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DOWNLOAD FREE virtual machine software programs and start building VMs like a Pro. Compare the 11 best VMware alternatives and discover how easy you can. Feb 14, 2011 Windows Virtual PC is the latest Microsoft virtualization technology. You can use it to run more than one operating system at the same time on one computer, and to run many productivity applications on a virtual Windows environment, with a single click, directly from. Sep 28, 2019 Best virtual machine software of 2020: virtualization for different OS. Such as running Windows on a Mac, or running Linux on a Windows PC - and vice versa. And to this day it remains free. Our expert buying guide - updated to include the new Parallels Desktop 15 - rounds up the best virtualisation and virtual machine software packages to help you run Windows apps and games on your Mac.
2015 is going to be a big year for Microsoft with the forthcoming release of Windows 10 — you can read all about Microsoft's big January event right on our sister site Windows Central. Windows 10 is available as a technical preview, and if you're interested in trying it out on your Mac, you can do so safely without jeopardizing any of your Mac stuff, using virtualization software. What's more, you don't need to spend a dime doing it. Because both the Windows 10 preview and the virtualization software is free.
Step 0: Virtualization or Boot Camp?
Before you get Windows on your Mac, you have to decide how you want to run it: virtually within OS X, or on a separate hard drive partition using Boot Camp. Using software provided by Apple, you can turn your Mac into a dual-booting computer capable of running Windows or OS X natively. When your Mac is running Windows using Boot Camp, your Mac is a Windows PC. In order to do this, however, Boot Camp requires you to repartition your Mac's hard drive.
Virtualization software works differently: You're not messing with your Mac hard drive's partition map, you're just creating files and running Mac software that creates a virtual instance of a PC. If something goes really wrong — and this is preview software, remember — it's a lot easier to clean up the pieces using virtualization software than it can be if parts of your Mac's hard drive gets hosed.
Boot Camp doesn't officially support Windows 10 yet, and as such, its drivers may not play 100 percent nicely with the technical preview if you choose that route. I plan to revisit Boot Camp support for Windows 10 after Microsoft officially releases the new version, and I'll post my results. In the interim, though, I don't recommend using Boot Camp for Windows 10 Technical Preview.
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Step 1: Download virtualization software
Running virtualization software seems to be the smartest option on the table at present for Microsoft's Windows 10 preview, and both Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion are good options if you have them around.
If you don't already have virtual machine software on your Mac, you can download Oracle's VirtualBox. It's a virtualization tool just like Fusion and Parallels, but it has the virtue of being free. There are trial versions of Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion which won't make you pay a fee for a two weeks or one month, respectively, so you're welcome to try those out if you prefer. But if you never want to pay a fee, check out VirtualBox.
My experience is that compared to VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop, VirtualBox doesn't offer the same sort of robust performance or have quite as polished Mac integration (though there's no charge for it). You get what you pay for, et cetera.
Here are some links to virtualization software you can download for your Mac:
Step 2: Download Windows 10
After you have virtualization software, you'll need to download an ISO image of the Windows 10 technical preview. The ISO image is, for all intents and purposes, an exact copy of a physical Windows installation disc. You get this image from Microsoft itself by downloading it directly.
To get the disc image, you will need to register as part of Microsoft's Windows Insider Program. If you haven't already created a Microsoft account for OneDrive or Xbox Live or the like, you can do this during registration. You can also link the account to an existing email address to make it easier to remember and find later (much like iCloud).
Once you're set up and registered, Microsoft links you to a web page to download links; that page includes the product key you need to activate your preview version of Windows 10.
Step 3: Create a new virtual machine
- Launch VirtualBox.
- Click on the New button.
- In the Name field, type 'Windows 10' or whatever you'd like.
- Leave Type as Microsoft Windows
- Click on the Version menu and select Windows 8.1 (64 bit).
You should be able to use the default settings for the next several screens, assuming your base goal is to just poke around Windows 10 and see how it works. Create a virtual hard drive; set the file type to VDI; and make the drive dynamically allocated. This will create a virtual machine that will be listed in VirtualBox's Manager. Select it and click the Start button.
