While we've for many years reached parity within the operating-system wars, and today's choices mostly dependent on personal preference, there does be a time when one operating-system is only a better option compared to other. Managing a Windows-only application, for example, is usually a requirement for a job or school, and an alternative that operates on macOS simply won't work.

Luckily, there's always virtualization. Because why choose an operating system when you can run all of them?

Why you need to Run Windows 11 on Mac

Once we have said above, there are plenty of reasons why you may want to install Windows 11 on the Mac computer. However, there are several common reasons why people often do it. Below are the three main reasons for you to install Windows 11 on your Mac.

To Run Windows-Exclusive Software: Some programs, especially video games, are freed exclusively for specific os's. In some instances, you should use third-party applications to force these programs to work on a Mac. However, if that's impossible, installing Windows 11 on your Mac may be the only option.
Get an understanding of the Other Side of the Fence: For those who have spent your whole life utilizing a Mac computer, then pretty sure you'll sooner or later get curious to understand the way a Windows computer feels like. Installing a virtual Windows 11 in your Mac computer is a cheaper and simpler alternative than purchasing a new computer just to test the Windows operating system.
Test Your Program's Windows Compatibility: This one mainly applies to software developers. Plenty of software developers prefer focusing on a Mac rather than a Windows computer. However, a problem is the place it's time to test their programs on a Windows 11 OS. By using an online Windows 11 in your Mac, you can test your software's compatibility with Windows as much as you want.

What Is Virtualization?

There are many methods for you to run other operating systems on a Mac computer. However, today we will focus solely on using virtualization to operate Windows 11 on a Mac. Virtualization is the procedure of running a practical system within another running system.

In contrast to Dual Booting, where your computer will be alternating between two different OS, Virtualization is really a program that emulates an OS while the original OS is running the former. Quite simply, it is macOS that'll be running this program that emulates Windows 11.

There are many virtualization tools that you could download, for example VMWare Fusion, Parallels Desktop, and VirtualBox. In the following paragraphs, we will be using Virtual Box for our virtualization. Oracle developed VirtualBox to supply free and open-source hosted hypervisor for virtualization.

What exactly you need to Run Windows 11 on the Mac

To get started in installing Windows 11 on your Virtualbox Virtual Machine, make sure that you possess the following:

Microsoft 11 ISO Image: You are able to download it here. You will need a Microsoft Account that is a member of the Windows Insider program.
Oracle VM VirtualBox installer.
A Microsoft 11 compatible Mac computer (in terms of technical requirements)
Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz)
RAM: 4 gigabytes (GB)
Storage: 64 GB

Take note these are the minimum requirements to operate Windows 11. Which means that you'll need more than or at best double of these values for your Mac to operate the Windows 11 virtualization smoothly. It is because your Mac computer will continue to operate other background processes while you are running VirtualBox.

How you can Install Windows 11 on VirtualBox Virtual Machine

If you have completed the checklist above, it is time for all of us to get at the central part of this article. Listed here are the steps you have to take to get Windows 11 working on your Mac computer.

1) Install VirtualBox while using installer that you simply downloaded from above. Follow the instructions shown within the installer. While using default settings provided ought to be enough for our needs.
2) Open the Virtualbox by clicking on its icon on your Dock or Launchpad.
3) On the menu bar at the top of the window, click the New button. This will open a second window where you can enter the name of the new virtual machine, the virtual machine's storage location, its type, and, finally, its version.
4) From the window above, type your chosen reputation for your virtual machine. Leave the Machine Folder in arrears. Afterward, select Microsoft Windows as the Type and Windows 10 (64-bit) as the version.
5) Click the Next button at the bottom of the window.
6) Within the next stage, you'll be necessary to select your chosen memory allocation for your virtual machine. Drag the slider for your preferred memory size or enter in the value in to the field around the right. Although Windows 11's minimum memory requirement is only 1Gb, we recommend that you place this to a minimum of 4Gb or 4096 Mb.
7) When you are in the Hard disk step, select Create a virtual hard disk and click on Create.
8) Select VDI (Virtualbox Disk Image) as the Hard disk drive file type around the next window, then click Next.
9) Set Storage on a physical hard drive as Dynamically allocated. Click Next.
10) Next, select in which you would like your virtual machine to be saved and also the maximum size that it may occupy inside your Mac computer. Keep in mind that Windows 11 requires at least 64Gb to function.
11) Click Create. After a short time of loading, a brand new virtual machine should be listed on the left side of VirtualBox Manager.
12) The next few stages could be essential for setting up your virtual machine to run on Windows 11. First, right-click the name of your newly created virtual machine.
13) Select Settings from the dropdown. This will open the Settings window for the new virtual machine.
14) Go to the Storage tab and click on the Empty disk underneath the Storage Devices section.
15) On the right side of the screen, you need to see the Attributes section. Click on the CD icon beside the Optical Drive dropdown.
16) Select Select a disk file.
17) Around the opened window, navigate and discover the Windows 11 ISO image that you previously downloaded.
18) Choose the ISO image and click on Open. Watch for your virtual machine to load, and that's it. Your Windows 11 virtual machine is able to use.
19) To operate your virtual machine, return to VirtualBox's main screen and double-click its name. This will open a screen which has a Windows loading screen.
20) Do as instructed to set your preferences and other settings.