These Tools Let You Run Windows Apps on MacOS
Getting the Windows experience on a Mac has become more difficult with the advent of Apple’s own chipsets : Apple’s Boot Camp Assistant, which enabled dual-booting, doesn’t work at all with Apple silicon, and emulators like Parallels don’t work. just as easy to use on these new systems.
With that in mind, if you really need to run a Windows program on macOS, it’s easier to focus on that one app rather than emulating the entire operating system. There are some handy macOS tools that can help here, so you can transfer your favorite Windows apps to your Mac without much hassle.
Wineskin
Wineskin is a free option here and uses the Homebrew package manager. You need to open Terminal on macOS, type the following command and press Enter :
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Once the Homebrew installation process is complete, you will see instructions to run the following commands to complete the installation, along with your account name.
(press
Enter after each):
(echo; echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /Users/ /.zprofile
(echo; echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /Users/ /.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
After successfully setting up Homebrew, you are ready to install Wineskin. In the terminal command line, enter the following text and press Enter :
brew install --cask --no-quarantine gcenx/wine/unofficial-wineskin
When you see the message that Wineskin is installed, you can close Terminal and open Wineskin from your Applications folder in Finder or search for it in Spotlight.
First of all, you need to install the engine by clicking the + (plus) icon. It’s possible to choose the default popup option, but sometimes different Windows apps require different engines, so you may need to swap them if you’re having problems. Problems. Then click Update Skin to get the latest version of the main skin, which packages your chosen app so it can run on macOS.
After that, click on “Create a new empty shell” . At this point, you need to give the new shell a name to identify it and the program it runs. Your skin will be installed in the Finder, in the Wineskin folder in the list of user applications (you’ll be asked if you want to go straight to it when the initial installation process is complete).
Launch this shell and you’ll be ready to select the Windows executable you want to run. Try installing the software first, as this is the easiest option: you can point Wineskin to the installation file or file folder (for portable applications). Wineskin should take care of the entire setup process, and then you can launch the shell any time you want to use a Windows application.
If this doesn’t work for the program you’re using, click Advanced in Wineskin’s main dialog to access more options—you can tell the tool to run specific executables, change how Windows keys are remapped to macOS keys, and customize various other aspects. about how Wineskin is trying to run this particular program.
Crossover
CrossOver is a paid option: it will cost you $74, but a free 14-day trial is available so you can see if it’s worth your time before parting with your cash. It’s a little more user-friendly than Wineskin and gives you more help through the process, so some people will find it a better choice, even at the associated cost.
Install and configure the software, then simply find the Windows program you want to run—for example, Steam if you want to play. You’ll see that each app name comes with a star rating, which shows how well the app works through CrossOver on macOS (which can save you some money on buying apps and games that won’t perform well).
When you have the program you want, click Install and everything will be done for you. CrossOver will set up the Windows application, and in a few minutes you will be able to use Windows software on macOS. CrossOver stores a list of installed programs as “bottles” in its main interface, and you can select them from there to launch and configure various aspects of their deployment on macOS.
If the program you want to run is not listed on the installation screen in CrossOver, click the “Install an unlisted application” button on the right. The process here is a little more complicated, but not too much – you’ll need to provide CrossOver with more detailed information about the application you’re trying to install and where the installation executable is located.