(Opens in a new window) If you are a Windows user, MS will prompt you to download the Media Creation Tool before allowing you to download an OS image. Download the Windows 10 ISOįirst off, head over to the Windows 10 download page. Parallels has explicitly shipped (Opens in a new window) software that does support x86 VMs on M1 systems.VMWare has announced (Opens in a new window) that Linux, not Windows, is its priority as far as Mac support is concerned.

On Mac, there are solutions like VMWare Fusion and Parallels, but, VMWare Fusion has no near-term plans to support x86 architecture VMs on M1 solutions. VMWare Workstation Player is another option.

Note: While this guide uses VirtualBox, it is not the only free VM software available. Luckily, setting up Windows 10 in a VM isn't particularly difficult. If you have to deal with files you can't trust, need to test multiple OS installations on the same system, or need access to the operating system without wanting to use it as a daily driver, using it a VM offers access to its features and capabilities without worrying about needing to keep the OS installation around long-term.

There are a lot of practical reasons to set up an OS like Windows 10 in a VM rather than using it as a native installation.

Run windows vm on mac