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. Can I run a virtual machine on my Mac?Īs 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. You can even set up the virtual machine to use Mac keyboard shortcuts instead of their Windows equivalents. 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. Or you can use Mission Control to swipe between them. If you have two screens connected to your Mac, you can have macOS on one and Windows on the other. 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. That means you can have multiple virtual machines on the same Mac.

The whole virtual machine - with the operating system and all its applications - is stored inside one big file on your Mac. What is a virtual machine?Ī virtual machine (VM) is a computer that’s created in software and looks and feels just like a real PC. If you want to run Windows and macOS side by side, you’ll need to create a Windows virtual machine for Mac. 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. You can then boot into whichever operating system you choose. 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. If you want to run Windows on your Mac, there are two ways to do it.

Free windows virtual machine for mac