How to run Windows apps on a Mac

Photo by Wesson Wang on Unsplash

Ever since the inception of the macOS operating system, developers have often been torn between Windows and macOS. Because of the immense popularity of Windows, developers have made many apps only available on Windows.

While as of late, developers have been doing a decent job porting their apps to macOS, there are multiple apps that are only available on Windows.

At the same time, there are some true gems that are only available on macOS and because of this (and the excellent experience of macOS), you will probably want to run macOS at the same time as those Windows apps.

There are two options for installing Windows apps on Mac.

1. Through an app like wine
2. A Windows installation

While wine is a suitable option for running a Windows app on a Mac, many apps do not work well with it.

Thus, we will use a Windows installation.

Once again, there are two different methods for installing Windows. First, you can dual boot Windows alongside macOS with the help of Boot Camp. Your second option is to use a Virtual Machine.

If you want to run games or intensive applications, you should use the dual boot.

If you want to say use a single app in Windows alongside your existing Mac system, try using a Virtual Machine.

What is a Virtual Machine?

To put things in simple terms, a virtual machine is Windows as an app on your Mac.

So you will have Windows running on your Mac as an app which you can minimize and close.

With this, you can have a Windows app such as Microsoft Stick notes running on full screen and with a simple swipe, you can switch to Ulysses.

To achieve this on Mac, you need to follow a couple of steps

1. Download the Windows ISO

The first step to successfully running Windows on a Virtual Machine is by downloading the ISO file of Windows.

You can find the ISO file here.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/Windows10ISO

Upon arriving at the site, you will see a couple of options.

First, you should select the edition of Windows you want. You can take the default option or use one of the advanced options if you have to.

Windows ISO file. Image courtesy author

Once you select your link and edition, you will receive an option to select either the 32-bit or the 64-bit version.

With a virtual machine, unless your Mac is quite fast (16gb ram and at least a quad-core (preferably i7 processor), or you have an app that only runs on 64-bit systems, you should ideally select 32-bit.

This will allow Windows to run much smoother and use fewer resources on your Mac.

2. Download Virtualbox

For this tutorial, you will have to download virtual box. Virtualbox is an open source and free software. It is a virtualization software capable of running Windows as an “app” on macOS.

Oracle VM VirtualBox

Just click the big button in the center of the screen and you should be good to go.

Install the app and move on to the next step.

3. Create and Set up a New Virtual Machine

Once you’ve installed it, you need to set up a virtual machine.

What this setup does is specify the ram, CPU and hard disk allocations for Windows and specify that you will run Windows 10(or whatever version of Windows you are trying to load).

Click the new button circled in the image. Image courtesy author.

To start, hit the “create a new virtual” Machine button on the top bar.

I’m using a slightly older version of Virtualbox so it may look a bit different in your screen.

Once you hit the “new” button, you will come across a screen asking you to specify the name and operating system.

Select the type of operating system and the version. Image courtesy author.

Name your virtual Windows whatever you want and specify the type as Microsoft Windows.

Set the version to whatever you downloaded from the website (32-bit or 64-bit).

Ram

Click the continue button and you will arrive at a screen to suggest how much ram you would like to allocate to the virtual machine.

Select how much ram you need based on the below guidelines. Image courtesy author.

A higher ram allocation means that the rest of your system will run slower, while a lower ram allocation will mean Windows will run slower.

Ram suggestions are distinct for 32-bit Windows and 64-bit Windows so follow the steps below to identify your ram requirements.

32 bit Windows

The maximum ram 32 bit Windows can possibly use is 4gb so if your system ram is 8gb or 16gb, you can select 4gb of ram.

If you’re using Windows as your main application (graphic editor etc.) and macOS as your secondary application (Notes, call, etc), it’s better to go for a higher amount of ram. I wouldn't recommend allocating less than 2 GB of ram for 32 bit Windows although it can technically run with 1 GB.

64 bit Windows

There is no upper limit for the ram 64-bit Windows can use so you can technically specify as much ram as you want, however, keep an upper limit close to when the red or orange section of the slider appears.

This will ensure that your system can function properly and your laptop won’t crash.

I’d suggest not to go below 3 or 4 GB of ram regarding the 64-bit version but like with 32-bit Windows, if you plan to be doing the more intensive task on Windows, it is better to play on the higher side of ram. If it’s not that intensive of a task, you can probably do just fine on 4gb of ram.

Hit continue once you’ve selected your ram requirements. I’m going with 4gb of ram on the 32-bit version of Windows so I can get maximal power on the least resource-intensive version of Windows 10.

I’ve selected 4GB of ram. Decide what’s worth it for you. Image courtesy author.

Hard Disk

Once you’re done with ram, the next step is to create a virtual hard disk.\

Use the default option. already selected. Image courtesy author.

Select “create a virtual hard disk” and click the create button.

In the following screen, select the default option, VDI, and click “continue”.

Select your preference. Image courtesy author.

At this stage, you have an option to create either a fixed size disk or a dynamically allocated disk.

I have no intention of cordoning off a subsection of the already limited storage my Mac has and thus I will select the Dynamically allocated disk.

If you prioritize performance and have the storage available, you can also choose a fixed size.

Decide how much storage you will need. Image courtesy author.

Next, you have to allocate a certain amount of memory to Windows.

If you have selected fixed disk, the memory will be used instantly while if you choose dynamically allocated, it won’t use the space up at the moment but will rather grow in size based on your usage until it reaches the threshold. You specify.

Click create once you’ve selected these. It may take some time to create if you select a fixed disk.

4. Setup Windows on the virtual Machine

Click the green start button. Image courtesy author.

Select Windows and click the green-colored start button.

It should prompt you to set up a startup medium. Click the folder icon to browse through your files for the ISO you downloaded previously.

Select it and proceed with the Windows installation by following the steps on the screen.

Once you’re done with the setup, you will be able to run windows.

Through this method, you can now run Windows alongside macOS and use apps from both operating systems concurrently.