Parallels Plans to Bring Windows 11 Support to macOS

The list of devices that support Windows 11 could grow later this year. Parallels told iMore that it’s planning to add support for the operating system to its Mac-specific virtualization software as it makes its way through the Windows Insider Program.

Parallels SVP of Engineering and Support Nick Dobrovolskiy told iMore, ”the Parallels Engineering team is waiting for the official Windows 11 Insider Preview build to start studying changes introduced in the new OS to deliver full compatibility in future Parallels Desktop updates." However, a specific timeline for those updates wasn’t provided.

Microsoft released the first Insider Preview for Windows 11 on June 28; iMore’s report followed that initial rollout. Parallels hasn’t announced support for that build, but a quick Twitter search reveals that many people have been able to use the company’s virtualization software to experiment with Windows 11 nonetheless.

Several of those people have also said they can use the Insider Preview build on Macs with the M1 chip. Parallels added support for Apple’s custom silicon in April, but that support should be limited to Windows 10 on Arm. The ability to run Windows 11 on the M1 before Parallels officially announces its support is a surprise.

It might be surprising to learn that Windows 11 will run on a Mac at all. The operating system has strict requirements: Microsoft says it’s currently limited to devices featuring an Intel 8th Gen or AMD second-gen Ryzen processor with TPM 2.0 support. (The company is testing support for older processors, though.)

Apple doesn’t sell any Macs with TPM 2.0 support, yet many people successfully use Windows 11 in virtual machines. Intrepid enthusiasts have also managed to get a build of the operating system working on Raspberry Pi.  It almost seems easier to use Windows 11 on these devices than on a PC with a four-year-old CPU.

The process should get even easier as tools like Parallels start to officially support Windows 11, which Microsoft appears to be planning to launch in October. If it can be officially virtualized on macOS, we could actually see Windows 11 on more Macs than PCs since it’s not expected to roll out to Windows 10 devices until early 2022.