There are many reasons you may want to use a virtual machine on your Mac. Perhaps you need to run a copy of Windows on your machine for work purposes. Maybe the goal is to run another instance or version of macOS on your computer for compatibility reasons. Maybe you want a copy of Linux on your computer.
On your Mac, press and hold an app’s icon in the Dock. You may need to first open the app to see its icon in the Dock. From the shortcut menu that appears, choose Options, then choose one of the following: All Desktops: The app opens in every space. This Desktop: The app opens only in the current space. Cisco Webex is the leading enterprise solution for video conferencing, webinars, and screen sharing. Web conferencing, online meeting, cloud calling and equipment.
Whatever the circumstances, there are various ways to run a virtual machine on your Mac. Here's a closer look at the best options available.
What is a virtual machine?
Software virtualization allows you to simulate a hardware environment and run multiple operating systems on one computer. These software-created virtual machines take advantage of the hardware components on a computer such as RAM and storage in complete isolation to the primary operating system. Among the most popular virtualization options for Mac users are Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion, and VirtualBox.
Parallels Desktop 15
My favorite way to virtualize, Parallels, gets better each year. With the latest version, Parallels Desktop 15, you can take advantage of Apple's Metal 2, which allows machines to maximize the graphics and computing potential for apps. With Parallels now supporting Metal, highly intensive Windows apps such as CAD software and games that require DirectX 11 now work on Mac. There's also improved performance for DirectX 9 and DirectX 10.
To date, nearly 1,600 PC games require DirectX 11, which means you can now experience all of them on your Mac through Parallels virtualization. Noted Windows apps you can run on your Mac include Autodesk 3ds Max 2020, Lumion, ArcGIS Pro, and more.
Beyond this, Parallels Desktop 15 is also fully compatible and optimized for macOS Catalina, which means it supports Apple's Sidecar. It also works with macOS Mojave 10.14, macOS High Sierra 10.13, and macOS Sierra 10.12. And yes, it also supports Apple Pencil.
Parallels Desktop 15 is the company's flagship consumer product and is available through a free trial, regardless of the version you choose. The home version is $80 or $50 for an upgrade, while the professional version is $100 per year. The former doesn't include free updates to future versions of Parallels Desktop, but also has no expiration date. The professional version does include free upgrades. Once a new version gets released, you can download it from the Parallels website. New versions of Parallels typically arrive around the time Apple releases a new version of macOS, usually in the fall.
Who's this for: Parallel offers a no-nonsense approach to virtualizaiton. Grab a copy if you're looking for a solution that just works.
VMWare Fusion 11.5
Parallel's closest virtualization competitor, Fusion, is another great choice for consumers. Created by Dell Computer's VMWare, the latest version of Fusion (11.5), has been designed to take advantage of macOS Catalina tools, including Sidecar and Dark Mode. Fantasy baseball draft software for mac.
Like Parallels, Fusion lets you create a virtual machine through software that can run separately from your macOS installation. In this case, you can use Fusion with Windows 10 (or another operating system) through a window on your Mac desktop or in full-screen mode. With Fusion's unity mode, you can run Windows-based applications on your computer as if they were Mac apps. Beginning with Fusion 11, support was added for Apple's Metal graphics system. It also supports Touch Bar on a MacPro Pro.
Fusion 11.5 is available at the same price points as Parallels, $80 for a full version and $50 for an update. A professional version is also available for IT environments. All versions come with a 14-day free trial.
The VMWare Fusion interface doesn't look nearly as nice as the one offered by Parallels, but it's close. If you're familiar with other VMWare products, including Workstation Pro for Windows, Fusion is probably the path for you, although check out both products if you can.
Fusion 11.5 is available for download from the VMWare website. https://beautifulentrancement.weebly.com/software-to-sync-audio-and-video-mac.html.
Who's this for: VMWare's Fusion 11.5 is nearly as good as Parallels 15. If you're familiar with VMWare products, Fusion is probably the one for you.
