Although Ansys Optics ended support for macOS, Intel-based Macs allow running a Windows on top of MacOS. This page documents some of the popular methods of running Ansys Optics on an Intel-based Apple computer.
Important
- We do not conduct QA or compatibility tests on Macs.
- We cannot guarantee that Ansys Optics simulation tools will continue to work as things change.
- The information is provided as a workaround guide and provided as-is.
- We will be unable to provide support for third-party virtualization tools or operating system installations on a Macs.
Apple ARM processor
Ansys Optics has not done testing on Apple's (M series) ARM processor and does not guarantee that you can run your simulations on this processor.
Methods used to run Ansys Optics on Intel-based Macs
- Boot Camp (dual boot option) can be used to boot into Windows on a Mac.
- Virtualization software such as; Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, and the open-source (free) Virtualbox can be used to run a supported operating system on Intel-based Macs.
Virtualization on a Mac
- With Boot Camp, you can boot into either macOS or Windows. When booting into Windows, you can install and run Windows-based applications the same way you would on any Windows computer.
- Virtualization software on the other hand allows you to run a different platform on macOS. A "virtual machine" is created that runs on top of macOS. The computer boots into macOS and the "virtual machine application" is running on either Windows or Linux operating system.
Multicore processing
- Both Boot Camp and virtualization software support multiple core processing.
- Boot Camp is essentially a native Windows installation, so any available cores or memory (RAM) will be detected by Windows and utilized by the operating system.
- Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, and Virtualbox create "virtual machines" with certain system resources allocated to them. The number of processors and memory (RAM) to allocate to the virtual machine is set during the creation of the virtual machine.
- When running Ansys Optics, you can set the resource configuration depending on the virtual machine's resources.
Installing Ansys Optics
Installing Ansys Optics in a virtual machine running a supported operating system is the same as installing it on a physical machine. See the product installation guides for details.