Under Steve Jobs leadership, Apple reversed its slide into mediocrity and now is one of the most profitable companies on the planet. Many PC owners have made the switch to the Mac platform.

Oct 09, 2018 Download Microsoft Flight Simulator X for Mac OS: Microsoft Flight Simulator X is the most realistic and popular game in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series. In this game you will find more than 20 aircraft, more than 100 highly detailed airports and 28 cities more than thirty missions and more. Microsoft Flight Simulator runs A distant second and requires you to Have Parallels or Bootcamp to run (as well as a Windows license). That being said it runs pretty well if you have decent hardware - I have a MacBook Pro with I-7, so it does the job. If you want the best experience though, stick with X-Plane. Does Microsoft Flight Simulator X run on Mac OS X Microsoft's Flight Sim X only works with the Windows operating system so to use it on a Mac you will need to install and run Windows on the Mac. How do you play Microsoft Flight Simulator X? From Jabbawockeez9 Flight simulator is technically not a game but a simulation – although it can be used.

But what about all the great Windows-based programs like Microsoft Flight Simulator X? You love FSX, and you are a Mac owner. What do you do now?

Don’t worry, captain! The good news is there are several ways to run FSX on Mac OS X.

Boot Camp

FSX will run on your Mac if it is fitted with an Intel processor. A simple solution is to add Boot Camp and any of these Windows operating systems installed after setting up Boot Camp:

Windows XP with SP1 or higher
Windows Vista
Windows 7

Boot Camp is software with 'multi-boot' capability. It is part of the Apple OS X operating system and lets you run Windows programs on Macs that have Intel architecture.

Boot Camp, Macs Can do Windows too

You have to partition your hard drive to make it work. However, the task is relatively painless using the Boot Camp Assistant which will guide you through the whole procedure. You will install Windows device drivers and the Windows Control Panel in the process.

Currently Apple requires OS X systems to have:

Optical drive (optional)
Blank CDs or USBs for the Windows drivers (again, optional)
16 GB of open HD space for 32-bit Windows or 20 GB for 64-bit Windows.
Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit editions) install disks or install images
Intel-Based Mac

You can boot up in either Apple or Windows mode. Boot Camp is a great way to run FSX because it boots straight into Windows. Essentially, you are running a Windows machine when in this mode.

The main consideration is having enough power and memory. Running FSX on full settings on Windows takes a lot of power as it is. Now you are adding Boot Camp in the mix. That means you really should have a beefy Mac with plenty of RAM.

There are some other things to consider when using Boot Camp. Make sure you have an effective antivirus program. Also, you need a lot of extra room on the hard drive for aircraft and other add-ons. It will fill up faster than you think.

The advantages of Boot Camp include:

It comes free with OS X 10.6 or above.
Good performance running Windows programs.
Simple and quick to install.

Boot Camp disadvantages include:

You need to boot the system into your operating system of choice. You cannot switch 'on the fly.'
There is no simple way to share files across the different operating systems.
Backups are more laborious because you need to run a separate session for each side

You can begin the set-up of Boot Camp quite easily:

Click on the spotlight feature on the top of your Mac OS X desktop - the icon looks like a magnifying glass (the search feature), like this:
Search for 'Boot Camp' and click on the 'Top Hit' called 'Boot Camp Assistant':
Follow the simple installation and configuration screen which will guide you through the set-up process:

Parallels

Parallels Desktop for Mac is a proven solution for running Windows programs on a Mac.

In fact, well-known tech writer Walt Mossberg recently wrote in the Walt Street Journal, 'Parallels 8 does a fine job of running Windows on a Mac, especially Windows 8. It doesn't emulate every feature, like those taking advantage of a touch screen—which the Mac lacks. But it makes Windows 8 work on a Mac pretty much like it works on a standard Windows PC that you'd upgrade to Windows 8.'

Parallels can run Windows and Mac programs in tandem because it builds a 'virtual machine,' essentially a Windows machine inside a Mac. This is different from Boot Camp's approach. Boot Camp hands the Mac system completely over to Windows. You can only run one operating system at a time, and must reboot to access them.

Some users report that Parallels does not run FSX as well as Boot Camp. User 'K1PC' wrote on the Parallels forum (forum.parallels.com) that, 'FSX is the really the only thing I use in Parallels, I don't have to do any further upgrades. (But) I get much better performance when I boot into Windows (in Boot Camp) .. and, I have better use of my monitors.'

Running FSX in a Parallels Virtual Machine on OS X

Still, Macworld found that FSX runs well on Parallels. A 2011 review of Parallels Desktop 7 said,

Overall, I was amazed at the performance I saw. Parallels can provide up to 1GB of video RAM, which means that even some newer games with large texture sizes will run reasonably well; I was able to play the demo of Hard Reset, an intensive first person shooter, at decent (though not great) frame rates. Older games, such as Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X and Crysis, ran very nicely, with smooth graphics and audio. Even the demo of Call of Duty 4, which ran but with jerky-slow frame rates when I last tested it with Parallels 5, is now playable.

Another concern with FSX is using peripherals like joysticks and rudders. In the Macworld review they addressed the issue:

While testing the games, I was also able to test Parallels’ support for USB peripherals, which turns out to be quite good. I used a Bluetooth mouse, a Saitek flight stick, a generic gamepad, and a Logitech Momo force feedback wheel and pedal set, all of which worked fine. The only exception was that the force feedback in the wheel isn’t active within the virtual machine. When you connect a USB device, Parallels provides a nice visual dialog box for selecting how it should be assigned, and whether that assignment is permanent or temporary.

Parallels multiple view modes include:

Window – Run Windows in a completely separate window.
Coherence – Operate Windows and Mac side-by-side like they were blended together.
Full Screen – Forgo the Mac interface for the familiarity of a Windows desktop.
Modality – Use transparent windows to see all the action at once.

Parallels allows you to drag and drop files in between Mac and Windows smoothly. You can launch Windows programs from the Mac dock. Most Macs will run windows including iMac, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. You can download Parallels from their website. To run the program you have to enter a key. After that you can run any Windows program.

You can grab Parallels directly from the Parallels website here.

VMWare Fusion

VMWare's Fusion takes a similar approach as Parallels. You do not need to reboot to change operating systems. You can launch Windows programs like FSX just as you would a Mac application, using Mac shortcuts and gestures as well.

A great feature is the ability to run Windows programs on one screen, or across two or more screens. In 'Unity view,' you can run FSX without seeing Windows at all.

VMWare Fusion running Windows in OS X

What if you've already installed Boot Camp and want to give Fusion a try? Fusion will run FSX and your Mac stuff straight from your current Boot Camp partition.

Early in 2012, Fusion 4 was selected over Parallels by Macworld as the best way to run Windows programs on a Mac. It beat Parallels in 9 out of 11 performance benchmarks. Macworld also found Fusion easier to install and operate.

Here is Walt Mossberg's take on Fusion:

In my reviews of the last couple of editions of Parallels and Fusion, I've found Parallels, which claims about 70% of the Windows-on-Mac market, superior. I'm sticking with that conclusion. I found Parallels faster at every common task, like starting and restartin

Will Microsoft Flight Simulator X Run On Mac