Step 4: Install Windows 10 Technical Preview
When you finish creating your virtual machine, you'll be prompted with the following: 'Please select a virtual optical disk file or a physical optical disk to start your new virtual machine from.' Click on the folder icon to bring up a file browser which you can use to locate the Windows Technical Preview ISO file you downloaded.
Click the Start button.
Follow the instructions given by the Windows 10 Technical Preview installer. It will ask you where you want to install Windows; the only option should be a drive with unallocated space corresponding to the virtual hard drive you've just created in VirtualBox. Select it and click Next.
The rest of the process is just a step-by-step setup, and that's literally all there is to it. After a virtual machine restart, you should soon be staring at a virtualized desktop of Windows 10, running on your Mac.
Any questions?
As I mentioned above, VirtualBox's Mac integration isn't quite as tight as its commercial virtualization alternatives; it's a bit easier with those to switch display resolutions, use accessories, and integrate your Mac's own files. But if you're on a short budget or just want to mess around with Windows 10 prior to its release, VirtualBox and the Windows technical preview can give you what you need without setting you back any cash. That counts for something.
And if you run into any problems or have any questions, let me know in the comments.
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If you want to run Windows on your Mac there are two ways to do it. One is to partition your main drive using the built-in Bootcamp Assistant and then install Windows on the partition that doesn’t house macOS. You can then boot into whichever operating system you choose.
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While that method means running Windows natively and so is optimal in terms of performance, it means you have to reboot every time you want to move between operating systems and you can’t, for example, copy and paste between macOS and Windows. If you want to run Windows and macOS side by side, you’ll need to create a Windows virtual machine for Mac.
What is a virtual machine?
A virtual machine (VM) is a computer that’s created in software and looks and feels just like a real PC. But it runs inside a Mac application. The whole virtual machine, with the operating system and all its applications, is stored inside one big file on your Mac. That means you can have multiple virtual machines on the same Mac. Once you launch it and ‘boot’ the virtual PC, Windows VM on Mac behaves like any other Windows machine, except that it’s running inside a window on your Mac.
If you have two screens connected to your Mac, you can have macOS on one and Windows on the other. Or you can use Mission Control to swipe between them. A virtual machine can share accessories like printers and external storage with your Mac, and you can copy and paste between the two operating systems. You can even set up the virtual machine to use Mac keyboard shortcuts instead of their Windows equivalents.
Can I run a virtual machine on my Mac?
As long as your Mac has an Intel processor (and it will have unless it’s more than 12 years old), in theory it can run a virtual machine. However, running a virtual machine alongside macOS needs lots of memory (at least 8GB in total, and more if you want to run more than one virtual machine) and at least two processor cores. You’ll also need at least 16-20GB of hard drive space, and that’s before you start installing applications and saving files. Most modern Macs should run any of the virtual machine applications described here without a problem.
The other thing you’ll need is a copy of Windows. Virtual machine applications don’t come with Windows installers, so you’ll need to supply your own, along with a licence key.
Best virtual machine software for Mac
There are three contenders here: Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion, and VirtualBox. We’ll discuss Virtual Box in the next section.
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Parallels Desktop 13
The latest version of Parallels Desktop has support for features in the latest Macs, like the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar. It also allows you to make the Windows desktop ‘invisible’ when you’re running apps, so it looks like you’re just running Windows apps in macOS. Or, if you prefer, you can shrink Windows desktop down to a thumbnail preview, so it doesn’t get in the way but you can keep an eye on what it’s doing.
Of course, virtual machines aren’t just about running Windows on your Mac. Parallels Desktop allows you to install Linux, or a different version of macOS, say a beta of the next version if you don’t want to install it on your Mac. If you’ve previously installed Windows on a Boot Camp partition, you can use that partition as a virtual machine, allowing you to boot into it from within Parallels without re-booting your Mac.
Touch Bar support includes functions in Microsoft Office apps, as well as Windows Task Bar.
