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IdkMan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 13, 2020
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0
Sorry for the weird question title, but I don't know how to word this. I used Parallel Desktop's 14 day trial to get an application I could only find through .exe, and now, while the application works perfectly, it has Parallel Desktop's logo on the bottom corner and when the trial ends, I won't be able to access it. Is there anyway to make it so the application isn't connected to Parallel Desktop anymore?
 

AndyMacAndMic

macrumors 65816
May 25, 2017
1,116
1,680
Western Europe
Sorry for the weird question title, but I don't know how to word this. I used Parallel Desktop's 14 day trial to get an application I could only find through .exe, and now, while the application works perfectly, it has Parallel Desktop's logo on the bottom corner and when the trial ends, I won't be able to access it. Is there anyway to make it so the application isn't connected to Parallel Desktop anymore?

If I understand your question correctly you want the following: Continue to run a Windows executable you ran under Parallels, without Parallels after the trial period of Parallels is over?

Short answer: No you can't.

Long answer:

Normally you can only run Windows programs (*.exe files) if you have the Windows Operating System installed on your computer. You can not run Windows programs under MacOS directly. Parallels 'pretends' to be a Windows machine so you can run those programs. In short: without (a virtual) Windows OS, you can not run Windows programs under MacOS.

There are several ways to run Windows programs on a Mac though. Generally speaking via a virtual machine (like Parallels, but there are more), or install Windows OS directly on your Mac via Bootcamp (provided by Apple). Both methods have there advantages and disadvantages.

See the links below:

5 ways to run Windows on a Mac

Free and paid Windows emulators for Mac

Parallels is not the only way. There are also some other (free) Windows emulators/virtual machines available as stated in the link above. I can not comment on them much, as I have not used most of them. But you can always try the free alternatives.

There are already lots of posts, fora, articles and books about running 'Windows on a Mac', so I am not going into further detail here. Just Google.

If it is only about one *.exe program you want to run once in a while, you can of course also use an old Windows laptop or desktop if you have one sitting around.
 
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