Pro tip: Stay away from the Mac App Store if you’re planning on playing games on Mac and Windows! Games purchased on the Mac App Store only work on macOS whereas games purchased on Steam or Humble Bundle support both macOS and Windows. We share our tips on where to buy games here. Let’s start with my personal favorite.

PC games will not run on a Mac using OSX or any other Mac OS. However, modern Macs can run Windows, and PC games.will. run on a Mac running the proper version of Windows the game requires, as long as all the hardware in the Mac is also powerful enough to meet the game's requirements. Natively though, PC games do not work on Macs. Limited amount of Windows games and apps it can run; Can only run the same apps and games as Wine; Slow to update when new versions of macOS are released; 5. Remote Desktop Software. Another option to access Windows on a Mac is to run Windows remotely on another PC and use remote desktop software on your Mac to connect to it.

Are you a gamer who wants to record your computer screen with game audio and microphone audio for game commentary? Are you a YouTuber trying to record walk-throughs or tutorials of teaching something like make-up by recording a webcam video? Or are you a white-collar who want to record your online meetings to MP4 format? All of these need you to record computer screen.

This guide is intended to equip you with the simple knowledge of how to use a simple screen recording software - VideoSolo Screen Recorder to record computer screen on Mac or Windows. It can record computer screen, webcam video, system audio, and microphone audio.

CONTENTS

• 1. Recommended Computer Screen Recorder – VideoSolo Screen Recorder
• 2. Five Steps to Record Computer Screen on Windows and Mac

Recommended Computer Screen Recorder – VideoSolo Screen Recorder

VideoSolo Screen Recorder is one of the best video recording software on the market. As it boasts a variety of features, users are allowed to do the following things.

• Adjustable recording area. Specify your own computer screen recording area of any size: Full Screen, fixed region and user-defined recording area.

• Record computer screen along with webcam at the same time. The size and position of the webcam video can be adjusted as you like.

• Select recording the sound from either build-in audio system or microphone, or both, or none.

• Preview and clip the recorded video before saving to your computer.

Notice: The functions of the Windows version and the Mac version are nearly the same. This article will take its Windows version for example and clarify its differences during the process.

Five Steps to Record Computer Screen on Windows and Mac

Step 1. Launch the Recorder and Click on 'Video Recorder'

Install VideoSolo Screen Recorder on your computer. Then launch it and you will see an intuitive interface. You need to select 'Video Recorder' to capture your computer screen.

Step 2. Customize the Recording Area

There are 2 modes for user to define recording area: Full Screen and Custom. Click on the 'Custom', you can choose 'Fixed region' from the given options or select the region by dragging the rim of the frame manually. Usually, the selection of the recording area depends on what you're going to record.

Step 3. Customize the Webcam and Sound

For those who also want to capture themselves, you are recommended to click on the second button – a webcam icon to turn on your webcam, which is particularly helpful for users requiring to shot their own reactions during video recording. After that, adjust the system sound and microphone by dragging the respective buttons if necessary.

Tips: Mac version needs to install an audio driver to record audio.

Step 4. Set Preferences to Meet Your Recording Habit

Before recording, click the 'gear' icon to make your recording work more efficient. In preferences, enable to hide float bar when recording so that your victory moment will not be covered. And, you can use hot keys to control. For recording tutorials, you can use set the mouse's color to highlight the key points.

VideoSolo Screen Recorder offers different output formats and quality and you can also set them on 'Preference' window. In order to keep fine definition and save computer memory, I recommend these two schemes:

We had another article that explained why we recommended these schemes as the best output format for recording video/audio. If you're interested in, you can click it to get more information: comparison of video codecs and audio codecs.

Step 5. Draw in Real Time and Stop Recording

After setting up the preferences, click the 'REC' button to start recording. When recording the computer screen, you are allowed to use the toolbar, including drawing, annotating, and taking snapshots as you like. After you click on the 'stop' button, you'll be able to preview and clip your recordings before saving.

To conclude, as computer technologies advance, recording penetrates in people's life and work. With simple and quick recording features available on VideoSolo Screen Recorder, both Windows users or Mac users can have an easy time of recording any computer video. For more useful features are waiting for you to explore. Enjoy!

Mac is renowned for safety and smooth operation. However, if you are not switching from your Windows to Mac, because you don’t want to lose the programs compatible specifically with Windows, then you must know that there is a workaround with which you can run those programs.

