Update: Windows 11 and Parallels on M1 Pro Max working great

[donawalt]

I was little leery about whether this would work, so I thought I would post my results for others. I have a few Windows apps that I was really hoping would run on Windows on my 16" MacBook Pro. So, I installed Parallels 17.1 on my Mac, then I used the Parallels instructions to install the latest Windows 11 at the time (I have had the laptop about 10 days). I then re-joined the Insiders program, as I run the beta versions (not the Developer versions), but you could do either or neither if you want to stick to retail version. I have since gotten an update through the beta program. Windows 11 is running great, as are my apps. I have had no issues! I am currently on 21H2, Build 22000.8.

Today I ran a Geekbench 5 test with Windows on my old MacBook Pro 16" 2019 vs. the MacBook Pro 16" 2021. The 2019 allocated 2 cores, 1 processor, 24GB of RAM, and Geekbench scores were 1149 (single core) and 2169 (multi core). The 2021 MacBook Pro is allocated with 24 GB RAM, 4 processors/4 cores, and the Geekbench scores were 1550 and 5139. The multi core scores are not apples and apples, but the single core scores are 35% faster! The 2019 probably would have been around 4340 with 4 cores, which means multi core is likely 24% faster. This matches my user experience, Windows is plenty fast enough.

So it works - full retail, beta, whatever you need! Fear not, and there is a LOT of bad info out there of needing to be on the Insider program, yada yada...don't believe it.

 

[jerryk]

Sounds great. What apps have you tried?

 

[donawalt]

Mostly proprietary. I am not a gamer. I do run Quicken Premier of commercial apps, MS apps, and some utilities from HP. So I am not a huge app user beyond what I need for my work, so for sure there could be app issues. But Quicken for one is pretty finicky and it runs great.

 

[Mike Boreham]

So it works - full retail, beta, whatever you need! Fear not, and there is a LOT of bad info out there of needing to be on the Insider program, yada yada...don't believe it.

I agree, lot of bad info out there. I have the retail/release version of Windows 11 ARM setup and activated on my M! Air, and receiving all the regular updates.

Today I ran a Geekbench 5 test with Windows on my old MacBook Pro 16" 2019 vs. the MacBook Pro 16" 2021. The 2019 allocated 2 cores, 1 processor, 24GB of RAM, and Geekbench scores were 1149 (single core) and 2169 (multi core). The 2021 MacBook Pro is allocated with 24 GB RAM, 4 processors/4 cores, and the Geekbench scores were 1550 and 5139.

Are you saying those are the default allocations chosen by Parallels, or what you allocated? Unless I have a reason I have usually gone with the Parallels defaults.

 

[donawalt]

Are you saying those are the default allocations chosen by Parallels, or what you allocated? Unless I have a reason I have usually gone with the Parallels defaults.

I can’t remember if these were the defaults when I originally set up parallels on my MacBook Pro 2019, but these were definitely the defaults that it recommended for the new 2021 MacBook Pro, and I kept them.

 

[smirking]

I suppose the most realistic way to look at this whole Windows 11 ARM isn't supported is by comparing them to Hackintoshes. Lots of people have gotten those to work. It's more work and there are additional issues they have to deal with on their own that a normal Mac user wouldn't, but they manage to get it done without any help from Apple.

The situation is better on the Windows 11 ARM front because there's actually a proper company that's focused on allowing your WinHack 11 to run smoothly. If this is the worst case scenario for the foreseeable future, I'd feel fine about it.

 

[donawalt]

It seems it a lot better documented by companies (Parallels, Microsoft providing images to use) than in the Hackintosh world, thereby better supported even now. I suspect we will see Microsoft supporting this even more in the future given the Qualcomm relationship which may or may not be ending its exclusivity arrangement. In any case, it's Windows running x32 and x64 apps, so it's good...

 

[RumorConsumer]

This is great news. I am looking for some advice and Im wondering if somebody here might know the best methodology accomplish this...

I am a seasoned Mac tech and a friend of the fam has a new M1 MacBook Air and like 3 old windows PC laptops running an assortment of Windows 7 and 8. She has some old software she still wants to run. If I can pop the drives out of those machines, sled them, and then run some kind of migrator it sounds like I will still need to use this Dev version of Windows 11 as a base on the VM side of things, correct? I dont care what version she ends up with, just that we have something usable. Any insights or thoughts?

 

[donawalt]

Actually, I am not sure what you mean exactly but it's not a Dev version of Windows 11 - it's the retail version or retail+beta or retail+developer beta, whichever you prefer. There is no need to go to Windows Insider or anything anymore.

That said, as it's an ARM version of Windows that runs x32 and x64, there is no way I know to do anything other than install from scratch - at least from a prior Parallels VM, that won't load or migrate. My opinion, and others can correct, is if you have a way to migrate what you want from one Windows PC to another, then you can probably make that work with a Windows VM - assuming it's using an input point, or network, etc. to transfer data. You can get ports on the Mac to be usable to your Windows VM for example.

My experience is in 30 years of Windows I never found a migration that worked very well, but you may have better luck.

