Many Mac users are still unaware that you can install Windows 10 on Mac for free from Microsoft perfectly legally. Microsoft doesn’t actually require users to activate Windows 10 with a product key unless you want to customize the look of it.
Although you can of course purchase a Windows 10 license (which costs $119.99 from Microsoft) the only advantage of activating it is that it allows you to customize the look for Windows 10 such as the desktop, lock screen, styling, removal of watermarks etc.
For most Mac users that just want to install Windows only programs or games on macOS, this is not necessary and so you can enjoy Windows 10 for free. Windows vista sp2 upgrade.
Here we show you how you can easily get Windows 10 on your Mac for free in little more than 10 minutes.
The best way to run Windows on a Mac is to install it in a virtual machine. A virtual machine allows you to run Windows and macOS at the same time so that you can switch between the two at any moment with just one click.
Many Mac users are still unaware that you can install Windows 10 on Mac for free from Microsoft perfectly legally. Microsoft doesn’t actually require users to activate Windows 10 with a product key unless you want to customize the look of it. Jan 02, 2015 Virtualization software like Parallels or VMWare Fusion (two of the best apps to run Windows software on your Mac without partitioning your.
By far the best virtual environment on Mac is Parallels which makes it extremely easy to install Windows on macOS. With Parallels, you can switch between Windows games or apps and macOS instantly in just a click.
![]()
You can read more about the latest version of Parallels 15 here.
The alternative to a virtual machine is to install Windows separately to macOS using Apple’s Boot Camp but this means that you can only boot your Mac in either macOS or Windows at one time – you can’t run them simultaneously.
For the needs of most Mac users that want to run Windows only programs on Mac, using a virtual machine is by far your best option. The only reason you may want to use Boot Camp is if the Windows program or game you want to use requires dedicating all of your Mac’s resources to. Examples include powerful CAD applications or graphic design software.
Note that before you start, you should have at least 15GB of hard drive space free in order to install Parallels and Windows. However, we recommend having much more than this because that will only be enough to run Windows comfortably. If you want to install Windows only games and applications, you’ll need several hundred gigabytes of space. The good news is that if you’re running low on space, you can get an external drive for your Mac and install Windows on that although it’s generally better to install it on your Mac hard drive if possible.
Follow these instructions to install Windows 10 on Mac for free.
And that’s it – you’ve installed Windows 10 on your Mac for free. The only cost you’ll face is that after 14 days, the free trial of Parallels will expire. You’ll then have to choose whether to buy a license for $79.99 or you can choose an annual subscription of $79.99 per year which includes free upgrades.
Parallels is updated frequently to keep apace of updates to macOS and Windows so this may work out cheaper in the long run than having to buy a new version every year if new versions of macOS and Windows are released. You don’t have to upgrade every year but the likelihood is you’ll need to upgrade at least every 2-3 years or so as Macs, macOS and Windows evolve.
Install Windows On Macbook Pro Free
One thing to be aware of is that you may notice that your Mac’s cooling fans go into overdrive when installing Windows via Parallels and running Windows on your Mac. This is because running a virtual environment is a very intensive process for your Mac’s resources and Windows will need a lot of RAM and CPU power to run on your Mac.
The system requirements for Parallels are an Intel Core processor with a minimum of 4GB of RAM but it recommends 8GB of RAM. However, even when running it on a MacBook Pro with a 2.3 GHz Intel Core iZ with 8GB, it’s still pushing it. If you check Activity Monitor, you may notice that Windows 10 sometimes uses all of your CPU resources.
Don’t be alarmed by this – your Mac can handle it but you should reduce the number of applications running on your Mac to a minimum to help Parallels and Windows operate as smoothly as possible. The best advice is basically to use Parallels on the newest Mac possible with the most RAM possible. The latest iMac Pros have 8, 10 or 18 Core processors which will handle Parallels virtualization software with ease.
The latest version of Parallels has some nice new touches and has been optimized for Mojave. It supports the new Dark Mode and there’s also a handy picture-in-picture mode that allows you to keep your Windows desktop window in view at all times while you work in macOS.
Parallels is also the only virtual machine for Mac that works with the latest generation of Touch Bar MacBook Pros. You can configure the Touch Bar to launch Windows apps such as Internet Explorer, OneNote, Chrome etc or change volume, brightness and other settings. You can see the full set of preconfigured actions and configurations built into Parallels 13 by default below:
You can even configure it so that your Windows Task Bar:
is the same as your Touch Bar for easier launching of apps:
You can pretty much configure the Touch Bar to work however you want although it can get quite complicated to setup specific actions as you need to know a little about XML code but you can find full instructions how to do so here.
Can I Install Windows On My Mac For Free
Parallels can be used to install any operating system including Linux and older versions of Windows. However, we don’t advise installing older versions of Windows unless you really need them, especially as old as Windows XP because it is no longer supported by Microsoft.
How To Install Windows On My Mac For Free
We hope this tutorial has shown you how easy it is to install Windows 10 on your Mac for free but if you have any questions, problems or suggestions, let us know in the comments below.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |