If you are one of the many people who want your Chromebook to be able to run legacy Windows applications like Microsoft Office, Google supports you.
We previously learned that Google planned to use its new partnership with Parallels, a company that specializes in making a lightweight virtual machine, to allow legacy Windows applications to run on Chrome OS. Now, in an interview with The Verge, Chrome OS product manager Cyrus Mistry has detailed how things are planned to work.
Your Chromebook will run Windows within its own virtual machine.
Parallels is a household name for people who need to run Windows software on a MacBook. The company creates a program that installs like any other native application, but when you run it you can load an entire operating system into it. So you can open that operating system as an app inside Mac OS.
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Once you have the virtual machine running Windows loaded, you can use it to install other applications, such as Microsoft Office. You really aren’t running those natively installed programs within the host operating system, but it feels smooth and very simple to do.
All of this should be simple enough for everyone to use.
And simplicity is the key here. It has always been possible to run Windows inside a virtual machine on a Chromebook, but it involved booting your Chromebook on a full Linux installation. Chrome never supported any virtual machine apps like Parallels or VMWare.
That is too difficult for most people. Since people want to use a Chromebook but need Windows programs, a solution must be found if Google wants to attract more people to buy Chrome OS. Asking people to install a new bootloader to be able to boot Linux and Chrome, or even asking people to browse a Linux desktop is more than casual users will want to try.
Since any Windows application is inside a Parallels virtual machine, Chrome security is not compromised. That’s something you give away when you start dual boot and unlock your Chromebook’s protected boot or modify your BIOS. The Chrome team takes security very seriously, as we see from the sometimes frustrating way Android apps work. Keeping Windows inside a virtual machine keeps the boot sequence safe and helps contain malware.
Running Windows in this way keeps the security features of your Chromebook completely intact.
Perhaps the most exciting news is that the partnership between Google and Parallels will also be extended and will eventually include Parallels’ Coherence feature, which allows you to configure everything and then just start a Windows program from a desktop icon without starting a full virtual machine and Independent.
This would allow users to install the Windows programs they need and treat them as native Chrome apps; Open them when necessary and close them once they’re done. You would still need a licensed copy of Windows and a licensed copy of the software you want to use, but once the installation is done, you’d think you were simply using another Chrome OS app.
The biggest problem that can dampen your enthusiasm is the hardware inside your Chromebook. One of Chrome’s best features is its ability to run on scarce hardware that doesn’t have the power to run Microsoft Windows very well. That’s why a $ 300 Chromebook works just fine, but a $ 300 laptop running Windows 10 doesn’t: Windows needs a lot more “push” to power it.
Don’t expect your cheap Chromebook to run every Windows program, but the ones you need will work fine.
You probably won’t run Adobe Photoshop on your cheap Chromebook. You also won’t be able to install Steam and play your favorite AAA games unless you buy a very expensive model. And this is slated to hit Chrome Enterprise users at first with no news of a general release. But you will be able to use Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel or almost any other productivity application for Windows without any problem.
I have used Parallels on my MacBook pro for years, and I have also used Linux and a VM to run Windows on my Pixelbook. I can safely say that this solution will work well for most of the people who need to use some Windows programs to work or things like personal finance. As long as you don’t set your expectations too high, you’ll love it.