 

[mr_roboto]

So it works - full retail, beta, whatever you need! Fear not, and there is a LOT of bad info out there of needing to be on the Insider program, yada yada...don't believe it.

It's not bad info, it's out of date info. It used to be true, now it's not.

 

[RumorConsumer]

Actually, I am not sure what you mean exactly but it's not a Dev version of Windows 11 - it's the retail version or retail+beta or retail+developer beta, whichever you prefer. There is no need to go to Windows Insider or anything anymore.

That said, as it's an ARM version of Windows that runs x32 and x64, there is no way I know to do anything other than install from scratch - at least from a prior Parallels VM, that won't load or migrate. My opinion, and others can correct, is if you have a way to migrate what you want from one Windows PC to another, then you can probably make that work with a Windows VM - assuming it's using an input point, or network, etc. to transfer data. You can get ports on the Mac to be usable to your Windows VM for example.

My experience is in 30 years of Windows I never found a migration that worked very well, but you may have better luck.

This is great to know and thanks for the correction about the dev version not being the install source anymore that’s great. Also good to know about no migration being great. Doesn’t windows have a migration type thing built in where you can select a target volume and kind of blow your windows install into some kind of archive? Pretty sure xp did that.

 

[WorldIRC]

@donawalt curious how you have a full "Release" version? I thought ARM was only available through Insider Preview right now?

 

[donawalt]

When I got started, it was awhile ago before Parallels 17 had full support. I downloaded a beta version from uudump.net from these directions, then when retail was available, I just updated through the normal Windows update. I have been getting updates ever since. Once I got onto a release version, I then rejoined the Insiders beta program, and I continue to get beta and full release versions. I am on 21H2 now.

If you read the whole thread I linked to, eventually you'll see the process becomes simpler when Parallels directly supports installing Windows 11 ARM - no more need to go top uudump.net. It really works quite good and is fully licensed, as you can see from my winver image:

 

[Mike Boreham]

@donawalt curious how you have a full "Release" version? I thought ARM was only available through Insider Preview right now?

Parallels 17.1.1 made Windows 11 Release version downloadable from with Parallels

https://forum.parallels.com/threads...-read-post-48-first.355463/page-3#post-896937

 

[elvisimprsntr]

I choose not to contaminate my Apple kit with MS products and host them on a TrueNAS hosted VM. Accessible anywhere in the world, even from 35,000 feet in the air.

 

[WorldIRC]

When I got started, it was awhile ago before Parallels 17 had full support. I downloaded a beta version from uudump.net from these directions, then when retail was available, I just updated through the normal Windows update. I have been getting updates ever since. Once I got onto a release version, I then rejoined the Insiders beta program, and I continue to get beta and full release versions. I am on 21H2 now.

If you read the whole thread I linked to, eventually you'll see the process becomes simpler when Parallels directly supports installing Windows 11 ARM - no more need to go top uudump.net. It really works quite good and is fully licensed, as you can see from my winver image:

View attachment 1954545

Interesting. Being licensed is good. But I’d rather not run insider previews if I didn’t have to.

 

[donawalt]

Interesting. Being licensed is good. But I’d rather not run insider previews if I didn’t have to.

It's not an insider preview. Read the directions. Parallels 17.1.1. loads retail version now. When I did it in November, I started with an insider preview to get to release version. The link I gave, if you read through it all, shows what to do.

 

[WorldIRC]

It's not an insider preview. Read the directions. Parallels 17.1.1. loads retail version now. When I did it in November, I started with an insider preview to get to release version. The link I gave, if you read through it all, shows what to do.

Seems pretty self explanatory. Thank you!

 

[theluggage]

It's not bad info, it's out of date info. It used to be true, now it's not.

…and the change - which you’d have expected to be headline news in the Mac community - was “announced” deep within a comments thread in the Parallels forum (while the more official knowledge base page still talked about the insiders program). I’m assuming it’s legit - but it’s all a bit odd.

 

[pshufd]

One program that I really like on Windows 10 is the Weather App (I assume it's the same on Windows 11). So I just created a VirtualBox Windows 10 VM to run it on my 2010 iMac. It's good to know that I could also do this on Apple Silicon down the road. I'm hoping that there's some free VM software in the future to be able to run Windows.

 

[Xenomorph]

Microsoft Office (mostly Access and Outlook) and Rufus (bootable USB tool) are some of the things I need Windows for.

Thankfully, they work perfectly on Windows 11 ARM.

Not having access to Windows was my biggest fear when switching to M1/ARM, but luckily everything I need still works.

 

[RumorConsumer]

Microsoft Office (mostly Access and Outlook) and Rufus (bootable USB tool) are some of the things I need Windows for.

Thankfully, they work perfectly on Windows 11 ARM.

Not having access to Windows was my biggest fear when switching to M1/ARM, but luckily everything I need still works.

There’s a ***** xenomorph on this thread

 

[WorldIRC]

@donawalt I am in and fully activated Thank you!

​

 

[donawalt]

@WorldIRC great news! Enjoy.

 

[WorldIRC]

@WorldIRC great news! Enjoy.

I’ve got two pesky business apps (both critical) giving me trouble. One I somehow got working but hoping I can figure out a workaround for the other.