Windows 11 Home edition on M1 Mac?

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop on a Mac with Apple silicon' started by EveningClouds, Jan 20, 2022.

  1. EveningClouds

    EveningClouds Junior Member

    Messages:
    13
    I had a Windows 10 Home edition on my old Intel iMac. When I upgraded to the M1 I had to reinstall Windows to Windows 11 using the procedure outlined by Parallel. It is the Pro Insider Edition, which is considered 'prerelease.'
    I am not able to use my W10 Home license number to validate this W11 Pro Insider.
    And there does not appear to be a W11 Home edition that I can purchase, or if there is I don't know how to identify it.
    So,
    1. Currently, using the Pro Insider is the only way to run Windows on my M1 Mac. Microsoft offers me the ability to purchase the Pro edition for $199, but I don't want to do that.
    2. What is Parallels planning on doing about this? It is not exactly a 'virtual machine', more like a 'sort of virtual machine.'
    3. It appears that it is not possible to downgrade the M1 to Windows 10, for technical reasons I don't understand (I'll take their word for it).
    4. I could continue to use this Pro edition, but it requires frequent updates, and I don't know if it is guaranteed to keep working as it currently does -- which is still problematic since the screen resolution cannot be changed and some of the popup windows are in 6pt type on the Mac's retina screen. I have played around with settings in Windows and the Parallels configuration panel, but whatever I choose is not stick and reverts back to some default setting. I assume this is either because this is a funky prerelease version or because the software license has not been validated (see above).
     
    MatthewP28 likes this.
  2. EveningClouds

    EveningClouds Junior Member

    Messages:
    13
    Thank you!
    In Control Center when I go to add a new VM I get this message:
    Your Mac computer is powered by the Apple M1 chip that is built on the ARM architecture. This new platform has the following limitations:
    • Existing virtual machines created on Intel-based Mac computers cannot work on Macs with the M1 chip.
    It is not possible to create a new virtual machine using an Intel ×86-based operating system installer.
    On such Mac computers, Parallels Desktop uses a new virtualization engine. To create a virtual machine, you need a VHDX or ISO image with an ARM-based operating system.

    I am using Parallels 17.1.1.
    Will I be able to install the Home Edition from Control Center?
    I assume I will have to reinstall Quickbooks on the new Windows VM. And then delete the old one.
    I've never had to delete a VM. Can you tell me how to do that?
    Sorry for all these questions, but this is rather confusing for me (Mac user for around 30 years).
    Thanks!
     
  3. EveningClouds

    EveningClouds Junior Member

    Messages:
    13
    I have 17.1.1 and Parallels updater tells me I have the latest version available.
     
  4. EveningClouds

    EveningClouds Junior Member

    Messages:
    13
    No worries. I'm still not sure whether I can install Windows 11 Home, and if I do my Windows 10 Home license will work. Parallels seems to be guiding us to install only the Insider Pro edition. I've reached out to the them but don't get any reply.
     

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