Run Emulator On Windows 8 Software On It

Photo: Rob LeFebvreCult of Mac One of the selling points of a Mac these days is the ability to run Windows software on it, via virtualization or Apples own Boot Camp.

Running Windows lets you play PC games that havent been ported to the Mac, or stay completely compatible with your documents from a PC-centric workplace.

Virtualization software like Parallels or VMWare Fusion (two of the best apps to run Windows software on your Mac without partitioning your hard drive for Boot Camp) isnt free, though these applications do allow you to try before you buy.

Windows 8.1, the current version of Microsofts operating system, will run you about 120 for a plain-jane version.

You can run the next-gen OS from Microsoft (Windows 10) on your Mac using virtualization for free, however.

We took a quick run at doing just that, as originally sussed out by the fantastic folks over at iMore.

Grab that virtual box Were going to use a free, open source bit of emulation software called VirtualBox, from Oracle.

Its pretty robust and works almost as well as the more costly solutions like Parallels or VMWare Fusion, so you can get a taste of things without having to bust out the credit card.

Head on over to the VirtualBox webpage, and click on the Download link over to the left.

Youll want to choose the latest VirtualBox version (4.3.20 as of this writing) for OS X hosts x86amd64.

Once downloaded, you can launch and install the app, which will get you ready to roll with Windows 10.

Get Windows 10 for free To get a free, legal copy of Windows 10 Technical Preview, youll need to sign up with your Microsoft account (or create one in the process) for the Windows Insider Program.

Once youve signed up, youll be able to download an ISO file that acts just like an inserted install disk.

Youll want to download the 64 bit version of file in the language you want Windows to run in.

The instructions at the Technical Preview page tell you to move the file to a USB drive and then install from there, but you dont need toI installed it just fine from the file on my Macs hard drive.

Click on the blue New star button at the top, and click through the default settings.

Youll first give the newly created virtual environment a name and choose the Windows Type and then Windows 8.1 (64 bit) from the two drop-down menus.

Install the virtual disk on the virtual hard drive Next youll need to choose the size of your virtual hard drive.

Avoid a size that hits in the yellow or red zone, or you may have issues with running both OS X and Windows at the same time.

Allow VirtualBox to create a virtual hard drive using the default setting.

Simply click on Create, then let it make a VirtualBox Disk Image, or VDI, on the next screen.

I let it create a dynamically allocated hard drive, since that was the default option, as well.

Give your new hard drive image a name (VirtualBox will choose the name you gave the environment in the first place its ok to let this stand), and then find a size that fits well on your hard drive.

I left it at the default 25 GB setting, and then clicked on Create.

Run Mac Emulator On Windows 8