Is Windows 11 "PRO" required when using Windows in Parallels 18 on M1/M2 Macs?

Parallels seems to be pushing us to use Windows 11 Pro, as its one-click tool installs Windows 11 Pro be default, and there doesn't seem to be a way to change this. My question is this, do I have to purchase Windows 11 PRO edition for $199, or could I use the $139 Windows 11 HOME license? All of the Parallels documentation I've seen mentioned Windows 11 Pro/Enterprise, but nothing about Home edition. Is there a way to force the one-click tool to use Home edition? Would a Home license even work on Windows 11 Pro? The messaging behind this is a bit confusing. Any help would be appreciated!

 

When you install Parallels you are asked if you want to download Windows 11. If you follow the instructions and read the various bits of information provided, you'll see that Windows 11 Home is all that is needed. They even direct you to a website to purchase the license. If you don't already have a Microsoft Login you'll have to create that.

 

Keep in mind that I'm using the Parallels 18 Desktop Pro Edition, not Standard Edition. Maybe Standard directs you to Home Edition of Windows, I haven't checked, but that doesn't seem to be the case either based on the screenshots. I have found nary a mention of Windows Home Edition through the Parallels installer or post installation. Parallels Pro installs Windows Pro by default and doesn't give users a choice that I've found through their 1-click installer.

This is true.

Nowhere on the Parallels installer does it mention Windows 11 Home Edition. Even the links provided by the installer make no mention of Windows 11 Home Edition.

Indeed, they direct you to purchase a license for Windows 11 Pro Edition, not Home Edition.



Obviously you can go and purchase Windows 11 Home by yourself, but I wanted to know if it would work, because all indications show that they want you to use Windows 11 Pro. In fact, it even states on the explore link while downloading Windows 11 that the Pro/Enterprise versions are recommended. Home Edition isn't even mentioned anywhere.

 

I ran into this same issue. Still working to resolve. The "download from microsoft" workflow absolutely DOES install windows 11 pro. I'm starting to believe that potentially Windows on ARM is Beta only, and therefore they only released a "Pro" version, but don't quote me on that, and it's only been 20 minutes of googling.

 

Home does (or did) work on M-series Macs.
Previously you could choose to install Home, Pro or Enterprise. The recent announcement that Windows 11 is now officially supported on M-series Macs with Parallels doesn't include Home, though.
What this means is that you can no longer install Home via Parallels. A Home license will also probably not work with the Pro version that Parallels installs.
You could try to use uupdump to create your own Windows Home build and install that. It won't be officially supported by Microsoft, though.

 

Sounds like the process has changed. I definitely installed Home about 1 month ago.

 

Same here. I installed through Parallels about a month ago and ended up with Home. I don't recall getting a choice.

I recently tried to activate it and it wouldn't let me login with my MS account nor open the Store in Windows 11. Doesn't give me good feelings about where I'll end up if I try to do the right thing and fork over $200+tax to activate it.

 

Keep in mind that you may not Need to have a license to do what you want to do. You'll lose some customization and a handful of things that aren't' coming to mind, but I'd try a VM without a license and see if it suits your needs.

 

That's what I plan to do at this point. I'm only using it to run a single app because it runs better on my Studio than on the 2018 Mini I use for all my other VMs (which are macOS, Linux)

 

JFC.. just install Pro. It'll activate with any Pro key from 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11. Hint.. you can find keys of 7 very easily on the typical "auction" type sites.

 

Hello, I downloaded Parallels desktop (student version) without having a windows product key. I would like to get a product key to activate my windows 11 but I am not sure which to buy. The auto windows downloaded with Parallels desktop which I have is "Windows 11 Home" but what is on the website that is obtainable is "Windows 11 Pro". I would like any suggestions on how I can go about it so I don't waste money buying what will not be useful. Thank you.

 

Initially you could choose between Windows Home, Pro and Enterprise when creating a new VM. That's why you are running a Windows Home VM. This has recently changed. Microsoft now officially supports Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise VMs in Parallels, but not Windows Home. Parallels has therefore removed the option to directly download and install Windows Home.

You can still build your own Windows 11 Home ISO via uupdump.net, but you can no longer download it directly via Parallels.

If you don't mind running an unsupported OS and building your own ISO, you can buy a Windows Home license. Otherwise it's probably better to buy the Pro license.

 

Thank you @MichaelH63
Can I go ahead to get buy a windows 11 pro and use the product key despite it showing Windows 11 Home or I delete my Parallels Desktop and re-install again and see if I would get the 11Pro Windows and not home?
Thank you.

 

Since your Windows Home isn't activated, it looks like you need to install Windows Pro to activate it. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...dows-pro-ef34d520-e73f-3198-c525-d1a218cc2818

If you are using the latest version of Parallels 18 to create a new VM it should install Windows Pro as the default option.

 

Parallels automatically instals Windows 11 pro and hence a product key for Windows 11 home does not work. It is also not possible to download a windows 11 home ISO image from the the microsoft website for ARM processors. It seems that it is compulsory to purchase windows 11 pro. Parallels is not informing about these requirements which seems to be misleading.