

Microsoft has only licensed Windows versions of Arm directly to OEMs up until recently, making it difficult for M1 and M2 customers to run it in VM officially. Microsoft’s proposal to officially authorize Parallels to support this method of running Windows 11 on Apple’s most recent Macs is a significant improvement over what we had previously. Apple has offered no indication that it will support Boot Camp on M1 or M2 Macs, which will not deliver the highest performance attainable with a native solution. Microsoft has restrictions on which CPUs may run Windows 11 natively, while Apple M1 and M2 customers can run the operating system in a virtual environment.

According to a new Microsoft support document published today, Parallels Desktop version 18 is “approved” to run Arm versions of Windows 11 on Apple’s most recent M1 and M2 Macs. Microsoft collaborates with Parallels to enable a virtualized Arm version of Windows on Apple’s most recent laptops.Ī partnership between Microsoft and Parallels enables Windows 11 to run in a virtual environment on Apple’s M1 and M2 Macs.