Yes, you heard it right, with the help of a virtual machine, it is possible to work on both MacOS and Windows operating system on the same computer. With virtual machines, you can run Windows on Mac and also switch both the operating systems effortlessly.

Simple Ways to Run Windows on Mac

You must be thinking what a virtual machine is and how it works! So, without any further ado, let us know about Virtual machines!

Virtual Machine

Play Mac Game On Windows

In simple words, a Virtual machine (VM) is a program or image which acts an emulation of a computer system. It is one of the best methods to run Windows on a Mac, eliminating the need for actual physical hardware. With VM, a user can install Windows, Linux or any other OS in a window on Mac. Windows stay under the impression that it is running on a real computer however, it is running within software on Mac.

The Virtual Machine is based on computer architecture and operates as a physical computer. It runs in a window just like any other program on a computer, which provides a similar experience on Virtual Machine as they get on the host operating system. The software inside the Virtual Machine can’t tamper with the computer settings as the VM is sandboxed from the rest of the system.

Therefore, the virtual machines are an ideal software for those who want to use another operating system for testing beta releases, creating OS backup, accessing infected files and more. Every virtual machine has its own virtual hardware that’s CPU, hard drives, network interfaces, and other devices.

The VM is linked to the actual hardware on a physical machine which reduces the costs, as you don’t need physical hardware, hence, no maintenance costs applied to it.

Now you know about Virtual Machines, then read further to know some of the best ways to run Windows on a Mac using virtual machine apps.

Parallels Desktop

One of the best ways to run Windows on Mac is by using Parallels. Whether you want to switch from Windows to Mac or want to transfer data between them, Parallels can do it all. The tool is available for trial and you can get all of it in the paid version.

Let’s check the requirements to run Windows programs on Mac.

Hardware

• Mac computer with Intel Core i9, Core i7, Core i5, Core i3, Core 2 Duo, Core i7, Intel Core M or Xeon processor.
• Recommended 8 GB, 4 GB minimum required.
• 600 MB disk space on Macintosh HD for Parallels desktop application installation.
• Working internet connection to activate the product and select features.
• SSD drive for better performance.
• Additional disk space for VM

Software

The tool is available all mentioned operating system of Mac in the list:

• OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 or later
• macOS Sierra 10.12.6 or later
• macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 or later
• macOS Mojave 10.14

Guest Operating System

Back To Mac From Windows

• Windows Server 2019
• Windows 8
• Windows 8.1
• Windows 10

Features Of Parallels:

Using Windows and Mac on the same screen on your Mac computer is easy with Parallels. It makes sharing files and folders, images and text between Mac and Windows apps effortless.

Once downloaded, it is easy to install and get started with another operating system. No matter how heavy a Windows application is, it will run smoothly without affecting your Mac’s performance.

The program works for both the latest version of Windows 10 and macOS Mojave. For easy access, it enables a user to add Windows application to Touch Bar. Parallels has the potential to optimize VM settings and performance for you, to match up the current mode. So, whether you are playing games or are into testing or development, Parallels will modify VM settings as per the need.

VMware Fusion

Vmware Fusion gives you the power to run Windows and other operating systems side by side with Mac apps, without even rebooting. The platform is quite simple, therefore could be useful for home users and is powerful to be handle developers, professionals and businesses needs.

To install Vmware Fusion on your Mac to run Windows, you need:

• Mac launched in 2011 or later except 2012 Mac Pro “Quad Core” using the Intel® Xeon® W3565 Processor.
• 2010 Mac Pro “Six Core”, “Eight Core” and “Twelve Core”.
• OS X 10.12 Sierra Minimum Required

Features Of VMware Fusion

VMware Fusion comes with an updated user interface along with customizable support for the latest Touch Bar enabled Macs. The tool supports the latest versions of Windows 10 as a virtual machine running on your Mac. Vmware Fusion has an ability to drive complex, GPU intensive applications and games with an improved hardware-accelerated 3D graphics engine by taking advantage of Apple Metal graphics technology.

When it comes to graphics performance and accuracy, VMware Fusion leads the way. With Unity View Mode, it allows you to hide Windows desktop, so you can run Windows apps on your Mac seamlessly.

