How to install Microsoft Windows 11 on your Apple Mac using Parallels

Installing Parallels Desktop 18

The first step in installing Windows 11 on your Mac is to download Parallels 18 Desktop. You can do this by going to the Parallels 18 trial page and clicking the Download Free Trial button.

The Parallels Desktop 18 installer DMG file will appear in your Downloads folder and you can double-click the folder to start the installation.

#You may receive a warning that Parallels Desktop is an application you downloaded from the Internet. This is a standard Apple dialog box for security purposes. Just click "Open" to continue.

Double-click the box icon with the Windows display (see below). At this point, the installer is downloading the complete Parallels Desktop 18 package ready for installation.

Next, you need to accept the Parallels 18 Software License Agreement. You can also choose to share information with Parallels to help improve the stability of the software. If you don't want to share this information, just uncheck the box.

You now have Parallels installed and need to download Windows 11. It’s great news that Parallels will manage the entire Windows 11 download process for you.

Download and Install Windows 11

The Parallels 18 Setup Assistant will show you a dialog box to download Windows 11. Note that you can use Parallels to run other operating systems, such as Linux or older macOS versions. Technically, you can skip this step when installing Parallels 18.

After selecting the Install Windows option, Parallels will begin downloading Windows 11. The downloads are as big as you'd expect. Depending on your internet speed, this step may take quite a while.

After you have fully downloaded Windows 11, you will need to accept some permissions to complete the installation and set up Windows 11 with Parallels 18. The microphone permissions below may look a little strange, but this is just a required process to run Windows 11 on startup.

After accepting the permissions, Windows 11 will complete the startup process, which may also take about 10 minutes, depending on the Mac you are using.

Finally, you will see a completion screen with a big green check mark. Windows 11 is now installed and running as a virtual machine in Parallels Desktop 18 for Mac.

To actually use Windows 11 in a virtual machine, you need to read and accept more data privacy-related agreements. These are fairly standard legal terms, but you should read them to understand what goes into using this software.

After you accept these privacy agreements, Windows 11 will open Microsoft Edge and display the Parallels 18 splash screen, indicating that you have successfully installed Windows. Let’s check out some helpful tips, as there is indeed some valuable information on this page.

The first suggestion is to install all the necessary Windows applications you want to use.

Another suggestion is to choose how you interact with macOS and other Mac applications, and determine how Windows appears. The options are Continuous mode or Full screen mode. Before you make your decision, I recommend you consider your plans to use Windows on your Mac.

Coherence mode is great if you like to occasionally run a Windows application or two because you can completely forget you have Windows installed. Full screen mode is probably the best option when using Windows in most situations. You can go ahead and select the appropriate mode in this step.

You can access all of your Mac files in the Windows user profile folder, which is what the last dialog box mentioned. This is one of the best features of Parallels as it allows you to use macOS and Windows side by side in a seamless manner. You can even choose to set files in macOS to open in Windows applications by default, which is really cool.

Install Parallels Toolbox for Mac and Windows (optional)

At this point, I recommend that you take a few minutes to install Parallels Toolbox for Mac and Windows. Although the program is a standalone product, it is bundled with Parallels Desktop 18. On macOS and Windows, these toolboxes help you complete many common tasks.

A window will pop up and offer to install Mac and Windows toolboxes. These programs are useful if you frequently switch between macOS and Windows because they install very quickly. On Mac, the toolbox options are even richer, including presentation mode, image resizing, and the ability to uninstall programs.

#The Windows toolbox is a bit limited, offering the ability to download videos, take a break from get off work, and a few other various screenshot tools in the dashboard.

Personalizing Windows Settings for Parallels

Now that you have Windows 11 installed on your Mac, you should configure some settings for Windows in Parallels Desktop 18 . To do this, go to the Actions menu at the top of your Mac. Select the Configure option at the bottom of this menu.

#When the Configuration menu is open, you can configure your Windows installation for different use cases. This changes the total amount of storage reserved for Windows 11 on your Mac.

In this menu, you can modify how Windows starts up and shuts down, implement energy-saving optimizations, and set sharing options. It's worth spending some time adjusting these settings in each tab, especially if you plan on switching back and forth between Windows and macOS.

#Finally, remember that if you don’t plan on using Windows for a long time, it’s best to pause it. Although Parallels Desktop 18 is better optimized than ever, it still uses a lot of system resources when running. This is important if you only plan to use Windows for a few programs and spend most of your time on macOS.

At this point, you should be able to use Windows 11 on your Mac. Parallels Desktop 18 is an excellent product, especially for students. I'm very pleased with my overall experience using Parallels Desktop 18 so far. Personally, I prefer to use unified mode so I can use both Mac and Windows apps. This ability to use Windows 11 on any Mac is very important.

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