Hello members,
I have a question that's been on my mind for quite some time, and I could really use your advice. Let me explain my scenario in detail:
I am a literature student pursuing my master's degree, and I frequently use my M1 MacBook for reading, writing quick notes, and other academic tasks. However, as you may know, Microsoft apps do not work seamlessly with VoiceOver on macOS.
I’m exploring the possibility of installing Windows OS on my Mac alongside macOS for accessibility purposes. My idea is to continue using macOS for most tasks but switch to Windows whenever I need to:
Use MS apps that don’t work well with macOS.
Access applications that aren’t available or optimized for macOS.
While I do have a Dell laptop running Windows 11, it’s quite old, has a short battery life, and isn’t portable enough for daily use. Adding to this, I’ll be starting an editorial internship next month, where I’ll be heavily dependent on Microsoft Word. Carrying my bulky Dell laptop to the office every day just isn’t practical.
I’ve heard about Boot Camp and Parallels as options for running Windows on a Mac, but I’m unsure about the process, their compatibility with M1 chips, or how well they’ll support screen readers like JAWS or NVDA.
Could anyone guide me on the best way to achieve this setup? I want to make sure I can switch between macOS and Windows seamlessly while ensuring accessibility for my tasks. Your advice would be a great help!
Thank you in advance for your guidance!
Comments
parallels is by ableist scumbags good luck using it
hi.
sadly bootcamp is not supported on m1 chips
and parallels is made by junk people
Fusion or UTM
Both can be used to run Windows in a VM that will then support JAWS and NVDA. You will have to learn a few tricks for mapping keyboard commands, but once it's set up then it can indeed allow you to arbitrarily switch between operating systems. You might like to dig around on here for threads that cover the trials and tribulations of this arrangement, but it's certainly possible.
Good luck with it.
using parallels
I have used parallels on my M1 mac and it works quite well, once you get passed the setup process. This can be done by using a program called VOCR. I have not had much luck with either UTM or fusion, I cannot even get to the windows screen in UTM I get some strange errors.
Usable, but barely.
Hello,
If you have a macbook with more than the standard 8 gb ram for m1 chips, you might have a much better experience. If you only have the 8 gb, good luck. Between the keyboard remapping, and then a bit of a glitchy experience on Windows, it's not all that great. Mac OS is great, and so is Windows. I use them both. But Windows on a VM... not so great.
Again, if you have more than 8 gb ram, it would probably be much better. Using even a dedicated Windows machine with only 4 gb ram wouldn't exactly be pleasant either.
Honestly, if you are going to need Windows that bad, you might be better off taking the Dell to your workplace and just leaving it there, and just using it like a desktop. I actually just ordered a cheapo laptop with a Celeron processor for the very basic stuff I need to do in Windows, just because I get sick of the lag of stuff on a vm, and having NVDA just up and die. While I completely get the desire to have just one device to do it all, it just isn't optimal. Can you make it work? Maybe. Will it work well? At least in my case, with the base MacBook Air, no, it does not.
Not the best answer but
Hi Siddarth
is not what you are looking for, but i highly recommend changing your Dell to a Surfase Laptop. I'm a Lawyer and 90% of my job has to be done on MS Office and with PDF documents, that's why, although I owned the last Intel macbook air which in deed was able to run bootcamp, I had to replace it for a surfase Laptop 4 some years ago because the experience even with bootcamp, was not the same as in an original windows OS PC, and I recommend it a lot. It is slim, light enough to be transported and it offers a very nice keyboard experience which I think, you as a man of letters, would love.
Vmware fusion
I did give Parallels a shot but... Not for me, dealing with vocr to access inaccessible screens i.e, settings, to map keys... Not my thing. I mean yeah there are workarounds like installing sharp keys in the vm to map them from the windows side but... Too much of a hassle when in vmware and utm you can do all that without any problem do to them beeing fully accessible with "voiceover. If you’re going to use a vertual machine I'd suggest either vmware or utm as others have suggested here.
Regarding a vm and how well it runs... Its not a bad experience at all, I myself give 16, 18 gigs of ram to mine but, I know friends who have a 8Gb macbook and windows runs fine on there end.
Parallels Desktop
Really I think the best answer to your question is Parallels Desktop. It's fast, battery-efficient, and well-optimised. It has great sharing features like being able to access any drive or attached storage from both host and guest. You can even share library/user folders like downloads. Biggest hurdle is going to be setup, since PD doesn't have very good VoiceOver a11y at all. that being said, it's fully doable with VOCR and after you've set everything up, you really don't need to touch it ever again. Just launch your VM file and Windows just opens in the background.
Another option might be to use Pages; you can import and export DOCX files and I generally don't have any problems between opening in MSWord after. Then again, I work with relatively basic documents, and I'd wonder how that'd deal with complex objects and such.
Unfortunately a lot of the comments on here are conflicting; you might just have to try a few solutions in turn to see which one you find the easiest to work with. Fusion and UTM are free; Parallels is unfortunately paid (with a subscription no less by default), but I'd be very surprised if it doesn't have a trial.
As far as software to run a…
As far as software to run a vm, I've used both VMWare and UTM, and they are both good pieces of software. While I'm still not a fan of how Windows runs on my machine, with only 8 gb ram, VMWare does seem to be the better and more stable of the two.
slite correction about parallels payment
Parallels is payed yes. However, the only tear where you can buy a perpetual license is for the standard version. It also has subscription but it does have a perpetual option. The other options though, pro and business, are subscription only. You can get a 14 day free trial. As far as the prices...
Standard / home version, Subscription its $100 per year. Perpetual is $130.
Pro version, again this one is only subscription, $120 per year.
And business, again only subscription, $150 per year.
Did check out prices during my trial just to see if I did stick with it what would be the damage but, not for me.
+1 on RAM
I appreciate that we're talking about an existing machine, upgrading isn't possible and even when buying new the RAM prices are most certainly not reasonable, however, I'd argue this is one thing you can't really be skimping on when running a VM. It does make a big difference, so aim high. 16 GB is an excellent start, so both host and guest get 8. But more is always better.
Since I don't exactly have…
Since I don't exactly have the money to upgrade my mac, and just really haven't liked how Windows runs on it, I find I'm better off with two laptops. My Chuwi laptop came in today, and for a sub $200 laptop, it works well. Only a celeron processor, 8 gb ram, 256 of storage, but a pretty nice metal build. For web browsing when Safari decides to act up or a site just won't play nice, for remoting in to my radio studio desktop, etc, it is perfect. Also, if I should travel, and don't want to take the more expensive Mac, I can also still pull off basic audio edits on this thing. While a celeron isn't all that powerful, I still feel it gives a smoother experience than a VM with only 4 gb of ram.