Migrating Intel MacBook Pro with Windows 10 and Parallels 19 to M1 MacBook Pro with Windows 11 and Parallels 20

If a Microsoft Windows PC on Intel x86-64 serves your needs better, best use Windows on Intel. Windows is a fine choice if you need older communications schemes such as fax, or need older apps, or under- or unmaintained apps to work. Windows PCs are particularly good at running those older apps and older protocols, and variously for years past the end of maintenance by the app developers. That’s seemingly the bulk of the Microsoft business-computing market, too.

As for faxing on macOS, there are various facsimile apps available in the app store, or, yes, a multi-function printer can work. iFax Mac is one available option, and here are others.

The “stupid M-chip” is the basis for many of the advantages of the Apple platforms, and Apple is just not going to retrograde to using Intel x86-64 processors.

(Intel is also presently also in some turmoil around their x86-64 processors business, and around their semiconductor fabrication business, but where that all goes?)

(Broadcom VMware made some of their Mac hypervisors free for any use, so testing your particular configurations can potentially be cheaper. VMware also has Apple silicon support. The Parallels hypervisor offers a free 14 day trial, as well.)

How well Microsoft Windows for Arm and the hypervisors work on Apple hardware is up to Microsoft, and up to the hypervisor vendors. Microsoft could undoubtedly get native-boot working too, if they wanted to expend the time and effort involved. The Windows app vendors are however often uninterested in getting their apps to work on Windows for Arm and a hypervisor. For many, if it works on Windows on Intel x86-64, that’s what most will then support.

If you’re not going to run Windows on Intel x86-64 as this all usually expects, best send your feedback to Microsoft, and to the hypervisor vendor(s) in use, and to the app vendors, as well.

I transferred from Windows 10 on a Macbook Pro to Windows 11 on my M1 Macbook Air in 2021. So far as I recall, I transferred all data using an external drive. This is effectively the only way when going from Intel to ARM. I admit that made a list of Windows applications and reinstalled all of them. Having noted the potential difficulties, I decided to take the option to store all Windows-related data on the Mac side and access it through the Mac Files folder icon that appears on the Windows Desktop if you set the relevant sharing option in Parallels.

So I keep almost no data on the VM, and the Windows files, in applications that cannot run on the Mac, are backed up by Time Machine. (You must exclude the VM from Time Machine backups, as the whole thing will be backed up every time you open it. Always keep a copy of it on an external drive in case something major goes wrong.) Windows-only files open Parallels in the relevant application if you click on them within MacOS. With Bootcamp, for a project in progress using both Windows and Mac software, I had to move the files back and forth, now I find that one can open the same file at the same time in both Mac and Windows. The lack of response from Parallels suggests they may well believe they have answered your questions somewhere.

I made the transition about a year ago, and things were so bad: I had to go back to my "old" MAC Pro which is about 10 years ago. I need Parallels to run WINDOWS for some medical software, and I also need Windows for FAXING.

Faxing through my printer is a less than ideal option. So, for about 10 years, I have used a program called FAX TALK which met my needs.

The NEW MAC PRO has this stupid M-chip -- and, it required me to use Windows 11 in order to use Paraellels, and somehow (at least last year): Windows 11 on an M-chip did NOT support Windows Fax/Scan. NOTE: the program is available in traditional Windows machines, but you have to go into settings to "activate" the program which is NOT an option on the M-Chip Macs. SO, this vital program did not work, and I have "gimped along" with the "old reliable"-- but the old reliable is booting very slowly, so I think that I am going to need to "do something". Besides: Windows will not be supporting Windows 10 in Oct 2025.

You are right: things do not transfer easily. I assume that you went from an Intel chip mac to an M-chip mac.

I was wondering: does anyone else use an M-Chip MAC with Parellels and WIN 11? And if so, now that it has been a year: is there some sort of faxing option with WIN 11 and an M-Chip MacPro?

Apologies, I should have shared these settings in Windows 11 Configuration, Sharing: