Can I Play My Old CD-ROM Games on My Macbook Pro?

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Can I Play My Old CD-ROM Games on My Macbook Pro?

I have recently found a bunch of my old CD-ROM games that I used to enjoy on my Windows PC and would like to play again. But when I tried to install them on my MacBook Pro (2012 model), my computer wouldn't even recognize a disk in the drive.

To clarify, on the disks directly is says Windows 95/NT & Power Macintosh CD-ROM on one and the other says Windows 2000/98/95/NT Macintosh, which is why I assumed I should be able to install them on my macbook.

Can I play any old CD-ROM games on my MacBook Pro?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 27, 2022 8:53 AM

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Answer 1

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MartinR

Level 7

24,167 points

Sep 27, 2022 12:40 PM in response to Banana_Bee

Banana_Bee wrote:

"Can I play any old CD-ROM games on my MacBook Pro?"

The simple answer is no - because Windows programs cannot "just" be installed on a Mac ... and even if your disks say "Power Macintosh CD-ROM" they are so old that they are not compatible with current versions of macOS. Power Macintosh became obsolete in 2006 when Apple transitioned to Intel-based Macintosh computers.

The more complex answer is that the only way you could possibly install Windows programs on a Mac is if 1) the Mac is an Intel Mac, 2) you have used Bootcamp to install a Windows partition on your Mac, after which you could install Windows itself, after which you *may* be able to install Windows programs or 3) install Parallels Desktop for Mac, after which you could install Windows itself, after which you *may* be able to install Windows programs. Even then, your old CD-ROM games are so old they may not even install on the current version of Windows (Windows 10 or 11).

So, basically, the answer is no.

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Can I Play My Old CD-ROM Games on My Macbook Pro?

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