Parallels Brings x86 Windows and Linux to Apple Silicon: A Game Changer!

Are you a Mac user who loves the Apple Silicon experience but sometimes needs to run x86 versions of Windows or Linux? Great news! Parallels, a popular virtualization software, has just released a new update that makes it possible. Image your favorite Windows or Linux operating system running smoothly on your Apple Silicon Mac. That's what Parallels' new "proprietary emulation engine" is making happen. This update, part of Parallels Desktop Pro 20. 2. 0, is initially available through an "early technology preview. "Right now, users can enjoy certain 64-bit versions of Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server, along with several UEFI-compatible Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Debian. However, not all versions are supported, and you might need workarounds for some. For instance, Fedora is unstable. If you're already using virtual machines, you can migrate them from an Intel Mac. But if you're setting up new ones, your options are limited to Windows Server 2022 and Windows 10 21H2. Why? Because the technology preview doesn't support SSE4. 2, a common CPU instruction from the early 2010s. This means you can't set up fresh copies of Windows 11 or certain Linux versions. Additionally, Windows 11 24H2 VMs are completely out of the picture since they require SSE4. 2 to function.