When it comes to performance, Parallels Desktop is about as good as it gets for virtual machines. That means you can run most applications just fine, but demanding 3D graphics-intensive games, and other apps that place lots of demands on the CPU and GPU are still a bit of a struggle. If you want to run those in Windows, you’re still better off using Boot Camp.
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VMWare Fusion
The other main contender when it comes to running a virtual machine on your Mac is VMWare Fusion. It comes in two versions, Fusion 10, which costs about the same as Parallels Desktop, and Fusion 10 Pro, which is more expensive but adds feature aimed at enterprise customers, such as support for managing virtual servers.
In terms of features, there’s little to choose between Parallels Desktop and Fusion. Like its rival, Fusion allows you to choose between running Windows inside a window on your Mac (or full-screen if you prefer) and in what it calls Unity mode, where the operating system disappears and Windows apps look like they’re running natively on the Mac. That means you can run Windows and Mac apps alongside each other and switch between them seamlessly. You can also copy and paste between Mac and Windows, share peripherals, and map Mac keyboard shortcuts in Windows.
Support for OpenGL and DX10, as well as Apple’s Metal technology means that playing resource-hungry games is theoretically possible. But, as with Parallels, performance in the latest games lags behind Boot Camp and may prove frustrating.
The latest version of Fusion adds support for the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar.
Choosing between Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion may be as much a matter of a preference for one or the other’s user interface. They have very similar features, and cost almost the same. Fortunately, both offer free trials — Parallels for 14 days and Fusion for 30 days — so you can download each one and try them out before making a decision on which to buy.
Best free virtual machine software for Mac
If you want to run a virtual machine on your Mac but can’t stretch to the $70 for Parallels or Fusion, there is a third option — VirtualBox. Owned by Oracle and made available as open-source software for personal or educational use, VirtualBox won’t cost you a penny if you fall into either of those two categories.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that VirtualBox, because it’s open source and free lacks all of the polish of Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion. While it does the basics competently, it’s much less user friendly and much less easy to use than the other two. And while there is help available online from other users, there’s no official support if you run into problems. And remember, while VirtualBox itself is free, you’ll still need to supply your own copy of Windows. Alternatively, you could use VirtualBox to run Linux on your Mac, instead of Windows.
Alternatives to a virtual machine
As we mentioned earlier, the alternative to running a virtual machine on your Mac is to partition your main drive using the built-in Boot Camp Assistant (it’s in the Utilities folder). You can then install Windows or Linux, or another version on macOS, on the other partition.
Boot Camp Assistant is very easy to use and once you’ve set it up, booting into, say, Windows, is just like using it natively on a PC. That means, of course, that you won’t be able to copy and paste between Mac and Windows, and you won’t be able to use external storage that’s formatted in APFS or Mac OS Extended, but Windows will run faster than it does on a virtual machine.
If you plan to use Boot Camp Assistant to partition your main drive, remember to back it up first. Partitioning a drive is not quite major surgery, but it definitely carries the risk of losing data.
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How to make space for a virtual machine on your Mac
Depending on how many applications you plan to install on your virtual machine and what you plan to use it for, you may need tens of gigabytes of free space on your Mac. If space is tight, don’t worry, there’s plenty you can do to make room. As a first step, we recommend installing CleanMyMac X. It scans your Mac and looks for files that can be safely deleted. These include “junk” system files like cache files and other temporary files that are still hanging around, as well as language support files, and data in Photos and iTunes you may not need. Once it’s scanned your Mac and found all those files, you can delete them all with a click, or review the results of the scan and decide for yourself what you want to trash.
CleanMyMac can also uninstall files completely, getting rid of all the files that are left if you just drag and app to the Trash, and highlight large and old files that you haven’t opened for a while. Best of all, you can download it free here and give it a try. You’ll be surprised about how much space you can free up.
Virtual machines are the most convenient way of running a second operating system on your Mac. The ones we have highlighted here are the best VMs for Mac, so download one and give it a go.