If you want to install Windows 11 on your Mac, here we show you an easy way to run Windows 11 on a Mac including on M1 and M2 Macs.
Currently, Mac users can run Windows on a Mac using a variety of different solutions but so far only Parallels allows you to install Windows 11 on a Mac due to Windows 11 requiring a physical TPM module.
This works on both Intel and the latest Apple Silicon M1 Macs, M2 Macs and the latest version of macOS Ventura and macOS Monterey.
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Quick Navigation
- Windows 11 on Mac and TPM
- Can You Install Windows 11 on M1 & M2 Macs?
- Will Windows 11 Run on Mac With Windows 365?
- How To Install Windows 11 On A Mac
- How To Use Windows 11 In Parallels
Windows 11 on Mac and TPM
The requirements for running Windows 11 on a Mac are a little trickier than installing Windows 10 on a Mac.
This is because Windows 11 requires support for Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0. TPM 2.0 is built into the motherboard of a computer to ensure the integrity of the operating system’s security.
Unfortunately, neither Intel nor M1 or M2 Macs have a TPM built into the motherboard. In fact, even many Windows PCs built before 2014 do not have a TPM and will not be able to run Windows 11.
However, some Intel Macs do have a TPM built into the CPU which in theory, allow those Macs to officially support Windows 11 physically.
Intel Macs which have a TPM built into the processor and in theory should be able to officially support Windows 11 are:
- MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017)
- MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017)
- MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
- Mac mini (2018)
- iMac Pro (2017)
- iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)
- iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017)
- iMac (21.5-inch, 2017)
- Mac Pro (2019)
However, to officially support Windows 11 Apple would have to update macOS in Intel Macs to support TPM and Windows 11 and that seems highly unlikely as Apple is currently discontinuing all Intel Macs in favor of the new Apple Silicon M1/M2 chip Macs.
The good news is that the virtual environment Parallels allows you to install Windows 11 on a Mac by simulating the TPM module virtually so that you can install Windows 11 on both Intel and M1/M2 chip Macs.
TPM modulation has been available in the Professional version of Parallels for quite a while already and so adding the feature to the Standard version in light of Windows 11 was an easy move for Parallels.
Parallels costs $99.99 for home users although existing users can upgrade for $69.99 to the latest version of Parallels 18 which can install Windows 11 on a Mac.
Be warned that there are some websites that have published workarounds to install Windows 11 on a Mac that bypass the TPM requirement by using a modified ISO image of Windows.
However, we do not recommended using these modified ISO images as they’re not officially supported and are likely to be broken by updates to Windows 11 or macOS in the future.
It will also be very difficult to apply updates to unofficial installations of Windows 11 on a Mac so we strongly advise against it.
Can You Install Windows 11 on M1 & M2 Macs?
There are a few drawbacks to consider when installing Windows 11 on Apple Silicon M1 & M2 Macs as we’ll explain.
As already mentioned, Windows 11 requires a physical TPM chip and the M1/M2 Mac equivalent is Apple’s T2 chip.
However, Parallels can cleverly emulate the TPM module on M1 & M2 Macs allowing you to run Windows 11.
You can still therefore still run Windows 11 on M1 Macs using Parallels 18 but it’s important to be aware that you can only run Windows 11 for ARM on M1 & M2 Macs.
It’s not yet possible to run the standard x86 version of Windows 11 like you can on Intel Macs (although it’s possible that Parallels will add support for this eventually).
Windows ARM is very similar to the standard version of Windows but is compatible with less software as it only works with ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) chips.
This means that unfortunately many of your Windows applications may not work using Windows 11 on an M1 or M2 Mac unless they are ARM compatible.
Since Boot Camp does not work on M1 and M2 Macs, currently the only way to run any version of Windows on M1 & M2 Macs is by using Parallels.
This also means that you can’t dual boot an M1 Mac in Windows or macOS.
You can watch full instructions how to install Windows 11 on an Apple Silicon M1 or M2 Mac below.
You can also watch a copy of Windows 11 running in Parallels on an M1 Mac below.
Will Windows 11 Run on Mac With Windows 365?
Windows 365 is a new Cloud service by Microsoft that will allow Mac users to use Windows online in any browser.
Microsoft Windows 365 was released on August 2nd 2021 but at the moment is only available to businesses.
However, it should eventually offer a Cloud based way for Mac users to access Windows on a Mac including Windows 11 – eventually.
How To Install Windows 11 On A Mac
Firstly, you’ll need at least 64GB or more free storage space on your Mac startup disk to install Windows 11.
This is the bare minimum you’ll need but we strongly recommend at least 128GB of free storage space as automatic Windows updates will quickly eat up that space.
The Windows 11 download is around 5GB alone so if you’re running low on disk space, you may need to recover some hard drive space on your Mac to download it.
If you can’t or don’t want to delete anything from your Mac hard drive, you should get an external hard drive to transfer files from your Mac and free-up some space on your Mac.
With this in mind, follow these instructions to Install Windows 11 on both Intel and M1/M2 Macs.
- Download and install Parallels for Mac.
- The latest version of Parallels 17 now automatically downloads and installs Windows 11 from Microsoft which makes it incredibly easy to install Windows 11 on all Macs including Intel and M1/M2
Macs.
- Simply click Continue and Parallels will automatically download and Install Windows 11 on your Mac when you click Install Windows.
- If you don’t see the option to automatically install Windows 11 then you must be using an earlier version than Parallels 17.1.1. In this case, you can either update to the latest version of Parallels or download a free ISO image of Windows 11 on your Mac from Microsoft by selecting Windows 11 (multi-edition ISO) from the Windows 11 download site.
Note that if you’ve got an M1 or M2 Mac, you need to register for the Windows Insider Program and then download the VHDX image of the Insider Preview Windows 11 For ARM instead from Microsoft.
- Open the Parallels Installation assistant and when prompted, upload the Windows 11 ISO Installation Image.
- When prompted for the license key, you can skip by unchecking the box “Enter Windows license key for faster installation”. Note that you don’t have to buy a license key to use Windows 11 unless you want to customize the look of it so Windows 11 is essentially free to use on a Mac.
- Select the Windows 11 Pro Edition.
- Parallels will then prompt you to select what you intend to use Windows for such as Productivity, Gaming, Work etc. This help Parallels optimize the installation for you.
- Give your installation a name (such as Windows 11) and Parallels with then begin the installation process.
How To Use Windows 11 In Parallels
The installation process can take some time and when done, Parallels will run macOS and Windows 11 in Coherence Mode which means the two operating systems work seamlessly together.
You can however switch to three other views: Window View Mode, Full Screen View Mode and Picture-in-Picture View Mode.
Coherence Mode merges macOS and Windows into one but if you want to use them separately, use Windowed Mode.
If you have any problems installing Windows 11 on your Mac let us know in the comments below and we’ll try to help.