This app allows you to launch Windows apps from Dock, Launchpad or Spotlight. With the common VMware hypervisor, Fusion makes it simple to transfer virtual machines back and forth with drag and drop or control VMs right from corporate data from the comfort of your Mac

BootCamp

Bootcamp is an inbuilt utility app which enables Mac OSX user to use Windows on the same screen. The app is easy to use and after installation, you just need to restart and switch between Windows and MacOS to run Windows on Mac.

Before you get started with it, let’s check the requirements to run Windows programs on Mac.

• Sufficient free disk space to form a Boot Camp disk partition with at least size of 64GB.

Note: It is recommended to have 128 GB space for better performance.

• An external mouse and Keyboard, in case you are on Mac desktop.
• A USB with free 16GB or more.

The List of Mac Models Supporting Windows 10 Home 64-bit version or Pro:

• MacBook Pro (2012 and later)
• MacBook (2015 and later)
• MacBook Air (2012 and later)
• iMac (2012 and later)*
• iMac Pro (2017)
• Mac mini (2012 and later)
• Mac Pro (Late 2013)
• Mac mini Server (Late 2012)

Features of Bootcamp:

Bootcamp is popular due to its performance. Having Windows on an internal drive of Mac eliminates the need for a virtual machine or external device. If you have ample space on your Mac, you should install Windows using this utility app.

Upon installing Windows on your Mac, you could use Windows & its applications with best possible performance. Your Mac and Windows PC both will perform with the same specifications. Install Windows using Bootcamp and enjoying using both platforms on the same screen.

VirtualBox

If you want to run Windows on Mac, without even rebooting your computer, then VirtualBox can help. VirtualBox is a free and open source hosted hypervisor for x86 computers.

If you want to get Windows 10, then you need to check the Installation requirements:

• 16GB free space on hard disk.
• A processor of 1 Gigahertz or more
• 1GB RAM for 32 bit and 2 GB for 64 bit
• Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device along with WDDM driver.
• IDE, SATA, and SCSI hard drives are supported.
• ISO disk image files are supported.

Supported guest operating system

You can install Windows Server 2008, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows XP, Debian, and FreeBSD while using VirtualBox

Features Of VirtualBox

Virtual Box allows you to run the applications on Windows and the applications on Mac side by side seamlessly. It allows the guest system to access physical hard disk partitions present on the host system.

It lets your guest system to directly access the USB devices connected to the host computer. You can set Shared Folders which can be accessed by both guest and host operating system. Copy, paste, drag and drop the files from guest to host or vice versa easily.

If you want to run server software inside the Virtual Machine, then VirtualBox allows you to set up port forwarding. Running VM on a remote system or server is possible with VirtualBox. The tool makes it possible with the help of VRDP which is backwards compatible with Microsoft’s RDP protocol. So, you can establish a remote connection to your VM by using the Remote Desktop Connection program(Windows program) without any VirtualBox app.

Wine

Wine originally means Wine Is Not An Emulator. The app is based on Linux. It is a compatibility layer that enables Windows applications to run on other operating systems. It is open and legal and is available for free. Also, you don’t need any Windows license to use the tool.

To install Wine on your Mac, you will need to have the following things:

• macOS 10.10 or later
• A working internet connection
• Access to an Admin account, with credentials

Features Of Wine

With Wine, Mac and Windows run side by side and you can switch between the two via Boot Camp. However, you need to reboot your computer every time you switch. Unlike other apps used to run Windows on Mac, Wine doesn’t take up a lot of disk space and doesn’t hog memory.

As it takes permission to use system resources such as disk space and memory from OS. Wine makes sure all the requests are responded so that the program can run properly. Therefore the programs get all the connections to work properly and it doesn’t feel that it is not on Windows. As it is only interpreting requests, no need to copy real Windows OS. Being an open-source, Wine is continuously refining and new features are added to it now and then.

So, these are popular ways to run Windows on Mac. We know it is not as easy as installing Windows apps on Windows computer but with these apps, you can beat the need of having two operating systems on two separate machines, instead, you can have both of them on the same machine.

Which One To Choose?

If you have a Windows license and want the best compatibility on your Mac, then you must go with Parallels. However, don’t have or don’t want to buy Windows license key then you can use Wine to run Windows on Mac.

Well, this was our opinion on how to run Windows on Mac. Did you like the article? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.