VirtualBox 6.1![]()
When using software, I expect a polished experienced. Unfortunately, Oracle's VirtualBox is the least polished virtualization title on this list. Despite this, there are some important differences between it and Parallels 15 and VMware Fusion 11.5 that might make it a better solution, depending on your situation.
Perhaps the most important reason to consider VirtualBox is that it's free, at least for personal or educational use. Another advantage: Oracle has released VirtualBox as open-source, which offers more flexibility to end-users than the other solutions. Unfortunately, because it's open-source, VirtualBox doesn't provide technical support, although there's an active user forum.
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But again, it's important to circle back around to VirtualBox's interface, which isn't nearly as slick or easy to use as the others. If you're an IT professional or someone with the time to play around with open-source software, by all means, consider VirtualBox. Otherwise, pay for a copy of Parallels 15 or VMware Fusion 11.5.
VirtualBox is available to download online. It's available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Solaris too.
Who's this for: Open-source software is preferred by many computer users and for those folks, VirtualBox is a great choice. Plus, it's free.
What about Apple's Bootcamp?
If you rather not use a third-party solution, consider Apple's Boot Camp. Built into macOS, the software isn't run on virtualization technology. Instead, it lets you boot your Mac into another operating system at startup, either a separate version of macOS or copy of Windows 8, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10.
The biggest disadvantage of using Boot Camp over virtualization is that you can't access your primary operating system at the same time. This means, for example, you can't check your Apple Mail at the same time as you're using Windows.
On the flip side, with Boot Camp, there's no hardware sharing. Therefore, only the active operating system is using your system's graphics card and processor. If you own an older Mac, you might experience a significant performance jump versus virtualization because of this.
Who's this for: If you want to run Windows nearly exclusively on your Mac, Boot Camp is almost certainly the choice for you. If you plan on going back and forth often between Mac and Windows, pick another solution.
About Windows licenses
Unlike macOS, Windows isn't free. Therefore, regardless of the virtualization solution you choose, understand that you still need to purchase a Windows license to use the operating system on your Mac long-term. A Windows 10 Home license will set you back $139, while Windows 10 Pro is $199.
Questions?
Let us know below if you have any questions about virtualization or Boot Camp.
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Applies to: Windows 7, Windows 10, and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise
Important
This content applies to the Spring 2020 update with Azure Resource Manager Windows Virtual Desktop objects. If you're using the Windows Virtual Desktop Fall 2019 release without Azure Resource Manager objects, see this article.
The Windows Virtual Desktop Spring 2020 update is currently in public preview. This preview version is provided without a service level agreement, and we don't recommend using it for production workloads. Certain features might not be supported or might have constrained capabilities.For more information, see Supplemental Terms of Use for Microsoft Azure Previews.
You can access Windows Virtual Desktop resources on devices with Windows 7, Windows 10, and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise using the Windows Desktop client.
Note
The Windows client automatically defaults to Windows Virtual Desktop Fall 2019 release. However, if the client detects that the user also has Azure Resource Manager resources, it automatically adds the resources or notifies the user that they are available.
Important
Windows Virtual Desktop doesn't support the RemoteApp and Desktop Connections (RADC) client or the Remote Desktop Connection (MSTSC) client.
Important
Windows Virtual Desktop doesn't currently support the Remote Desktop client from the Windows Store.
Install the Windows Desktop client
Choose the client that matches your version of Windows:
You can install the client for the current user, which doesn't require admin rights, or your admin can install and configure the client so that all users on the device can access it.
Once installed, the client can be launched from the Start menu by searching for Remote Desktop.
Subscribe to a Workspace
There are two ways you can subscribe to a Workspace. The client can try to discover the resources available to you from your work or school account or you can directly specify the URL where your resources are for cases where the client is unable to find them. Once you've subscribed to a Workspace, you can launch resources with one of the following methods:
Bing Desktop App Mac
Subscribe with a user account
Subscribe with a URL
App On Mac Virtual Desktop SoftwareNext steps
To learn more about how to use the Windows Desktop client, check out Get started with the Windows Desktop client.
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