagnostic data. This is a requirement to participate in the Insider Program and provide feedback on the beta software experience. Follow the instructions to enable optional diagnostics in the Diagnostics and Feedback settings. After enabling optional diagnostic data, return to the Windows Insider program menu to join. Click Get Started to start the process. You then need to register your account with the Windows Insider Program or switch to an already registered account. For this you will need to log in to your Microsoft account if you have not already done so in Windows. the next pop up that appears will allow you to join the program by clicking Subscribe Up. Accept the Windows Insider Program Agreement and Privacy Statement by checking the appropriate box. Click Submit. After accepting these agreements, you will need to restart Windows in Parallels Desktop 17 to get the preview version of Windows 11.
Download and install Windows 11 beta
After Windows restarts, go back to Settings and check for available updates. You should see an available version of the Windows 11 Insider Preview, which should be the latest version. There may be some other updates as well. Wait until the Windows 11 Insider Preview is fully downloaded before restarting. When the download is complete, restart to install Windows 11 Pro. Return to the settings menu after reboot and make sure you are now running Windows 11 Pro. Now you can use all new features of Windows 11 Pro available in Insider build. All your macOS files appear perfectly in Windows 11 and you can even set certain files to open with Windows programs by default.
Customize Windows Settings for Parallels
Now that you’ve installed Windows 11 on your Mac, you must configure some of the Windows settings in Parallels Desktop 17. To do this, go to the Actions menu at the top of your Mac. You may notice that Parallels still identifies this as Windows 10 as this is an Insider build of Windows 11. Choose the Configure option at the bottom of this menu. When the setup menu opens, you will notice that the operating system is now correctly identifying itself as Windows 11. Below that, you can configure your Windows installation for different use cases. This changes the total amount of storage reserved for Windows 11 on your Mac. You can also change how Windows starts up on and off, battery saving optimization and sharing options in this menu. It’s worth spending some time tweaking these settings on each tab, especially if you plan on switching between Windows and macOS. Finally, remember that it’s a good idea to suspend Windows if you don’t plan on using it for a substantial period of time. While Parallels Desktop 17 is more optimized than ever, it may still take some time up substantial amount of system resources while running. This is especially important if you only plan to use Windows for a few programs and spend most of your time on macOS. At this point, you should be ready to use Windows 11 Pro on your Mac. Parallels Desktop 17 is an excellent product, especially for students. The overall experience with Parallels Desktop 17 has been pretty positive for me so far. Personally, I prefer coherence mode, where I can use Mac and Windows applications side by side. The fact that you can now enjoy Windows 11 on Mac with Intel and M1 Macs is also a big deal, so it’s great that Parallels shipped this update so quickly.
Final note
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