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Which Windows version is ideal for Mac Air M2?

I want to use Access on my Mac Air M2. Do you recommend Bootcamp or Parallels for installing Windows, and which version of Windows is best? What permutation is best, and what cost is involved? Thank you.


[Re-Titled By Moderator]

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Mar 23, 2024 7:39 AM

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6 replies

Mar 23, 2024 3:21 PM in response to Bernadette0410

You need Windows 11 for support from Parallels and Microsoft. In Parallels, go to File -> New -> Get Windows 11 from Microsoft. You need a licensing key and, so far as I know, it has to be Windows Pro to enable full compatibility. Access is one of the main reasons I went to Parallels with a Mac Air M1. Back in 2021, there was a problem with it, but Microsoft quickly brought out an update, and it has worked very well ever since.

Mar 23, 2024 4:05 PM in response to Bernadette0410

a virtual machine is not an emulator so parallels would only work with arm cpu based version of windows and the only arm based windows versions ms released has been windows8 and 10 and 11 and 8 never to the public only to their surface tablets


and windows 10 only released as development versions, so "renting" parallels with win11 would be the only means to run windows on a m1/2/3 cpu

Which Windows version is ideal for Mac Air M2?

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